Chapter 5
Chapter Five
For a moment, time stood still. Darkness enveloped Aela in an embrace she never wanted to end.
The scent of amber and jasmine washed over her, and a weight cradled her on all sides, grounding her as she teleported through the traveling rings.
For the first time in one hundred conscious years, Aela felt safe as she drifted between the planes of time and space.
During her time Set in the sky, she wasn’t aware, rendered as nothing more than the object that gave her kind their name: star. And now she was home.
Having ditched the dual suns of Prente for wherever she was, Aela sobbed. While she wanted to empty her soul into her hands, she had to figure out where she was. Aela gasped as she rose from her knees and shoved the flooding relief and apprehension deep down.
You can break later.
Despite the harrowing journey from Surya, Aela felt renewed.
The absence of the wards surrounding Prente was a relief, and her magic practically purred within her as it stretched.
Rain fell from the glorious night sky, and blinding violet-white lightning streaked across the black velvet expanse chased by clouds laden with more rain and a clap of thunder.
An innate sense of belonging flooded her heart as salty warmth ran clear paths down her dust-stained cheeks.
Aela wiped the tears away from her face and quickly surveyed her surroundings. She appeared to be in an unpopulated area of a city.
Thank the Fates for that.
Not quite in disrepair, but the surrounding structures held a design, an age she couldn’t place.
A thick layer of dust coated the platform the traveling rings were stamped upon, which was quickly becoming gritty from the rain.
An eerie silence raised the hairs on the back of her neck.
With half a thought, Aela silenced her storm.
As lightning flashed overhead, the clouds rolled away, taking the rain with them, and disappeared into the vastness of night.
The ease with which her magic responded outside her dreams, now that she wasn’t trapped behind wards, emboldened her.
Her footprints to the edge of the platform were the only evidence of someone having been there. Aela knew herself well enough to recognize the thoughts forming. She didn’t let them take hold.
What have I traded Prente for? Am I all alone?
Aela’s thoughts zipped with a purposeful energy in an endless loop of shifting priorities and possibilities while her power continued to thrum.
She needed to get moving. Aela moved into an alcove off the platform, positioning herself so she could see many entry points at once while keeping her back protected.
She tore off the robe she had stolen and pulled her pack down, finding a necklace of pointed clear quartz and slung it over her head.
Her brief celestial storm did little to quell the power that had been trapped on Prente.
She had expected her power to come barreling out, as it usually did when her emotions ran high, but the brief release left it feeling oddly content.
It was a strange feeling not to be at war within herself, not to fear her power.
Aela busied herself by removing her clothing stained from the desert in favor of a long-sleeved black tunic and matching slim-fitting pants.
She laid out the rest of her supplies as she retied her boots, which had seen better days.
Using her dust scarf and the remaining water from her canteen, she finished cleansing away the grime of her journey that the rain hadn’t washed away.
Aela hefted her pickaxe, considering. While being armed would ease some of her worry, she needed to blend in.
Discarding what would slow her down inside the brown robe, she laid her pickaxe on top of the bundle tucked into the corner of the crumbling archway.
The likelihood of anyone discovering it seemed minimal, even with the feeling of unseen eyes on her.
It was just the lack of life between the structures that made her paranoid.
Wrapping her dust scarf loosely around her neck and shoulders, she surveyed her immediate surroundings one more time, trying to think if there was anything else she might need.
A slight plop sounded beside her, and Aela glanced down.
To the right of her boot was a slim shard of selenite and a small pouch. Aela’s lungs seized.
With trembling fingers, Aela lifted the items off the ground. The crystal shard warmed in her hand, and her power swelled in response. She placed the selenite in the side pocket of her pants, opposite the hematite she always carried, then opened the pouch. Inside was an ample amount of credits.
Aela chose in that moment not to reflect on how those crucial items appeared, prompted by her magic in some unfathomable way, left the rest of her belongings behind, and made her way through the abandoned area of the mysterious starcity.
After being planet-bound for so long, walking along the arched bridges and causeways suspended over nothing but black air made her stomach drop.
No trick of her mind could convince her that if she were to slip, she wouldn’t tumble away in a trajectory with no end.
Clutching the quartz dangling from her neck in one hand, she mastered her breathing and focused on the scrape of the stone against her palm as she gripped the railing, willing herself to trust in its steadiness.
A glowing metropolis teeming with starlight greeted her on the other side of the bridge.
Avarice, she had gathered from various plaques and mosaic reliefs, was the capital of House Taurus.
As Aela drew closer to the earthen elemental city, the air swelled with sounds of commerce.
She kept to the clear yet invisible divide between the lively city and the area she came from.
It appeared civilized enough, so Aela ventured into the bustle.
Celestials, as colorful as the Prentans were uniform, went about their errands.
Ebony skin, rich brown, pale, and a full spectrum in between mingled together.
Males and females and those who were neither dotted the streets, walked to and from their places of business, paying her no mind.
The longer she observed them, the more she noted a general apathy in their demeanor.
They shouldn’t concern her, as she was not of their Line, but she found something about their lack of spirit unsettling.
Aela strayed across the avenue to a clothier’s shop. Females chatted outside the display window, and Aela subtly listened in on their conversation about the elite society of Taurus, the Asterism, while attempting to browse the displayed wares.
“Who do you think will win The Games?” a willowy female with wheat-colored hair asked her companion.
“I care not,” the other sneered. She was shorter than her friend with long, wavy red hair. “Betting on combatants only invites competition into the Line.”
“I overheard the Prime Apparent acquired a Leo Star. What are the chances one of them even survived?”
“You know how Tarek has a way of collecting powerful things,” the redhead smirked. “Anyway, from what I heard, all the Houses declined the invitation to attend The Games and so would have Sagittarius, but Proxima was already here.”
Aela tucked away the details and pulled herself from the gossip, turning away to seek more information elsewhere.
While she had to be cautious around the citizens of Prente, celestials were far more cunning, by nature and design.
One small mistake could throw her off course in finding her family.
She needed answers but couldn’t very well just ask.
There was so much unknown about her past, namely what became of her family after her Ascension.
How had they not come looking for her after she had spent 100,000 years being Set in the sky?
Now that Aela was surrounded by stars not of her House, it was even more paramount that she keep her identity a secret until she knew who to trust.
Tall, narrow residences crafted from a rosy stone were nestled beside tea shops, eateries, and every other type of business imaginable.
The earth element was proudly evident among the grand avenues, with terrace gardens lining the building facades, potted plants of a staggering variety, and small parks blooming with vivid color.
It was a sight to behold compared to the fleabag town of Surya.
While the architecture was beautiful and the trailing gardens reminded her dimly of the draping greenery within her home on Solara, her eyes continued to veer upward to the cosmic sky.
Time was nearly as immeasurable here as it had been on Prente and deep in the mines.
Instead of the agonizing heat that never rested, the city’s invisible dome sheltered its inhabitants from the harsh climate of the realm and kept the city at comfortable balminess.
Aela marveled at the feat of celestial engineering and advancement.
She was far above the archaic culture of Prente now.
In the wake of appreciating her kind’s accomplishment, a bitterness seeped through her.