Meteor – Chapter 2

Meadow

_{<– Chapter 1 – Abyss}

_{This is a work in progress. Names, events, titles, etc. are subject to change}

Ahem. “What the fuck just happened?” I’m still breathing frantically; my heart hasn’t adjusted yet. Castor smiles, chuckles, smacks her face a couple times, and puts on a serious expression. Not a few moments later does she crack and start laughing again. I’m showing obvious irritation.

“I’m sorry,” she begins. Castor takes a deep breath and sighs. “There’s a lot-“

“I died in like ten seconds!” I interrupt, still angry.

Her eyes open and her crimson gaze pierces through me. There’s no sign of her previous playfulness. The look she’s giving me actually instilled a sort of primal fear within me. I shut my mouth and pay attention. What the hell is she?

She starts again, “There’s a lot I didn’t tell you. I thought it best to show you through example.” Show what through example? Whatever that fearsome creature was? I thought I was supernaturally gifted. That beast ended me effortlessly. She paused as if waiting for my thoughts to finish. Her intensity softens a bit. “The creature you met was a simple rabbit. One of the weakest animals on the planet. In the past, it wasn’t uncommon to accidentally scare one to death.” I couldn’t believe it. Before I could open my mouth, I feel a cold finger press up against my lips and a body pressed up against my back. Startled, I freeze. “Shh… I’m still talking,” her ghostly breath chills my ear. She lets go of my shoulder. I turn around to look at her but there is only the void.

Her voice once again emanates from the throne. I face her, bewildered. “You’re a good person, I know it. But you’re also arrogant. It’s true that I’ve gifted you with strength, but strength is nothing without wisdom. Bravery without fear is stupidity, not courage.”

Yes, ma’am.

“Gemini is dangerous for someone without fear. It’s a place so radiant with power, the only way to survive is to be scared.” She exhales deeply then stretches, letting out some strangely cute noises. Seemingly having shaken off her previous gravitas, Castor smiles. “Blah blah blah. None of that is any fun, I know. You used your power a bit, yeah?” She claps, startling me. “How was it?”

I swallow and clear my throat. “U-uh it was… fun?” She giggles. I have no idea how to feel about her anymore.

“Good! Keep that enthusiasm.” Was that sarcasm? Castor takes a quick walk around her throne and then lays down across its arms. “So, Gemini. It’s awful.” Her bare feet kick. “It used to be a pretty weak planet but, a couple hundred years ago, some inhabitants figured out how to light the fire in their souls.” I can feel my nerves coming back to me. I’m interested now.

The spotlight on the throne suddenly turns off. A smaller square light appears mid air. Shadows cast by Castor’s hands appear and her voice fills the entirety of the void, seemingly from every direction. “Once upon a time, there was a girl in a meadow.” The shadows form a tree and a figure of a small girl. A puppet show, really? I’m only just noticing I’m in a chair of my own.

The girl begins to hold her face. “Boo hoo! Boo hoo!” Castor cries out. “If only I had but one friend! Boo hoo! It’s not fair!” The girl runs toward the tree and sits down, hugging her knees. “The whiny girl lived alone. The world had taken everything from her. No more parents, no more siblings, no more pets, no more toys.” Shadowy shapes of all kinds appear flying across the light into a shadowy trash bin, which then disappears. “This pathetic child could do nothing to help herself. She simply wished for someone to save her.” A knight on a horse dances across the meadow. The little girl excitedly watches as the knight approaches, but he does not stop for her. Her head bows and she begins to sob again, this time convincingly. My heart drops at the sound.

Castor suddenly makes some wooshing noises as she scrambles the scenery into a whirlpool. The shadows now shows rain, a cave, and the girl lying down inside. “‘If only I had a friend’, the girl says again. ‘Then I could at least share my suffering.’ But no one wanted to be her friend.” The rocky cave expands into geometric walls and windows. The girl walks across the hallway. “The little girl, in her misguided desperation for companionship, thought she might lure someone in if she had something to give. So she began reading.”

Books fly into organized shelves while the girl sits at a desk, flipping pages rapidly. One book replaces hers, and then the next, and the next, until all of then have been exhausted of their knowledge. “She absorbed never ending pages of information, hoping to create something new and interesting. In her studies, she came across the idea of the spirit, the soul, or whatever it was called in whatever book she had her nose in.” The library melts into a stormy sea and the girl is submerged, her body hollow. There is a small circle in the center of her chest.

“She spent countless hours, years, decades, peering into herself. Partly because she believed there was something more to this hollowness within her, and partly because she was only comfortable around herself anymore.” Castor pauses for an uncomfortable amount of time. When she started again, it scared me. Louder than necessary, she said, “After so long, the sad little girl found the spark. Her soul lit up.” The circle in the center of the girl glows brightly, then ignites into a flame.

The sound of multiple voices giggling fill the void. “I did it! I did it!” The girl dances. “I have something to show everyone! I’ll be so popular!” She continues dancing. “And I’ll finally be happy.”

The shadows converge back into the shape of Castors hands. They open and close while an unintelligible crowd of voices murmur. “The girl showed everyone what she learned. The new power she had achieved was astounding. Godlike. Celestial. For a while, she was revered. She was popular. She was happy.” The girl is now in the front of a classroom. “She taught student after student what took her a lifetime to learn in a matter of weeks.”

“It wasn’t long before nearly the whole world had caught up to her. But none of them, not even the discoverer of these new skills, had the wisdom to use it responsibly.” Horrible imagery appears before me. “Cities were built and destroyed in a day, creatures were imbued with abilities they should not have, wars were fought, people died, people were brought back. Some wished for death. Some wished for life.” I couldn’t speak if I wanted to. “The girl had once again lost everything. This time, she knew it was her fault.”

The lights all disappear and I am enveloped by the void once again. Castor’s throne lights up like before. She’s sitting gleefully, her hands are holding her pale cheeks. “What did you think? I’ve been working on it for a long time,” she said eagerly.

I try my best to speak, “It was intense.”

She pouts and sits back. “It’s supposed to be fun, Lux.”

“Lux?” I ask.

“Well, you didn’t wanna pick a new name so Lux it is. It’s better but still close enough for you to be comfy, I think,” she says with sweet eyes. She’s all over the place, man.

Whatever. That’s fine. “Okay, so, if that was… 200 years ago? What’s Gemini like now?”

Castor stands up and walks towards me. She kneels down and meets my gaze. “It’s broken. There’s a sort of equilibrium now, but things are not as they should be.” She makes me feel cold. Her aura is chilling. “I need you to fix it.”

I’m not sure why I have to do anything. “What’s wrong with the way things are now? I mean, if the new status quo is what it is now, what makes this any different from any sort of revolution?”

“Everything will die,” she says without hesitation. I remain silent. “The soul takes energy from Nowhere.” She looks around, then spreads her arms, gesturing for me to look around too. “This place used to be bright. Nowhere is the source of all life. Every soul is a link to this place. The soul is given a constant and steady supply of light for as long as it is alive.” She stands up and walks back to her throne. “A soul doesn’t need much to persist. Barely a trickle. Igniting a soul is like opening a floodgate. It’s many orders of magnitude greater than a single soul needs, leading to extraordinary strength.” Castor leans her cheek against her fist. “Now do you get it?”

I think I do. “So, this affects more than just Gemini?”

“Correct,” she says.

I continue, “That means.. when Nowhere has run out, no more souls?”

“You’ve got it. So smart!” She begins clapping for me. “Everyone dies eventually. When they do, their soul is reclaimed by Nowhere. But the people of Gemini burn more energy than they are naturally supposed to be afforded. I want you to stop them.”

Wow. Okay. No catch, she said. It’ll be fun, she said. Shuffling on the floor, I cross my legs and try to relax a bit. I give her an earnest look and say, “Why can’t you do it? You’re clearly stronger than me.”

Castor replies, “That’s why I can’t. I’m the only reason this place hasn’t collapsed yet. I need to stay here and keep it alive.” She’s starting to look bored. “Are you ready to go back yet?”

Fuck no. “I’m uh, not sure what I would even need to do.” She closes her free hand, then opens it again. On her palm is a blue teardrop shaped rock attached to a necklace. She throws it to me. I catch it. “What is this?”

With half-closed eyes, Castor smiles and says, “Wear it and you’ll be able to hear my lovely voice wherever you are. Normally it wouldn’t be necessary but cross plane communication takes a lot of effort nowadays.” Perhaps she’s tired, not bored. “Just try not to die. Spend your first few days finding shelter and a place to practice with your new powers. We can talk again later, ‘kay?”

Okay. I guess. My enthusiasm is waning but I’ll do as she says for now. “I’m ready, I guess.”

She snaps her fingers. A ring of light echoes from the source of the sound and hits me like a wave, again. “Don’t touch the rabbits,” she warns me sarcastically.

I am enveloped in a warm greyness. The grey became black, which then became a deep purple. I’m greeted by the stars as I lie in the grass in the meadow.

_{Chapter 3 – Village —>}