Star Borne

Chapter 1

     Light trickled down my skin and across my eyelids as I shifted, slowly waking up. Drowsiness weighed me down as I looked around at my surroundings, an odd blankness to my mind.
     To the side of me lay another kid covered in dirt and grime, yet they had a bright aura to them that showed in their fiery hair that held a light blue streak in the front. By the looks of it, he appeared to be around 8 or 9, but it was difficult to tell thanks to the unbearable glint of the sun above.

     A moment later they too woke up with a grumble, sitting up in the dusty terrain. I was busy looking around at that moment, scanning the steep walls of some crater they appeared to be at the bottom of. The first thought that popped in my head was a memory; feeling as if I were burning as wind whipped past me. Now, everything was calm as he looked around, finally spotting that the other person was awake.
     “Hey, are you alright?” they asked, already having stumbled over to me. His voice was ever so slightly quivering, yet it seemed he was trying to put on a brave face.
     I sat there, taken aback by his words, yet nodded nervously. There sat a strange feeling in my gut as I looked up at them, almost like some sort of connection. From what I saw from the calm recognition this kid showed, he felt that way too.

     “Where are we?” I managed to ask after refocusing. The supposed hole or crater they were in appeared steep, yet possible to escape through the thick roots of trees peeking out from the dirt.
     “To be honest, I have no clue. I just woke up here and saw you sitting up a few yards away,” the bright redhead explained. He stared at me with chilly blue eyes that seemed to replicate the clouds in the sky which matched the strange triangular symbol on his upper right cheek. When I thought of his hair as fiery, I meant it literally appeared in the colors of fire; fading from deep scarlet to a golden yellow.

     Concerned for their immediate safety and still confused as to how they had appeared in this crater in the first place, I got to my feet and began looking for a good place to start climbing out. Once I’d dusted off the dirt and dust that covered me, I sprinted forward and did my best to scramble to the top. The first attempt was an utter loss, as I quickly fell back to the bottom and right in front of the other kid's feet.
     He looked down at me with his light colored eyes before helping me back to my feet.* “How about I try,” the kid offered with a confident glance at the earthy wall. I nodded and barely a second later he'd raced off, scaling the wall and succeeding on his first try.
     I gaped up at the kid, shocked at how he'd managed to climb up so effortlessly. Meanwhile I had barely managed to make it up even halfway.
“Here, I'll help you up. Just climb as far and fast as you can, and I'll grab you.” The other kid was already kneeling down from the top, his arm extended and ready for me to grab.
     I nodded firmly, backing up to the far side of the hole before sprinting as fast as I could, jumping as high as I could and snatching a protruding root. For a moment I dangled precariously as it moved under my weight. Terrified that it'd snap, I grabbed the next one, heaving myself up.

     A moment later I felt someone grab my arm and help pull me up the rest of the way. Collapsing on to the soft green grass, I stared up at the blue sky above, leaves and branches stretching across the abyss like webs, causing the sunlight to dapple across our skin.
     The other kid seemed to be a little bit out of breath too, but he bounced back up energetically merely moments later, pointing at a strange structure a bit away. “Look, it's an abandoned building!” he exclaimed, already rushing over with childish excitement.

     I stood up, hurrying after him and trying his best not to appear winded. “Wait for me!”

     We reached the abandoned house soon after, the redhead at the broken down door already and trying to find a safe way inside as I approached it more cautiously, staring at the shattered windows and sensing the eerie presence it gave off.