Stargazer

Part VII: Pain

In what seemed like only moments, the twins had clumped together a dozen molten and gaseous spheres in the sky. They'd worked together on a few, but most of the planets were made independently, orbiting around their one parent star. Aurum and Pip competed fiercely to see who could make the most grandiose-looking planets, which devolved simply into a competition to see who could make the most planets, regardless of size or features. Aurum was winning with five smaller satellites around his star, and was quite happy about it. Pip's three were on the larger side, decorated with great stormy spots and colorful bands.

"It's not fair," he whined to me midway through their contest. "I'm makin' mine pretty, but Aurie doesn't care. I'd be winnin' if he cared."

"I think they're beautiful," I reassured him. Truly, I thought they were all beautiful--particularly the projects on which the two had worked together. Four planets of various sizes gravitated steadily around both of the twin's stars. They were a safe distance away from the stellar bodies, and three of them were solid. The closest of them, which the twins called Kieffer, looked like a promising home for life, whereas the furthest, Gerald, would make for a charming little ice planet once it cooled.

I'd been watching them quite a while when my core started to ache. At first, I wrote it off as standard planet-making pain, but as seconds ticked by, it grew only more intense. I clutched my chest. The pain was unlike anything I'd ever felt before, like a black hole was opening inside me.

"I need to go," I called out to the twins. Pip began to protest, but I shushed him. "Don't worry. I won't be far. There's just something I have to do." I paused.

Something isn't right.

I looked up into the sky. The more than a million-year-old light of Beginning's star shone dimly over me. My heart throbbed violently.

Beginning is in trouble.

"I need to go visit Beginning," I said, more quickly and quietly than I thought I would sound, but the two heard me anyway.

"Why? What's wrong?" Aurum asked, floating towards me with his brother.

"I don't know. I don't know when I'll be back, either. I trust you two can take care of yourselves-- don't fight at all while I'm gone."

"Yes, Miss Stargazer. We won't," said Pip.

"Only if he doesn't start it," said Aurum, smirking, but I wasn't smiling back. He winked at me, trying to keep the mood light. "Kidding. We won't. Can't we come with you, Stargazer?"

Pip jumped at the idea. "Yeah! I wanna meet my sister!"

I shook my head, grimacing. "No, you have to look over your stars and planets now. You have to stay here." I said. They both stared at me silently.

"I'll be back. Take care of each other." I rushed off in Beginning's direction.

How long has it been since I saw her? Maybe twelve million years? Maybe a little more? That's not that long in a cosmic sense--what could've possibly happened in that amount of time?

I kept speeding towards her, and as I did, her star got brighter and brighter--and bigger, too. Maybe bigger than I remembered it. Maybe a lot bigger.

It's part of the star's natural aging process, I told myself. Yeah, she'll get bigger, but blue stars like her can live hundreds of millions of years. She was huge; she had to have enough fuel to last this long. She's fine. Something must've happened to Big Red, or maybe she made something new. Maybe... Maybe she just wanted to see me? Maybe that was her calling me. Maybe life on Big Red is already sentient. Maybe this is good news.

It was as if my body were disappearing. I felt myself moving faster and faster through the near-vacuum of space, until it was just my mind racing through the cosmos. Even though I couldn't feel my body, I could still feel the agony in my core. It felt as if the black hole were growing and eating away at my soul.

I looked behind me. I couldn't even see the twins anymore.

The faster I went, the less light I could see. For a while, I saw absolutely nothing--until she was right in front of me. The star was huge--almost blinding with it's magnitude.

Then I saw her, and stopped. When I could feel my body again, everything hurt even more.

"Beginning," I choked. Suddenly, I understood where all my pain was coming from.

----

Oof. Y'all better get ready for Part VIII. It's going to be a real doozy. Expect it next Wednesday, my friends.

Thanks for reading this part of Stargazer! If you liked this story, I'd appreciate a vote. Share it with your friends if you feel like it, and leave me some comments on how it could be improved! :) I always appreciate your feedback, good or bad, happy or sad, angry or glad, etc. Y'all are awesome for reading.

Open-ended Questions (discuss in the comments below!): What's wrong with Beginning/Big Red/Stargazer/the universe? Any predictions for next chapter? Will the twins do anything crazy while Stargazer's gone? (If you somehow already read part VIII, you better not be spoilin', you scalawags. Keep it hypothetical. :3 )