Icestar looked a little shocked, “Uh yea, I think so.” Foreststar just nodded his head.
We all flinched as we heard the not-so-distant clap of thunder. The garage shook with the force of the sound waves. “Shall we get this show on the road?” I asked in an oddly calm voice.
WATERSTAR
“Take a seat, you’ll be here for a while,” Vladimir said while the flames around me disappeared. I slid down the partially scorched wall that was directly behind me. I was still trying to keep my distance from him. I couldn’t understand how he went from evil maniac to remorse fallen angel within seconds. I was seriously considering that he might be the origin of bipolar.
Vladimir took a deep breath. “I guess I should start at the beginning, though I’m still wondering why I’m telling you this. You’re the first person to ever hear this story. This first part I only know because Lucifer has shown me the past. Seventeen years ago, my father had risen from the depths of Hell to find a mate… or well, more so a human woman to bear his child. Anyways, he had searched the world, making women endure torturous treatments, trying to find one who could survive it. Finally, he found her. After she had unwilling proved that she was strong enough, Lucifer impregnated her. Eight months went by where the child in her womb caused her pain and agony. She was completely shunned by every society. Not even a mere animal would come near her.
“Then… she died.” Vladimir’s voice choked up and I felt compelled to comfort him. Of course, I didn’t, though I did mentally slap myself.
“Lucifer had been carefully watching my mom… so when she had… passed, he had returned to Earth.” Vladimir looked down at his hands, his voice growing even softer. I could sympathize with him a little. I had never known either of my parents, and I knew how tough that could be. It was almost as if I could see everything that had happened, as if Vladimir was showing it to me, just as Lucifer had showed him. Maybe I should reconsider the comforting thing....
“And he did something completely vulgar, that even to this day I won’t forgive. I’d rather have died with my mother then this to happen, but nonetheless, it can’t be helped. H-he had collected my mom’s body and brought her down here, with me still in her womb. When they arrived here, Lucifer had one of his trusted demons posses her, which started her heart again, even though her soul was already on its way to who knows where.
“The demon was in her body for three weeks. She would go to the surface and play the helpless pregnant woman, using her dark magic so that no one realized that she was a demon, and anyone who tried to ‘help’ her was eaten. On the fourth week I was born, and the demon finally left my mother’s body since it wasn’t… needed, anymore.” Vladimir stopped talking.
His head was in his hands and I could faintly hear his breath coming quicker, as if he was crying. Something inside my heart broke; I slowly stood up, not sure of what I was exactly planning on doing. After standing awkwardly for a moment, I looked over at Darkstar on the other side of the room. Pretty damn unconscious, but I could see the movement of his chest with regular breaths. But hey, that means he isn’t dead. On silent feet, I walked over to Vladimir; I wasn’t sure what would happen if I went over to Darkstar right now. I sat next to him and put my hand on his back in what I hoped was a comforting way. I’m not exactly good at this type of thing.
Vladimir’s head jerked up in surprise and I felt my cheeks flush with color. “Uh, sorry,” I said as I slid away from him. He shrugged and looked at his hands again, which were back in his lap.
“It’s alright; I guess I’m just not use to being around other people.” I saw him look at me from the corner of his eye.
Vladimir coughed as if to clear his throat. “After I was born I was given to some humans on the surface. They were nice to me, and obviously didn’t know what I was.” He paused, a small smile lightly laying on his lips and his eyes softened a bit. “I was raised as a normal human, with a few differences. About once a month my father would send demons to check up on me. Those nights were the worst of my life. They would gag my mouth with shadows so I couldn’t scream; I’d be voiceless for days afterwards. Then they would take their time checking on me, taking growth measurements and testing abilities, making everything as painful as possible. A few times they gave me different types of food that had come from Hell and would set me free on the town. One time, when I was only four years old, something they had given me had made me go on a mass killing spree. In one hour, I had killed fifty-seven people of all ages. But the worst one was when I had killed…killed…m-my…” Vladimir curled up into a fetal position and started crying. I felt my own tears prick at the corner of my eyes too.
I slid back to him and put my arms around him and murmured soothing things that meant absolutely nothing. He kept moaning and talking about the blood and the faces of his victims as he killed them. I had no clue how to deal with this and yea, this probably sounds lame, but I just sat there and stroked his hair and rubbed his back like I had seen people do in Earth movies when someone was in pain like this.
When he finally calmed down, Vladimir slid out of my arms and stood up. He walked around for a bit, and all the while he avoided looking at me. I could almost physically see him building up barriers around himself as he would try to wipe the tears from his eyes without me noticing. Emphasis on try, it was quite noticeable. Slowly though, I could see the shift from the honest Vladimir back to the one who had existed before the story.
When he finally made a full circle of the room he looked down at where Darkstar was laying. Okay, yea I did momentarily forget about one of my best friends, and yea, I did feel really bad about it, but there was a lot of other stuff to try and deal with…kind of.
Vladimir’s voice was laced with ice. “I’d say that I am sorry for hurting your friend, but I’ve moved past emotion at this point. It’s only the memories that plague me, they are my only weakness.” I looked at Vladimir and I felt my jaw drop. He did not just say what I think he did. I stood up and debated kicking the crap out of him or checking on Darkstar.
Some things were more important than being pissed. “Freaking butt munch!” I shouted at him before running over to Dark. I quickly checked his injuries, my fingers lightly flitting across all of his bones. Nothing was broken, but he was burned in quite a few places, his neck was badly bruised, and he had a couple of cuts that had stopped oozing blood. His self-healing had already kicked in. He was going to be pissed when he awakened, but he wouldn’t be dead.
“Sorry again about the lack of emotion, it’s been drilled out of me.”
I rose while spinning in a circle, facing Vladimir with my fists raised. Or at least, that’s what I had planned on doing. As I had stood up, my head felt like it was swimming in circles and fuzzy grey dots clouded my vision. I felt my body start falling but even now I don’t remembered hitting the ground.
FIRESTAR
I shouted and stuck my arms in the air after we had left Rebellion property. Riding in Cerberus was amazing, even though my arms had been smashed back inside the car from the wind force.
“Firestar! Shut up!” Sunstar tried looking behind us to see if any of the look outs had noticed my shout, but utterly failed because of the design of the car.
“This is just bad ass!” I said into my headset, keeping my voice a bit lower now. We were currently in Cerberus 99 going at one-hundred-twenty miles per hour with no windows. I had wanted to stay sitting up straight but Icestar had forced us all to lay back in the recline-able seats so that skin didn’t go flying off our faces. I can see how that would be preferable.
“Why do you get to drive?” I asked Ice, who was still sitting upright. He got to see what it looked like going this fast.
“Because I made this baby, plus my helmet is specifically designed for me.” His voice was a little muffled by the helmet, well more so harness. It was made to protect his face and torso from the wind and I’d bet almost anything that it was totally tricked out.
“Firestar, give it a rest and shut up
.” Foreststar shouted from the very back of the car. The only reason we could hear him was because of the prototype headphones Icestar was working on, so he didn't really need to shout. They hadn’t been connected to Arctic’s personal headset yet ‘cause all the bugs weren’t worked out, which gave me a slight bit of worry.
I ended up grumbling into my own headset and settled on looking at the sky; which was currently blackened by clouds. I slipped into a vision, seeing a sheet of silver coming down from the sky like a vengeful deity getting payback.
“Hey Ice?” I said with hesitation in my voice.
“Hmm?”
“What would happen if it started raining?”
“Well, considering this is Calsh, we’d be soaked in seconds probably….”
“Why are you asking?” Sunstar asked from behind me. “Because not only would we be soaked, but we would also have acid rain on us due to the excess pollution Calsh receives from Earth, and severity of this storm will depend on if the acid in the rain could harm us or not, but it more than likely will, therefore, you should have told us sooner that it would rain so we could have just avoided all of this.”
“Really, really? You choose now to be an ass?” Girls could just be so thick-skulled at times. How was I supposed to know the exact timing of these things?
“Excuse me? I most certainly am not being an ass. I am merely pointing out what we all are thinking. This is your fault.”
Before I could interject with a witty comeback, Icestar intervened. “Cut it. Neither can change the present. Sun, how sure of the severity with this storm are you?”
“I am nothing less than positive about it. Why would I be unsure. I am the expert here after all.”
When Forest, Ice, and I were all silent after her speech, Sun asked, “What? My field is Calsh’s environment and how it compares to Earth’s. Obviously none of you know anything about it.”
“I would disagree, seeing as I’m the only one here who has physically been to Earth.” Forest’s voice was calm over the headset, but didn’t sound too thrilled to be in this car right now.
Ice gave us another warning before the bickering continued. I’m sure if it were possible, Sunstar would be glaring as viciously as a small female could at both Forest and me.
“Ice?” I said again.
“What!” Ice shouted in exasperation.
“You didn’t add a roof to Cerberus by chance, did you?”
“Uh...no, why?”
“Well, according to my powers of future, we're about to get swamped, and I really don’t wanna turn into an acid-cicle.”
I felt the car-thingy speed up as Ice pressed the gas and started muttering to himself. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?”
“Sunstar was lecturing us and I didn’t want to interrupt.” I shrugged as much as possible while lying down. I think Ice would’ve glared at me too, if he could’ve turned around. It wasn't like there was much else we could do sitting out here in the middle of no where even if I had spoken sooner. There was no coverage in landscape on Calsh, and scouts had to take their own covers in case of rain. We, however, didn't because of the quick get-a-way. Maybe a plan would've been better than the not-plan plan.
“Fire, do you know how much time we have until the storm hits?” Forest called out from the back; his voice was tight with worry.
“Uhh, maybe two minutes? My visions are like girls; they have mood swings never say what they mean.”
Cerberus sped up some more and I felt it give a slight jerk as it hit max speed. Even with the sound from the wind I could hear the engine whining. I don't think that's a preferable sound coming from anything.
“Maybe two minutes until we get there,” Ice’s voice held some hesitation though. “But it you have an extra hoodie or something I’d put it over any bare skin….”
“What?!” We all shouted as we tried sitting up; which of course was a stupid idea. I had caught a glimpse of a sheet of silver right in front of us before the wind slammed me back in my seat.
I slipped my hoodie off and covered my face and hands under it. Let's go, broski.
“Three, two, one,” Ice muttered and then we felt the drops hammering on us. As a few leaked through the fabric of my clothes I felt a stinging pain. I heard Sunstar exclaim in pain as it hit her.
ARCTIC
“Bring Firestar to my office,” Arctic told a newly graduated messenger. During dinner, Arctic had considered Fire’s situation and had decided on a compromise. He would send a rescue crew of fifteen people, if Fire stayed at the Rebellion. He would hope that they could reach Water and Dark before those two reached the Shadowlands. Arctic had learned some disturbing facts about the place between the living world and hell. There were, of course, motives behind keeping Fire here, one of which was to keep him from going to the Underworld Gates with Waterstar and Darkstar, though it wouldn’t be a disaster if he did. Arctic just needed to try and separate the dream team, but again, even if that didn’t happen he could still move on with other plans.
Arctic folded his fingers into a tent on the table as a knock echoed from the door. “Come in,” he said, immediately putting a languid emotion into his voice.
The messenger stepped through the opened door, alone. “Sir,” the man barked while saluting. “I searched Fire’s room but couldn’t find him. He left his headset on the table. I questioned people on the way back and found out that Foreststar the ambassador, Sunstar the environmentalist, and Icestar the mechanic are also missing.”
“What!” Arctic’s voice boomed as he stood and slammed his open-palmed hand on the table.
The messenger saluted again before asking, “Sir, should we send a retrieval squad after them, sir?”
Arctic took a second to breathe. “No. If he manages to catch up with his comrades, then there isn’t a way you could bring them back without serious injuries. Send out a notice with Fores- who was Foreststar training?” Arctic rubbed his temples as he remembered that his ambassador was also missing. Why, why had Fire taken him along?
“Snowstar, sir.”
“Okay, send Snowstar to Earth to collect only the highest world leaders. Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Beijing and Vatican.”
“Yes, sir!” The messenger saluted a final time before leaving.
Arctic slid a notepad in front of him and pulled out a green inked pen.
Thursday
Firestar has left to go after his comrades, Waterstar and Darkstar, who had disobeyed orders and traveled to the Underworld without permission. While they had been breaking into the NOPCW headquarters, the architect team of Storm, Sand, and Windstar were able to finish translating a manuscript that dated back over five-thousand years, from the Levan people that were here before people started transferring from Earth in 2030, their time. In this manuscript, it spoke of people who had powers bestowed upon them, people who had not been born with powers, such as those we carry in the Rebellion. I have my suspicions that Firestar may have not inherited his power, but have gotten it from his year living in the Barrens. If that is so, then we must retrieve more of the manuscript quickly, for it was not completed of what Sandstar had brought me. Apparently, people who have these powers bestowed upon them lack the control of using them if not trained by the giver. I believe that is why Firestar has lost control of fire, and his visions have never been under his command. I do not know what destruction may come from this venture of his.
While Water and Darkstar were traveling through the tunnels to the Underworld, I sat here planning on what to do with Firestar, since he still at least remained here. I decided that I would send a retrieval squad to go after Water and Darkstar and return them here, then go into more training with Firestar to see if this manuscript held any truth, but that plan has failed now. I have called an emergency meeting with the Earth world leaders because if anything goes wrong down in the Underworld, the once almost impossible chance of demons invading both Calsh and Earth has become increasingly more possible. If they defeat Lucifer, t
hen there will be no one left to control the demons, unless he has some unknown heir. If Lucifer defeats them, then he will be enraged that there are people trying to steal his pets, and will retaliate against all humans, no matter what world they are on.
Earlier, I had thought that it would be possible to execute this mission without being discovered by anyone in the Underworld, but the architect team had pulled up a new manuscript that showed that I was disastrously mistaken. In a realm called the Shadowlands, which are between the Underworld Gates and the world of the living, there are sentries everywhere, most commonly in the form of rotting skeletons. One of the epics from the Levan stated that one of their heroes had tried to make the journey into the Underworld to defeat it’s King and save his village from the plagues that he was sending, but after battling the sentries and training to get past the Guardian of the Gates, he had to return home without any success, it had been too much.
I fear that unless they have any professional help, then they will not be able to make it even to the Gates, much less to Lucifer himself. The six members that traveled down there are some of the finest in Star Rebellion: Firestar, Darkstar, Waterstar, Foreststar, Sunstar, and Icestar.
Someone is knocking at the door; it must be the Earth leaders.
Arctic stood and walked to the door and opened it. Snowstar entered first, leading the members to their respective seats. She had learned well from Foreststar.
Arctic greeted them each individually as they all stayed standing, and when he got to Vatican, he noticed something different.
“Has the old pope been replaced?” Arctic asked the new man respectfully.
“Yes, it was quite a sudden incident, but he died of a heart attack, regretfully. I am his successor, from Greece.”
“Pleasure to meet you.” We shook hands and the man sat down. He was the youngest person Arctic had ever seen at a leader meeting, being maybe in his twenties. His obsidian-like hair seemed to almost glow in the florescent lighting.
“Arctic, what is the meaning of this? I thought you said that you wouldn’t call us unless something upsetting happened; please tell me that this isn’t to bear some more ill news?” Washington interrupted Arctic’s thoughts as he took his seat.
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