Chasing Starlight 💫

8.1 Flashback

Will (Ash):

Who needed a spaceship when you had Lücan?

Normally, Will or Alründ told that joke telepathically at least once during a trip of starspeed. But as Lücan hurtled them through the stars, laughter seemed like a memory never to be heard of again. Maybe the joke had crossed Alründ's mind, too, but his wings and hair were whipping around in the chaos.

On any normal flight with Lücan, Alründ would've tucked his hair beneath his coat and retracted his wings—put on a shirt, at the very least—now those small things weighed upon Will's mind. There hadn't been time for preparations, only enough time to be terrified of why they'd left so suddenly.

As they flew towards the golden net that wavered above Lyrethan 's atmosphere, he was comforted by the barrier of sunlight that glistened between the threads—the protection as breathtaking as the planet within. That comfort fled as Lücan suddenly slowed his decent. Lyrethan's spirit slammed into Will like a million ghosts pleading for rescue. He could feel Lücan's pain as well, compounding his own, and he was relieved that Alründ had a penchant for shielding his spirit.

Lücan released the Sepheri and flew to his left, examining the protection of sunlight. Will flew across to him—wingless, like his mentor. Then he saw it, too. The threads of sunlight were frayed, leaving a gaping hole in the net that Lücan and his ancestors had made long ago. That kind of damage could only mean one thing... They had visitors. The terrifying kind.

Alründ sped through the frayed hole first, his wings cutting the wind as Will trailed behind him. They were headed toward home, to Lücan's palace perched upon the stone cliffs that bordered The Misty Sea. Not that far away, The Grand Waterfall spilled up over the clifftops and into the forest's streams below. But Lücan shot past the younger Sepheri and adjusted his trajectory for the heart of Querissa. Panic swept Will. He saw that same look in Alründ's eyes as they halted mid-air and changed course. They were now heading towards Lyrethan's largest city.

Spirit aching, Will soared over the stone stems that stood like the well-aged tree trunks surrounding them, each stem perched with a spirulet dwelling on top. The dwellings reminded him of an overstretched version of the Ace of Spades, but hundreds of them built from opaque glass. Each one was uniquely colored, all blown into the same teardrop-shape that shimmered in the twilight. As more spirulets passed beneath him, he searched the balconies that ringed the dwellings. Some had bountiful gardens draping over the edges, some were bare, but not a single person could be seen, and that made it all the more troubling as he spied his parents' spirulet—the place where he'd lived until he was five. Its purple-blue glass was overrun with pretty vines and flowers that had risen up from his mother's garden, crystals dangling everywhere to ward off evil. On the balcony, the glass doors were wide open. His father's weapon bag was lying in a heap, as if sorted through in haste. Will wanted to swoop down and check if his father was there, but Lücan and Alründ were already flying ahead.

As Lücan zeroed in on Querissa's market place, Will had no doubt that whatever was happening there his mother and father would be in the midst of it, defending anyone and everything.

Keep your minds closed, Lücan said, signing off.

Whenever his mentor said that Will knew who they were about to meet. But it couldn't be! An encounter with both Keenan and his father had never happened on Lyrethan before.

Burying his most guarded secrets, he put up an invisible wall around his thoughts. Some things he buried so deeply that he knew he would struggle to retrieve them later. That was the least of his worries. As he looked to the ground, people were running from the stalls, crying, some silent with fear, some whimpering as they clutched their children. He knew their faces, but the fear in their eyes blurred them together in the rush of it all.