Starlight, Starbright

Chapter 17

I gently landed on the ground, swaying at the slightest of breezes. “Hey guys, did we do it?” I asked and slowly let my legs collapse under me.

“No.” Alana said, gently lifting my head off of the road. I groaned. Alana smiled. “You did it. Now you better get some rest, Z.” I nodded absently and drifted off.

 

Darkness. That was all I could see. All around, I heard screams, but could not see the people they belonged to. But all the same, I recognized this place. It was one of the many holding places for the dead that were still to be sorted. The place where Death himself hung out when he sent out his reapers.

“Welcome back, Gildan,” I turned and found the Man himself. “It’s been a few years since you were last here.”

“What do you want?” I asked cautiously, but not as to offend him.

“I want to offer you my assistance.” I must’ve let some emotion show on my face, because he shook his head. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not like my brothers. When they seek only destruction, I have sympathy to you, the one who lives while others die.”

“So cut to the chase. What is going to help us? I know we bought a little time restoring things.” I sighed and let my shoulders drop.

“You must find the tree of life.”

I bit my lip after a moment of shocked silence. “Been there, done that,” I muttered quietly.

“What?”

“Where do you think I find refuge after a friend dies? How do you think I stay sane?”

“I always assumed it because of your strong spirit . . .” Death trailed off. “Well, someone must absorb the power from the tree.”

“I thought the tree’s powers were just a rumor. And why does someone need to absorb that much power?” I put my hands on my hips to accentuate my frustration.

“To become God.”

“Who in the entire universe would want to become a God of this world? And I thought this world already had a God.”

“You maybe think too much. And not everyone thinks the way you do. Some of us weren’t born to take a God’s place. Besides, this God is dead.” Death sighed.

“But . . . I don’t want anyone to take on that kind of responsibility.” I trailed off as my body started to wake up.

“Unless you want to meet up with Satan and your brother at the same time, I suggest you choose someone quickly. And if you don’t want anyone else to do this, then do it yourself. I can see that you are beginning to awaken. The next time you see me, it may be on the battlefield. Goodbye, Aurora.

“Aaargh!!!” I sat up abruptly and swiped a dagger through the air in front of me. I sat there, panting, until I realized I was fine. “I . . . I am in London,” I muttered, putting the dagger back into the thin air from which it had come.

Giggling came from behind the door of the room as I rubbed my temples and slipped my feet out from under a blanket. “Do you think she has a concussion?” I heard Lucy ask, slightly concerned.

“I think it’ll take more than that for the old girl to get her head screwed with,” I heard Alana say, a laugh still in her voice.

“Very funny,” I muttered. “You two do know that I can hear you, right?”

There was a small crash in the hallway outside of my door and the pattering of footsteps running away. I chuckled and slowly stood. “Well, at least I didn’t lose a leg,” I muttered and walked down Alana’s halls, searching for the others.

They were in the library, still researching for a way. Well, Irene was anyway. Alana and Lucy were in a corner together struggling not to burst out laughing. Irene glanced up from her thick, leather bound volume and sighed.

“About time you got up,” she said, closing the book with a sense of finality.

“Well, you try going a few days with barely any sleep, and then you try to fix all the buildings in the world. It isn’t as easy as you think,” I rubbed the back of my neck as I sat down next to her. “So, what are you lot still doing?”

“Looking for a way to stop this mess, remember? All we’ve done so far is slow it down,” Irene picked up another old book and opened it up.

“See, I think I might know a way.” I grinned sheepishly as everybody stopped and looked at me. I quickly repeated my encounter with Death while the others listened intently.

“So one of us has to absorb the power of this tree thing that’s back in Ireland?” Alana said, leaning back on her hands and stretching out her legs in a relaxed manner, her chocolate brown hair swinging gently.

“No,” I said. “I have to do it. That amount of energy kill any normal being, doing even worse things to your soul than shattering it. Lucky for us, I am far from being normal.” I sighed and lightly leaned against a stack of books. “Unlucky for us, we may not be able to fly to Ireland.”

“Why not?” Lucy whined.

“Because my brother probably has some of his glorified henchmen watching us right now. And that means that he’ll most likely have an army when we try to stop this. So, we’ll need one of our own. I’m afraid I don’t have enough of me to supply that many wings,” I sheepishly gave a small laugh and ran a hand through my short hair.

“We need an army?” Alana sounded shocked. I nodded. “And where do you suppose we get one of those?”

Lucy shrugged. “Ebay?”

“Seriously?” I turned to Irene. “Would that work?”

“Of course not!” Irene gave the two younger girls a pointed look. “Besides, don’t you know that?”

“A girl’s gotta have her downtime,” I shrugged. “It’s not like I was always on Earth, ya know.”

“Then where were you?” Irene asked. “Despite all of this traveling with you and stuff, we still hardly know anything about you, or your mysterious powers.”

“Well, I guess I have been a bit preoccupied.” I stood up and surveyed Alana’s maze of books. “But knowing some of the things I know . . . It could get you three killed by forces far worse than my brother.”

“Like what? It seems like you’re pretty buddies with Death himself!” Alana pointed out.

Humans, such curious creatures, I thought to myself. I admit, I’m envious. To have such an endless array of emotions. To be completely free, save from Fate and Destiny. I wish I had the same freedom. I sighed. “You really have no idea how lucky you are, do you?” The others lapsed into silence as I stood and walked back to my room.