Starbright (The Starbright Series) (3 page)

             
The wall of Darkness moved against
me
, tightening its
spaces and obviously trying to be threatening
.
I
remained frozen, unwilling to reveal
my
identity even in this frontal attack.
I
wished more than anything that
my
parents were here, on planet and nearby, but this was a battle
I
alone would have to fight
or figure out how to outmaneuver
.

             
One Shadow broke free from the wall and moved
against me
in an aggressive sweep. It sliced against
my
thigh before I
could react
, tearing
my jeans
where it made contact.
My
skin burned from the unreal cold that
I could feel even in my
bones. The slash spread out its icy tendrils across
my
l
eg and moved upward throughout my
body in scary quickness.
I
felt
my
lungs tighten against the strain of the cold and
my
appendages go numb from contact.
My first instinct was to cry out in pain, but I bit my cheek, willing
myself quiet and for the first time thankful that my lungs held no air to expel.

             
I
couldn’t see beneath
my layers of clothes, but I
had been educated enough to know that
my
skin would be marked with the deathly blue lines that looked like raised
, swollen
veins from
my
skin and spread out in fingerlike
vines
until every inch of
my
body was covered
in them
. It was at that point, when the frozen effect of contact with the Darkness covered every inch of
my
body that a human would breathe their last painful, staggered breath and depart from this world. It would take less than thirty seconds, but in that time was more pain and suffering than should ever accompany a soul on their way to the afterlife.

             
The smell of sulfur burned
my
nostrils and made
my
ears ring from the pain of it.
I
wasn’t human. And
I
wouldn’t die from this contact. But
I
felt it more strongly than any human ever could. This touch, this evil, was in direct opposition to everything
I
was. As dark and evil as the Shadows were,
I
was light and goodness. As painful as their touch could be,
mine
was healing and soothing.

I
made a split second decision, putting the pain aside;
I
decided
,
rationally
, that
I
couldn’t stay out of this fight. The wall of Darkness surrounding
me
was waiting for
me
to die. If
I was
human, as
I
had thus far tried to play off,
I
should be
lying
on the ground right now, writhing in pain
, mere seconds from death
. Even as
I
stood against the agony,
I
knew they already figured it out.

             
My
parents hadn’t even started with weapons training yet, beyond the casual swing of a sword and so
I
was left with only one option. Unfortunately it was also the option that would give this
D
arkness exact
ly what they were looking for: t
he answer to
my
identity.

             
I
was a
S
tar.

             
And not just any
S
tar.
The next Protector of Earth. I
was a very important
S
tar.

             
With swift movements,
I
unzipped
my
heavy coat and flung it from
my
arms.
I
moved into a battle ready stance and let the warmth, the warmth
I
had hidden deep inside
me
, bubble to the surface.
My
golden toned skin met
my
internal heat welcomingly and it spread across
my
body
as quickly as a wildfire in a drought
, healing
my
pain and warming
me
completely.
I
lifted
my
head heavenward, and let the light leave
my
skin and pour outward into
the
heavy obscurity around
me
.

             
I
couldn’t help but smile as
my
true essence found form in the night.
I
glowed, literally. Blinding
, supernatural, burning
light radiated around
me
until
my
human form was almost completely hidden. Heat and light left
me
in waves of
self-
protection, the Darkness desperately fle
d
from
my
presence and
my
light that would cause them as much pain as their cold blackness caused
me
.

             
The smell of sulfur grew stronger for only a moment as
my
inner light singed some of the
stragglers; they shrieked an ear-piercing sound that rang painfully in my ears
. And then they took to the sky in an urgent escape from a battle they were hardly prepared for.

             
I
smiled
wider
; calling back the blinding light into
my
body and reducing
my
essence to a slight
outward shimmer. I
reached down for
my
coat
and slipped it back on, not bothering with the zipper
.
I
didn’t really need the warmth
now;
the warmth that lived inside of
me
was more than enough to keep
me warm, but I
also didn’t want to attract anymore Shadows.

             
Even without the Darkness clouding the landscape, with the absence of
my supernatural
light the n
ight felt extra dark
.
I
couldn’t wait to get home and to bed now that that was all over, but with
my
car upturned
I
needed to call Tristan to come get
me
. He wouldn’t be happy about
me
dragging him out of bed, but his grandmother and
my
caretaker, Annabell
e
, couldn’t drive at all, let alone come get
me
in the middle of the night. He would be even less happy when
I
offered him very little details about how
I
flipped
my
car over
in the first place
.

             
Just as
I
reached for
my
phone though
,
a
single shot of
light came careening through the atmosphere and stopped suddenly somewhere high above
me, obscured by the thick cloud cover
.
I
lifted
my
head, expecting
my
parents and when the light moved into two separate lights
I
grew even more hopeful. One light dimmed to nothing though, but stayed elevated, somewhere up in the
dark sky
. That couldn’t be right.
My
parents wouldn’t extinguish their light before they reached the ground.

             
They couldn’t, it wasn’t possible.

             
The sounds of crashing and metal slicing the air recalled
my
attention.
I squinted my
eyes and searched
through the heavy gray
for some
sign
of what was happening. The cloud above
my
head glowed in bursts of brighter light like a terrible
and destructive
lightning storm and when the sounds of
terrified screeching and the horrid smell of sulfur reached
my nose I
recognized the light as a fellow Warrior.

             
But it was definitely not
my
parents.

             
The sounds of battle continued for several more minutes, as
I
remained rooted on the ground.
I
couldn’t join the fight without a weapon and so
I
was left to assume who was winning by the sounds of weapons meeting targets and the high-pitched wailing of Shadows.

             
Eventually the battle died down in the heavens and the death toll slowed.
I
didn’t know what to expect as the light darted in a fast line to
my
right and then shot from overhead to just a few feet in front of
m
e
.

             
A human would have needed to cover their sensitive eyes from the
extraordinary
brightness
a fellow
S
tar illuminate
d
. But not being human,
my eyes were made of the same light and so I
just watched on with impatient an
ticipation to discover who had arrived
to clean up
my
mess.

             
Out of the light, one figure walked forward, dim and obviously not a
S
tar. When he was close enough that
I
could determine he was a man, an elderly man with snow white hair and leathered skin,
I
took a step back, unsure what to make of this gruff
human looking person apparently with the ability to fly and see Shadows, making him decidedly
not
human.
I
shrunk into
my
coat, having the forbidding feeling
I
was about to be reprimanded.

             
“Stella
Day
?” He demanded, stepping
directly
in front of
me
.
I
nodded,
unexplainably
more afraid of him than the entire force of Darkness. “What in this great, dead Universe, do you think you’re doing?”

             
“Who are you?”
I
deflected
meekly. If he came to fight the Darkness, surely he saw
me
attacked only minutes ago.

             
“Does it matter who I am?” the elderly man huffed. “I could just as easily be Lucifer himself
or
an apparition of Darkness called here by your own stupidity! How could you just reveal yourself like that? You just gave yourself away! After all we’ve worked for, after all the sacrifices that have been made, you just throw it all away because you’re a little
inconvenienced
one winter night….” He had stopped talking to
me, or at least stopped looking at me,
in favor of mumbling to himself in an angry, aggressive tone.

             
“I’m sorry,”
I
tried again politely, “
W
ho are you?”

             
“I’m the guy that just saved your life! That’s who!” He turned his attention wholly back on
me
.

             
I
took an intimidated step back.