"Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
"How can you be immune to kraentie?" Adira asked the one question most prominent among the thousands that popped into her mind.
"How should I know?" Ryder asked back, shrugging his shoulders.
"Maybe we are evolving," Taliyah chimed in. Her eyes were bright and flicked around the room, waiting for someone to agree with her, but everyone stayed silent. "Think about it. Our powers have evolved since the old times, so who is to say that we can't evolve against the damned element?"
"Maybe you're blessed!" Wren squealed. Her golden-red ringlets danced as she bounced on the bed, making her hair seem alive.
"Blessed?" Obsidian asked, inching closer to her. "What do you mean?"
"Blessed by the Stars, of course, you silly boy." Her smile faltered as she gazed around the room, realizing that none of them knew what she was talking about. "Oh, you poor, poor children."
Adira almost couldn't keep her laugh at bay. Wren couldn't be any older than them, yet called them children. Her quirkiness was endearing, and Adira noticed that she wasn't the only one who was drawn to her bubbly personality. Obsidian was sitting next to Wren on her bed now.
"You have been deprived," Wren continued, her voice soft and soothing like she was talking to wounded animals. "The stories of the Blessed were always my favorite in the Book of Time. I can't believe you haven't read them!"
"The Book of Time isn't exactly accessible, you know," Adira replied. "The Council had them all burned, remember?"
"Not all of them, apparently," Taliyah mumbled.
"I am one of the Blessed," Wren informed, her voice filled with pride. "All Wielders gifted with the Eye are Blessed. It's such an honor to be chosen by the Stars and be given a single ability that has the power to change the most dire of circumstances. We are given the unique powers for a specific cause, but sometimes the reason doesn't present itself until the time comes. Most of the time, it ends in a great sacrifice or death."
"Well, that's real comforting," Ryder said. "I don't really feel like dying."
Adira turned her head to look at him, seeing that his face had drained of color. She reached out to him, letting her fingers brush down his forearm, his eyes brightening from her touch.
"Don't sweat it, Ryder," Taliyah comforted. "All of this Star mumbo-jumbo is a load of shit."
"Excuse me?" Wren asked, her voice raising an octave.
"The Stars." Taliyah crossed her arms over her chest. "These cosmic beings that you keep talking about. They don't exist."
"How could you say such a thing?" Wren's tiny hand clutched at her chest as if Taliyah's words were a direct blow to her heart. "We owe our lives - our creation - to them."
"We don't owe anything to anyone."
The tension in the room was so thick that Adira could cut it with a knife. Obsidian stilled next to Wren as he gazed up at Taliyah like she had lost her mind. Even Ryder's breathing halted.
"Look around you, Wren," Taliyah directed, raising her arms out to her sides, presenting the room. "Where are the Stars?"
"They're up in the Heavens watching over us," Wren answered, her eyes blinking with tears. "They show themselves to us each night."
"But where were they when we all got taken by Authorities? When the Council built the Wall? When those Wielders murdered all of those innocent people? Where were they then, Wren?"
"I-I-"
"Exactly. They weren't here. Supposedly we are their children, right?"
"Yes, that's what the book says." Wren's voice was barely even a whisper. Adira felt terrible for the girl. She didn't deserve Taliyah's outburst, but she didn't stop her because in a way she was right.
"They let their children die. They let my parents die. Obsidian, Ryder, everyone in this pit have lost their parents because of the gifts that they gave to us. How is that right? How does that make any sense?"
"The ways of the Stars aren't meant for mortals to understand." Wren's voice was clearer, but still shook with every word.
"Here's what I understand. I understand that I was born like this. I was born a teleporting Wielder. When I was a little girl, a simple sneeze would shoot me to the other side of the city. That's how my parents got discovered. I disappeared on accident while they were being interviewed by Authorities. Because of me, they died."
Taliyah's cheeks flushed, her jaw clenching as she took deep breaths. Grief was pouring off of her in waves, surrounding them. At any second Adira feared she might break down.
"I didn't get a goodbye. I didn't get captured. Instead I have to live with my mistake, my accident. Why me, Wren? Why us? How is any of this fair? If the Stars do exist, I hope they are listening right now. I don't owe them a damn thing. They're the ones that owe me."
Wren sighed before gazing up at Taliyah with the kindest eyes Adira had ever seen. Any trace of fear or hurt faded away as warmth filled her gaze. She reached her hand out towards Taliyah.
"I'm so sorry that happened you," Wren spoke, her voice clear as day. "We've all lost someone dear to us, such is the way of the world right now. But we cannot let the darkness tear us away from the beings that created this world, created us. We were all chosen for a reason. The Stars do not choose our path, but instead give us the opportunity to make our own. They do not control the shadows in the world. The shadows feed on our light to give them strength. The farther we drift away from the true light that the Stars shine down upon us each night, the farther we plunge ourselves into the shadow. Do not feed the dark, Taliyah. Banish it with your light. We all have it inside of us, it's just our job to find it."
Everyone remained silent for a few moments before Taliyah took Wren's hand in hers, a tear cascading down her cheek.
"That was beautiful, Little Bird," Obsidian said. His compliment made Wren blush as she hid her face in her shoulder.
Something came over Adira in that moment. Maybe it was the emotions she had just witnessed, maybe it was the look in Obsidian's eyes as he watched Wren, or maybe it was seeing Taliyah's hand in Wren's. Hell, maybe it was all of it, but in that moment a warmth filled her heart that had been gone for far too long. She couldn't even remember the last time she felt so... good. Yes, that was the word she was thinking of. Good.
She let the warmth in her heart guide her body as her hand reached towards Ryder's. The second her fingertip touched his skin, his fingers laced themselves around hers, holding tightly as if he had been waiting for her. The warmth grew until she was one fire, the new feeling of being connected with someone almost too much to handle.
She had spent so many years alone. Sure, she had Bea's apartment to dwell in when the weather got cold, but she was still alone. Ever since she woke up in that grocery store surrounded by dead bodies, she had been alone. She fed herself, took care of herself, even talked to herself when the night was too quiet. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she hadn't always been alone, that there was someone once who loved her. But any memory she had once had of a love like that was gone and Adira didn't know why.
Even though she was locked in the one place she never thought she would be - a place where she had previously thought was only for the damned - she didn't feel so bad. She had never felt more whole, surrounded by her friends. She was standing in a cell, yet she had never felt more free.
The weight that had been pressing on her shoulders was lifted. She was as light as feather. Nothing could hold her back anymore.
"Um, Adira?" Obsidian asked. For some reason she had to look down at him. His eyes were wide, and when she looked around at her friends, she realized all of them were looking at her with the same wonder.
"Yes?" She answered. Nerves bubbled through her. She couldn't even feel the floor beneath her anymore.
"You're floating."
Adira snapped her gaze down towards the floor to see that she was indeed floating a few inches off of the floor. She yanked her hand from Ryder's and covered her mouth, stifling her shriek. She fell to the floor, bouncing off of the kraenite. She would definitely feel that tomorrow.
"Well isn't this just a morning full of revelations?" Taliyah asked, her hand resting on her hip as her lips tilted into a smile.
"What-how?" Adira stuttered. Her brain was pounding with too many thoughts.
"You did it. You channeled Ryder."
"But I didn't even try." Adira looked to Ryder for answers. His lips pulled back over his teeth, revealing a contagious smile. She couldn't help but grin back at him.
"But it's true," Ryder said, turning and reaching for both of her. He pulled her up from the ground, placing his hands on her shoulders once she was standing. "You are a Channel. You're going to save us all."
Playlist ~ Standing Still by Zack Hemsey
Image: Ryder