Sword of Stars

Chapter Ten. The Unexpected.

“So you met Khaos.” A man’s voice rang out in the emptiness. It was an echo like no other, as if the sound bounced off a thousand surfaces.

Garek opened his eyes and stood. He was surrounded by nothing. Just white. He looked down to find himself standing on nothing, but something was solid under him and there was gravity. Garek jumped into the air and landed normally. He then started walking then changed it to a sprint. It was the strangest feeling moving without feeling like he was moving at all.

“Weird, isn’t it?” The voice said.

Garek skidded to a halt, turned to see a man standing behind him. He gasped to find the man stark naked. He was well muscled and had intricate tattoos all over his body. He had short reddish hair with bangs than hung down his forehead. Then he cursed as he looked at the man’s crotch.

“Stars blind me…” The man had no genitals. Just a flat smooth ridge where it should be.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer!” Growled the man.

“Uh... Take a picture?” Garek asked confused.

“Oh,” said the man as if remembering something, “never mind.”

“Anyway, where am I? Who are you?” Garek asked as he looked around at nothing.

The man laughed softly. “Where are you? I don’t know myself. I’ve been here for a long time and I can only guess. Imagine my surprise as I suddenly find you here.” He put his hands behind his back and started pacing. “As for whom I am, I seem to have forgotten… all I know is that Khaos is evil and needs to be destroyed!”

“Aeryn!” Garek remembered. “I have to get back! My friend has been hurt!”

“I know. I could somehow see events through the sword. She won’t survive from such an injury. What’s curious is why Khaos left you alive.”

“I don’t care. Take me back now!” Garek demanded.

“Look,” said the man assertively, “Khaos is one of the Seven Beings of Chaos from my time. They ravaged the galaxy during the Great Galactic War. In the end it was Khaos who killed me, with my own sword no less, the sword you now carry.”

Garek’s head spun with all the new information and foreign words. Garek rushed forwards and grabbed the man’s shoulders and shook. “What are you talking about!? Beings of Chaos!? Galaxy!? Great Galactic War!?” He shouted in the man’s face. Suddenly he felt a pulling sensation.

“No! Don’t go! I have so much more to tell you! Wait!” the man yelled as he seemed to fall away from Garek and into the distance. His vision started to go black, then, a blinding flare of light.

***

Garek’s eyes snapped open and he sat up quickly. It was just turning dawn, the star had begun its rise above the trees surrounding the clearing. “Aeryn!” he called.

Cecil was beside him. “It’s okay Garek, she’s fine. Are you okay?”

“She’s fine? But… How?” Garek asked with even more confusion.

“I tried my best to heal her but I knew it wasn’t going to be enough but… Somehow it did.” He said with frustration. “I shouldn’t have been able to do it.”

“Really? That’s great Cess!”

“She doesn’t seem to showing any fevers from the beasts of darkness like you claimed she would.” He said, still with a frown on his face.

“Perhaps you got lucky?” Garek guessed.

“No! She had a hole in her chest, her skull was cracked and she had the beasts wound. There’s no way even a master Caster could’ve healed her. It’s just plain impossible, boy!”

Garek was taken aback. He didn’t know what to think. Maybe Cecil was right, her injuries were pretty fatal and three fatal wounds at that. Garek looked over at her. Cecil had wrapped her up in blankets and she snoozed peacefully, chest rising and falling at even intervals. Garek also saw the sword behind him in its scabbard.

“After all that and she doesn’t take the sword?” He said out loud.

Cecil shrugged his shoulders. “It was still in your hand when I regained consciousness.”

Aeryn started to stir and she moaned softly. Garek got up and ran over to her, going to his knees at her head. “Aeryn, are you okay?” He asked as her eyes squinted open and looked up into his.

“Oh…” She groaned. “Shouldn’t I be with the Stars?”

“Actually Cecil healed you.” Garek said.

“No I… Let’s just say I tried my best.” Cecil sighed in resignation. “Here, I’ve made you both soup.” He said as he handed them both warm bowls of broth. “It may not be as good as Garek’s but it’ll do. Hopefully you’ll feel better afterwards.”

They both smiled as they took the soup and slurped away. After gulping half of the spicy water down Garek turned to Cecil. “Khaos said she wasn’t a Heterochromancer yet she certainly used some kind of magic.”

Cecil considered for a moment. “She defiantly does have some power but it was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It did look like time and space Heterochromancy but that requires a massive amount of Essense and you saw her; she was barely dressed,” he cleared his throat at the memory, “I didn’t see her carrying anything she could’ve stored Essense in either. So I’m as baffled as you are.”

“It’s as if she’s not from this world. Maybe she’s from the Stars.” Pondered Garek.

“The Stars are divine, Garek, holy gods that watch over us.” Aeryn said

“Then perhaps she’s a god then. You saw, or felt, what she did to you. You saw her tremendous power.”

“The gods are there to protect us Garek they would never come here to wreak havoc.” She said pleadingly.

“Yeah? And who are we to question the nature of mighty gods? How can we possibly understand what they do or want?” Garek argued.

Aeryn was taken aback at the heat in his voice. That’s when Cecil butted in. “Alright kids, now’s not the time. Let’s just forget about it for now and talk to the Lord Caster when we get to the tower. Okay?”

They both nodded their agreement and finished their soup in silence.

Afterwards Aeryn felt much better and was walking around fine. She was busy packing her stuff away when Cecil approached Garek. He was done packing and had his sword on his hip and his travelling cloak around his neck. He spoke in a low voice. “Look Garek, something strange is going on here. There is no way I could’ve healed her and you know it.”

Garek scoffed. “Cecil, look at her. She’s doing absolutely fine. It’s as if she didn’t just take a fist through her chest the night before.”

 “That’s exactly my point. Khaos must’ve cast something on her.”

“I’m telling you she’s fine. Let’s just drop this and see what the Lord Caster has to say. Maybe he can figure it out.” Garek said.

“Yeah, if we make it.” Cecil grumbled and made his way over to his stuff.

Aeryn was finally finished and she walked over to the men. “All done. Shall we get going?”

Garek nodded. “Let’s get this over with.”