The truth is not always easy to take.
“Kid!” Elysian was calling out for me. “Where are you?”
Trapped in the dark corners of my mind, I barely heard Elysian calling, but there’s nothing I could do or say. It’s happening, I thought.
My powers, even though I’d never known them or even really wanted them, were surely leaving, taking hope of ever knowing the truth. My own truth was about to become a lie that would be the truth to me forever. My last defense against the relentless pursuer, the ghost who haunts me even as I try to run from him.
I don’t want this, I thought again, as I sunk further into despair. I don’t want this at all.
And yet…
There was a part of me that wished I could. I wished I could’ve wanted this. But I couldn’t. I didn’t know. I didn’t know what to do. There was nothing that I could do. I couldn’t do this.
It’s all right, something inside of me whispered. I felt the lies tangling around me, settling into my skin like new clothes. I felt my consciousness further slipping away from me, as though I were suddenly watching myself sleep. The voices, at the heart of the emptiness inside, continued to whisper – comforting me, soothing me, telling me my happiness was the most important thing, the only thing…
“Kid!” Elysian called out again; this time it was louder.
Don’t listen to that ugly dragon, the voices insisted. He is full of nonsense, stories and fairy tales…
I heard Gwen scream for help again, but my relentless hesitancy refused to let me move. Time seemed to stand still, as though I was frozen. I couldn’t help it; nothing was more important to me than myself.
“Hamilton! Your friends need you!”
I cringed, torn between retreating further and going back.
Couldn’t they understand? I didn’t know who to listen to anymore! All my life, the world said everything was relative, there were no absolutes, certainly no good or evil, there were no miracles, fate was a delusion, humans were here by accident, science was the way to see what was really true, I was in control… all these things, I believed and heard and experienced for myself… but now… now it was all circumstantial…
Either choice I went with would call for sacrifice on my part.
I started to breathe more heavily. “I… can’t do this…”
Calm down, the voice inside said. It’ll be all over in a moment, just allow yourself to relax…
But I don’t listen this time.
“I… am afraid,” I admitted. Somehow, the hold on me seemed to grow weaker. “I am afraid to fight.”
“Kid! Are you listening to me!?” Elysian called out.
I opened my eyes, slowly. The grass came into focus slowly. “I need help,” I realized. “I need help to fight. I need help to save my friends. I can’t do this on my own!”
All of a sudden, the wind blew back, shaking through the trees, stripping my world of all traces of blurriness and bleariness. The leaves scattered all around, and I was caught up in a burst of light.
My mouth gaped open. “Huh?” I stood up, wiping my hands on my jeans and looking around. The woods had just been filled with a blinding, warm light.
Then I understood.
My fear had been covered up by the world’s lies, but the truth was breaking through, like the breaking dawn after twilight.
I gasped as the light, blazing, pierced straight through to my heart.
And then I saw him. The one who had been pursuing me.
A man with bronze skin, and fiery eyes, who wore a golden crown on his white hair… The man wasn’t old, but he was not young; he seemed beyond time, beyond measure, somehow. I couldn’t look at him directly, but the picture was burned into my mind with a startling clarity.
The man smiled gently, like a friend from long ago. “Rise up, and believe,” he whispered. “I am here with you.” He pointed to my right hand; I looked down to see my mark glowing again. I glanced back up, wanting to ask him the questions for which I had no words.
The one that did manage to leak out was, “Who are you?”
It sounded so hollow and weak I would’ve hit myself. But the man just looked at me and he said, “Who do you say I am?”
He was the Prince, of course. Elysian’s fairy tale prince; the ruler of Stars, protector and keeper of earth.
But who was he to me? I could recognize the face, but I couldn’t name the reason I knew him or understand why he would come and see me.
Then the strange vision melted away, and the lies I had been afraid to flake off peeled off like dead skin. All the greatness I’d ascribed to myself over the years all slithered off of me, and for the briefest second, I got a good look at myself.
It was not pretty at first. Selfishness, pettiness, materialistic, whiny, angry, frustrated, stubborn, hateful… like rejected crayon colors, they all flew away from my coloring, melting into rejuvenating hues.
The memories of a different time and place stirred in my memory – not dreams, but memories. Memories of another life – no, another part of my life – as an Astroneshama…
They cloaked me within a renewed sort of skin as my heart burst with a stream of power, full of truth and light. My back tingled painfully – but not entirely unpleasantly – as a pair of wings finally sprouted. And then I found myself wearing thin but durable black armor and a red tunic, with black half-gloves on my hands. Strange, but not foreign to me.
There was no going back. I had accepted my battle. I had accepted the consequences of embracing the truth. I wondered why I’d been so afraid of the truth.
“Hamilton!”
I smiled and turned around. “I’m here, Elysian!” I called back. “And I’m ready to fight!”
Elysian stopped in his tracks. “It’s you!” he cried with joy. Then a second later, after his awe apparently wore off, he started to snicker. “I was starting to worry, kid.” Then his snickering broke into full-fledged laughter.
“What?” I asked, irritated.
“I like the wingdings,” the dragon laughed heartily. “They add a nice touch.”
“Huh?” I reached up and felt the small pair of feathery wings arranged into a crown-like shape on my head. I sighed, glaring down at Elysian. “At least I’m not as ugly as you,” I finally huffed.
19
Fight Back
I was surprised to find Maia and Starry Knight fighting hard against each other when I arrived on the scene once more.
When did Starry Knight get here? I wondered. I stopped for a moment as I caught sight of the pretty fighter. I shook my head almost immediately. What am I thinking? I wondered. She wasn’t that pretty. And she wasn’t very nice. In fact, I really didn’t know anything about her… My thoughts went down this trail for a while until Elysian slithered over to me. I glanced sideways at him as he interrupted my thought trail.
There must be some adversity in my look because he glared at me. “What?” he asked. “Be glad she’s here. If she hadn’t come, I wouldn’t have been able to go get you and protect your friends from Shezape.”
“Huh?”
Elysian rolled his eyes exasperatedly. “The eela!” When he saw this meant nothing to me, really, he added, “The monster over there.”
“Oh.” That clarified a lot.
So, you want to get going, there?”
“Just trying to think of a plan.”
“I suggest you think faster!” Elysian exclaimed, jumping out of the way of a random attack. He took to the skies to help Starry Knight defeat the Deadly Sinister.
I looked around uneasily. What should I do? Seeing Tim lying on the ground, unconscious, and Gwen in the hands of the other demonic creature, I quickly decided protecting Gwen was a good place to start.
All right. Let’s see what I can really do with this superpow
er stuff.
I stepped forward. Deep breath. “Let the girl go!”
Shezape glared at me before laughing. “Who are you supposed to be?” he asked. “Halloween’s been over on this pathetic planet for weeks now. You don’t scare me!”
“Well, we’ll just have to fix that!” I yelled as I charged forward. Like a running tackle, I thought as I aimed for the legs.
Shezape tumbled over, loosening his grip on Gwen.
“Augh!” the demon cried. A surge of power went out of him as he tried to force me off of his back. There were sparks of yellow and gold flying out from him as he tried to get up. I gritted my teeth and tried to meet him, power for power.
Come on, I thought desperately. Do the light flashy-thing…!
A stream of bright lights blasted out of my hands a moment later, and I rejoiced.
While I unleashed my untrained fury on Shezape, I saw Gwen crawling her way over to Tim’s side. She cuddled him up to her chest, trying to protect him as the two fights on either side of her continued.
She was certainly admirable, even if it was a tad revolting to me.
I caught her eyes with mine, and I saw a flicker of shock and maybe even a spark of attraction (I was hoping.)
“Wow,” Gwen smiled. “There are two of them! How awesome is that?”
“Augh!” I cried out as Shezape strangled me in a sudden deadlock position. Gripping onto the monster’s large hands, I fought off all the pain Shezape was causing me with his own will.
The monster slowly managed a grin. “You’re not getting tired, are you?” he asked me.
“No,” I snorted indignantly. “You’re not getting smarter, are you?”
Shezape frowned and unleashed even more power. “You don’t know who it is you’re dealing with, silly child!” he cried out. “I am Shezape, the Sun Demon!”
I squeezed my eyes shut as I tentatively blocked the new surge of power. He’s pretty powerful, I admitted despairingly. I wish I knew how to make my powers work!
Shezape narrowed his eyes and emitted a small, forced laugh through his gilded fangs. He was struggling to maintain himself. “I’m going to steal your Soulfire,” he vowed. “After you beg for death, watching those other two humans suffer!”
“No!” I yelled. I would never allow this demon to take away anyone’s soul – even if it was just Tim Ryder’s.
My blood pulsed; light poured out from my heart to my hands, penetrating and neutralizing Shezape’s power; seconds later, the demon was thrown back into a tree.
I looked down at my hands in wonder. Did I just do that? I marveled. That was awesome! I smirked down at my foe. “Ha! You lose!”
“Look out!” Elysian called.
I swiveled just in time to see Starry Knight fall out of the sky. I jumped to the rescue; she slammed into me hard, knocking me back and rolling with me across the grass. Elysian unleashed a blast of fire at Maia to distract her.
Starry Knight hurriedly pushed her body up off of mine. Her long hair tickled my face; I glanced up to see into the violet depths of her eyes.
She faltered. Her lips opened in what I read as shock, and a long moment passed between us in silence.
I desperately racked my mind to find any memory of her from the other life I’d had. There was nothing, but that felt like it was off.
Then the moment passed, and Starry Knight, recalling her battle, hurried to her feet. She pulled an arrow out and held her bow at the ready, looking threateningly down at Maia. “Enough,” she commanded.
She is lovelier up close, I thought before stopping myself. Then I shook my head again, finally standing all the way up. She thought I was a child, remember? Weak. Helpless. Now look at me, I thought proudly. I was a warrior, too, just like her – if not better.
“Watch it, kid!” Elysian warned me.
“Huh?” I turned around just in time to see Shezape getting ready to launch another attack.
Elysian’s long, scaly tail whipped out and wrapped around the dark creature, squeezing him into submission. “Hit him!” Elysian called out.
“With pleasure,” I smiled as I felt my heart jump with the adrenaline rush. Aiming carefully, I landed my punch square on.
Shezape’s face caved in, his scream of pain and terror muffled as his power began fading, flaking him into dust. Elysian grinned as he tossed Shezape loose, the wind catching the speckled remains. A bright cloud of white fire with twinkling sparklers spilled all through the sky; the captured Soulfire were free.
“My Soulfire!” Maia cried out, hurrying over to the stream of souls.
“The next arrow is for you,” Starry Knight called out, warning her.
Maia flipped around, a few of the collected Soulfire flames kindling in her hands. “You can’t kill me with just that silly arrow!” Maia replied in a strong voice. “You might be able to bind the lesser demons, but you will need a lot more power to bind me!”
“Do you really want to test that?” Starry Knight asked.
I exchanged glances with Elysian. What should I do? I wondered. What is going on? I could tell that Elysian is thinking along the same lines.
I decided to step forward. “Stop, wait a moment!” I called out. Maia and Starry Knight looked over at me, and I slipped momentarily. Performance anxiety, I supposed.
Maia glanced back at the Starry Knight and grinned.
“Kid…” Elysian whispered. He saw the look on Maia’s face. “Don’t –”
It’s too late. Maia unleashed a powerful bomb, sending it straight into the ground, creating an upheaval of dirt and debris. The earth was torn apart and flung into clouds, trembling and cracking with groaning sounds.
Elysian went flying back, finally stopping as a couple of bushes broke his fall.
Starry Knight jumped out of the way, landing on a nearby tree branch; and I landed less than gracefully on my rear in a pile of mud. Soupy mud.
“Well, it’s time for me to leave now,” Maia called as she took flight. “So sad I have to leave now, bye-bye!”
“No! Come back here and fight!” Starry Knight called. She unleashed an arrow once more, but the night sky was too dark and murky for her to get a good lock on her target.
Then everything went silent; it was done.
“Eww,” I cringed as I found myself ankle-deep in a mud pool. It figured, I moaned silently. Out of all the places to land!
Elysian let out a groan as he tried to move. “That witch,” he muttered. “How like a Sinister to take a cheap shot like that.”
“Villains have no honor,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, yeah, quit quoting your video game mottos to me,” Elysian sneered as he got up and shook the mud off his body.
“Ugh! Hey!” I complained as the mud splattered a fresh coat all over me. “This is a new outfit.”
“Don’t worry. You’re not fit to wear it,” a voice said from behind us.
“Huh?” I looked up to see Starry Knight staring down at me, her long gingerbread hair blowing in the wind. Her violet eyes were narrowed in vexation. I didn’t say anything to her remark, although I normally would have.
A couple of police sirens could be heard in the distance.
“Who are you?” I asked after a moment of somewhat awkward silence.
She glared warily at me.
What? Why was she so irritated with me? Did she blame me for that Maia person or whatever she was getting away?
As if to answer my question, Starry Knight frowned. “Stay out of this war,” she warned. “This is between me and them.”
War? What did she mean, war?
I stood up and wiped the mud off of my suit. “Look,” I said, trying to keep my voice level. I didn’t want her mad, just annoyed. “I’m a warrior, too, and –”
She sneered. ??
?You are hardly a warrior,” she said. “You don’t even know who you’re fighting.”
“Is it you?” I asked pointedly.
She turned and walked away. “Stay away from this battle,” she warned me again. She faltered momentarily, before looking back over her shoulder. “You might get killed if you don’t.”
I didn’t know it at the time, but that wouldn’t be the first time Starry Knight would warn me off or irritate me or insult me. It would be, however, the last time I watched her leave without getting the last word in.
I felt a chill run down my spine as I watched Starry Knight leave from our first real battle together. “Well, she isn’t going to be pleasant to deal with,” I huffed as she took off into the night.
Elysian transformed back into his smaller self as he nodded. “She’s definitely a mystery,” he agreed. “We can’t know whether or not she is a Star on our side or not. We will have to watch her. She could be dangerous.”
I snorted. “Of course she is,” I grumbled. She’s a woman.” Woman… that reminded me…
“Hey, where are you going?” Elysian asked as I started running.
“I’ve got to see if Gwen’s all right.”
Elysian sighed. “At least go back to your normal self, first,” he reminded me.
“Uh, how?”
Elysian shuffled over. A moment later, he grinned. “Ah! The Emblem of the Prince!” he exclaimed joyfully.
When I just gave him a confused and irritated look, Elysian pointed to the mark on my wrist.
The mark had changed slightly. It was no longer just a four-point star, but two of them, crisscrossed over each other. One was glowing bright red, while the main one, the regular one, is glowing black. Elysian smiled. “That is a sign,” he explained. “It means you have accepted the truth. You have been given power.”
“Uh, so? How do I turn off the glowing and stuff?”
“Just touch it, kid,” Elysian shrugged. “That should do it.”