The Lost one's journey

Part 38: A falling star

Folmon and Raphael stand in front of the black palace. Raphael's hand was ever so slightly trembling. "Let's go." She says with a voice full of something Folmon can't understand. As they enter the black palace, they are met with Kokhav sitting on top of many rows of stairs. She waves her hand, and many stars spell out a sentence. "Hi. You're his daughter, right? And you're Folmon Wysaven. The royal driven out of Dryadalis. Nice to ya. My name is Kokhav, Arcana of the Star. Her face is glistening with genuine warmth. Raphael summons her metal claws to her hand as shadows build up around it. "Will you let us pass? I'd rather not stain my arrows with the blood of a child." Folmon says as he readies his bow. Kokhav's smile grows wider as her stars spell out another sentence. "Do you guys have siblings? I'm the youngest of my three sisters, so I've always had to just look at them from behind.  Never really by their side, y'know?" Kokhav then stands and holds her wand out. "I have a little brother. I don't know where he is now, but all that's mattered to me is that he's safe. I'm sure your sisters wish the same for you, so let us pass so no blood may be spilled today." Kokhav seems to laugh at this, or at the very least make the motions of it, as no sound comes from her mouth. She then dismissively shakes her hand before spelling out a final sentence. "I'm sorry. But I want to be able to stand by my sisters side by side."

She then begins to wave her wand as if conducting a grand orchestra. As she begins to wave her wand, her stars fire out towards Raphael and Folmon, while some stay around her. Folmon runs to the side while firing arrows made of mana, and stars follow him. Raphael pops her fingers, making a wall of water beside her as she runs in the opposite direction of Folmon. The arrows he fired are torn to shreds by the miniature stars that surround Kokhav. She then changes how she is orchestrating her wand, causing the stars following the two to quickly and continuously swap places, creating what looks like a wall of light behind them due to the speed of the stars. "Raphael!" Folmon shouts out. She nods, and the wall of water she made grows behind them, consuming the stars, but they continue to move regardless, as if it wasn't there. Folmon then, as he jumps up onto the stairs, fires out multiple arrows at once into the domain of water. Kokhav is confused, blinks her eyes as her focus, then flies high in the air of the ginormous parlor until suddenly an arrow scratches her face and blood pours slightly. "She needs to consciously control her stars!" Folmon shouts from the stairs. Kokhav's blood runs thin as she looks back at the dome of water. Inside are swirling arrows, until one fires out at her. She blocks it in time with her stars, but Folmon fires one from the stairs, yet she sees it and barely blocks it in time. However, Raphael fires out a condensed bolt of water, piercing through her chest. Kokhav seems to stumble in the air until a glowing yellow light appears over her wounds, healing her from the brink of death. Kokhav's smile grows ever wider as she clears her throat. She moves her mouth in the motion as if she were speaking, but no sound comes out. Her stars lift from the ground, coalescing into a ball of light made of her many stars, where she floats until two figures made of light pour out of the giant star. Both figures have no distinct quality besides a feminine shape. Stars fire out from her as the two figures dash towards Folmon and Raphael. Raphael pops her fingers, creating hundreds of spikes of water behind her that shoot towards the creature. The lady made of stars smacks the back of her palms as a small ball of fire similar to a sun is formed, quickly evaporating Raphael's water. The lady quickly closed the gap between her and Raphael, quickly attempting to strike her face. Raphael tries to block her punch with her hand, but she feels intense pain as they make contact and quickly jumps back to dodge it. She looks at her hand, and part of her metal claw and her own flesh are burned off. I can't make contact with it, nor can I touch it. F***.' She thinks to herself, nervous and not knowing what to do. Meanwhile, Folmon is jumping away and dodging waves of stars that move like water. He fires out arrows towards her, but they are torn to shreds as they make contact with her. He clicks his tongue and summons forth the head of a Wyvern. The wyvern head reels back as it chomps down on her, but even the head is torn to shreds from the stars. Raphael pops her fingers, removing her metal claws. She takes a deep breath as the lady rushes towards her while smacking the back of their palms, summoning multiple balls of flame.

Shadows leak from Ikati as she pops her fingers, and dark tendrils grab onto the lady. "My god..." Folmon says this as he's distracted by the shadows surrounding Raphael. He isn't distracted for long, as he barely dodges the lady's punch, quickly jumping far back in response. Ikati can feel Voda standing behind her as she uses his shadows. The lady is trying to break free of the shadows but cannot as they pull her to the ground and tightly keep her down. "Xafra." Ikati says as black shadows encompass her left arm, turning it into an elongated, double-ended blade. The blade looks rough and unrefined, with jagged edges. What's left of her normal arm is her elbow, which now looks pitch black. She walks up to the restrained creature made of stars before slicing every single star that makes up her body into small pieces that the shadows envelop. Ikati quickly dashes toward Folmon, turning her arm blade back to normal before extending her hand and shouting out. "Xedd!" Which caused many black tendrils to fire out and grab into the lady of light and hold her down for her as he quickly pulled her hand back before saying "Xafra." Which returns her arm to the blade and quickly slices the lady into small shreds. "Y-" Before Folmon says anything, she turns to the orb of stars floating in the sky. She taps the ground and says, "Tarka." Creating a large, jagged, and rough-looking shield from shadows. "Go behind the shield." She tells Folmon, who nods. Ikati then jumps high into the air, now next to the star. "Be ready!" She shouts to Folmon, who prepares his bow to fire. "Devas." Shadowy tendrils fire out in all directions, creating a perfect sphere. Each tendril tipped with a black edge as they fired out, piercing everything around her. However, the shield she made defends against the tendrils, but the star isn't as lucky. The tendrils consume half of the star, shocking and surprising Kokhav, until an arrow fires into her head from Folmon.

'Oh, it ends like this? That sucks. I hope Shemesh and Sahar are ok.' A shouting voice begging to not die hides underneath the calm one. Kokhav  wakes up seemingly in a grassy forest. "O-" She tries to speak but can only make the O sound. She sighs and stands up, walking around the field with an air of familiarity. She arrives at a large rock and nostalgically runs her hand over it. 'This is where we would rest. Everything was so much simpler back then.' She lets out a heavy sigh before lying on the rock, looking up at the sky and seeing the stars and the moon. "Guess Shem isn't here, huh?" Sahar says, suddenly appearing next to Kokhav, who shakes her head. "Y'know, all things considered? I still miss Mr. Rodet. I know he left us, but... I never blamed him. We all have our own problems, and I just think that he couldn't handle his, so he ran. Kinda like we did." Sahar says with a chuckle. "This is the first time I've ever seen the moon. It's beautiful." After a long pause, she stands up and turns to Kokhav. "Well, are you ready to wait for Shemesh?" Kokhav closes her eyes and slowly speaks. "Y-yes." Sahar looks at her with a small look of surprise before laughing. "Ahahah. I didn't think you'd sound like that. But I also wasn't expecting the skin-tight pants. You needed to be more careful with what you show y'know!" Sahar playfully bats at Kokhav's shoulder before extending her hand. "Well, let's go. Be it heaven or hell, at least we'll all be together, right?" Kokhav smiles and takes her hand as they walk together through the forest.