Starlight

Chapter 3 - Star Seed (Elysia POV)

The door creeks open, startling me nearly have to death. I swiftly place the book back onto Jyuri's shelf and turn sheepishly towards the door, pretending I hadn't touched any of her things while she was away.

"I have something to show you." Jyuri states calmly. "Follow me."

I nod silently and follow her outside for the first time since I'd woken up. Upon taking in our surroundings, I notice we are completely enveloped in sakura trees. Jyuri lives in the forest? She continues her way through a stone scattered path beneath the blush colored foliage around us and I do my best to follow suit.

"Magical girls were created by the conjunction of human emotion and divine recognition." Jyuri says confidently, the cherry blossom petals cascading past her loosely tied back violet hair make her look so dignified...

"What does that mean exactly?" A branch of Sakura promptly whacks me in the cheek in response, guess I'm not exactly the elegant type that Jyuri is... This forest is so dense, surely she doesn't take this path frequently?

"It's difficult to describe in simple words... When humans are pushed to the ultimate emotional limits, the gods take notice. Being a magical girl requires intense emotive energy, our magic is directly fueled by our emotions after all. So when the gods feel our happiness, grief... rage, they respond." Jyuri's words dance around so much that normally you'd twist your brain in loops trying to decipher what she's trying to say, but her delivery makes it so that even the most simpleminded can get what she's getting across, I can't help but admire her.

"Respond... How?" I ask, shielding my face from the pointy foliage around us. We finally trudge through a few more meters of forest before coming upon a clearing. The ground is covered in a thick blanket of pink petals, the wind carefully swirling them around the area as if it were raining cherry blossom.

"A magical girl is born."

I stumble back a bit, her words are so sharp and poignant I can't help but feel them directed towards me specifically. "You don't mean?.." Flashes of Mei's face, the blast, the aftermath... It all floods my mind ruthlessly, not allowing me to block a shred of her out.

"It's as you think. Elysia, you're a magical girl." Jyuri states confidently, we stand in silence for a moment as I attempt to absorb the words coming out of her mouth.

"That's impossible.. I can't be I-"

Jyuri steps closer and holds my hands in her own. "The most powerful I've ever encountered..." She says, tilting her head downwards to meet mine. "When I found you, the energy emanating from your body was electrifying and you were glowing brighter than the moon in the sky... That giant crater in Akihabara was created by none other than yourself. What's more, whatever attacked you that day has yet to be seen again anywhere in the world. Without you, I'm not sure Japan would still be standing today."

She uncovers her hands in mine, revealing a small heart shaped gemstone in my palms. I inspect it closer, a bright pink light pulsing from within it's contents... and it's warm to the touch.

"W-What is this?" I ask, looking back up at Jyuri. What she's saying can't be true... I watched what happened to Mei, it happened right before my eyes! She was... She was eviscerated! How could I have possibly fought back against something like that? Suddenly the vision of my dream the night before paints a clearer picture, could I have really defeated whatever it was that killed Mei?

"This is your Star Seed. It's instrumental to you as a magical girl. Your power as a magical girl resides within this gem, it's incredibly resistant however in the case of losing it, you'll be rendered catatonic... In the case of it being destroyed, well let's hope it never comes to that."

"This is mine? If I'm a magical girl then why can't I do stuff like... This!" I put my hand out towards her forcefully, attempting to manifest some sort of magical beam... Nothing, how embarrassing.

Jyuri lets out a boisterous laugh. "Don't be silly, you won't be able to control your power for a long time, especially without performing your trial first."

Trial?

"What do you mean?"

She looks up to the clouds overhead and reaches upwards as if she was trying to reach into the sky and pluck one down for herself. "The stars take notice of our potential..." Jyuri brings her hand to her chest and redirects her gaze towards me. "It's up to us however to show them we are worthy of their power... Thus they've formulated a trial, one that every magical girl must perform before she is to be granted access to her full power." She pauses and faces away from me now, the way her hair flows behind her is almost in sync with the cherry blossoms themselves. "This is called an Awakening, once a girl awakens, the cap on her powers is removed, allowing them to reach their fully realized potential... Through arduous training of course! Few magical girls withstand the ability to awaken however and opt for a more simplistic lifestyle. After all, with great power comes great responsibility."

Jyuri turns to face me once more and glares through me with utmost seriousness. "So what will it be Elysia, will you lend your hand to humanity and vanquish the darkness that stole your life, or settle for the rubble it left you in." The weight of this question is crushing, it almost feels impossible to answer... I ponder the proposition for a moment before the vision of my sisters face haunts my mind again... Mei.

"I'm in."