To The Stars

13

"Hey, Mama! Show me that thing you do with the rocks again!"

"All right, all right. Just this once though, okay?"

"Okay!"

The woman walks over to a shelf, where several baskets sit. She picks up a single tiny clear stone that is tinted red, then takes a lit torch, placing the pebble in front of it. The stone seems to glow momentarily before a ray of light shines through, hitting the dirt ground. "This is a Red Stone of Aja. They are able to increase the sun's power numerous of times, though this one is only under ten percent pure, so it can't hurt us. The purest stone would be the a Super Aja, which only two exist in this world."

The young girl placed her hands in the light. 

"So warm!" She gasped with a smile.

"Dear. When you grow older, I'll entrust these stones to you, and you'll have to protect them from dangerous people who may want to use them for bad things. Do you think you can do that?" The mother glanced down at her daughter with gentle, loving eyes.

"Yeah! You can count on me, Mama!"

Your eyes shoot open and you gasp, quickly sitting up.

"Where am..." Looking around, you notice yourself being held by Kars and quickly jump out of his arms.

He grabs your forearm before you could get any farther away from him.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Don't think that just because you're a higher being, you can order me around." You glare down at him. He smirks from the ground.

"Funny you should be the one saying that..."

Tugging your arm away, you take a look at your surroundings, spotting Lisa Lisa and walking over to her.

"What's going on? Where's Caesar?" You ask her quietly. She seems to hesitate.

"Caesar is..."

"He's dead. Wamuu killed him." The purple-haired man answers for her. "And now were dueling for the Stone."

Your eyes widen and you look back to your coach. "Is this true? Is Caesar really...?"

She just nods slightly, turning away.

Brows furrowed, you lower your gaze in guilt. "This is all my fault..."

"(Y/n), of course it isn't-"

"You weren't there when it happened! You wouldn't understand!" You snap at her before realizing what you had just done. "Sorry, just... Don't try to comfort me. I won't take back what I said."

Averting your attention to the arena, you see Wamuu and JoJo reaching out for crossbows, the former having blood seep from his closed eyes. You assume that he's become visually impaired, but knowing the fantastic abilities of Pillar Men, he has another way to sense his surroundings.

"A chariot race?" You quietly ask yourself.

"Indeed. I'm sure your familiar with the rules, (y/n)."

You glare at Kars before turning back to the front.

"The rules are rather simple. Each race lasts seven laps, and in each lap weapons would be given to the charioteers. To win is like a normal race, you'd have to be the first person to complete all seven laps." You explain.

"Lord Wamuu, blow him to smithereens!"

"Let us feed on whatever remains!"

As Wamuu aims his second shot, Joseph speeds up so that the fire would separate the two.