Chapter 13
She floated up toward the stars.
Well, she didn’t float so much as flew, and for once the sensation was not terrifying. She flew like a bird might, body undulating as it took to the sky, past the gravitational pull of the atmosphere. Celestial bodies raced by. Distant planets and moons, galaxies filled with light. The chill of space settled against her skin like a caress. Like a lover held her in his arms as they cavorted through the cosmic void as one.
The silence deafening, but at the same time, she felt the thrum of life all around. The symphony of birth and death and rebirth, the strident cords of the universe as a living, breathing entity. Her heart beat in time to its unique, chaotic rhythm. The rise and fall of laughter and mourning, joy and sadness and anger and hope… the swirling cocktail of all the emotions as universal as the stardust in her bones.
Deep in the dark depths of space, she was surrounded by life. And looming closer, the place that called to her. Bathed in darkness and illuminated only by the background of distant stars. Vast and silent. Yet not empty. It teemed with life as ancient and powerful as the cosmos. Something was there, something she’d been drawn toward like the tides to the moon. Trepidation trembled through her limbs. Fear of the unknown, excitement of the possibilities. For the first time, she headed toward that dark place; heeded the summons.
Her fate was there. Her future.
She explored. It stretched out before her, as if it reached as far back and forward as time itself. Everywhere she turned or looked, there was nothing. Until there was something: a creature like her, lean and elegant and blue as the sky.
No, not the sky. Blue as the ocean, dotted with browns and greens of land and swirled of white clouds. Eyes fathoms deep and eons wise.
She reached out, but the growls gave her pause. An angry, fearful chorus off in the distance, warning her away. She wasn’t welcome. Not yet.
Maybe never.
Would she wander alone forever?