In A Universe Without Stars 1: Skyeater

by J Alex McCarthy

  “Forget everything…”

  Jahum starts to glow blue as well. The Astrons begin to levitate off the ground save for Jahum. Their third and fourth leg lift up on their backs, where their wings used to be. They’re changing to angel like figures once again. The Astrons slowly start to spin around him.

  “Forget everything you were before… Your memories, your regrets, your pleasures, your fears, your dreams, and your nightmares.” They all speak in unison.

  They spin faster and faster until they’re just a blur on the white nothingness behind them. Cole tries to keep up but it’s too fast.

  He can’t do this.

  “Forget…Regrets…Dreams…Memories…” They keep repeating it, only faster and disjointed. It gets louder. Their voices booming inside Cole’s skull.

  He’s scared. He doesn’t want to do this anymore. Cole spins around, trying to keep his bearings but it’s useless.

  His head aches, he’s scared, he’s alone. Thora hates him. He let his friends die, his family is gone, he can’t even kill himself. Why did he agree to this, why!? He’s fucking useless, a stain on this earth.

  Cole clasps his head and falls to his knees. Holding his head in a futile attempt to stop the pain and the rush of thoughts going through it.

  He can see through whirlwind of Astrons. Jahum stands behind the spinning wall. He doesn’t glow, he doesn’t levitate. He simply raises his hand. A display appears on the inside of the wall, it looks like an old television screen playing an ancient home video.

  Cole can concentrate again. He stands and approaches it. It plays a woman giving birth, his mother. He stretches out a hand and touches it.

  His head is thrown back and his eyes flashes a bright blue light. It all flashes through him, his birth, his childhood, and how he got here now. All his memories crash into him.

  ===

  In a flash, Cole is here in the hospital room. He can’t interact or speak, he can’t even think, he is just here, in spirit.

  A woman laid on the bed, she’s just gone through labor. Sweat covered her face. Her chest quickly moved up and down as she panted, recovering from just pushing a baby out of her.

  Her face was slightly ragged, and dark permanent circles encompassed her eyes. She’s had them since before her pregnancy.

  The doctor hands her a newborn. She held and caressed him. “Cole, you’re my perfect little angel,” she said hugging him closely. He looked so innocence and calm. This bitter world had yet touched him. Tears fell on Cole, his mother had started to cry.

  ===

  In a flash, He’s in a kitchen.

  His mother washed the dishes. The kitchen was a dirty rustic place. The floor was mopped but never really clean and the window looked out at another apartment building only feet away from it. Their mail was scattered on the floor. Cole’s mothers tears dripped into the dishwater. She did a bad job of holding them in.

  A toddler Cole stumbled in. He noticed his mama crying. “Mommy, where is daddy?” he asked in the cutest way possible. She turned around. She had a black eye and it was recent.

  “Daddy’s gone baby,” she said.

  ===

  Another flash, another place.

  Kid Cole sat in a class room. He was in the back in a desk. It was Valentine’s Day, the walls were covered in hearts and love posters. The kids in the classroom swirled around the class, they were giving out hearts, letters, and chocolates to their childhood sweethearts.

  The scene was almost heartwarming, except for Cole, who sat in the back, head on his desk. Nobody passed him a thing.

  Kid Cole walked down a street with his backpack. He didn’t particularly care that he didn’t get anything in class. With the way he’d been acting he was expecting it. He was smelly and mean Cole. There was only one thing that mattered to him ever since his dad had left.

  Two bullies walked up from behind him. Not again. “Hey, Cole, what do you have for us today?” One of them said. He ignored them, arguing isn’t going to get anywhere.

  “He didn’t get anything in class.” The other one said.

  “Aww, poor baby didn’t get anything for Valentine’s day.” The first one said. The bully ripped off Cole’s bag off and pushed him to the ground.

  “No, stop!” Cole yelled. The bullies raided his bag and pulled out a card.

  “What’s this?”

  “Aw, momma’s boy.”

  The second bully kicked him in the gut and Cole fell to the ground.

  “Since you didn’t give us anything today.” The first bully tore it in half and threw it at him.

  “Here, faggot.”

  He kicked him again and walked off. Cole struggled up and stared at his torn card.

  Cole walked into his mother’s room. She lay in bed, the room was dark with the blinds closed. He could hear a machine next to her. It beeped every few seconds, keeping her alive. She looked like she was already dead.

  Cole walked up to her bed side.

  “Cole?...” she muttered. She tried her hardest to turn and look him in his face.

  “Oh baby,” she said. She moved her cold bony hands over his face and caressed it. “What’s wrong with your face?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Have thos—“

  “Here!” he cut her off. He handed her his taped up card. “It’s the best I could do.”

  She struggled as she pushed herself up, her body shook, but she made it. She wrapped her brittle arms around his body and hugged him.

  “You will always be my perfect little angel. I love you, baby,” she said on the verge of tears.

  ===

  Cole flashes back into the room, His eyes are bloodstained and wide open. Tears are on his face.

  “Nooooo!”

  ===

  The world flashes again, it’s only a few years later. Cole remembers this day, the day he wants to forget.

  A slightly older kid Cole sat in his room, toy airplanes and rocket ships littered his walls and ceiling. Some day he wanted to be a fighter pilot and to become a hero like on television. But for now he did his homework at his desk.

  A scream broke his train of thought. He ran out into the hallway. He looked at the table near the door, a phone is on it. He ran to it and dialed the police.

  “Hello, 911,” The dispatcher said. He placed it down when he heard another scream.

  It’s came from his mother’s room. He could hear arguing coming from it as he inched toward the door.

  “What do you mean you don’t have it?!” a man yelled. The voice is of Cole’s dad.

  “I-I needed it for medical bills,” his mother pleaded. “What is this fucking watch then?!” Cole’s dad screamed at the top of his lungs.

  “It’s for Cole when he’s older. You left us!!” she said.

  “That was my fucking money, you bitch!”

  Something broke. Then a scream.

  “NOO!”

  A single shot rang out, it echoed through the house and Cole.

  “Mom!” Cole yelled as he ran into his mother’s room. The bed was overturned, the only lamp was broken against the wall.

  His father stood over his mother’s lifeless body splayed out on the floor, her cold dead eyes staring right at him. She looked like she’d been dead for weeks thanks to her condition. His father was covered in her blood.

  “Shit…Cole,” he said.

  Sirens wailed outside.

  “What in the hell did you do? How did they get here so fast?!” He’s panicking. He pointed his gun at Cole, whose gaze never broke from his mother’s dead face.

  He lowered it, even after what he did, he was not able to shoot his own flesh. He walked forward but stops.

  “No,” Cole said. Cole walked in front of him and stretched his hands out.

  The sirens was getting closer. This is the only point in his life that Cole was never scared, scared of what would happen to him, or scared for his life. He just wanted to stop him.

  His father didn’t have time to think.
He ran and forced Cole into the wall and ran out the door. Cole stared at the open door as he lay on the ground. Blood ran down the gash in his face.

  Cole is in all black in the front row of a church. His mother’s funeral. The rows were sparsely filled. With her sickness taking up her time she barely had any friends and didn’t have much family.

  A casket and a picture of his mother sat next to the podium. A priest gave his sermon on the podium but Cole wasn’t listening. He held a black box, her last present to him for when she died.

  He opened it, a folded piece of paper fell out. He didn’t pick up, he was too memorized to pick it up. Inside was a brand new PAM watch, worth thousands of dollars. How and where did she get the money for this?

  It was too big for him. He picked it up and examined it, rubbing the face and watching the intricate ticks and tocks of the movement. He looked on the back, there was an engraving. From a loving mother to a distant son, I love you and you will always be a perfect son to me.

  He looked down and picked up the folded paper on the ground. He opened it. It was a letter from his mother.

  Hello Cole,

  If you’re reading this then it means that my time has come. I will always love you and I want you to live a long and happy life, I know it will be hard for you with me gone, but I’ve made peace with my god and I want you too as well. I’ve always wanted a big family and I’m sorry I couldn’t provide one for you.

  So I got you a present, it’s for your college graduation and yes, you are going to college and you are going to be an engineer and I’m proud of you for being one. I saved up and bought this for you now just in case I wasn’t around to see you become a grown man. I was hoping you would have the same dream as me and would want a big family. If not then I’m sorry I imposed this on you.

  With this watch you can watch the time pass by as your kids grow old, and the wrinkles grow on your wife’s beautiful face and pass down this watch when your kids grow into adults and when they graduate and so on and so forth. With this watch, I hope you can create a legacy I never was able to.

  Since I was never married, you still have my name and since you have that I will live on with our family name for generations to come. Even if I’m not around any longer.

  This letter is getting a little long so I just want to finish by saying that you are my perfect little boy, I love you and don’t let anybody take that love away from you.

  Cole closed the letter. And then closed his eyes.

  ===

  Another moment, another flash, another memory.

  A 19 year-old Cole stood at attention in front of a colonel at his desk. They were at an air force base office. Cole was dressed in his military blues, second lieutenant ranks gleamed on his collar.

  The colonel shifted through some papers on his desk, muttering to himself. “So you graduated high school at the age of sixteen and finished college in three years,” he said, leaning back in his leather seat. “Why in the hell did you join the military?”

  Cole didn’t muster, he stood as still as a gargoyle statue on an old church perch.

  “Oh, at ease and you’re free to speak,” The colonel said. Cole moved to parade rest, feet apart, hands behind his back.

  “To become a better man and the perfect soldier, sir.”

  The colonel grabbed his mug and took a sip. Cole’s scar was still fresh on his face, much more noticeable than his present self’s.

  “That’s it?”

  Cole’s face finally broke. “And, umm, also to become strong enough to break past any threat whether it’s internal, external, or extraterrestrial sir.”

  The colonel burst out laughing, he held his chest and started to cough.

  “Well, boy, you ain’t no superman and you ain’t going to single handily save America, but you did the next best thing and that was to join the United States Air Force.”

  The colonel put out his hand.

  “Welcome to the world’s greatest military power, son.”

  ===

  Another flash, another memory, only a couple years later.

  A Humvee drove down a dirt road in a Middle Eastern country. It stopped in front of a small hut. Cole walked out and up to the vehicle. He opened the door and got into the passenger seat.

  Julio was the driver. “So you’re my new commander,” he said, he looked at the major ranks on Cole’s shoulder. He put out his hand and Cole shook it.

  “My name is Julio Garcia, I’m your second-in-command, and this is Chris Love, Reese Handspring, and Erik Chives,” he said while waving to the back. Three soldiers sat there. Cole’s got his team.

  Cole’s Humvee drove down a deserted road in the middle of nowhere. Small hills and dry mountains peaked off in the distance. They came up to a fork in the road. Both paths seemed to lead nowhere. Cole, Julio and Erik jumped out the Humvee and walked up to the sign. It was in Arabic language, or just scribbles to them.

  “Can you read this shit?” Julio asked Erik.

  “Yes, I can read that shit,” Erik said.

  He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a translation book. “Some words are near intelligible, it’ll take me a few minutes.” Erik said.

  “Post haste, Chives, our mission is to support Bravo team in a raid, we’re already a few minutes behind.”

  “Yes, sir,” Erik replied.

  “Major! We have a distress call!” Chris yelled from the Humvee. Cole and Julio ran back to it and opened the door.

  “Where?”

  “It’s at some village called Farahk, sir,” Chris answered.

  “I’m trying to contact HQ for orders but there’s interference on the line.”

  Erik ran up behind them. “Our destination is to the right.”

  “Chives, where is Farahk from here?” Cole asked handing him a map. Erik grabbed and examined it.

  “It’s to the left of the fork, sir,” He replied.

  “We need to decide which way where going, because with the look on your face, Bravo team might not be getting the backup they need,” Julio said.

  “So which is it, sir?” Chris asked.

  Cole looked at the scribbles on the sign. “Garcia, take us to the left and toward the distress signal,”

  “Yes sir.”

  Cole stood in front of the same colonel who sat at the same desk at an air force base office. Except he was a general now and his expression was uglier.

  “I already talked to the higher ups, you ain’t gonna get the blame for diverting from your objective.”

  “But two of my men died under my command, and Bravo team was nearly wiped out in an ambush. I cannot continue, I will take the full blame,” Cole replied.

  The general rubbed his face, he looked displeased.

  “Alright I’ll sign your damned papers. You had courage son, the military lost a damn great soldier today.”

  ===

  Back in the room without end. Cole continues to grip his head, Julio’s and Thora’s names echo out by unknown voices, like it’s searching for something.

  “Titans versus Gods, an imperfect universe,” Jahum says. Cole clutches his head harder.

  “What do you do it for?”

  Cole screams out.

  Deconstruction - Training Day

  Julio and Jahum stand in the Astrons training gym. It’s just like a regular gym with weights, power racks, treadmills, wrestling pads, and punching bags, it has a little of everything.

  “Since you arrived late, you weren’t given a chance to train and learn your powers. So with only two hours before you leave for battle, I will personally train you for the next hour. First, take off your ring,” Jahum says.

  “Cool,” Julio replies.

  He takes it off and smiles, Jahum said someone else was going to train him but he likes Jahum better. He swings his arms and hops around a bit to loosen himself up.

  “You’ve subconsciously used your powers, I will need to open up your mind slightly to give you full control over them.”

 
“I have?”

  “Yes. We’ve been watching all the chosen, including you. When you fought against Kabus and fell off the rooftop, your powers saved you from almost certain death. Good job on surviving against Kabus, an alpha and an ascended, fighting against a vastly superior enemy and surviving is something most humans wouldn’t even attempt to do. Courage is a trait we were looking for in the chosen we picked.”

  “Thanks, I guess.”

  He was just trying to survive, he thinks he was actually a coward in that situation, but he’s not going to give back the compliment.

  “Now, I need you to empty your mind and try to think of nothing.”

  That’s a damn near impossible thing to do, to completely empty one’s mind. He doesn’t even think humans are capable of it. He’s tried it multiple times when he went through his yoga hipster phase. But he’s going to entertain Jahum’s idea.

  He closes his eyes.

  He tries to think of nothing, to forget everything. Nothing.

  Nothing, think of nothing.

  Only blackness, the true emptiness and nothing.

  Julio relaxes, his thoughts melt away in his mind. No more thoughts, he needs to empty his mind. All his worries melt away and he thinks of nothing. Emptiness, there is nothing there.

  Then he sees it, a light blue glow in the darkness, the only thing lighting his way. He can feel its warmth. It gets bigger until it eclipse his nothingness and darkness. He can smell it, feel it pulsating in his veins, he can damn near taste it. His opens his eyes.

  “This is your power, even without the ring, you have become something more. Once your mind is open to it, it is always open. Naturally, over time, you will gain more power and ascend to a greater level. And then when you hit the apex you will lose your power, as will everything in this universe. Your ring has some of my power in it, helping the process, but even without it you can still do amazing things.”