Chapter 19 Astraea
Astraea
I fell to my knees, but instead of the wet snow of my realm, I was met with the cracked dry land of the veil between life and death. I couldn’t move, weighed down by anchors of grief, heartache, and exhaustion.
“What have I done?” I whispered.
“Exactly what destiny foretold.” Death’s echo was a haunting chill through my bones.
Glancing sideways, I saw him approach in mortal size. Depthless hood, fully cloaked, scythe in hand. It wasn’t the first time I’d wondered about the chip in his weapon.
“When falls night,” I recited. “Nightsdeath?”
Death nodded once. “The world will drown in starlight. It is your time, my child.”
But what wasn’t clear … was whether my starlight would drown in a wrath of destruction or purge the land of evil darkness.
“Is Nyte … is he still alive?”
Death did not answer.
“Come,” he said instead.
I had nothing to lose by walking by Death’s side through his endless landscape.
“You said I would be the end of Dusk and Dawn … how can one mortal kill gods?” I asked.
“You are not just one mortal. You never have been. Nor will you be able to do this alone.”
“I can’t lose any of them. My friends,” I said like a plea.
“You can never truly lose what is always carried in your heart.”
My lip wobbled when he didn’t assure me they would be safe.
“You made me Lightsdeath and want me to kill my creators. Why? I don’t know if you’re any better than them.”
“I am a primordial. The beginning of time and all creation. I am not good nor evil. I am not kind nor cruel. I simply … am. People don’t fear me; they fear the unknown.
But death is just as uncertain as life. A person is born and there is no telling what will become of it.
A person dies and there is no foreseeing where they will go next.
Life holds just as much to be fearful of and time is the link between us both.
Dusk and Dawn have been meddling with a divine order.
They have long been stealing from me, for I need souls for my realm to survive. All things must die.”
I surveyed the desolation around us, a bleak, endless stretch of cracked earth and twisted, lifeless trees reaching up like skeletal hands clawing at a gloomy gray sky.
The ground was parched and fractured, the deep fissures spiderwebbing across the landscape as if the earth itself had once screamed and split open in agony.
Dust drifted across the barren plains, stirred only by faint, unfeeling winds that offered no relief from the heavy stillness.
Then for some reason my eyes held on the blank canvas above us and I wondered …
“There’s more to our stars, isn’t there?” I whispered.
“Long ago the archangels worked for me. They would cycle souls to my realm. Until Dusk and Dawn created their own image of such angels: the celestials. Instead, these new imitations would cycle souls to your stars, which created an unparalleled cosmic power in your realm. You will not have heard of the Divine War in which the archangels, those with black wings, were annihilated by the new celestial breed.”
“Some are still born that way,” I said, piecing together things I knew. “With black wings. They’re not a celestial curse, not a brand of sin.”
“No. Those born with black wings have archangel blood in their heritage that awakens. The four High Celestials swear to enforce and hold in secrecy this knowledge when they are chosen by Dusk and Dawn, so the tales of their predecessors are never known.”
“But the souls we cycle to the stars get a chance to come back in new forms,” I said.
“A poetic notion, I agree. Hope is powerful, and when crafted into deception, it is lethal. It is not true of the souls that reside in your stars. For thousands of years, they have served as a power source to heighten solar magick. When they finally have no energy left, what remains falls. Mortals discover the weak pieces of soul energy, and those with magick found they could use it. Starlight Matter, I believe you call it.”
“Cassia and Calix…”
If what Death told was true …
Oh gods, what had I done?
“You have a chance to right this unbalance, Maiden, though it will take your ultimate sacrifice.”
“What does that mean?”
“Those whose energy still charges the stars can be laid to rest in peace. It is my purpose. You have my vow that I will grant passage to the souls who linger in your stars, but time is running out. Your true stars are falling. Soon your land will become just as desolate as mine.”
“I just need my key back, then I can kill the gods who made me with it?”
“You will need their true names. They will take mortal form temporarily; after all their failed creations and alliances they will move to rectify the land themselves. In their quest to dominate they will make themselves the most vulnerable a primordial can ever be.”
“What are their names?”
“I do not know. It is our most guarded secret. The greatest weapon against us when spoken by a mortal becomes a chain of obedience to them.”
“There has to be a way to find out.”
“If only there were a creature with a sight into minds. But beware: the mind of a god is no easy passage. It is not ventured into without consequence.”
We reached a void of light that began to grow, and I knew my consciousness was awakening in my own realm. I turned to Death, unafraid.
“Can I ask you one thing?” He had no eyes to hold, but in an eerie sense, the primordial still seemed like a person. “What does come after death?”
His hood turned to watch the light grow over us. Over me.
“That, dear Maiden, is the most exciting unknown.”