Starbright: The Complete Series

by Hilary Thompson

  Several minutes pass as he clutches at my shoulders, gasping for breath, too weak to stand on his own. His breathing gradually levels.

  “Wonderful,” Alecta says in a bored tone, and turns away. “Follow us, but do stay on the path.” She tosses a grin over her shoulder, and as her pale orange hair slides down her back, it reminds me of more snakes, uncoiling in the late summer sun.

  The middle Sister also walks away, barely glancing at us. Her silver gown shifts in the light as though made of liquid. As Lexan straightens, still breathing shallowly, I wonder if these are indeed their true forms: they changed shape from male guards to this. Perhaps this perfect beauty is no more real than the white guard uniforms and two-day scruff.

  “Welcome to Elysium,” the youngest Sister says. “You may call me Tisiphone. Your success with the first test has earned you that much, at least.”

  Lexan startles and narrows his eyes at her even as she turns away and follows her Sisters.

  I bend to grasp both packs. “What is it?” I whisper.

  “That name…I’ve heard it before. And Alecta. If I could just remember...” he presses his fingers to his temples as if in pain.

  “They didn’t tell you their names in Tartarus?” I ask, gently pulling his fingers into mine as we begin to walk, carefully following the path of crystal stars. He shakes his head. I’m a little surprised, considering how much time Lexan had spent with them. But none of it matters now – just another part of the massive riddle which I feel I’ve been solving my entire life.

  We carefully walk the edge of the concrete, then turn straight into the sun, heading toward the beginning of the concrete river. As we pass between the first two buildings, Alecta veers and enters one. The middle Sister does the same, though heading for the opposite building. Tisiphone pauses, shaking her head at us.

  “Do not follow them. You must stay on the path until your journey has progressed.”

  “Or more pain?” I guess, grimacing despite myself. She nods.

  “How will we know which areas we are allowed into?” I ask.

  “The pain will tell you your path. As you journey into greater self-awareness, the path will become wider and longer, until eventually you will have access to all of Elysium.”

  I snort. Trial and error, then. “So is this why nobody comes here. What’s so special about nineteen years old?” I ask, remembering the guard’s comment.

  “Nineteen is the year between childhood and adulthood. It is in this year that entrants are curious enough, like children, to want to follow the path. Yet they are also strong enough, like adults, to be able to bear the accompanying pain.”

  “And people who are born here – do they experience the pain as well?” Lexan asks.

  She nods. “Pain is a necessary part of purification. But you already know that, don’t you, Astrea.” She turns her sky blue eyes on me. Despite myself, I flinch a bit before nodding. All those people I tried to purify in Hade’s courtyard…

  “Are you ready to try the path?”

  I hesitate a few seconds. I’m nowhere near ready. But I nod anyways. Tisiphone points to a small reddish crystal inlaid in the concrete, just to the left of the concrete river. It seems to begin a new path, one which is dotted with both types of crystal.

  “As a girl born of fire, this is the color you must follow to complete your second path.” She points to the ground. Looking beyond where we stand, I can see several other colors of stone interspersing the constellations of diamond-like crystals. “Each color holds a different power.” She turns to face Lexan. “Air is here,” she says, indicating a milky stone swirled with both color and the absence of color. “You both must heed them well, or you will not master the final path before your mind surrenders.”

  “Surrenders? Like goes insane?” I mutter, almost to myself.

  But she nods. “The pain of following the wrong path is too much for a mortal to bear.”

  “Good thing I’m not mortal,” I snort.

  “Your soul may be immortal, but your body is most decidedly not,” she answers sharply. I flinch away, not yet desperate enough to ask how this is different from anyone else’s mortal body and immortal soul.

  Instead, I follow the line of brown-red stones, which wink at us in the sunlight. They do indeed outline a path, but I can’t see its end, only that it extends past the door nearest to us. The trail to the door is marked instead with air’s pearlescent color.

  “What happens if we do not find the final path at all? If we just stay here, content with our elements?” I ask.

  “Then there will be pain for all. You will not pass the test, and the world will be destroyed.”

  I swallow hard. No pressure.

  “But crystals can be healing, can’t they?” Lexan asks, again probably accessing some other old book his family hid during the Cleansing. Tisiphone nods, a corner of her mouth drawn up in a smile. She is amused by him, and I can’t help but shudder as I remember Hadeon, who was also amused by Lexan’s vast and unique knowledge.

  Although she is the least threatening of the three Sisters, I know in my gut that she cannot be trusted.

  “This door is for those born of the air,” she says, affirming my guess by pointing at a shape embedded in the ground, and made of the same milky crystals.

  We study the shape of the embedded crystals – a sort of three-dimensional rendering of two triangles atop one another. My fingers move to brush the pattern of diamonds at my own temple.

  Lexan suddenly steps directly onto the bottom crystal, staring down at his fingers in wonder. His eyes slip closed as I notice a sudden swirl of air around us.

  He glances at Tisiphone, who is grinning a strange smile of triumph. “Does it know my power?”

  She nods. “You may enter this door, but only this one, until you complete more of your journey. Someone will be inside to show you to your room. Astrea, you cannot yet enter this building, as you have not mastered this path. You will stay in the fire building.”

  “We should not be separated. Our powers are stronger together,” I insist, hoping my voice is firm. I catch a tiny grin from Lexan before he straightens his mouth. We’ve come a long way together, he and I.

  Tisiphone only shakes her head, dismissing my insecurity. “This journey of pain and spiritual awakening may only be undertaken alone. You may not siphon Lexan’s strength to uphold your own weaknesses.”

  Her voice remains calm, but she glares at me, and for once I shut my mouth, my cheeks flushing. I don’t want anyone knowing how much I rely on Lexan. Not even Lexan.

  Still, I narrow my eyes back at her as Lexan shoulders his pack. He glances at me long enough to send me a reassuring thought, then disappears into the building. Then Tisiphone beckons, and I follow.

  As we pass the open panes of glass, I scowl as I glimpse Tariel inside an open room. How did she get in there without passing us at the city’s entrance? She smirks at me through the window, then turns away in just the direction I know Lexan will be standing. My palms surge with heat, and I grimace in the pain which follows, cramping my fingers closed over the fire.

  For the first time, my own fire seems to burn my skin.

  “You must not use your power for anger in this city, Astrea,” Tisiphone cautions quietly.

  “Can you sense it?” I ask, looking down at my hands and watching the fire as I force it down to nothing. The skin on my fingertips is red and shiny, tight with too much heat.

  “I can sense all of the elements. I am of the universe, as are my Sisters. You cannot deceive us.”

  She pauses in front of another door, identical except for the crystal inlay before us on the concrete. It resembles a diamond, although it seems upside-down to me, and is crossed at the four points, creating a t-shape inside. I step onto the bottom crystal, as I saw Lexan do, and the fire in my veins rolls and stretches in response, rushing my whole body with an intense warmth.

  My cheeks flush – my power has never felt so…sensual before.

  �
�Your fire sings of passion,” Tisiphone murmurs. “I see why you did not want to be separated.”

  If possible, I flush even more. Why is my power betraying my feelings, when Lexan’s didn’t seem to? Perhaps his feelings aren’t as strong. Unease swirls in the pit of my stomach.

  “You will find your room is prepared. Enter.”

  I do, and the door clicks shut softly behind me. Tisiphone has not followed, and when I turn to look out of the glass, she is gone.

  Turning to look at the space around me, I find I am completely alone.

  FIVE

  LEXAN

  Nightly, in secret, these three will judge all:

  In visions of wrath they see the world fall.

  Tisiphone, the soother, who pleads mankind’s woes;

  Megara, the reaper, who returns what you sow;

  Alecta, the savage, in whom revenge grows.

  Unless you are cleansed, do not these three call,

  Or these three furious Sisters will create our downfall.

  From The Book of Ministry, Chapter Seven: Prayers

  Head Minister Charles, year 2068

  It feels strange to be without Trea, although part of me somehow realizes this was an inevitable separation. I’ve dreamed of this path of discovery – this path of pain – and although I didn’t know what or where it was, I was always alone in my visions.

  Perhaps I should have discussed them with Trea, but how could I put something so nebulous into words?

  Seeing that I’m alone, I set my pack on a nearby chair and call a cool breeze to chill my flushed face. At the entrance just now, my power seemed so strange.

  The open front room has several couches and chairs, a tray holding bottles of water and unblemished fruit, shelves of books, and a few odd machines. One of the machines is occupied by a woman running on a flat belt that circles itself, keeping her in constant motion, but never actually moving.

  Then a door to my right opens, and through it I can see more tall windows, and through them, a glimpse of Trea’s fiery hair. The door clicks shut, exchanging my view of Trea for another familiar form.

  Tariel. She grins at me, her gaze triumphant as she surveys the empty space behind me. “Welcome, Lexan,” she says, smoothing the form-fitting tunic she wears. “I’m very pleased to see you passed your first test.”

  “Hello, Tariel,” I say politely. Even after so many days of brief conversations on the ship, I have not figured out what she wants from me. Just what she does not want – Trea.

  “Would you like me to show you to your room?” she asks, and I nod, because I have no option, really. She begins walking and I follow, hefting my pack once more. “The rooms are plain, but that is necessary to focus on the path. Besides, the view will provide inspiration enough.”

  “How did you get here?” I ask abruptly.

  “Here? You mean in the city?”

  I nod.

  “Oh, there is a separate entrance for the land ships, of course. Guests are not permitted through that way.”

  I stifle a sigh as she opens a door halfway down a long corridor. We climb two sets of stairs, then enter an identical corridor. I count three doors before she stops and nods at me.

  I touch my hand to the door and push, and it opens without unlatching.

  “There are no locks in Elysium,” Tariel explains as we enter the room. It is even smaller than the ship’s quarters, furnished with only a bed and a single shelf, which doubles as a desk for a solitary chair. The door slides shut, and I am at once too close to her slim shoulders and blue-streaked hair. She smells of the nearby ocean: salty and complicated.

  I set my pack on the floor and move to the window. It, too, opens at a touch. The view is as inspiring as promised. We have risen above the trees, the concrete, the world. Only sun and water remain, and the sun has slanted just enough to set the concrete river on fire with its orange rays.

  A tiny movement catches my eye, and I lean out just far enough to see Alecta smiling ferociously up at me, just before moving back inside a door across the river.

  “The Sisters will test everything you hold dear,” Tariel says softly. Her silky voice is inches from my ear, and again I question her agenda.

  “Who are they?” I ask, turning to look her in the eyes. She is nearly as tall as I am.

  “That is not for me to tell.”

  “Is the middle Sister called Megara?” I ask, the name coming to me suddenly. She presses her lips shut against any answer, but her eyes have widened just enough for me to judge that I’ve guessed correctly.

  Who are they? I ask again, sending the thought spiraling into her brain like an arrow. She flinches away from me, backing into the bed. She stumbles, then sits.

  “How did you do that?” she breathes.

  “Your people have not heard that prophecy, then,” I say, evading her question. She thinks to have the upper hand, but I can’t let her. I know the True Prophet has heard of Trea’s capacity to spread bravery and my ability to speak without voice. But perhaps Elysium is not as forthcoming with its residents.

  Tariel is still watching me, eyes narrowed in questions I ignore.

  “Speaking of people, where is everyone? How many people live here?” I ask, glancing outside again. The concrete courtyard below us is easily twice as large as Asphodel’s Common Area, yet it has been empty since we arrived.

  “They are inside, of course. The sun is too strong until later in the day. And our numbers are sacred.”

  I decide to ignore her evasion for now. “Do you even have guards at the edge of the city?”

  She shakes her head. “The crystals are very effective in blocking the path for all who are not yet ready to enter. Surely you knew…”

  “I know now – no thanks to you and your crew!” I bite out, suddenly angry that they could have warned us of what to expect.

  “We are not permitted to discuss Elysium’s ways with outsiders,” she insists, staring out the window. “But I thought you…a prophet–”

  “I am no prophet,” I counter without thinking, the bitterness in my voice perhaps too strong. Definitely too telling. Her eyes focus on me, curiosity pulling her to her feet. She joins me at the window, her shoulder brushing against mine.

  “The True Prophet believes you are. Or that you will become so, once your trial is complete,” she says. Then she turns and slips from the room before I can respond.

  Sighing, I turn a complete circle in the tiny room. I’m glad to be rid of her, but uncertain what to do next. Finally, I shove my pack under the bed and push the door open. The hallway is only a series of closed doors. Trying a few, I find none will open to my touch except my own. Eventually I’m able to open one made of clear glass, leading to a communal bathroom.

  Every space is clean and unadorned. White and gray are the dominant colors, with accents of weathered wood. It’s a different effect than the stark black and white drama of Hadeon’s palace, though.

  Natural, but controlled.

  Nature is not naturally controlled, but it appears as if Elysium wishes it were so.

  One floor down, I find people. None of them make eye contact with me, but I am still relieved to find the city inhabited by more than Tariel and the Sisters.

  One small room contains a music class of three young children, and I stand in the doorway for several minutes, mesmerized by the strange instruments I’ve only seen before in pictures. I remember a small painting I saw at Madna’s house – angels dressed in white robes, gathered to play music such as this.

  The harps range in size with the children, but each is intricately carved and brushed in hues of gold and silver. The oldest child’s fingers seem to fly across the strings, creating such ethereal music that is associated with my vague idea of the paradise that some believe awaits us after death.

  This thought makes me smile a bit, as I realize how seriously Elysium must take its namesake. What other strange customs might they hold dear? What sort of people has this made them?

  The
teacher finally glances up and sees me, startling violently. The children turn to look as well, fear etched on their small faces.

  “I’m sorry – I didn’t mean to interrupt!” I say, backing out the door. It clicks shut in my face, and I feel my heart pounding. Styx, I hope these people are not all afraid of me.

  I skip the next floor down and head straight for the front door. Careful to step only on the pearlescent crystals, I follow their brief path to the edge of the concrete river, then beyond, until I reach a set of stairs, a square concrete pool of water, and a gathering of oversized concrete chairs and benches.

  Here, alone, I find the middle Sister, slunk across a bench. Her face is turned up to the sun, and I think briefly of Tariel’s assertion that nobody would be in the sun at this hour.

  “Hello, young prophet,” the Sister says without opening her eyes. Her dress is now a fiery orange-yellow which clashes with her lavender hair. She wears a waist-length strand of diamonds, and her fingers are twined around the strand, looping it into an intricate pattern.

  “Your Grace,” I return, sitting in the chair next to her. The sun is indeed a strong force here, and the surface of the concrete almost burns my hands when I rest them along the edge of the chair.

  I gaze beyond us at the sparkling path which seems to continue until the edge of the city drops into nothingness. The ocean rests beyond, separated from us by several hundred feet of scrubby plants and jagged white rock.

  The Sister says nothing, and soon the only sound is the clicking of the diamond strand between her fingers and the more distant crash of waves.

  “Have you learned my name yet?” she says after several minutes. My eyes fly to hers, and an intense fury shoots into my heart from hers.

  I manage to nod, and she laughs. The sound is cruel and grating.

  “Who told you? I will end them.”

  “Nobody, Your Grace. I have seen it in a vision.” This is a lie, but perhaps she will accept it. Although I know Tariel is innocent, I don’t want her questioned.