Morning Star

Chapter 10: secrets of magic | Kelvin

Jason led me into a room that had a more relaxing aura than the rest of the building. Cushions were strewn all over the floor, and I noticed a few wrappers left on the wooden floor, unnoticed and untouched. Clearly, this was the one room that Jason didn't clean.

Perhaps it was because this was the room where he stopped trying, and where he finally stopped to take some time off for himself.

Eva should have a room like this, I couldn't help thinking. A place to relax could help her. She could sleep without visions.

I could almost imagine the golden eyed girl here, curled up on one of the enormous cushions on the floor, her dreadlocks falling past her face as she slumbered, letting out quiet breaths as she did so. I would reach out and gently caress her cheek, my smile fond as I watched over her.

My gentle, kind Eva.

Then I remembered that she'd tried to kill me, and just like that, my fantasy shattered. I had to get back to her. I had to help her, before she went completely crazy and turned against the rest of my friends.

Jason picked up a small, narrow black device, and pressed a large red button. Instantly, the wall in front of me exploded with colour. I let out a shout and scrambled back, my terror amplified when the wall begun to display moving pictures, accompanied with strange, melodic sounds.

Jason burst out laughing. "Have you never seen a movie before?"

"This is what you call a movie?" What part of Jendilya was Jason even from, to have something called a movie? He was clearly more advanced than the rest of the land. Was this the new King's work? "What does it do?"

"We watch a story." Jason settled down on the cushion, opening a packet and popping some food (it did not look appealing, but according to the packet, they were something called 'chips') into his mouth. "Come sit."

I didn't sit. "Um..." I wanted to leave and find the others, especially Eva. I had to take care of her. She needed me. However, when I glanced at Jason's slightly forlorn expression, I couldn't bring myself to say no. He had saved me, after all. I should show him some respect. "Okay." I sat on a cushion beside his, and he grinned as the movie began.

This movie didn't display real life pictures. Instead, these pictures appeared to be drawn ones...but brought to life.

"It's an animated film," Jason explained when I asked him. He chuckled at my puzzled expression. "You are really clueless about these sort of things, aren't you? You live in an olden day society."

I had no idea what that meant, so I simply nodded, and focused on the moving pictures instead. One would think that I, having seen so much death and destruction in front of my very eyes, would not feel scared from watching an animated film, but I did. The visuals and the music both stirred up a faint feeling of fear within me, a feeling that I thought I had left behind when Jendilya's civil war had ended.

In fact, I was ashamed to admit that I may have teared up during the movie as I watched the romance blossom between the two main characters. However, it wasn't the main characters that drew my attention. It was the side character - the firefly, the one that was so hopelessly in love with its morning star, whom he'd named Evangeline. Was that a cruel coincidence?

As the movie progressed, I was not just afraid for the characters. I was deeply saddened, especially when the firefly was crushed in his attempt to protect the main female protagonist. He survived - for only a little longer. When he finally died, I wept.

"She is my Evangeline," the main male character said, referring to the main female character, and I couldn't help but place Eva in the place of that glittering star. If anything, she was my morning star, too.