Her excitement is contagious and with every click of the line, my impatience grows. I can’t wait to see what’s on the other end. Did we actually catch a star? How big is it going to be? Will it be hot? Will it fight back?
Athalia strains as she nears the end of the reel. Her arms are bulging as she fights against the star and her eyes are lasered in on the catch. Click per click, the golden line shortens until the end of the arrow breaks the surface of the water.
“Yes!” I cheer at the same time as she releases a sigh of relief.
She takes another look through the telescope and grins. “Looks like we got the first star in the Lucky Dog cluster’s tail. This is fantastic!” With renewed enthusiasm, she cranks the spool until the arrow pulls ashore and onto the grass.
I stare through the telescope again and try not to be disappointed at our catch. The tip of the arrow exploded on impact and the harpoon-like configuration has snared a large… rock. After all this, I’m not sure what I was expecting. A childish part of me hoped it would actually glow and look like a star but I guess some parts of reality suck in the Realm too.
“You look disappointed,” Athalia remarks as she pulls the arrow all the way to us and picks it up.
“It’s just a rock,” I admit.
“Never be fooled by appearance,” she answers cryptically. She frees the star from the arrow and puts it down in the grass. She grabs a hammer from her backpack and swings it down onto the star. It takes only one strike for the rock to crack open and split into two.
As the two halves fall apart, they expose a crystal-like inside. Slightly translucent, vaguely reminiscent of the colourful sheen of a pearl, but unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. It reminds me of glass but at the same time, it doesn’t have the fragility and it’s much more complex with all the facets.
My mouth goes dry. “Wow.”
“Wow indeed. I told you, you never forget your first star. Careful, it’s hot,” Athalia chuckles as she puts on a pair of thick gloves. She turns one of the halves up and gives it another hit with her hammer. “Nice. That’s a great amount of starlets. Good translucency, nice purity.”
None of what she’s saying means anything to me so I wait for her to clarify.
“This’ll make some first class astrallum. Ten more of these and you have enough for about a dagger.” She wraps the star in some brown paper and puts them in the coolbox she brought. “If they cool down too quickly, the crystal gets cloudy and brittle.”
So that’s what that’s for.
I look at the large bow she brought, eager to try it out myself. If she wasn’t so excited, maybe I’d find it boring. Fishing was never my thing but this is much more fun than reeling in trouts or sardines. After all, we’re hunting constellations.
She catches me looking and smiles. “Are you a good shot?”
Good question. I favour short-distance weapons but I always got adequate scores during archery class. Surely, those skills would translate to this.
Athalia holds out the bow to me. “You want to try to catch the next one?”
She doesn’t have to ask me twice. “Heck yes.”
Chapter Eleven
The next day, I consider skipping class to visit the Forge but I don’t want Athalia to think I’m obsessed. Besides, she said it would take a while to actually turn the raw starlets into astrallum and even longer to turn them into a weapon. The forging process is hard and a lot more taxing than I thought.
Well, I never really thought much about it… until now. Hearing Athalia talk about it so passionately and helping her catch stars really gave me a new appreciation for the craft.
Maybe I should take a forging module? Or is that a lame excuse to spend more time with her? But I want to.
An elbow jabs into my side. “What’s so funny?”
Pulled out of my thoughts, I give Mila a shove back. “Nothing.”
“Then why are you smiling?” A knowing grin curls around her lips. “Are you thinking about your date with Athaliaaaa?”
“Why are you saying her name like that? It’s just Athalia,” I correct her, glancing to the front of the group to make sure our teacher hasn’t caught onto our chatting. Professor Pandora is a mean old lady that won’t think twice about giving us detention or extra chores.
Luckily, she seems too preoccupied by her own monologue about the time she and her squad took down two upper demons on their own, a story she’s told us at least five times. If this class wasn’t mandatory, I wouldn’t bother.
Mila giggles. “Dude, you’re smiling so much when you say her name. What did you do? Did you have fun? Did you kiss? Did you do more?”
“Shh. We went constellation hunting. It was a lot of fun. No, we didn’t kiss and no, we didn’t do anything else either. It was just a first date.”
To gossip more, Mila bumps her desk closer to mine. “When are you seeing her again?”
“I don’t know. Soon, I hope,” I admit, glancing at the professor to make sure she’s still in her own world. “I really enjoyed spending time with her. It was so easy to talk to her and she’s really smart and cute. That never hurts.”
“You’re so smitten!”
Usually, I’d protest such a strong statement but I don’t see the point in denying something so obvious. I had a great time with Athalia and I want to see her again. That’s the kind of interested I don’t often get.
We chatter softly until the end of class and race out with everyone the moment the buzzer goes off. Professor Pandora looks insulted that we’re all so eager to get out but she’s above pointing it out. Instead, she just catches us at the door with a sadistic smile and an extra stack of homework.
“I can’t wait until we’re done with her module!” Mila complains as soon as we’re out of earshot.
We make our way through the large halls of the Colosseum, joining the stream of other students to the courtyard where everyone gathers and our friends are waiting for us under our usual tree.
As expected, Kian and Lasse are quarreling about something trivial but their discussion ends as soon as we arrive. The twins greet us with the same charming smile and immediately bombard me with questions.
“So you went out on a date?” Kian starts from the left.
“How did it go?” Lasse chirps in my other ear.
“Did you make-out?”
“Was it hot?”
“Can we watch next time?”
I interrupt them before the questions escalate. “We? So you’d like to get hot and horny while you’re next to your twin brother? I know you two are close but ew.”
The two immediately blush and fall over their sentences trying to defend their poor statement. That’ll teach them. At least I know they’re just joking around and they made the same remarks when Mila was dating Jacob. Maybe Kian just likes the idea of watching.
When I catch up with the conversation again, the topic has already changed four or five times.
“So we got kicked out of Eden last night,” Kian grumbles as he gives the red oak a kick. “Guess whose fault that is?”
“Yours,” Lasse scoffs. “You had to hit on Cherry, huh?”
“You know the owner has a massive thing for her,” Mila points out, sounding like this isn’t the first time she mentioned it.
He just shrugs, not bothered by the arguments. “Hey, that doesn’t mean anything. She’s not his property and she was flirting back with me. Did you see how many free drinks I got?”
Lasse and Mila share an eye roll as the two of them keep trying to convince Kian of his mistake but I keep my mouth wisely shut. Cherry flirts with everyone and the owner always lets us back in anyway.
“Oh, Kassandra, did you hear? Our raid is back on. We’re going at the end of the week,” Lasse says, changing the conversation again.
“Really? Nice. Why did they cancel in the first place?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know, but there’ve been a lot of strange incidents during recent raids. Demons that aren’t in the right
ring or have unexpected sins, weird things like that.”
His words spark a memory. “Huh. That just happened to my wish parents. Odd.”
“Yes. There have been lots of Inquiries and I heard a bunch of squads haven’t come back. They say something disturbed the rings.”
“What could possibly disturb the rings of hell?” Kian asks, almost mockingly, until the implications of his statement sink in.
His confronting question hangs in the air as none of us have an answer. In tense silence, we all contemplate what this means.
It’s Mila who breaks the tension. “I guess things are going to get a lot harder, huh?”
That’s not a surprise to me. To none of us. When we signed up for this, we were told how dangerous and taxing it would be. Every day one of us goes down to fight the demons, we save the world and that’s not supposed to be easy.
Sometimes, it’s easy to forget but the reminder brings back reality. We’re not taking these classes for fun and the weapons we carry aren’t there to make us look cool.
“I guess we should get back to training?” Lasse suggests carefully.
We all nod and scatter, each going our own way to one of our modules or training sessions. There’s plenty that we still need to learn and one can never practice too much. Despite all the laughter and the fun, the banter and the dating, everyone here is bound by a deep and strong sense of duty. After all, we chose this.
Chapter Twelve
I swing my sword into the dummy for the hundredth time that day, working on strengthening my muscles and repeat the action until it’s ingrained in me. Until it’s instinct.
My arm is trembling and sweat is pouring down my face in streams. Wearing armour all day is so hot but we have to get used to it or we don’t stand a chance in the rings of hell.
“Again,” I mutter to myself, desperate for any encouragement.
I raise my blade, hovering it above my shoulder, ready to swing. I take a deep breath and step forward, moving my entire body to put power behind the hit. My sword cleaves right into the straw body and leaves a good gash in his chest.
Nice.
Training to kill other Celestials won’t help me slay demons but it’s not that easy to get a practice slot at the Circle. The best I can do now is just train my basic swings, my stances, my body.
A slow clap sounds from behind me and I turn around, surprised to find Athalia leaning against one of the stray bales. “Great form.”
I wipe my arm along my head and wave at her. “Hey! What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you.” She approaches until she’s standing right in front of me. “It’s been a while.”
I nod. “I’ve been training hard.”
“I can tell. You look good.”
My smile breaks out by itself. “Thank you, so do you. How did you know I was here?”
A little twinkle jumps into her eye. “I asked around.”
“So now you’re asking about me?” I tease, feeling flattered. I sheath my sword and gesture to one of the bales so we can sit.
Athalia takes place next to me and we lock eyes again, neither of us able to stop smiling. I’ve been wanting to see her again and clearly, she feels the same. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be here.
Now that I’m sitting, I should really stretch. I rotate my shoulder to relieve the strain on my arm. “So… what brings you here?”
Athalia smiles, showing off her dimples. “I wanted to show you something.”
As she says it, I notice she’s carrying a long case. The wood is polished and stained and the handles made of gold. She holds it out to me, a hesitant smile playing on her face.
Curiously, I accept the case and pop the two locks on the sides. I lift the lid and gasp, taken aback by the contents. Protected by dark wool, a long, slender sword graces the case. Shiny crystals are studded along the entire length of the blade and the two edges look so sharp, they could split a hair.
It’s truly a beautiful crafted piece, but it’s not quite adhering to the usual standard. It looks light and the handle only has room for one hand but the blade almost matches mine in length and I use two hands for that.
I gesture to the beautiful sword, eager to pick it up. “May I?”
She nods. “Of course.”
I lift the blade out of the case, loving the feel of the dark handle in my hand. I’m not sure what material it is but it’s warm, unlike the steel of mine. It immediately feels good against my palm and just as expected, it’s light. Really light. It’s easy enough to use with one hand but as I hold it, I realise I can put my second hand at the bottom of it for a hybrid grip.
I raise it up to the light and the crystals shimmer as the sun passes over them. It’s absolutely a work of art.
“Did you make this?” I ask, stunned by the craftsmanship. If she’s this good, why is she still an Apprentice?
Athalia nods, looking proud. “I did. I made it out of the starlets we caught. I call this one Lucky First Star. After the Lucky Dog cluster and since it’s your first star”
I chuckle, pleased that I somehow contributed to this fantastic piece. Even if I only actually caught one of the stars from the constellations, it was still teamwork. “That’s so awesome.”
“Thank you. It’s yours. I made it for you...”
My mouth falls open. “What?”
Athalia blushes red as she interprets my reaction the wrong way. “I mean, if you want it. I don’t mean to tell you what weapon you should use or replace your sword but I noticed that it seemed a bit heavy for you and I thought I’d make you something lighter and more… I don’t know. Oh, this was silly of me. It’s too much, I shouldn’t have. I don’t want you to think this a grand gesture or something, I just enjoy making swords for people. I mean, it’s literally my job and since we caught the stars together, I thought—”
“No, this is fantastic. I love it. It fits my hand perfectly and it’s so light.”
She smiles. “I got a measure of your hand when we, umm… When we held hands during our date.”
“You took note of the size of my hand?”
“A quirk of the trade.” She gestures to the straw dummy I’ve been attacking. “Please, give it a go.”
She doesn’t have to tell me twice. Eager to test out the sword, I bounce up and get in position in front of the dummy. Just like all the times before, I raise the sword up for an attack and revel in the feel of the whole thing. It’s so light, I can barely tell it’s there.
I release my breath as I strike and the blade cleaves right through the dummy’s neck. The straw head thuds on the sandy ground and rolls away, leaving me gaping after it. Now that’s a sword.
“Wow.”
Athalia looks pleased with herself. “So does it pass?”
I can’t contain my enthusiasm. “Oh, it passes. This is amazing!”
“So it’s not too early to bring you a gift even though we’ve only been on one date and haven’t even kissed yet?” she asks carefully.
With a grin, I lower the weapon and turn to face her. “We can change that easily.”
A similar smile grows on her lips as she gets up from the bale and approaches me. “Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah.”
Butterflies awaken in my stomach and rush up to my chest as I cup her face with my free hand. Her cheek is soft as I guide it up and press my lips against hers. Maybe it’s too soon, maybe we don’t know each other well enough, there are a lot of maybes but I don’t care about any of them. Life is too fragile and duty is lonely. If there’s even a chance that I could share it with someone that understands and is willing to fight for the same ideals, I have to take that with both hands. If I can fight demons, I can take a chance on love.
Epilogue
Time flies in the Realm. It feels like I only met Athalia last week but it’s been over two months since she transferred to the Colosseum. Ever since she arrived, my life has been bolder, brighter, and better.
With a big yawn, I roll out of bed and s
tare up at the painted walls of my bedroom. They’re really growing on me.
Humming, I get ready for my raid and make my way downstairs where Priscilla and Mark are having a cup of nectar in the kitchen.
“Morning!” I call, grabbing my sweater off my chair.
“Goodmorning, honey,” Priscilla chirps. “Do you want some nectar? We just collected a fresh pot.”
“No, thanks. I’ve got to go. Raid.”
Mark’s forehead wrinkles, just like it always does when he’s worried. “Be careful down there. You know how unpredictable the situation has gotten.”
“I know, I know. Don’t worry, us students aren’t allowed to go further than the first two lesser rings. Those are still pretty stable, right?”
My parents exchange a look before they nod hesitantly.
“Just be very careful. If you think something is wrong, retreat before it’s too late. Trust your instincts,” Priscilla warns.
I roll my eyes. “Yes, yes.”
Before they can spout more worries onto me, I wave and dart out towards the front door where my boots are waiting for me. I understand why they’re saying these things, I do the same when they’re going on their raids, but I don’t have time for more.
I race out of the door, my sword bouncing on my lower back, and find a familiar figure waiting for me.
“Hello, beautiful!” Athalia smiles as she leans in for a kiss.
“Goodmorning. You seem bright,” I remark as I savour the moment to twirl her braids and extend the kiss.
She presses herself into me, her breath warm and ticklish. “I’m always bright when I see you.”
Even though it’s cliché, my smile gets wider. “Smooth.”
We intertwine hands and I pull her along into the hills leading away from the village. I don’t know what will happen during my raid or how long we’ll be able to hold the demons back. There are no guarantees in life and even love can be fleeting. Everything we worked for could be lost in the blink of an eye but if we don’t take chances, there’s nothing to lose and that’s even worse.
Starlight & Shadows: A Limited Edition Academy Collection by Laura Greenwood, Arizona Tape, Juliana Haygert, Kat Parrish, Ashley McLeo, L.C. Mawson, Leigh Kelsey, Bre Lockhart, Zelda Knight Page 9