Planet of the Stars

Chapter 26: World Between Worlds

  Being told I needed to go to Calys was shocking in itself. That place was to grant people the title of master. I did not feel like a master. I was still Efren's apprentice, but that was more because we hadn't had time to actually go somewhere like this. There was a difference about just acting like a master and actually being granted that title.

   I sat down on the cave floor and closed my eyes. I knew blue ruins were glowing around me and on me. I vaguely heard Efren and Theo in the distance, but then there was absolute silence. I felt like I was being transported. When I opened my eyes it was black with bright white light in certain places.

  The white light looked like it surrounded doors. I walked to the first one. I gently pressed my hand to it, it felt cold. I was going to open it when I heard a voice.

  "You don't want to open the cold one." The voice says.

  I turned around and gasped. I saw Efren, but it wasn't Efren. This one was made out of blue starlight.

  "Efren?" I ask.

"So that's what I look like to you." The voice says.

"What?" I ask.

"I take the form of someone important to the person I'm interacting with. So, you see me as Efren." Not Efren says.

"What are you?" I ask.

"I'm glad you asked. I'm your guide." The voice says.

"What is this place?" I ask.

"A world between worlds." My guide says.

  I sigh. That didn't make any sense, so I didn't bother asking about it, because that would only result in more confusion.

  "What is this place for me?" I ask.

"It's to help you on your quest. You have been imbibed with the crystal force you can travel here for guidance. You may not interfere though." The guide says.

"Interfere with what?" I ask.

"Behind all these doors are memories through your life. Past, present, and future. When they're cold they offer you no help you need, but when they're hot they have something you'll need." The guide says.

  I look around. Eventually though I started hearing overlap. Voices I knew from my past, and right now. I heard voices I didn't know yet. I heard my voice weaving through them.

  Young me, me now, and future me. I walked away from the door and continued down the path. I could feel different temperatures coming off the doors. Some were freezing, others were warm, some were absolutely burning but my guide told me to stay away from those.

  "But why? I'm searching for a hot door." I say.

"Yes. There's a difference between hot and scalding though. Scalding are doors that have not happened yet that you may absolutely not look through." The guide says.

"Why?" I ask.

"You've lived a life of horrors. Some have passed. Those are the freezing ones. They were bad, but you've already lived through them so there's no consequences looking back on them. The scalding ones are ones you have not lived yet, and if you looked at them there'd be consequences because you'd want to change them, or avoid them, and you can't." The guide says.

  I nod, then continue on. I come to a door that was unbearably hot, but I wasn't getting scalded from it. I head towards the door and open it. I'm blasted with sounds, sights, and smells before I can clearly look at it. It was a memory of when I was little and living on my own.

  I knew where I was, but I don't know why this helped me. That planet was light years away from the direction we were heading. But then I got my answer. An old friend I used to have entered the frame. I remembered what memory this was now.

  I could hear them. My friend handed me a map of somewhere she was going. The wind blew the map away. Past me chased it, but couldn't catch it. Eventually the wind blew it onto my chest in the now.

  I saw past me looking around and not seeing it and giving up. I closed the door and turned around.

  "Is this what I need?" I ask.

  My guide nods. I nod. I walk away from that door and head back the way I came. I stopped in my tracks though. I stood in front of a door that definitely hadn't been as hot as it was now before.

   I looked at it. The heat was practically blistering my skin, but I didn't move. I could hear things from behind that door. There were screams and sobs. I heard a ship falling.

  I felt tears on my cheek. My heart ached for something that hadn't happened yet. It felt like every heart beat I had broke off a piece of my heart. I took a step towards it.

  "Skye." My guide warned.

"I have to know please." I say turning around.

"You can't." My guide says.

"But I'm grieving for something I don't know yet. I have to know." I say sobbing as more tears ran down my face.

"No." My guide says, then shakes his hand.

  I open my eyes to see I was back in the cave. Theo and Efren with me, and I was sobbing roughly and painfully. I had to compose myself before I stood up.