Chapter 4 #2
Aela whirled around the column out of sight and hurried her steps back to where she had entered the ruins.
What these poor priests failed to understand was, despite the original purpose given to celestials from their Gods, the moment they abandoned the stars, the realm became a free-for-all.
Although Aela didn’t agree with the sentiment after living among humans for a century, stars didn’t care about mortal life, contrary to the purpose they were given.
They only cared how quickly they could drain the crystal deposits on the inhabited planets.
If the War Before was gruesome for Aela’s kind, it was calamitous for mortals.
Sorry, but Lord Kaitos is a blackened husk, and he’s not taking you anywhere.
Whoever he had been, his priest followers were in for a long wait for whatever he promised them. As painful as it was to be stung on all sides by sand, even with the laced-up boots, long pants, and tunic she wore, Aela left the safety the temple provided.
The half-buried city of Prente was frozen in a forgotten time when Gods interacted with their mortal and immortal creations alike.
It had been the intention of the Gods, if Aela remembered her lessons as a youngling correctly, for there to be a meeting place where mortals, stars, and Gods could convene.
Starhaven, the heavenly counterpart to Prente and others that survived after the War Before, was revered by celestials.
Where Prente housed a temple for Leonta only, Starhaven housed all twelve temples for the Gods and Goddesses.
The low, whirling brown clouds helped conceal Aela’s movements as she crept between the crumbling structures of the ancient city, staying out of sight. Many times as Aela stole along the rubble, she had to hide from more brown-robed priests.
I’ll never make it to the traveling rings. There are too many.
As she waited for a group of them to pass by her hiding place, an idea sparked.
When the next lone brown-robe walked by, Aela struck.
A swift blow to the back of their head with a rock she had found brought the unsuspecting priest to the ground in a heap.
She made quick work of disrobing the figure and shifted her pack around, then wrapped herself in the brown garment.
Within her hooded robe, Aela walked out from the outskirts and into the ancient ruins.
She kept her head down, but her eyes remained trained on the city before her.
It was a mass of stone foundations with no clear landmarks, though obvious signs of rebuilding were underway.
Priests bustled through the crumbling structures with purpose.
Aela mimicked their movements and tried to keep from sprinting straight for the traveling rings.
Years ago, when she had discovered the traveling rings half buried by sand, the priesthood hadn’t yet occupied the area.
Back then, the rings weren’t operational.
This time around, they would be. As long as both rings at the destination points were paired, any celestial could travel between them—the distance inconsequential.
Aela knew she was on borrowed time. The parched stone would have swallowed the splash of water she used to clear her eyes, erasing any trace of her.
The unconscious priest was another matter.
Shouts echoed through the crumbling structures, and brown-robed priests crawled out of everywhere at once, like an anthill kicked over.
“Please, oh Gods, please!” Aela’s whisper cry to the Gods slipped past her normally calloused heart toward them, a testament to her desperation.
The city was buzzing with activity, yet a group of priests remained unmoved. Aela pushed down her anxiety and took deliberate strides toward them and what they were guarding as if she had every right to be there.
A priest stepped into her path to question her, and Aela dipped her head and shared the truth: “A body was found.”
She held her breath and clenched a handful of crude hematite shards beneath her robe. She didn’t want to hurt anyone, but she was going home, no matter the cost to her already flayed soul.
Muffled voices conferred, then the priest who had stopped her spoke: “No one enters the rings. Lord Kaitos’ orders. We live to serve.” The priest finished with a bow from the waist.
Aela returned the bow, staying low a moment longer as the group guarding the traveling rings retraced her steps into the city.
When they all had gone, Aela slowly rose and beheld what she had tried to activate for nearly twenty years: the traveling rings.
No longer half buried by sand, they were a simple hollow circle of oblong stone.
Once activated, the ring would emit a powerful energy and transport its occupants to the other ring in the link.
Aela had decided, and it didn’t matter where it led. She was getting off this godsforsaken planet, for better or worse. Aela’s body thrummed in anticipation, her anxiety quiet in the face of freedom. She had to be quick.
She had only been ten years old when her family was taken from her, when her House fell and she was forced to Ascend.
For one hundred thousand years, Aela had been Set in the sky within her constellation, so close and yet so far from her family.
And now, she was going home. Aela checked behind her to make sure no one had stayed to oversee her, then stepped down a short flight of stairs set in a large circle surrounding the traveling rings.
The magic and need within her boiled in her blood.
Standing firmly in the center of the traveling rings, Aela closed her eyes.
She called forth her power and beckoned it desperately.
In answer, her power swelled within her.
The mortal shell of her skin hummed as her unexercised power sang from her core.
Uneasy thoughts crept over her mind, but she squashed the hesitation before it could manifest.
The rings vibrated, dust floating around them as they separated from one another and stacked on top of each other in a hollow banded column. Blue light flared, and in a moment, she was gone.