Chapter Vega

Awareness came back, and she realized that she was floating. Diving in the waves of the luminous plethora of colors, she could reach the stars in this form. It was heaven. There was nothing to worry about at all. In fact, there weren’t any matter of importance. She was free, and that was all that mattered.

This was bliss; this was what she was meant to do. The sense of spiraling down overcame her and she tried hard to fight it off. She didn’t want to stop floating.

Something unpleasant interrupted her solitude. She wanted it to be gone; she willed it to go away. Realization hit her promptly—she knew that sound.

It’s a heartbeat.

She frowned. How could her heart beat at such a frantic pace? She didn’t have a heart.

Not long after, the impression came flooding in. A leg began to itch. Frowning, she attempted to reach down and scratch it.

Her eyes sprung open when the events registered—she could feel! There were legs, and arms. All of her limbs were intact. She raised her hands in the air, assessing the foreign body parts. They were clean, and the skin was healed. She vaguely remembered having her knuckles cracked open. She turned the hand around slowly; there was no indication of scars anywhere.

The memories didn’t mix well with the reality. This wasn’t her body.

She jerked up, and saw that she was still in the clearing. Signs of the battle were still visible around her. The blood-splattered land was now back to its normal color. Joshua’s motionless body was still lying to her right. His open eyes were staring at her with no emotion, no life—nothing.

depression started to appear along with her confusion.

On shaky legs, she attempted to stand. She tried to walk, but something stopped her. Looking down, she discovered that she was wearing a dress; a long white silk dress covered her body. The sight made her gag—too feminine for her taste. But it was still pretty, she had to admit that. The wide variety of opinions inside her head screamed at her.

The body wasn’t hers, but, did it truly matter? It was hers to control and use now. Was this the afterlife?

She looked to the sky. The clear blue gave her no answer to her questions and Solem wasn’t to be seen either.

A warm breeze caught her hair, whipping fiery red strands around her head.

Red… Is my hair red?

The long locks that she didn’t recognize blew gracefully in the wind. She grabbed it carefully and studied the color with interest.

‘Joshua… Save… Joshua…’

She jerked up at the sound. Turning on the spot, she surveyed the area.

A faint memory of a mental link surfaced.

Her eyes fell on the dead body. Once it held so much life—Joshua’s life. She simply stared at him.

She wanted to keep him. Hesitating slightly, she took a step. The ground shook beneath her, and she crashed down face first. Her hands caught her, and she watched with wide eyes as her honey colored hands began to glow. In that split second, her mind opened up. She knew how to save him.

Pushing herself off the ground, she walked over to him, this time with nothing but determination filling her. She kneeled beside him. His face was battered and bruised, dried blood stuck to the corner of his mouth, and his skin had turned slightly blue. It was embarrassing to admit, but the signs of death did nothing to hide his handsome features.

Her hands hadn’t stopped glowing, and she took a deep breath to clear her mind. Holding a hand over his heart, and the other one over his forehead, she started praying to the Stars.

Pleasant warmth rushed through her. She closed her eyes and imagined the sky. The stars twinkling with their infinite wisdom, and she called upon their ancient power, to give her the strength to continue.

She recited the five legends names, the five guardians of Astron.

“Alderamin, Alfirk, Errai, Kurhah and Garnet,” she whispered. Beads of sweat formed on her upper lip as she focused on her task.

“Star Alderamin, guardian of the nature and its growth. Please assist me in my quest to bring this man back – for he has served you and helped preserve the balance of everything you stand for.

“Star Alfirk, guardian of passion. Please assist me in my quest to save this man – for he has acted with passion more than once.

“Star Errai, guardian of vengeance. Please assist me in my quest to seek justice for this man – for he has battled by your side for his whole life, seeking only justification for those who wish to harm our ways.

“Star Kurhah, guardian of time. Please assist me in my quest to rewind the time for this man – for he has been torn away from me too soon.

“Star Garnet, guardian of wisdom. Please assist me in my quest to bring this man back – for he has brought knowledge to our land, and he will bring wisdom with him for all ages to come.”

The heat transferred from her hands over to Joshua, and she could feel the power rushing through her veins. Her Stars and protectors were granting her wish. She drew the power from all of them and under the clear blue sky, she could sense them watching.

A movement from Joshua almost made her lose focus, but she couldn’t stop, there was one more Star to ask for help before she could relax.

The wind came down, whipping her hair around. The roaring sea rang loudly for her ears. The fragrance of nature wafted to her nostrils, and the heat from Solem warmed her heart and soul – she was close.

Biting her lower lip, she pleaded to the ancient powers of Vega. The brightest Star in the constellation of Lyra, and the fourth daughter of Solem. The latent and prolific powers jammed down to her in the split of a second. She opened her eyes and looked at Joshua’s face. He was stunningly beautiful, and serenity had replaced the glazed look in his eyes.

A searing light illuminated the clearing. It blinded her strange eyes. She wanted to hiss in pain, but it didn’t harm her. When it dimmed out, she was panting heavily.

The sound of a severe cough brought her back. Her heart skipped a beat when she noticed Joshua roll over, clutching his stomach.

She remained silent until he acknowledged her presence.

“Solem… What h-happened?” His voice was the sweetest music to her ears.

A childlike joy erupted on her face, and she shifted back on her feet. She tried to contain her glee, but it was hard to stop the grin from spreading. A giggle escaped her lips.

That was when he noticed her. His eyes fell on her, and he scrambled to get away, “Who are you?”

It didn’t bother her that he didn’t know. With a deep inhale, she answered his question, “I am Vega!”

“Vega? Where’s Annabell? And Miriam?” he hauled questions at her. Vega didn’t know how to answer any of them; she wasn’t entirely sure what has happened either. Nonetheless, she attempted to explain it.

“I am Annabell and Miriam,” she said. He frowned at that, and she didn’t blame her, it sounded ridiculous even to her.

“What do you mean?”

“They are me, and I am them.”

Solem, could I be more confusing?

“Please explain it all,” he said.

Vega took a deep breath. How should she put it?

“Blake killed you, we killed Blake…” she started. It was hard to say, she didn’t want to mention Blake at all. Just to think of him ached inside.

“Then what happened?” he urged.

Vega looked up; she didn’t know exactly how to put it. She exhaled loudly while she gathered the courage to announce the following sentence. Meeting his eyes, she said, “We became one. Just like he wanted us to. It proved to be his downfall though.”

The silence that followed was unbearable. Uneasiness spread through her.

“Please, say something?” she pleaded. Anxiety spread at the likelihood that he couldn’t comprehend it.

The inability to explain what happened was a burden. Vega wished that she could switch back, or prove to him that she didn’t lie about it all The words didn’t make sense, and the fact that Vega didn’t even know how she looked now, made it all so much worse. Was there anything that resembled either of her past selves? Was she pretty?

Shame filled her when she thought of her own vanity. But the expression on Joshua’s face didn’t promise of good things. In fact, he looked at her as if she was a monster.

“So… What you’re saying is that you…” He gestured to her body, “Is Annabell and Miriam… in one?”

The skeptic look tore her apart from the inside.

she prayed. There was no room for personal feelings though. She had to remain professional – petty human feelings weren’t how she dealt with things. At least, she didn’t think so.

“Yes.” She sighed, “Basically, we melted together, uniting in our mutual feelings, betrayal, loss, and sorrow—not to mention love. It’s like what you suggested earlier before Blake dragged you away… The Stars thrive of love.”

That wasn’t what she wanted to say. She wanted to hug him tight, and tell him how she felt. That the reason they united weren’t that they were filled with love, it was because she didn’t know how to live without him.

“How did you bring me back then?”

“When I became like this, I just knew.” She pointed to the sky, “The Stars told me.”

He stared at her dazed and speechless. It was hard not to squirm under his scrutinizing gaze. This was confusing her as well, she had the memories of both Miriam, and Annabel cramped together inside of her. Her head felt like a tube for thoughts, and everything she did was based off instinct since all of the different emotions made her head ache.

He shook his head as if trying to wake up.

“You don’t believe me?” she asked. It hurt her to see that he didn’t have more faith than that.

“It’s not that I’m just finding it hard to believe that I died… And while I was dead, my best friend and her sister magically morphed into one person. I mean, I woke up to that…” He gestured to her body, his eyes wide, “I mean… it would be nice if you could at least prove –“

“Wait,” she interrupted his rambling. Something he said made her blush, “I- I was your best friend?”

Vega felt flushed, a giddy feeling spread inside her.

Joshua became silent and looked away. He ran his hand through his blonde hair—just as he used to whenever he was feeling anything specific.

“What?” she asked.

He sighed. “Annabell was my best friend…”

It came out as a mutter, but she heard. The words stabbed at her heart, and she found it difficult to breathe.

“I’m sorry—I truly am. I want to believe you, don’t think I don’t,” he said and met her eyes, “It’s just hard…”

She didn’t know what to answer. In a sense, she understood where he was coming from, but that didn’t stop the feeling of hurt.

An awkward silence fell, and they sat looking awkwardly at the ground, each of them trying not to be caught looking at the other.

Vega watched Joshua out of the corner of her eye, he sighed, and she noticed the skin on his arm showed goose bumps.

“Are you cold?” she asked, and immediately felt guilty. His clothes were torn, and he was in a state of shock, she could have handled that better.

“I would light a fire, but I’m not exactly sure I want to light anything here,” she said, and looked around, before muttering, “I don’t particularly want to stay here either.”

“I’m fine,” he said.

A smile formed as she Annabell’s memories recognized the stubborn look of manly pride. It pleased her to see that he hadn’t changed.

“You know…” she said and looked down at her hands.

“What?”

She looked at him through her eyelashes, blushing slightly, “I could warm you up.”

He scoffed at that, and she heard him mutter, “I’m sure you could…”

“What was that?” she asked. His face flushed red when he realized she had heard.

“N-nothing,” he said and cleared his throat.

Vega shrugged and reached out her hand. The glow was still there, and it intensified rapidly, “Give me your hand, Joshua.”

He did as she asked, and she took from her power and transmitted it through their touch. Her own body heated up too, but she didn’t know if it the reason was the power – or because they were holding hands.

Her fingers tingled at his touch, and she asked for more. The light grew and spread around him. It was pretty.

“Now, who’s the one doing witchy stuff?” Joshua teased. He frowned a bit, “I feel high.”

Vega burst out laughing at that, “You have to blame the Stars for that. I am just the messenger.”

He rewarded her with a goofy smile at that.

“Do you need to rest?” she asked.

He shook his head, “No, it’ll wear off, besides we’re already behind our schedule. We need to get you to the Elders, pronto.”

The resolution was back in him, and it made Vega roll her eyes. Some things just never change.

“I guess we don’t need their help with finding the Rising Star though,” she pointed out. He nodded at that.

“I know, but we still need to inform them about the Black Holes. When Blake was tormenting me, he spilled a few secrets. And we need to stop them.”

“What secrets?”

“I think that our Elders have been infiltrated, he said something about a Dark Lord, letting them into the world.”

Vega gasped; only one Elder could have been that cruel. Memories of Errai came back, and she clenched her fist in anger.

They broke off shortly after that. The lack of sleep was obvious, but Vega took care of that easily by calling upon the Stars to help them. It was almost casual as they walked to the soundtrack of chirping birds under the blazing sun.

“Where will we be going today, exactly?” she asked as she stepped carefully over the roots on the forest floor. She was still extremely annoyed at the fact she wore a dress, this meant she had to be careful not to get stuck.

“We should be able to reach Yildun today if my calculations are right, this forest is merely a few hours away from the outskirts of Yildun,” he explained.

“Where are we going to go when we reach these outskirts? We still have to contact the Elders.”

“The temple, there’s always at least one there. We would have to seek audience there,” Joshua answered with a slight yawn.

“I’m sorry you didn’t get more sleep,” Vega muttered.

“I guess being resurrected takes a toll on every person,” he answered with a teasing smile.

Vega kept stealing glances at him; he seemed more relaxed in her presence now. She cleared her throat to rid herself of the lump that had formed and then looked at the ground.

“Are there something wrong?” he asked.

“Yeah, no… well… Can I ask you something?” she said, fumbling to express her thoughts.

“Sure!”

“Well, how do I look?” she blurted, then blushed, “I mean… my face… I haven’t gotten a chance to see it yet.”

Joshua shot her glance and cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Well, it’s not ugly,” Joshua tried.

Vega felt her heart sink, her smile fell, and she looked at the ground.

“It takes some time to get used to. I mean… I can see parts of both Miriam and Annabell in you.”

She smiled at him, “Really?”

“Yes, the hair, despite its color, is actually remarkably similar to Miriam, and…” he trailed off. Vega shot him a puzzled glance.

“And…?” she urged.

“And, your eyes, they are like Annabell’s,” he muttered under his breath.

“Sorry, I can’t hear you,” she asked, her own voice rising to indicate that he should speak louder.

“You have Annabell’s eyes!” he said, this time loud enough for her to hear.

“How do I look other than that?” she questioned, trying to ignore the raging butterfly storm that came alive in her stomach.

Joshua sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Vega smiled at that, he used to do that every time he got frustrated.

Staring ahead, he raised a hand and pointed, “You can look yourself!”

Following the course of his hand, she saw a river stretched out not far from them. She ran as fast as she could and sat down to look at her face. She could see the eyes, and the lips looked like a mix of both of them. The nose seemed familiar, and after a second thought, she realized it was similar to Miriam’s button nose.

“I’m pretty!” she exclaimed happily. She jumped up and hugged him, feeling relieved that she hadn’t turned out to be blue in the face, or despicable.

Joshua froze when she wrapped her arms around him. He cleared his throat and stepped back.

“We have to cross the river, Yildun lies on the other side,” he said, his voice shaking slightly.

“It doesn’t seem deep,” Vega noted. She looked at him and asked, “Should we just walk over?”

“The water only reach right above my ankle,” Vega yelled, already hallway out.

Hurrying Joshua caught up with her. She smiled at him when he reached her side. They were at it again. Just him and her, on their journey to discover the truth about the Rising Star—just as they should be.