Arctic nodded his head in consent, and then looked at Firestar.
“I noticed that you said I hadn’t any ability, outside of the thing that everyone here has. Why haven’t you told them about us?”
“I said you didn’t have an ability because I am unsure of what it exactly is. There is something different about you, Firestar, and I believe it has to do with the year you were alone in the Barrens, but that is something to discuss at a more normal time. I haven’t told anyone outside of the Star Rebellion about our special abilities because it would cause quite a disruption on our sister planet. People would decide they want powers similar to us, and the things they would do to you to try and get those powers are horrible. Scientists would be willing to dissect you alive if they thought they could achieve something from it.”
We all nodded in agreement with his explanation; it really was a good reasoning, and from what we had seen in Earth movies, some guys would do almost anything to get what they didn’t have, which was kind of scary when you thought about it. I was curious about Firestar's time in the Barrens though. He didn't remember much about it, but when he was around four years old, he was found by himself in the dead landscape that was just past the villages that cooperated with Star Rebellion.
“Did you mean it when you said that we were an elite team?” Dark questioned from his side of the kitchen. It almost looked as if the shadows were melding themselves around him.
“Yes. I have full confidence that you could pull off this mission with flying colors. Yes, you have had some mistakes in the past dealing with the concerns of controlling your powers,” he glanced at Firestar, “and the effects that trying to improvise a new plan can have,” this time looking at Darkstar, “and let’s not forget rushing into things head first without any thought or reasoning,” this time he looked at me, “but you have yet to badly fail at any mission we have assigned you, and I doubt this one would be any different.”
We mulled over this in silence for a bit, still robotically cleaning Gravelstar’s kitchen. “Were you being serious about the demons? Like, is there a good chance that that could happen?” I asked the question after I had considered it for a while; he might’ve only said it so that the Earth leaders could get a real taste for how risky this mission could end up as.
“Yes, there is a good chance, but only if you fail. As long as the King of the Underworld doesn’t have a reason to blame humans for the disappearance of his prized pets, then all should be fine.”
“How could he not blame us? Like, obviously it would have to be stealth, but still, who else is to blame besides humans?”
Arctic’s mouth tipped up in a smile. “Demons are interesting creatures, and easily turn against each other in times of self preservation. As long as none of them see you sneaking them out, which if everything can go as planned, that won’t happen, then they will simply blame some other demon to make sure that their King doesn’t plan on torturing them.” The way he spoke of the demon’s King torturing them so lightly made chills run up my spin. Apparently that wasn’t uncommon in the Underworld, but of course! Torture should be common where everything evil resides. Damn logic is right again.
“When will this mission start?” Dark asked. He would be the one trying to get the intel, so it was definitely him who would be starting first. Fire had the easy part of being used for facts and strategy as we went along, and I was the weapons master. We weren’t needed until later.
“Tomorrow, though you won’t be going to the Underworld for some time, I think. It all depends on how quickly you could get the information from the other side.”
“Yes sir.” Darkstar nodded his head once before becoming silent for the rest of the time that Arctic was there.
Fire and I drilled him with a few more questions on strategy and weapon usage before he finally left, after saying that we were released from our kitchen duty because he thought that the kitchen was now sparkling enough, and if Gravelstar had an issue with it, then Arctic didn’t know what else would please the man.
As we were heading back to our rooms, Dark questioned us. “Do you guys think we should go through with this mission? You know that it is always possible for us to back out. It’s one of the pacts for being in Star Rebellion.”
“’Course we should! We’ve only been doing serious mission for just over a year with the Rebellion and we're already one of the best!” That was Firestar, being loyal to Arctic’s word as usual, along with slightly egotistical. But here, when you can brag about something, that means a lot.
“Or Arctic at least thinks we have what it takes to be the finest. You heard what he said; he doesn’t know how soon we would actually be going into the Underworld. It could be years from now for all we know.”
Fire rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. If it was possible, he was even more stubborn than I was.
“We’ll just have to trust him,” Fire said as he unlocked our room door and entered. We all crashed onto the beds in exhaustion.
Now that I look back on this day, I realize just how innocent we had been at the time. Two years and a month marks the day since this happened, and boy did we improve. I mean, I’m a solid seventeen years old, making me at least an adult now.
CHAPTER 1: Discovery
DARKSTAR
“He’s an imposter! A spy for the Star Rebellion!” A raspy voice shouted out.
I didn’t even look back at the New Order of the Perfect Calsh World official. You see that really long title? Back at headquarters we just say NOPCW; it makes it a lot easier. But this wasn’t the first time someone had suspected me. I counted to five and right on mark another official spoke up.
“Hardly! That’s our best field reporter, Jacob. He’s as much part of Star Rebellion as the commander is. Take this guy out of my sight; he needs a new medical program.”
Every NOPCW place I’ve been to had at least one person who was smart enough to be suspicious of me. Of course they should be. Jacob stood for Junior Apprentice Collector of Basic-info. It had taken a while for Arctic to come up with an acronym for that ridiculous name. I didn’t really care for it, but on this side of the world you needed normal names, plus if I went by my real name, Darkstar, it’d be a dead give-away that I’m with Star Rebellion. Even these thick-headed idiots could figure that out.
What exactly is Star Rebellion? To be obvious, it’s a rebellion. We fight against an injustice, as all rebellions have. In my opinion, we’re a bit slow about it. We try to be fair and we want to use the Mystic Animals, which make Calsh a livable place for non-mutants, I’ll get to that delightful explanation, equally for everyone. The NOPCW is our only real enemy, to be honest. They are nasty though, and yea, we go to extremes at times in trying to fulfill our cause, but they are even worse. Just imagine the capitalists on your planet, then multiply that by evil. Their only interest in Calsh anymore is to farm it for resources, turning the planet solely into an investment versus a place to live and prosper. And yea, if they had just stuck to the areas that no one wanted to live anyways and had left us natives alone, then sure, we’d be fine. Instead, they tried to get us to move and impose themselves as our governing force. Long story short, we didn’t like that. If you want the full story, go check out a book in library about Calshian history. I’m sure one exists. In case you didn’t know, Calsh is this planet connected to Earth through some fancy wormholes. We get all the pollution and smog that would otherwise have killed your planet by now. Makes you want to rethink throwing a gum wrapper on the ground, now doesn’t it?
Now that we’re done with that delightfully informative sequence, let’s visit how my life is about to get really brilliant. I turned the corner and walked straight into the brilliance. Really, it was just a person. Not good, but because of my training two things happened. One, I didn’t fall off balance or get knocked around like some bozo would, and two, I almost nailed this person in the jaw, that was, until I saw who it was.
I’d seen her around Star Rebellion’s public headquarters befo
re. She was an ambassador for the NOPCW…I think. Instead of punching her, I moved my arm enough so that I caught her as she fell.
“Oh my,” well, I almost said Angels but that would’ve blown my cover. Of course I didn’t believe in religion, but these uptight freaks didn’t allow slang. Mental eye-roll. So instead I continued, “Are you alright? I’m so sorry that I ran into you.” In the NOPCW guys are always way polite to the chicks. Manners are so annoying.
“Oh no, really it’s my fault. Chelsea warned me if I kept running around here this would happen,” the girl said as she balanced herself. “Hi, I’m Maegan, Ambassador of the NOPCW.” Maegan said, sticking out her hand and giving me a wide, white smile.
“I’m Jacob, NOPCW’s field reporter. I think I’ve gone with you once to the Star Rebellion’s headquarters,” I said, shaking her hand.
She chuckled for no apparent reason. “Well I guess I’ll be seeing you around; I’ve been meaning to get these papers to the Commander.” She waved a stack of papers maybe as thick as my ‘80s headphones.
“Isn’t that a bit much for just a report?” I questioned without thinking. Of course here we think before talking, and normally would never say anything like that. “Pardon me, my manners slipped. I’ll probably see you around later,” I said smoothly, turning into the normal formal attitude the NOPCW people generally have. I nodded my head and continued down the hall; I could still feel her eyes on me though.
WATERSTAR
I lifted my head when the door to my dark blue Honda opened. My hand slipped into the door pocket and rested on the hilt of a knife until I heard Darkstar say, “Reading on the job again are we now?”
“Darkstar! Get in already! You’re almost twenty minutes late. Arctic has called in four times making sure nothing happened. You know how agitated he can get. What were you doing? Wait don’t answer that, we don’t have time! What were you thi-”
“Take a breath and drive already! Wait, why are you here? I thought Firestar was coming?”
“He. Got. In. Trouble. ‘Cause. Of. YOU! REMEMBER?”
Darkstar just looked down, ashamed. Of course he remembered. It only happened a month ago, but what’s done is done and it can’t be changed.
I slowly pulled out of the NOPCW garage. These people were so boring. Dark colored cars, slow driving, and no weird hair. The hair part was why Darkstar was the spy. Fire and I (and all the rest of Star Rebellion for that matter) had a color according to our name somewhere in our hair. Dark’s wasn’t so noticeable because the tips of his hair were a shade darker than his black hair. I had dark blue stripes against blond hair.
Once we had gotten halfway to Star Rebellion’s private headquarters, I pressed the gas. If something doesn’t involve danger, I leave. That’s why Firestar normally drives; I’m just too noticeable. Oh well.
“Yo! Slow down! You’re gunna get us killed!” Darkstar shouted, bringing me back to the present.
“That’s the point, DANGER RULES!” I shouted right back. I glanced at him and saw that Dark was clenching his seat. I looked back out the window and saw the cliff coming back up. I mentally flipped between speeding up and slowing down. I decided to take it safe, seeing as Darkstar looked like he was going to have a panic attack.
It only took a few more minutes to get to HQ, especially with my recklessness. From what Foreststar had said, the Earth police would probably hate me. At the HQ, I was actually quite relieved to be away from Darkstar. He’s such a gloomy gus all the time. I had walked with him all the way to Arctic’s conference room and he had done nothing but complain about some new training the NOPCW was going through. He had to participate in it to keep his cover from being blown. I was about to leave him to face the wrath of Arctic right when I heard someone say, “Waterstar, you’re also staying.” I turned around to glare at the silver haired commander, but nonetheless I walked into his conference room and slumped into the seat next to Dark. This should be pleasant.
Arctic started the meeting. “Why were you late?” He pierced Dark with his grey eyes.
“Someone almost discovered me again, and then I bumped into the ambassador who just so happened to be carrying a report to her Commander. I was able to sneak this from the stack.” He slid a sheet of paper across the table. I could just make out ‘Mystic Animal Transportation: Underworld’. It’s what we’ve been looking for. Finally, two years later we had it. I almost hugged Darkstar right there and then.
Chapter 2: I Spy You
WATERSTAR
Once again, I was skipping down the dimmed halls of Star Rebellion. It was way past curfew, which I was grateful for. I didn’t feel like getting plagued by questions about how the mission had gone. Arctic had informed us of the plan to be put in effect tomorrow. Only Dark, Fire, and I could know. Speaking of Firestar, he was wide awake when I flung open the door to the room we all shared.
“What’d I miss? I know something happened!”
We all have some type of power; Firestar knows the main details of what happens. He gets these feelings and can see images I guess. It’s hard me to explain since I have never experienced it.
“We got the info,” Dark whispered the plan Arctic had told us, which I thought was completely pointless. It was the middle of the night, who the hell would be eavesdropping? I was silent for once as I watched Fire’s expression turn from surprise to excitement. I soon got bored with that though and started pacing around to release energy before bedtime. I had the ability to manipulate energy. A lot of it coursed through my body every day, so before I go to bed I had to try and release it else I wouldn’t be asleep until sunrise. It’s like insomnia on extreme.
“Water, will you please go to bed already? We need to be awake for tomorrow,” I vaguely heard Dark say.
I glanced up and saw that both of them were in their beds, Fire with his red blanket covering his head. I was tempted to say no just to annoy Darkstar, but it was pretty vital for us all to have slept well before tomorrow.
FIRESTAR
Light streaming through a window made me squint my eyes in protest. I was not ready to wake up. “Ugh, who the hell turned on the sun?” I shouted to no one in particular.
I stretched and sat up to find Water and Dark already up and functioning.
“So, Sleeping Beauty is awake?” Water said, her hand was on her hip and was on full sass already. So it was going to be one of those days.
“Yo, Calsh to Firestar!” Dark said. “Are you sure you’re awake?”
“Uhn? Yea, or at least awake enough. Should we start?” I asked while brushing my dark red hair out of my face. I normally kept it tied at the back of my neck, but no way in hell was I going to sleep like that. Only girls did that.
“Aww!” Water invaded the conversation. “I wanted to have breakfast first!”
I rolled my eyes and Dark laughed. I rolled, and I literally mean rolled, out of bed and picked up a shirt from off the ground, pulling it over my head as we walked out of the door. It didn't smell too bad when I took a sniff. We headed down to the mess hall, but due to my late wake-up call, most of the Rebellion was already down there with half-emptied plates.
“Great! All the good food will be gone. Look at what you did Fire!” Waterstar started rambling. I tuned her out once we had gotten in line though, a normal habit of mine. I love Waterstar to death, but she could talk forever.
She was right, though. No pie, cake, waffles, or even cinnamon rolls were left. Not even my personal favorite bacon-and-nutella burrito. We all had to fill our plates with egg, sausage, and other boring stuff like that.
“You shouldn’t be complaining,” Darkstar finally reprimanded Water, who was still talking when we got to our table. “Most rebellions don’t eat as well as we do.”
Water just pouted, which meant she didn’t have a valid argument. I don’t know how we managed to procure such food, though many conspiracy theories went around the Rebellion about it. My guess was the most logical; the ambassadors and shipment team brought it from Earth. Some peo
ple had the idea that every morning, secret agents from the Rebellion snuck into the NOPCW and swiped their stuff, but Gravelstar would never allow that dishonor happen in his kitchen.
We sat at a table with three other rebels. I knew only Vinestar out of them, a woman in her late twenties. Her friends looked about the same age, which would explain why I didn't know them. We mostly stayed segregated by age, and the only reason I knew Vine was because she was the daughter of my fire master. We chatted aimlessly, Water doing most of the talking for us. Apparently Vine and her friends were part of the exploration team, mostly just going on scouting trips into the Barrens. Soon the bell rang, signaling it was time for everyone to go to work. I threw my paper plate into the recycling on the way out and my team and I headed to our room.
“Now you can start,” Dark said while hanging his sheet over the window.
I sat on my bed and closed my eyes to focus. Images immediately started passing through my mind, but I brushed them away. I focused on what our plan and goal was, then on how the NOPCW would interfere. New images flashed by, and this time I openly welcomed them.
I could only gather bits and pieces of the big picture. Until I could master my power, I can only see the main details, which sucked duck butt. I will admit, that by my ripe age of nineteen, most people had complete control over their basic power, which pretty much had an unlimited use. I, however, had side effects, and still couldn't control it fully. The researchers who studied the powers some Calshians received from mutation still had no clue why this was happening to me.
After what seemed like hours, the images finally stopped. I opened my eyes and felt extremely dizzy. A moan left my lips uncontrolled. I would have fallen over, and also possibly fainted, if Waterstar hadn’t caught me. She silently offered me some bread and tea.
“Thanks,” I rasped. My throat was raw and hurt like hell. She merely nodded and looked at me with concern. It wasn’t unusual for me to feel this way. The effect that using my ability had on me was different, but it was something I had learned to deal with. I liked to think it made me tougher than everyone else.
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