Of Stardust and Wishes (A Wish Rewrite)

Chapter 22 - All It Takes

Asha hugged her legs and tried to digest the enormity of it all. A book, that was all it took. A simple, unimpressive, book of impossible power. Something so old, that even the stars had little knowledge of where it came from. Pressed between yellowed pages was wisdom older than the sun itself. An incredible wealth of spells spoken across the galaxies. The possession of such an item would render the user a relative god to his people. It would be the obsession of anyone who had truly mastered stardust. But for such a tremendous tool, it had bought many to their knees. Fore the cost of such immense power far outmatched the benefit.

"It holds a dangerous kind of knowledge," Sol sighed under the spectral light of the grotto. The only secret place Asha could think of, they had made their way there as if the entire royal army was on their heels. Sequestered in the indigo cavern, dark tales hung heavy in the air. "Again, I was never able to read it myself," he continued, "nobody was. It was treated like...well.... like gunpowder near an open flame. But I was never interested in it anyway."

"Why?" the girl spoke over her knees, "Seems like something anybody would want to get their hands on."

"Anybody who couldn't grant wishes," he smirked, "Kinda didn't need any help with that."

"Oh...yeah..."

"It was supposed to stay under lock and key in the celestial library. How that witch got past Draco is beyond me.... but..." he leaned his head back against the slick wall, "...without it you wouldn't have your kingdom here so...take that as you will."

"So, all of our spells are from that book?"

"No, not all...only the impossible ones."

"Impossible ones?"

"Yeah, like your eternal sun," he made a vague gesture above them, "it clogs the air with so much stardust I'm surprised you don't feel it. It's like moving through mud."

"Woah, woah...you knew the whole time?!"

"Nah, not exactly. I had my suspicions but when I saw him..." resentment fell over his face, "...when I saw him...." A suffocated grunt finished the sentence, "I realized it was worse than I thought," his lips pulled back in a sneer, "You have to wonder, after 500 years, if he's still even human."

Cold fingers ran down the girl's back. She squeezed her legs tighter, "It never could grant wishes, could it?"

"Oh, it can grant wishes. Whether he's using it for that or not doesn't really matter. But the forbidden magic is the closest thing to wish granting you can get. Of course...what it takes to achieve your desire would surely bring you to ruin...but it can. Like any magic, it can't make something from nothing. Only wishes can do that.... the real ones, I mean," his eyes narrowed, "It needs tribute of a sort, and not the nice kind."

"What kind would that be?"

"An eye for an eye, a bone for a bone, a soul for a soul," he tapped his finger against the rock, "Equivalent to what you're asking for."

Her nails bit into her skin, "Then what did the king have to give up for his enchantment?"

"I don't know," there was bite in his voice, "but I'd hate to find out."

Asha agreed, her head nodding in thought. All of it, the castle, the magic, the wishes...everything that she had dreamed about.... struggled to achieve...called down the very sky for.... was only an illusion. It was no better than her tying ribbons to her wrists and gunpowder to her ankle. "The only ones who have to 'perform' are charlatans. No better than thieves." She breathed in at the memory. Closing her eyes, she let her forehead hit her knees.