I was already heading out as Elysian rose into the sky. I didn’t see much, but there was a lot of smoke starting to cloud the outside of my vision field. “Starry Knight!” I called out.
She looked back at the sound of my voice. I was about to tell her to try to get the man subdued when he grabbed at her from behind. “Watch out!”
The demonic man gripped her throat and choked her in a headlock. I came running into him, just as Starry Knight managed to swivel out of his grasp.
I hit the man at an impressive speed. The guy and I both flew into the ground, and I swear I felt the road crack under the pressure. Still, I looked up at my partner with a sheepish grin. “Didn’t mean to let him get an opening. You okay?”
“I’ll live,” she assured me. I didn’t even mind the bite in her tone, or how her strikingly violet eyes narrowed at my arrival. If she was well enough to give me a hard time, I knew she was fine. And I was glad for that.
She checked the man on the road beside me. “He’s out cold.”
“Good,” I said. “I didn’t want to have to use my sword.”
Starry Knight indicated the clouds starting to form around us. “What’s Elysian doing?”
“He’s giving us a cloud cover,” I said. “The other guy—”
“Is he safe?” Starry Knight interrupted.
I’d known Starry Knight long enough to know she was concerned about the people, despite what Elysian might have thought about her. I nodded my head in response and said, “He told me that this guy works with him. Can you hold him down? I’m going to try to see if I can . . . ”
My words trailed off as I realized I didn’t even really know what it was I did to help people like this. Cure him? Set him free from the demonic hold he had on his heart? I didn’t really know to describe it the first time I did it, and I still didn’t really know. A lot of the ways I found myself explaining it sounded insane, even inside my own head.
Fortunately, Starry Knight seemed to know me pretty well, too. She held down the man’s shoulders and nodded. “That’s fine. If you need me, I’ll be here.”
I was surprised by the remark; there wasn’t much Starry Knight could do, if you asked me. Not when the guy was like this. Unless she meant actually ending his life. Hopefully she didn’t mean that. But as I looked at her and met her gaze, I realized she was trying to support me. I celebrated a small victory as I turned my gaze from her. While she had stipulated, very clearly, that we were only going to be allies, I had a feeling we were slowly slipping into friends.
I almost laughed at the thought; I’d never been so happy to be friend-zoned.
Putting that aside for later, I grabbed the wrist of the man and pressed in with my power, just as I learned to do with my own mark.
Instantly, the swirling emotions of his body flushed up, and after applying more pressure, I was able to transport myself into the Realm of the Heart, which was my name for the place between the inner and outer reality.
The heart is an interesting place, I thought as my eyes settled onto a new landscape. It had a reality all its own inside a person.
In this case, the reality in question was something out of a horror film mixed in with my own cubicle at City Hall.
It was a small heart, I guess, because I found the man’s inner self pretty quickly. The man was working at a desk, and there was a demon swirling around and around him, sinking himself into his heart and trapping him, speaking for him. Making a puppet out of him.
It was much like this when I’d been in Mikey’s heart, I recalled. A demon pulling the strings while the man was caught in a web of lies.
“Sir?” I asked, just a bit hesitantly. The man didn’t seem to be old enough for “Sir.” He did not seem to be much older than I was, actually. His blackish hair was short and neat, allowing me to see the youthful qualities of his face.
The man didn’t look up from his work. The demon shadow turned his attention to me.
After several months on the job of demon hunting and Sinister-slaying, I’d sharpened my assessment skills. It wasn’t a demon type I was familiar with; an eela had more of a personality, and they tended to create their own bodies with their powers. A tenwaleisk kept to a lot of technology, but it did have a human-like side, too; was it possible this was one of them? I knew it wasn’t a bakreel, a type of monster who usually used animals or plant life for a vessel. Maybe it was a more powerful form of a bakreel.
And I knew for certain it wasn’t one of the Seven Deadly Sinisters. None of them would deign to use a man’s body—and a lowly pencil-pusher at that—to try to gain power. Confusion set in. How was I going to defeat this monster when I didn’t recognize its species?
“What are you doing in here?” the demon shadow asked.
“I’ve come to set this man free,” I said, deciding to treat this like some kind of video game experience so it didn’t feel quite so surreal. I pulled out my sword, ready to do battle if the man himself wouldn’t help me.
“You don’t need this soul,” the demon told me. “He’s been depressed for so long. He feels his job is nothing special, but it’s the only thing he has in life. He works long hours. His brother is getting married, and he has no one else. Nothing but an empty job and a hollow life.”
“That doesn’t matter,” I said. “He still has the right to choose a better one. I won’t let you take that away from him.”
“I see.” The demon frowned. “I suppose you belong to him then.”
“Him?”
“The Prince of Stars,” he responded.
“Oh, him.” I straightened. “I mean, yes. I am one of his Starlight Warriors.”
“I am surprised you are not bitter,” the demon spoke. “It is not unusual for a fallen star to hate the Prince.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked. “Why would I be bitter?”
The demon’s eye gleamed with renewed interest. “Oh, I see; you don’t know, do you? Oh, this is priceless!” He began to laugh, and not only was it a terrible laugh, but I hated how much superiority I could hear in it.
My sword faltered. “What don’t I know?”
“All the fallen stars living on Earth were sent here as a result of the Prince’s ruling on the matter. It is a punishment.”
The word “punishment” stopped me as nothing else could have. “What do you mean?” I asked slowly. “I have a purpose for being here. It wasn’t to be punished . . . ”
Was it?
I mean, sure, some days it felt like it. But it wasn’t really a direct punishment. It couldn’t be.
This is a demon monster. He is your enemy. He wouldn’t tell you the truth. Unless the truth is worse than lying to you. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts and find some source of truth to break me away from the demon’s words.
There was a small push behind my own heart, and I grappled onto its warmth. The Prince would not betray me, I thought. He was supposed to be the good one in all of this. After all, Adonaias had specifically told me that I’d been forgiven.
But forgiven doesn’t necessarily mean “unpunished,” my lawyer side reminded me.
One thing at a time, I decided. First, cut down the demon. Then ask the uncomfortable questions.
Before I could make my move, the demon suddenly lashed out and curled around me, cutting me off from movement. I struggled against him, but his power held me back. “What are you doing?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“Why, trying to take your power, of course.” The demon offered me a creepy, distorted grin. “As a fallen star, your heart and soul are much more powerful than that of a human. All I need to do is find a weakness . . . ” He laughed again, and in that instant I began to worry. There wasn’t anything I knew of that would let Starry Knight or Elysian follow me into this realm. I was completely by myself.
A shadow of a hand formed from the demon’s aura and, before I could say anything else, it cut through my armor and my tunic and strangled itself around the core of my being.
“Ack!” I choked out with a hiss, as a burning pain began to surge throughout my body. I felt a sense of unconsciousness slipping around me as my soul began to separate itself from my form.
Seconds later, the demon slid back and began to cry out in pain. “Augh!”
Through half-open eyes, I watched as my energy burst free from my skin, showing a glimpse of the mold from which my heart had rested, cradled in its light like a flame in a larger fire. As I watched, power reached out and grabbed the demon’s shadow, and burned through it with a blood-red flame.
I felt my body begin to move again as the demon burned up, the blood flame dissolving it into nothing but fire residue.
“Ah,” I muttered, my hand flying to my chest. The red flame of my soul slipped back inside of me. I felt it brush against my fingers as it oozed past, returning to its home. “How did I do that?”
The demon holding the man hostage was gone. I looked up to see a college-age student before me, with dark eyes and darker hair—normal, once more.
“Thank you,” he said.
I watched as the tiny, cramped cubicle blew over, and a bright morning sky filled with twinkling lights settled around him.
“You’re welcome,” I said back. “Um, are you okay now?”
“I’m having a hard time,” he admitted. There was an air of loneliness and uncertainty around him still, I noticed. I was about ask what was bothering him when he continued, “But I’m not ready to give up, like that thing wanted me to. I have people counting on me.”
Oh, well that was good then. I guess I shouldn’t really be asking people I’ve never met personal questions. “Are you ready to go home?” I asked.
“Yes.”
And with that, we faded back into the real world, where I found my body kneeling over his, and his still unconscious.
I looked up and blinked, finding the real world a lot brighter than the realm of the guy’s heart. I felt his wrist fall out of my hand, and I slouched back onto my legs.
“Did you get to him?” Starry Knight’s voice came to me like a voice from the other side of the water.
I heard myself answer, “Yes. He’s free.”
“Are you okay?”
I looked up at Starry Knight, and her beauty was especially striking to me. I found myself falling forward, my hands wrapping themselves around her. As I broke through the surface, I found myself saying, “Yes. I am.”
☼4☼
Aletheia
Still jolted by the demon’s attempt to take control of me, I felt my heart swell as I held onto Starry Knight. Without meaning to, I could feel her emotions singing out to me. One of the talents I possessed as a fallen star, an Astroneshama, was the ability to read other people’s emotions. I figured it went well with the ability to walk into the Realm of the Heart, too. As I held onto Starry Knight, there was surprise, hesitation, irritation . . . and fear, buried under so much of everything else.
Starry Knight, after a long moment of indecision, pushed me back. I knew when she was going to do it. There was a strong resolve about her, and for small second I envied her for it. She was capable of resisting so much, I realized. That demon inside of the man wouldn’t have caught her by surprise, and wouldn’t have been able to take her heart. Assuming she had one, I thought bitterly as she let me go.
But as I straightened and caught sight of her eyes, I began to pity her. She wasn’t suffering like I was, and surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly, I thought she was worse off for it.
I cleared my throat. “Sorry about that. Transition overload.”
“Got it,” she muttered, standing up and turning away. “Elysian!”
The dragon arrived by our side a moment later. There was a silent settlement between Starry Knight and myself. One where we agreed not to talk about anything involving her or me.
Anger, unforgiving anger, surged through me as I looked at Starry Knight. Something was wrong with this, I decided. Maybe something was wrong with her. But there was no reason she had to play stupid with our relationship.
“Wait.” I said the word without really meaning to, and at her sharp gaze, one with a staggering amount of simultaneous antipathy and annoyance, I pointed to the man on the ground. “Can you check him? You know, for injuries and stuff?”
There were plenty of traits about Starry Knight I’d often considered desirable, but of all of them her healing ability was the one I envied the most. With just a push of her power, she could heal the body of its pain. After all the battles we’d fought together, I had yet to see its limit.
Her resolve broke at the mention of the victim. “Okay.” She moved over and picked up the arm I had dropped.
After she removed her glove, I watched as she let her own healing power leech into his body. I felt like I should ask her something. And Mikey’s photo op just seemed like too shallow of a reason to ask her to stay with me.
“You did a good job.” A new voice behind us made both of us turn around in surprise.
My breath sucked in. I looked around to see it was the lady who had only a few months ago given me the Sealing Sword to capture the Sinisters and destroy their minions. “It’s you!”
“Hello, Aletheia,” Starry Knight murmured. She put the man’s arm down. I could see a faint, glowing aura around the man as she finished healing him.
“It’s nice to see you again, too, Starry Knight,” the newcomer said. “I thought we agreed last time that you would call me Aleia now.”
I glanced from Starry Knight to Aletheia—Aleia—and asked, “You’ve talked to her before?”
When Starry Knight said nothing, Aleia answered for me. “Certainly.” Aleia giggled. “We’re all friends.”
At her words, I stared at her, just a bit incredulously. Friends? I didn’t think that was quite possible. But as I looked from her, with her long, dark blonde hair and crystalline green eyes, to Starry Knight, and then to Elysian, I thought there was a sense of familiarity and happiness Aleia had in seeing us that none of us seemed to share. And that was comforting. Maybe we were all friends with her separately? That made more sense, I decided.
Starry Knight straightened. “I have to go now.”
Aleia nodded. “I understand, but you might want to stick around while I’m here.”
“The cloud cover is dissipating,” Starry Knight said. “I’d rather get going before it’s gone.” She reached down and picked up the man on the ground. “I’ll take care of this guy.”
“What will you do with him?” I asked. I thought of Mark, my dad, and how the hospital where he worked was close by. “Are you going to take him to the emergency room at the hospital?”
“No, I’ll just take him back to work,” Starry Knight told me. “It’s not too far from here.” She turned and jumped, her wings plucking her from the ground and carrying her away from me.
“Okay.” I watched as she disappeared through the clouds and smoke. Suddenly, the strangeness of her statement hit me. “Wait, how do you know where he—?”
Elysian nudged my hand. “Do you want me to follow her?”
“Elysian,” Aleia said, “I would like it if you would stay with us for the moment.” She ducked down her head briefly, as she began to search through her long, white robes.
“I guess that’s a ‘no,’” I told Elysian with a half-hearted shrug. But I pet his nose nicely, as a way of thanking him for his small show of loyalty.
I don’t think he heard me, as he was staring at Aleia with a new sense of wonder. “Did you come down from the Celestial Kingdom?” he asked.
“Yes,” Aleia answered. There was a smile on her face that seemed quick and easy, and, just as before when I’d briefly met her, I had a feeling I would like her. “I am the Guardian Star of Memory.” She pulled out an orb, similar to the ones in which Alcyonë and Meropae were sealed, only bigger. It reminded me of a crystal ball.
“I thought you looked familiar,” Elysian muttered. “Yes, we are friends.”
“I am surprised you remembere
d that much,” Aleia said. “This side of Time, going through the River Veil can really mess up your memory, especially if you were not supposed to fall.”
Fall? Her words triggered my memory, and I thought of the demon inside the man, who said I’d become a fallen star because of a punishment.
“So my falling . . . wasn’t intentional?” I asked.
“That’s not an easy question to answer, and the answer is complicated, Hamilton.”
There was an uneasy feeling in my gut as she said that. I decided to change the subject. Part of me didn’t want to know anyway. “How do you know my name?” I asked. “They call me Wingdinger here.”
Aleia’s eyes twinkled. “Do you really think we are not without our resources?”
“We?” I assumed she was talking about Adonaias, the Prince of Stars, when she said that. I thought about how, on the times I met with him, there had been a strong and settled peace about him that differed from the world’s comfort, much as eternal truth differed from the world’s truth. “I suppose that would be silly of me,” I conceded.
The orb between her hands glowed fiercely white and bright. Power surged from its center, and a moment later there was a glass-like, transparent bubble surrounding us.
I looked around in awe; I noticed Elysian had a similar look on his face. “It’s a barrier of time,” he said, obviously fascinated and slightly terrified at the same time.
Laughing a little, I said, “I guess I don’t know enough to be scared of that.”
“There’s nothing to fear,” Aleia promised me. “The cloud cover is dispersing, so I thought I would take a moment of our time.”
“And hold onto it?” I laughed again.
She smiled at my word play. “I guess so.”
Elysian flew around the bubble, eventually coming to a stop near the top. “Everyone else has frozen in time.”
I hurried over to the edge and put my hand on it. It felt like a solid kind of soap bubble. My fingers left a trickle of color, despite the transparency. “Wow.” Looking past the bubble, I could see that there was indeed no movement beyond the border.