*FAIR WARNING* The first couple of chapters are a bit wonky. I wrote them for Nanowrimo 2012, without even so much as a spellcheck on it. So there will be typos all over the place, and it will be fixed ASAP. I hope it doesn't discourage you from reading though--All of your support is appreciated :)
Shattered Star
Chapter one
In the secret land of Astron, placed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the city of Yildun was asleep. The moonlight accompanied by the stars shone bright, illuminating every building in the town. An eerie silence had fallen over the city. Nobody would have guessed that, inside the peaceful star temple havoc was rising.
“This makes no sense,” Joshua whined loudly. Vega rolled her eyes at him from her spot on the marble floor. She had heard all his complaints all day long. In fact, the general mood between Garnet, Joshua, and herself had gradually gotten worse for the past three weeks.
“Stop complaining, big boy!” she said with a yawn and kept flipping through the pages in her book. Solem, the Elders honestly had to update their language from ancient to make it easier to understand. This book and many others had threatened to lull her to sleep every minute of the time that she spent in front of them.
“But this is agonizing, I’ve tried this for the past week and there’s nothing coming forth,” he continued. Vega looked up at him. He was gesturing to a silver telescope that was in front of him facing the dark sky.
“It’s true, Vega,” Garnet interrupted. Vega looked at the Elder, his white hair was tussled from having a hand running through it in frustration one too many times and his beard was unkempt. The thing that showed how much work he had put into this was the massive bags he had under each eye though.
“We aren’t getting anything we can use from the Star-scope. In fact, we have only gotten one thing, which is the only thing either of us has been able to read,” the Elder continued. Vega looked down at her book again. She didn’t know much of the technicalities in star reading, but she didn’t believe it to be easy.
Garnet and Joshua were the only ones taught in the fine art of star reading. She could help with only so much. Unfortunately, when her two selves had morphed into one, she hadn’t gotten Miriam’s joy for reading. Instead, she was stuck with Annabell’s hate for it.
Vega rubbed her forehead, thinking of the two souls she had inside her, were enough to make her head hurt in ways she couldn’t explain.
“I just wish I knew what ‘start’ meant,” Joshua mumbled. With a groan, he rubbed his eyes, “I need a break.”
Vega looked at his back as he went out the door without a second glance at her. Part of her wept over the distance that had formed between them after she had revived him and had rose to her true form. Of course, the part that wept was Annabell while her other self was hurting from the betrayal of her first crush who turned out to be one of her archenemies.
Battling with the confusion of two teenage girls emotions inside wasn’t easy, and it had affected her relationship with Joshua. The last month had been far from a blast.
“You should go talk with him.” Vega looked up to see Garnet smiling down at her with saddened eyes. Nodding slightly, she rose, and with a small wave of her hand, she went after Joshua.
He was standing in the temple’s garden with his back to her. Vega watched as a gentle breeze caught his blonde hair that had grown too long. The rope he was wearing was similar to hers, standard wear in the temple. Something which Garnet demanded when they first started this adventure.
“Joshua?” she called. He didn’t turn around, but stiffened when her voice reached him. Walking slowly closer Vega saw his shoulders rise with every breath he took.
“Joshua?” she repeated in a lower voice as she came up next to him. He glanced at her but remained quiet.
“Talk to me? Please?” she begged. A heavy sigh broke from him, and he ran a hand through his hair.
“I saw what they did, I felt it! And I need to do something,” he confessed. Vega looked at him. His shoulders had hunched down, and he was looking at the ground.
“I know, I feel the same, but frustration won’t get us anywhere,” she said softly. He just looked at her with no words. Vega felt desperation from somewhere inside and reached out to him.
“It’s just. What the hell does that ‘start’ means?” he asked almost sounding angry, making her retract her hand.
“It could be anything really,” she answered quietly, even though she knew that the question was rhetorical and not directed towards her.
They had turned it over amongst them a bunch of times already. The start… and the more time that had passed, the foolish had the ideas turned out to be.
Everything from time travels to journeys on the outside of Astron’s borders had been suggested and dismissed. Personally, Vega liked the idea of visiting other places, but Garnet had told them that it would be impossible for the Black Holes to escape through the layers of spells that coveted the land.
This meant that the danger could be nearer than they thought. However, Yildun was protected. Every night Vega had been up in the highest tower of the temple to sense the darkness and nothing had come up, which was a good thing. However, the thought that the rest of the astronian people was in danger was agonizing. Their only consolation was the fact that the people didn’t know about the danger they were in.
“We should get back to work,” Joshua said softly and turned to leave.
As she watched his back retreating, she despised her split personality. One thing was for her to suffer through it, but why did he have to be cursed too? It wasn’t fair to either of them and even though Annabell’s memories revealed nothing to her about the two of them, the hurt in his eyes whenever he looked at her when he thought she didn’t notice, was evidence enough.
Sighing loudly, she kicked a stone that lay on the grass. So much pain, yet for no reason at all.
Vega decided to walk back in. Garnet and Joshua was once again in front of the star scope, flipping through books that contained over a thousand years of wisdom.
Settling back on the floor she looked over the page and wished that along with her recently gained powers was the answer to this.
“I was thinking something,” Joshua said. Vega listened with half an ear while trying to focus on the words on the page. Silence erupted through the room, and a prickling feeling spread over her body. Looking up she saw the two men watching her.
“Huh?” she questioned. Not having paid attention to what was being said.
“You could try,” Joshua suggested.
Vega fought the bubble of laughter that threatened to erupt from her throat.
“What are you talking about? I can’t read stars,” she objected.
“I know you’ve never have been taught it, but maybe if you’d look in the star scope, then maybe we could get a step closer,” Garnet interrupted.
Vega looked between the two of them. A hope was shimmering in their eyes, and she hated the fact that she might have to disappoint them. Hope was all they had at this point and their gradually lack thereof had been tempting to succumb likewise to.
“Okay,” she answered. Deciding it couldn’t hurt, if anything, and then it might be fun to watch how the thing worked. Rising from her spot on the floor, she walked over to the little platform where the star scope was placed.
“Splendid!” Garnet exclaimed with relief and joy. He motioned for her to sit in front of the device.
“This isn’t a normal telescope, these symbols here,” he explained and pointed to the metallic ring around the lens. “They are the tool you have to use to understand the message from the stars, when looking through this, the ring starts spinning, and the stars will guide you towards an answer.”
Vega looked at the scope in front of her. The silver glinted in the light, and she leaned closer to see the symbols on the ring. They were tiny, and she couldn’t make out any shape.
“I can try,” she said and sat her eye to the lens.
“Most star readers have their own constellation to seek answers from; I would suggest that you point this towards the constellation of Lyra.”
Vega heard Garnet’s voice in the background and concentrated on trying to find the coordinates of the constellation.
Looking through the star scope, she saw the night sky in an entirely different way. The star that shared her name twinkled brightly down to her. As she stared in amazement at the beauty of her kin, she vaguely registered the lens moving. At first, she tried pressing closer to it, to cease from ruining the view. Though she soon realized that it wasn’t the lens, but the metallic ring that moved, just like Garnet had explained.
“Now, focus only on the answer you wish to have answered,” Garnet’s voice sounded distant. She could feel him beside him, the beauty of the stars captivating her attention.
Vega focused on the ‘start’ and willed it to be answered. She relaxed her stance and emptied her mind except one question. ‘Where is the ‘start’?’ she repeated inside her mind. Nothing happened at first. She breathed deeply, and by thirteenth time, the ring started moving faster and faster.
Stopping repeatedly on three symbols, it kept going round and round. Information flooded the inside of Vega’s brain. Spinning faster and faster she couldn’t stop looking.
A headache spread from her forehead and back, and groaning she tried to pull away, unable to, she gritted her teeth.
Arms were wrapped around her torso, and she was pulled away from the device. Her eyes hurt and she clenched them shut, panting heavily. Someone stroked her hair gently, and her head was places on something.
“Vega… Vega… Are you okay? Vega?” the concerned voice penetrated the haze of pain that had clouded up her mind, disabling her other senses. Wisdom flew through her and as she tried to recall it, the pain came back.
“Just lie still, the sensations will pass in a moment or two,” Garnet said from somewhere. As Vega laid still, she waited for the pain to subside, trying to think of nothing at all.
After what seemed like half an eternity, the pain finally increased, and she tried to open up her eyes. Above her, with concern in his green eyes, was Joshua, her head securely in his lap. A memory flooded through her mind of another time, another place, where she likewise had opened her eyes just to see Joshua waiting for her to wake up.
“You okay?” he asked. His brows were scrunched together. She nodded slowly. Now she was.
“What happened?” he asked and helped her sit up.
Vega didn’t know, and she weren’t about to try and remember once more, seeming as the last time had made her wish to decapitate herself.
“I recognize the events,” Garnet said slowly. He was seated in a chair further away. Looking at him now, Vega noticed the signs of a man who had lived long and seen much. He had closed his eyes but when they met hers, compassion and wisdom, the kind that only come with age, shone through to her.
“What was it?” she asked but feared the answer. When Garnet looked away, the fear inside her rose once again.
“I’ve been through something similar,” he held a brief pause to breathe. “I was the only child between my parents, my father was Errai. The previous one, that is. As I was the only heir to the prophecy, I was led to study the art of star reading. After the death of Garnet, I was chosen to step in his place, receiving the gift of wisdom. First time after I sat in front of the star scope, this happened to me.”
Silence fell between them all. Would this mean that Vega had the knowledge of an Elder? That didn’t leave them with any help since they already had an Elder aboard their little mission. She met Joshua’s eyes.
“So, does this means you have answers?” he questioned and with that an inkling started spreading inside Vega.
Answers. She had sought answers to something. A whirlwind of thoughts sprung around in her mind. Remembering the symbols at first. The star, a ruin and an owl. These three symbols were the key to solving the issue with the black holes.
Her mind worked alongside her thoughts and an apprehension spread. Stopping herself before it broke out she breathed slowly.
“I know what the start means,” she whispered. Garnet and Joshua, who had been watching her the whole time, looked at her with anticipation evident in their eyes. Rising from the floor, she stood up and looked at them.
“Garnet, you once told me that the world’s greatest civilizations all descended from Astron, right?” she asked, trying to make her mind piece the information together.
“Ah, yes. We have the Egyptians who got their hieroglyphs from our star reading technique. The Greeks who got their ideas for architecture from our temples and the Mayan have their knowledge from the information the first five stars provided. The start of civilizations everywhere all begins here,” he explained.
“That’s it!” Vega exclaimed as the dots connected inside her mind. Looking at the others with a cheerful expression, she clapped her hands excitedly.
“What is?” Joshua was the first one to express his thoughts.
“Don’t you see it? The star would refer to the hieroglyphs, the ruin to the architecture and the owl, which was the Greek goddess of wisdom’s mascot, stands for knowledge. The start is here. Within the history of Astron,” she explained, looking between the two of them. As the idea sunk in, the hope was back in their eyes, and Vega felt her heart flooded with hope.
“Why didn’t we see that one coming?” Joshua questioned, his voice sounding optimistic rather than gloomy. Vega looked over at her friend. The memory passed through her head, and she knew they had to come from Annabell.
Vega stood up and looked over the mess she had made on the floor. Books were spread around on the floor, opened on random pages that withheld pieces of information she thought they might need. The highest temple floor was messy, and she looked forward to cleaning up and embark on the journey. Picking up books, she started to close them and stack them
“What are you doing?” Joshua asked. She didn’t look at him, determination apparent in her stance.
“We have wasted enough time here, I won’t give Errai more time to call in reinforcements, who knows what he have been up to while our noses were buried in books,” she answered and continued with the cleanup.
A hand stopped her shortly after, and she looked at it, waiting for it to be removed.
“We still don’t know where to go, Vega,” he said. Her name sounded so foreign to her and deep inside her heart rumbled with regret. She contemplated turning around and face him.
“Actually, I think I might have an idea,” Garnet’s voice interrupted them. They both turned towards him in a heartbeat with similar confused expressions plastered on their faces.
“There is a place and the thought occurred to me earlier, but I shook them off,” he explained and looked down. His long white robe moved slightly as he began to wander around in the room.
“Many years ago, I was going through the old records of the early days. It was a short time after I first had been inducted. The opportunity to reveal all that has been hidden from the public eyes was too much for me, and I became obsessed,” Garnet gave a small chuckle. Then he turned to them, “It was then that I figured out the hidden secrets about the ancient Astron.”
Vega gasped. More secrets? Sitting down on the pillow on the floor she paid attention. Not long after Joshua joined her.
Garnet looked embarrassed at them.
“There are many things yet to be discovered about the days that were. Nevertheless, they would all be hidden inside a magical place within the land. Magic is clouding a place in our midst,” he said and sighed.
“So this magical place is where we might find Errai?” Vega asked. Garnet nodded.
“As an Elder, he would have access to the same information, but with no conscience or desire to uphold his duties to the land, he would have plenty of time to embark on travels, to find the right destination,” he explained.