Burning Star

Running through the dense forest was similar to running inside a maze. Amelia had no idea where she was. She didn’t know how far she’d gotten, nor did she know how long she’d been running. All she knew was this: she didn’t want to stop.

Her feet padded against the ground as she steered around the massive branches. A storm had covered this part of the country in the past week, and the signs of Mother Nature’s force were evident. Trees had fallen, their branches tangling together with the shrubbery. The earth had dried, but she could still spot a few puddles around. Only a few birds chirped in the treetops, but Amelia didn’t focus on them. The only sound in her ears was the echo of her own beating heart.

With a tear stained face, she ran to the right. The most sensible thing would be to stay at the path, but Amelia didn’t feel particularly sensible. Shame, anger and pain filled her insides. Never before had she felt so hurt, and never before had Eric made her feel so worthless.

She weaved through the trees, her eyes searching for a place to rest. Her breathing was shallow, and her heart pounded against her ribcage. Her left side pained from side stitch, and her face felt stiff from the dried tears.

“Ungh!”

The ground came closer to her face when her foot was stuck on a root. She squealed and put out her hands for protection, hoping to break her fall. Pain shot through her hands, and she groaned when her body collided with the earth.

Solem, why can’t you be on my side for once? I’m a— well mostly—a good girl, she thought.

Amelia pushed herself off the ground and leaned back on her knees. Looking around, reality finally caught up to her—she had no idea where she was. Looking at her hands, she saw scrapes across her palms.

Amelia was lost. There was no point in denying it any longer. She didn’t recognize anything around here, and she couldn’t hear the soldiers any longer. The sun had moved from its early position, meaning she’d been wandering these woods for a ridiculous amount of time.

She pushed herself from the ground and looked around. It would be best to find Eric and Joshua again. The thought tore her insides to pieces, but it was needed. She wasn’t fit to wander the woods on her own. She decided to begin to moving back to the soldiers, and with large difficulty, she tried to use the small glimpses of the sky to navigate after. Amelia’s only problem was that she didn’t know how to navigate without the stars. Everywhere the trees stood tall, towering above her and shadowing her from the sky. Only a few glimpses were allowed through.

Groaning heavily, she kicked a rock lose on the ground. It was agonizing to be in the wrong—especially when she didn’t feel she was. Amelia believed that she’d done the guys a favor, and if they couldn’t see that, it was their loss.

The wind was starting to become heavier. A shiver spread throughout her as a draft chilled her to the bone. Glancing upwards, she took notice of the gigantic oak she was standing before. Contemplating to climb it, she moved her attention to the trunk of the tree. It was rough, and she didn’t believe her scraped palms would be able to hold on. She’d end up falling down and hurt herself even worse if she tried.

But then again, she needed to do something to get back. There was no possible way of backtracking her movements, and without an idea of directions, she could end up being stuck out here.

A twig broke behind her, and she started to look around, frantically, searching for the source of the sound. Dread filled her, and was helped on the way by rush of adrenaline that shot through her. Soon after, she could hear heavy padding from her footsteps echoing throughout the forest as silence spread behind her.

Keeping her pace, she turned her head to look back. A squeal erupted when she could feel gravity sending her crashing against the ground for the second time. Her foot was entangled in a mess of shrubbery, and she couldn’t get out.

“I might as well give up now,” she muttered.

Her shoulders hunched down. Maybe Eric had been right, she wasn’t fit to take care of herself. No matter how many nights she spent studying a map; it wouldn’t change the fact that she hadn’t been discovering the country since she was a child.

“Solem,” she muttered. “What have I done to deserve this?”

She sighed. Maybe it would be best if she stayed away from Eric. It was a horrible idea anyway. She could simply have told him about the statue of Orion in her hometown when he came to apologize. A new set of tears started rolling down her cheeks.

Amelia couldn’t stop the sobs; they escaped her mouth and pulsated throughout her body. Shaking, she hugged her knees and allowed them to fall. There was no point in denying. She was hurt, the wounds on her palms were dirty—probably infected—and she was lost. There had never been a bigger reason to cry than right now.

She wept for her past, her present and her future. Her childhood had been ruined by her capture, her present had been ruined by her own foolishness, and her future was ruined because she was damaged goods.

The feeling of despair crept over her, waiting to strike until the last moment. Frustrated, her nails dug into the palm of her hands. The physical pain eased her distress by only a little. Arching her neck back, she stared to the sky. Up there, the stars were watching—even through the day. The thought made her scream. Nobody should be allowed to watch her misery without consent. She screamed her lungs out, gasping for air in between howling at the sky.

And then everything became black. Something covered her vision, a cloth of sorts, and it caused her to struggle to breathe. She tried to scream again, hoping that she hadn’t run to far away from Joshua and Eric.

Amelia couldn’t see anything. A set of arms wrapped around her waist, and she could feel herself leave the ground. Panicking, she started to flail her arms around. Her legs followed suit, and she heard a groan when her boot collided with something. A muttered curse followed before someone pinned her arms to her side while her feet were bound together.

She couldn’t move at all. A bittersweet smell hit her nostrils, and Amelia tried to fight the unconsciousness creeping up on her. To no avail, her body gave up fighting mere moments after.

Amelia woke up with a pounding headache. She groaned and rolled over on her side. She was lying on something hard. With her eyes still closed, she tried to feel around. When her hand encountered rock, her eyes shot open.

The floor was made of stone. She looked around and saw stalls, as well. There wasn’t much light, but in the dim lighting she could spot human eyes staring back at her. That’s when everything came back to her: her sneak-out, the meeting with the gang of Black Holes, Eric’s words, her departure and her abduction. Everything was clear to her—she was in massive trouble.

“Who’s there?” she called. “I’ll f-fight you if I have to.”

Fear rushed through her as she recognized the sound of a groan from the darkness. Why had they bothered to bring her here? And why’d they untie her? Didn’t that defeat the purpose of taking hostages? Not that she minded.

“Amelia Star Daughter,” a dark and coarse voice said. “We need your help.”

Even though she wanted to question the odd name, she couldn’t help but snort at the request for her help. “You’ve chosen a horrible way to make me agree.” She sat upright, feeling woozy. Groaning, she continued, “Most people don’t like being abducted.”

“We had to get you away from danger,” the voice explained.

“I wasn’t in danger, I was screaming at the sky because I was sad. That’s about it—no danger at all.”

“You are in much more danger than you might think.”

“Of course, now I am,” she muttered.

“Excuse me? What did you say?”

“Nothing.” Amelia closed her mouth. Even with her hands untied, they still outnumbered her, and it would give them a immense advantage over her if she attempted to escape.

“We mean you no harm,” the voice said again. “I promise you—you are safe now.”

“I don’t need your help in being safe,” she said and crossed her arms. A pout crept onto her face, and she huffed loudly, signaling that she wouldn’t speak with him.

“Actually, Amelia Star Daughter, you do.” The man stepped closer, allowing her to see his size.

With wide eyes staring at the silhouette, Amelia dropped her jaw—the man was huge. Like a mountain, he towered above her. She was genuinely afraid now. Joshua had taught her that it didn’t always come down to size or muscle power in a fight, but she was sure that if it did, her captor would be massively superior.

“What are you?” she blurted.

“I’m Thomas Scar Son,” he said and stepped into the light. She gasped when the dim light revealed his face. It was scarred mess of skin. A thick scar ran across his face, from his forehead to his jaw, and the sight in itself was horrifying.

“What happened to you?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Been in one to many fights, I think.”

It was surreal. Amelia couldn’t tear her eyes away from his face, and the worst part, he just stood there and allowed her to stare—as if he were some sort of freak show. Ashamed, she gulped. “I-I’m sorry.”

The man didn’t react. Instead, he took a small step closer to her. “We know whom you are, Amelia Star Daughter.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?” She frowned. Finally, she gained control over her eyes, and she averted them to the sides. The only light came from behind Thomas, and she wasn’t sure what would happen. She wasn’t even scared.

“Because that’s what you are—“Thomas reached out his brawny lump of a hand, offering to pull her up—“and we need your help.”

Amelia was close to taking the hand, then decided against it. The cold of the floor wasn’t enough to let her jump straight into danger—although, some might argue it was already too late for that.

Thomas retracted his hand. “Very well. I’ll let someone else explain it then. You’ll stay here—in safety—until you agree to help us.” With that, he turned on his heels and left the room.

Amelia watched as he walked over to one of the set of eyes, and then muttered something she couldn’t hear. Curiosity killed the cat—she knew that. So she placed herself on her hands, leaning against a wall while clamping her mouth shut. There was no way she’d give in to the itching curiosity.

But then again, she wanted to know what was going on so badly. She wanted to know what this mess was about, and she wanted to be released so she could go home.

Home… The thought made her snort. What was home anyway? The temple where she would be hoisted up indoors for her own safety? She didn’t think of the Star temple as her home. It wasn’t a home; it was a tribute to the Stars. Nothing more, nothing less.

A woman walked over and sat down beside her. “Cap’n said I had to show you this,” she said. “Thought maybe it would help you decide.”

Amelia stared at the little object in the woman’s hands and gulped. That couldn’t be…

“I-is that…?” she asked.

The woman nodded. “You know what it means, right?”

Amelia nodded. She was aware of the legend of the last pendant. She knew that Eric and Joshua wore the two others. But Garnet told her that the third had been lost. Here she was staring at a beautiful pendant formed as a triangle.

Half a Star, Amelia though. She reached for it but hesitated. The bearer of the pendant would know the intentions of others, and it had driven many men to insanity. No human should possess so much power.

“You can have it,” the woman said. “It’s rightfully yours.”

The thought alone was insane. She couldn’t possess any power—she couldn’t possess anything. She didn’t have a home, a name or any achievements to make her worthy of such a gift.

“What do you want from me?” Amelia asked. She couldn’t take her eyes away from the pendant—it looked alive.

“We want your powers—“Thomas stepped into the light again and squatted down in front of Amelia—“we want you to help us help Astron.”

She couldn’t stop herself from laughing. The man looked so serious, but his words were absolutely nonsense. When he didn’t laugh along with her, she stopped. “Wait. Are you serious?” When he nodded, she said, “But I don’t have any powers.”

“Is that so?” Thomas raised an eyebrow. “So you mean to say, that if I asked you to make me a crystal flower—you wouldn’t be able to?”

Amelia was confused. What was he—

“Oh! You want me to do a magic trick?” Amelia grinned. “I’m not the best, and it’s hardly more than a party trick at most, but if you insist…” She raised her hand.

“No, Amelia Star Daughter, you’re misunderstanding us,” Thomas said. “Your powers are so much more than a silly party trick.”

“No,” she argued. “It truly isn’t—but even if it were… What would you want to do with those powers? I can make a momentary flower that turns to crystal—that’s all.”

At this, Thomas grinned, revealing a perfect set of teeth. “Oh, dearest. We want you to rewrite the book of Lyra.”