The Celestial Chronicles: The girl who danced through Stars

Chapter One: The Mirror

Consumed by the ever enclosing darkness, the two figures prowled silently down the dusky street, unaware they were being watched. It was the sort of weather that you might've at a glance perceived the day a sunless night, to which the stars were hiding under a thin film of wispy clouds, just out of reach. The street lights were dark and the road quiet, yet the rain sleeted down in heavy sheets, unrelenting and unforgiving as the thunder that blasted with an occasional resounding roar. Not once did the sun ever peek out from it's blanket of murky clouds, and so once again that small town in England was plunged into an eternal night.

It is likely you might've thought for a moment that the two figures were mere shadows of the dark, their forms twisting, elevating, coiling, turning in a constant motion of movements. They were oddly dressed in airy robes of black and blue, yet as they trod with slow, lingering steps, a strange presence appeared to engulf them, a shimmering air that flickered up and around, as though is possessed a life of its own.

"You are sure this is the one, Antares?" The man asked doubtfully. He was a peculiar man, I noted from my window in one particularly tall house. His long white hair floated downwards like individual threads of silk, and danced around his form as if they were constantly being pulled and repelled away from him. But although his face held no signs of residual age past his mid 20's, he spoke with the uncanny wisdom of someone much older than he appeared.

"I'm certain of it, Rigel. Why else would they be here?" The women, Antares, affirmed with a punctual, almost frustrated nod that I could just make out in the gloom. As they stopped on the road across from me, her skin appeared to glow, shimmering and pulsing under some mysterious moon, yet there was not a light, nor a lamp, nor a star to light it up. Above her head, a mass of coloured locks spilled down and enclosed her small face, shielding it from the deadly dangers of the dark. I peered my eyes sceptically, wondering if the pair could perhaps be any more strange.

For a moment, I drew myself from the window, held ajar, chilled by the rain and the fog that had begun to seep its way into the cold confines of my lungs. I stifled a cough. Sitting in the half-light of my room, I re-positioned my blanket over myself and swept back to the window with low, trudging steps. The rain poured, the thunder boomed. The pair were gone. I bit my lip. How can a pair of most oddly dressed people wander off so silently? For a while, I stood there, consumed in my own thoughts. From under the window, a strange wind howled against the panes of glass, scrabbling and scraping its way into my no longer warm room. A shiver crawled its way up my back as my mouth dried at the sudden sensation of fear. Angrily, I slammed the window shut and drew the curtains for good measure. I hated being home alone- it left too much time for the mind to wonder about all the bad things in the world.

Faintly, I heard the faint buzzing of the t.v signalling in and out of focus downstairs.

"Shzzz... The rain is expected to continue for- shzzzzz- unexpected -shzzz- a meteor crash in-" The power cut out with an abrupt signalling of thunder, and the lights in my room winked out all at once. Sighing, I collapsed backwards on my lilac patterned bed and frowned. Without any light and my phone dead there was no way I was going to be making my way downstairs any time soon. Three flights of stairs? In the dark? Sounded like a death wish to me. Slowly I drew my blanket further around myself and sunk into the realisation of my situation. I was stuck alone in this old house for the weekend, with no light, and nothing to do. So much for that 'break' my parents had promised me. Again, I drew a heavy sigh and closed my eyes. The howls of the rabid wind never ceased in my ears, a constant torment and turmoil on a record loop. It deafened me to the world, the pounding of the wind at the door, and rendered me senseless to the cold that creeped sluggishly into the cracks of my skin. The wind was everywhere.

In the attic above my head, the roof screamed in silent assault and a colossal 'crash' jolted me to my senses.

"What the hell?" I queried to myself, sickened by the weariness of my voice. I cleared my throat, speaking aloud in a makeshift attempt to comfort my anxieties.