The Shadow's Star

Prologue

"Aurora, sweetheart, it is bedtime" Yetta called. A sleepy Aurora entered the bedroom yawning and rubbing her eyes.

"But I'm not tired" She replied.

"Come now, it's getting late. It is already well past your bedtime" Yetta pulled the covers back and rearranged the many pillows atop the bed.

"Can you tell me a story?" Aurora asked, hopping onto the too high for her bed.

"Okay" Yetta said as she began tucking her in."What story would you like?"

"Can you tell me the one about the gods?" Auroras eyes sparkled with anticipation.

"That story isn't appropriate for bedtime."

"Pleaseee, Yetta, please!" Aurora pleaded.

"Oh, alright" Yetta rolled her eyes. "But don't blame me if you have nightmares" She pointed at Aurora who giggled and sank into her pillow to get comfy.

"Once upon a time there were six gods who ruled over the fae lands for thousands of years. There were three light gods Mahina, Hemeria, and Anwar, and three dark gods Hadeon, Erebus and Reinette. It is said that Erebus and Hemeria fell in love and around the same time magical portals appeared allowing other worldly creatures passage into the fae lands. The other gods suspected that the union of Erebus and Hemeria's dark and light magic had created the portals and so they turned against them. They hunted them for hundreds of years and Erebus and Hemeria eventually grew tired of running. They knew it was only a matter of time before they were killed or separated by the other gods and so they took their own lives and ascended into the afterlife together. Their deaths gave life to the fae people and their magic divided the land into two realms, the light, and the dark realms." Yetta paused.

"What happened to the other gods?" Aurora asked a question Yetta was certain she had heard a hundred times before. Aurora's eyelids became heavy and she yawned again.

"Nobody knows, it's a mystery." Yetta already regretted telling her the story knowing that Aurora would be thinking about the answers all night. She's always been a curious little fae.

"Where do you go when you die?" That was a question Yetta was not expecting to answer.

"I believe we go to a beautiful place to be with our loved ones," Yetta answered.

"Do you think my mother is there?" Another unexpected question caught Yetta off guard. Yetta simply replied, "Yes, I think she is."

"Will I go there too?" Aurora asked.

"We all will some day," Yetta said with a small smile. Aurora opened her mouth probably to ask more questions but Yetta cut her off.

"Sleep now, Aurora." Yetta stood, kissed her forehead, and with a wave of her hand the balls of fae light illuminating the room went dark.

Yetta entered her room, the room she has slept in for over three thousand years. She had lived in the palace of light for most of her life working as a healer and a handmaiden. She had been here for the birth of king Helios and his two children Xander and Aurora. Yetta remembers the birth of Aurora like it was yesterday, a happy yet painful memory. Queen Leana died during childbirth on the day of the passing. The passing is the event of a solar eclipse that occurs one day a year and on that day the light fae's magic is almost useless. The queen could not heal herself and Yetta felt a tremendous amount of guilt for not being able to heal her either. Queen Leana's last words to Yetta were to ask her to watch over her son and daughter and to let them know how much she loved them. The entire palace was devastated by her passing. Her death hit the king the hardest, he became withdrawn and cold and barely ever interacted with his children. He eventually remarried a high-born light fae called Meira who is now expecting a child, but he was never the same after the loss of his first wife. Yetta often thought about the late queen and sometimes even spoke to her, usually when Xander or Aurora was driving her up the wall. Aurora is the spitting image of her mother with her light golden blonde hair, tiny freckles on her nose, and her beautiful sharp features. She had her father's golden hazel colored eyes and his temperament but everything else was her mother. As Yetta settled down for bed she said a pray to the gods and updated Queen Leana on her children.

42 Years Later.....