A Song of Stars

Three

Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight.
I wish I may, I wish I might.
I wish that the rockets never came to life.

W-what?" Adam stuttered. "I thought we weren't supposed to leave for another 6 months." He knew that that wasn't true, he was just hoping that'd they believe him and decided not to leave right that moment.

"Well you obviously thought wrong. We have to leave tonight before the Alchemists launch their final attack," Boggen stated as he started to walk through the crowd of Magicians ready for departure.

Adam panicked, he wasn't ready to leave, nor would he ever be. He timidly followed him, "But sir, the rhyme isn't ready."

"Stop lying, I've known that it's been ready for weeks now."

Adam quickly stopped in his tracks. He hadn't told anyone that it was finished, so how could Boggen possibly know? He started to think back on all of the times he had lost his journal, and quite honestly, he lost it a lot. He came to the conclusion that someone must've taken it and read through it without letting him know. He still had questions though. Who took it and why? How much did they read? What if who ever told Boggen about the finished rhyme saw the counter spells? And if they did see them, why wasn't he reported? So many different questions started to fill his mind. He didn't even notice that he was starting to be pulled to the cavern where all of the star maps were.

He finally noticed when he fell to the ground after being shoved into the cavern and tripped over an uneven piece of flooring. He groaned as he picked himself off of the ground and started to collect pieces of paper that fell out of his notebook. He couldn't possibly see how he was so important when he was constantly being thrown around.

After getting up, he soon came face to face with the inside of the cavern. There were candles everywhere to keep it lit up. There were several Magicians, whose names he had forgotten, studying all of the star maps that were hanging on the walls. And in the center of it all was a large circular platform that held a gyroscope that was going to be used for navigational purposes. He couldn't believe that this was actually happening.

He went to go sit on the platform when he realized something, his keyboard. He had left it back in his room in the midst of his ignorance of what was happening. He quickly got up and tried to leave but was stopped quicker than he got up.

"And where do you think you're going?" It was Boggen who had stopped him.

"I, uh," he couldn't think of a response that wouldn't get him killed. "I-I was going to go get something."

Boggen raised an eyebrow, "Oh? And what is this something?"

Adam gulped. He knew that he didn't hold the courage to tell him that he had left behind his keyboard. "Uh, nothing sir. It was nothing."

"That's what I thought," Boggen said with the voice that showed that he was satisfied with that answer. "Now go back to where you were and wait for departure."

Adam nodded and quietly went back to the platform to sit. Why did it have to be so hard to speak up? He wished that he could just go to the Alchemists and ask for help. They'd put an end to all of this, but not before the Magicians ended him for telling. He was tired and would've loved to sleep through this entire thing, but that wasn't possible when cold integrity kept him wide awake.

After a few moments of pondering, Adam was snapped back to reality when he felt a rumbling. He quickly got up and realized that the cavern had fallen dark and the rest of the Magicians that were in there were also aboard the platform. It was happening. He watched and listened as heard the person at the gyroscope reciting a rhyme without end.

"All night long their net they threw to the stars in twinkling foam,
T'was all so pretty a sail it seemed as if it could not be,
And some folks thought t'was a dream they'd dreamed of sailing that beautiful sea."

As the rhyme was recited, he watched as the stardust above them started to form together into a net of many colours. He couldn't believe his eyes, it was something that looked like it could've come out of a dream. He found himself having that feeling quite often since he found out he was a Fiddler. He couldn't ever quite believe the things happening around him, so he definitely couldn't believe that this was happening.

As they ascended from the cavern, he looked around to see at least a hundred more platforms that looked like their rising up into the midnight sky along with them. It was a beautiful sight. He looked down to see the Crooked House slowly turn into a speck. They were saying goodbye to the world they had known for so long.

Before he knew it, they were zooming through space. It was quite a surreal feeling to experience. Just watching the stars zoom by at the speed of light. He was way too entranced by the sight that he didn't even notice that they arrived at the asteroid.

"Fiddler Adam!" His attention was soon snapped back to reality and the problem at hand. The time has come, it was time for him to create the gateway. He slowly dismounted the platform and walked into a small opening within the asteroid. He clutched his journal close to his chest as he approached the back wall of the opening. He could possibly use the counter spells right now and prevent all of this from happening, but a lot of people would be at risk. He didn't think he could live with all of that blood on his hands.

He took a step back and prepared himself for what was about to happen. Cross his heart and hope it doesn't work. He took his pouch and threw all of his stardust at the wall and started spinning and working it.

"I'm leaving the world behind,
Out of sight, out of mind.
Watch as I risk it all to carefully circle the stars.
This life is a trip down the road to the unknown.
It's just a matter of time before we arrive,
It's my turn to take on this new world that we shall create.
Break down the open road,
Bring in the ember glow,
And take me where I want to go."