Starbreak (Rise to Omniscience Book 2)

by Aaron Oster

  “Morgan?” she asked in a confused sounding voice.

  “Who else would I be?” Morgan asked. “Now can you please get off me? You keep prodding my leg and it hurts enough as it is.”

  Sarah stared at him for a few moments more, then she seemed to realize where she was. Her eyes drifted down to see herself halfway draped over him, then she looked back up, her face going beet red.

  Oh no. He knew waking her up had been a bad idea.

  Sarah let out a loud squeak of alarm and practically dove out of the bed. Her eyes flicked between him and the chair she’d been sleeping in, as though trying to figure out what had happened.

  Morgan noticed that the red of her face was now so dark that it nearly matched her hair.

  Crap! She really wasn’t a morning person.

  “I.. I’m sorry… I didn’t mean…” she stammered out, biting her bottom lip and looking at the ground.

  This was not good. She was so mad that she couldn’t even form a coherent sentence.

  Morgan tried desperately to think of something to say to save himself from her wrath.

  Her eyes had been flicking between the bed and the chair. Maybe he could calm her down by telling her about how thoughtful he’d been?

  “I’m sorry I woke you up. I know you’re probably tired from having to carry me all the way here. But I did do something nice for you, though. I woke up and saw you sleeping in the chair. It didn’t look too comfortable and the bed had plenty of room, so I moved you onto it. I only woke you because you were bumping against my leg.”

  Sarah’s head whipped up as soon as he said this and her already red face turned even redder.

  “You what?!” she yelled.

  Morgan jumped at the volume of her voice and was quick to try and placate her.

  “I’m sorry, okay?” he said, holding his hands up in the air. “If you want, you can climb back in and go to sleep and I won’t wake you up this time. You can even use me as a bed if you want!” He tried to plaster a smile on his face, but Sarah’s expression made that difficult to do.

  She glared at him for a few tense moments before she seemed to deflate, slumping down in the chair and rubbing at her temples.

  Morgan breathed a sigh of relief when she did this, now very glad that he’d been so considerate her in the middle of the night.

  Finally, she looked up at him. Her face was back to its normal color and she seemed a lot calmer.

  “Why did you move me into the bed?”

  Morgan blinked in surprise.

  “Because you were sleeping in the chair and it didn’t look comfortable.”

  “Of course that’s why you did it,” she said with a laugh, leaning back in her chair and staring up at the ceiling.

  “Are you okay?” Morgan asked after a few more moments of silence.

  “No, Morgan. I’m not okay,” she said, sitting back up and sighing. “I just spent the entire night in bed with you and nothing happened!” She then realized what she’d just said and her face flushed a deep red once more.

  Oh crap. She was getting mad again. He had to think of something quick. He was still in a precarious position from waking her up. Maybe if he asked more about it, she would think he was at least interested in whatever bedtime rituals she was referring to.

  “Why? Should something have happened?” he asked, doing his best to sound interested. “I’ve never slept with anyone before, so I wasn’t aware that I was supposed to do something.”

  Sarah buried her face in her hands and shook it back and forth.

  “Why is this happening to me?” she groaned.

  “Why is what happening to you?” Morgan asked, now very confused as to what was going on.

  Sarah let out a long, exasperated breath before straightening in her seat and brushing a loose strand of hair out of her eyes.

  “Nothing,” she said tiredly, rising from her chair and heading to the door. “I’m going to go take a bath and get some breakfast. I’ll be back soon.”

  And with that, she walked out, leaving a very confused Morgan staring after her.

  After a few moments, he shrugged to himself.

  Who knew why Sarah did the things she did?

  He stared up at the ceiling for a few moments, feeling his eyes beginning to close. Then he abruptly forced them to open as a thought popped into his mind.

  He’d been meaning to rank up.

  Morgan quickly manipulated his reiki and opened his status.

  Name: Morgan

  Supermage: Rank - 10

  Energy to next rank - 5,889/20,000

  Ability - Divine Gravity & Air

  RP - 610/610 (Regen - 6.0 per second)

  Strength - 57

  Agility - 68

  Constitution - 60

  Intelligence - 61

  Wisdom - 60

  Skills - Enhanced flight, Heavy impact, Gale force, Condensed wind blade

  Traits - Gravity field, Recovery

  Extra - Gravity storm

  Morgan nodded to himself, then reached down to his pants pocket to retrieve a core. He winced as his fingers brushed over the swollen lumps of flesh. He tried, unsuccessfully, to get the core out for the next few minutes, but to no avail.

  He debated tearing the pants even further, but as soon as he began tugging on the material, he was forced to stop, as pain shot through his ruined legs once more. Finally, Morgan gave up. He closed his status and leaned back against the backrest.

  Being injured sucked. Big time.

  6

  Morgan’s eyes opened as he heard a soft knock at the door.

  “Come in,” he called out, yawning widely and sitting up in bed.

  He’d fallen back asleep shortly after Sarah had left. Apparently, being horribly injured was exhausting.

  He could no longer feel his legs, which was quite alarming- to say the least. He really hoped his recovery trait would fix them. If it didn’t, he’d likely be crippled for life, which was something that he didn’t even want to consider at the moment.

  The door opened slowly to reveal Sarah, dressed in a clean uniform and carrying a tray laden with food. Her long red hair hung loosely down her back and her canvas uniform clung tightly to her body in several areas, meaning she’d just recently finished bathing.

  Morgan breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed these particular details.

  If she was bringing him breakfast so soon after taking a bath, it meant that she was no longer angry with him for waking her.

  Sure enough, she flashed him a brilliant smile as she walked in, bumping the door closed with her hip as she did so.

  He smiled back as she walked over and placed the tray on the bed near him.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked, sitting down in the chair next to the bed.

  Morgan shrugged, eyeing the food hungrily.

  “Oh, go ahead,” she said with a light laugh.

  She could hardly blame him for being hungry after all that had happened.

  Morgan nodded his thanks, then picked up a large sausage, placed it between two thick slices of bread and dug in.

  Sarah watched him, frowning a bit, as he tore into the food, wondering at his odd personality.

  On the one hand, he was hardened from his life on the streets and had likely seen more violence than most would see in their entire lives. He could make snap decisions, like he had last night, and could keep a cool head even in the direst of situations.

  On the other hand, he was completely ignorant of the social aspects of everyday life. The whole sleeping in bed with her thing was a prime example of that. At first, she’d just thought that his hard life had stunted his growth, but she’d been trying everything she knew for the last couple of years, and nothing had worked.

  She’d thought that once they spent more time alone, she could crack through his shell, and get some sort of response from him. Suffice it to say, she hadn’t succeeded. At this point, she was beginning to wonder if there might be something seriously wrong with
him…

  “What? I’m hungry.”

  Sarah jerked in surprise, snapped from her thoughts, and found that she’d been staring at him the entire time.

  “Sorry,” she said with a grin. “Just got lost in thought and didn’t realize I was staring.”

  Morgan nodded, taking another bite of the sausage she’d brought and washing it down with a mug of juice.

  “So what do we do now?” he asked, mouth still half full of food.

  “I don’t know,” Sarah said, slumping a bit in her chair. “Clearly, we won’t be able to make it into the East Kingdom. What happened last night just proves how willing they are to kill people who try and sneak in.”

  Morgan nodded, chewing thoughtfully as he digested this.

  He was impressed with whatever had been done to the wall. He hadn’t even been aware that there was a way to suppress someone’s abilities. He was just thankful that it had only partially worked on him, otherwise both he and Sarah would be dead right now. Supermage or not, he didn’t like his chances of surviving a sixty-foot fall without the use of his abilities.

  “I also don’t think we should stick around here for too much longer,” Sarah continued. “I heard a rumor that the North is sending soldiers here to try and flank Herald.”

  “So what do you think our best option would be?” he asked, popping the last bit of sausage into his mouth and chewing slowly.

  “I think that our best option would be to head to the South. From what I’ve heard, they’re allowing refugees through, but only if they have the correct paperwork. Still, I’m sure getting the papers shouldn’t be too difficult and if we can’t get them legally, we can always bribe someone.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right,” Morgan said, leaning back in bed with a sigh. “I just wish we could have made it in. It’ll be hard to find Gold if we’re not where he’s expecting us to be.”

  He yawned then, suddenly feeling very tired and his eyes began drooping.

  Sarah noticed this and stood from her chair, picking up the tray and giving him a concerned look.

  “You’re tired. I’m guessing that it has something to do with the skill that’s healing you. Go back to sleep. I’ll try and gather more information in the meantime.”

  Morgan nodded gratefully to her, then slumped down under the covers and promptly fell back asleep.

  She watched him for a few moments, noting the rise and fall of his chest and the way his long brown hair framed his face. She sighed, reaching out to smooth some of it away.

  He really needed to get it cut. Maybe she would offer to do it for him once he woke up.

  She smiled to herself at the thought and left the room, closing it lightly behind her and leaving Morgan to his rest.

  ***

  Six years ago…

  “Where are we going first?” she asked, as they crossed the courtyard and began walking to the mouth of a narrow alley at a leisurely pace.

  “I thought the main market would be a good place to start. There are lots of people, good food, and plenty of clothing shops around,” he said, winking at her conspiratorially and lowering his voice.

  “I even heard that there might be a puppet show.”

  Sarah’s eyes went wide when she heard that.

  She’d heard of puppet shows. They were supposed to be very funny and full of colorful characters. She really hoped that she’d get to see it.

  As they walked down the alley, Sarah became aware of a low buzzing sound that was growing louder by the second.

  “What’s that noise?” she asked, as the end of the alley came into sight.

  “That, Lady Sarah, is the sound of a crowd,” Hint replied.

  When they emerged from the narrow alley, Sarah stared around in amazement.

  There were people everywhere she looked.

  Walking down the busy street, stopping by stalls to purchase goods, or just chatting amicably by the side of the road. Children ran around their parents’ feet, laughing as they played their games, and merchants shouted their wares for all the world to hear.

  It was loud, filthy and one of the most chaotic scenes Sarah had ever seen, and she loved it!

  She dashed forward, crossing the busy street, forcing Hint to rush after her. She stopped in front of the first vendor she saw; a woman selling apples.

  “Can I get you anything dear?” she asked, giving Sarah a smile.

  Sarah wasn’t especially hungry, but the idea of buying something at a market was so exciting that she asked Hint to buy her an apple.

  He obliged, and a few moments later, the two of them set off down the busy street once more, a shiny apple clutched between Sarah’s fingers.

  They stopped at several more stalls, Sarah insisting on buying something at each. Soon Hint was carrying an assortment of goods, ranging from a loaf of bread to a carrot.

  “Sarah, don’t you think we’ve bought quite enough food?” Hint asked, in a slightly exasperated tone as they stopped at yet another food stall.

  The vendor glared at him as Sarah turned away from his assortment of beets and turnips, but Hint ignored the man.

  “We really should move on from the marketplace,” he said, shifting the load in his arms. “There are quite a few shops filled with useful items we can buy, just down the street.”

  Sarah looked forlornly back at the assortment of stalls but nodded. She could always come back later.

  As they left the marketplace, Sarah became aware of a commotion coming from further down the street. There were several people gathered together up ahead, and all of them were cheering for something.

  Sarah, predictably, was intrigued and dashed ahead of Hint to see what the commotion was all about.

  “Sarah, wait up! It could be dangerous!” Hint called after her, but she ignored him.

  They were in the city. What could possibly happen to her here?

  She reached the ring of people and began squeezing her way to the front of the crowd. They grumbled as she moved past them but otherwise ignored her, keeping their eyes locked ahead. Finally managing to reach the front of the crowd, Sarah looked on in confusion.

  Was this what all the people were excited for?

  Three boys stood in the center of the gathered crowd, two of them facing the third. All the boys were covered in shallow cuts and bruises, and one of them seemed to be favoring his left leg.

  Sarah wrinkled her nose in distaste. The boys were all filthy and unkempt, and she could smell them from where she was standing. She was about to turn away when the two boys ran at the third one and the crowd began cheering again.

  It was only once the first punch was thrown that Sarah realized that this was a fight. She stared as the larger two boys began attacking the smaller one, each throwing punches into his scrawny body. Sarah winced as she heard the slap of flesh on flesh, and was sure the smaller boy would go down but to her utter shock, the boy began laughing.

  Then, he struck back and Sarah held her breath as the laughing boy began to execute the most amazing display of fighting skill she’d ever seen. True, she hadn’t seen much fighting, but she knew enough to know that this boy was something else.

  He deftly dodged a wild swing from the taller of the two boys. His knee came up and caught the boy between his legs. The crowd collectively winced as the bigger boy fell to the ground, groaning in pain, though Sarah couldn’t figure out why.

  The shorter of the pair- yet still significantly taller than the shortest boy- ran toward him, yelling at the top of his lungs. He began throwing a flurry of punches, all of which the small boy dodged. She heard him laughing again, as the large boy began to tire, then with his eyes flashing almost manically, began to hit back. His small fist cracked into the boy’s nose, making him cry out and stagger backward, clutching at his face. Then he spun in place, bringing his leg up, kicking him hard in the stomach. The boy went sprawling and landed on his back. The smallest boy landed on him and pummeled him until he stopped moving.

  Sarah’s eyes went wi
de, as she thought the boy had killed him, but when he stepped away, she could see the prone boy’s chest rising and falling. Then, a flicker of movement caught Sarah’s eye, and she turned to see the first boy, getting slowly to his feet. He was clutching something in his hand and ran at the smaller boy.

  “Look out!” Sarah cried, as the object the boy was holding glinted in the sunlight.

  The boy turned, and Sarah got her first good look at his features. He was young, probably around her age. His face was pale and thin, his cheeks were sunken and his body was quite scrawny, but that wasn’t what held her attention.

  It was his eyes. Two burning pools of brilliant silver. They were so intense and so full of life! Sarah felt her heart skip a beat, as those eyes landed on her for a second, before turning back to the fight at hand.

  The other boy lunged forward, the small knife stabbing out in a clumsy thrust. The silver-eyed boy stepped into the attack, smiling madly, and both of his hands came up at once. One, neatly blocking the knife, and the other catching the boy in the nose.

  It wasn’t a hard blow, but it was enough to momentarily stun him. The silver-eyed boy then dropped both his arms onto the other boy; one hugging the knife arm to his side, and the other landing on his shoulder. Then he yanked the other boy in, and the crowd winced again, as his knee snapped up between the large boy’s legs, but this time, he didn’t go down, as the other boy was still holding him tight.

  The silver-eyed boy then took a half-step back and tucked his elbow against his chest. He then brought it hard across the bigger boy’s face. There was a loud crack as the boy’s head whipped to the side, but apparently, he still wasn’t finished with him yet.

  He then stepped past the boy, still keeping ahold of him, and pulled him completely off balance. Then, his leg shot forward and swept back in a scything motion, and he leaned forward, throwing all his weight against the already off balanced boy.

  With a yell, the boy was thrown bodily backward, with the silver-eyed boy landing on top of him. The crowd gave one final, collective wince as the boy pulled his fist back, and finished the other boy off with a hard blow to the side of the head.