The Starlight Chronicles: Slumbering

by C. S. Johnson

  I usually enjoyed going to school, though I was smart enough not to admit it. But there were a few days when I considered school a hassle or problematic.

  Such as when Elysian followed me to school.

  The small dragon had ignored me for most of the weekend, primarily because I intentionally avoided him; I’d been ‘busy’ calling Gwen to see how she was doing, going over to Mikey’s house and Jason’s house, sleeping in late and other important things like that, trying to forget all the things I’d seen and heard and felt.

  It wasn’t easy, but I managed to succeed.

  The dreams which haunted me were crushed by the relentless onslaught of activities and ‘concerns’ I had on my mind.

  I sighed. This week was already starting to look bad, I thought gloomily. It had been predicted to be so – it was the final week of the football season, on top of everything else.

  Mrs. Smithe smiled as the bell rang. I thought she looked a lot more cheerful this week now that the apparently cursed rain was gone and the sun was out again. “Okay, class, time for your exam. I hope you’ve all studied hard over the weekend.” Everyone gave her a blank stare until we all simultaneously recalled there was a huge test today.

  No wonder she was so happy.

  “Crap!” Drew punched his fist down on his desk. “I completely forgot. I’m going to fail.”

  “Me, too,” Poncey added. “I thought for sure Martha would push it back until Tuesday, at least.”

  I personally felt stricken. Of course today was the exam worth fifteen percent of the final grade. Of course. I put my Game Pac away and sighed.

  It had been years since I felt unprepared for a test. But the test was passed out before I could even try to pass out.

  “Okay, class, do your best. You have both periods to finish.”

  I, along with the rest of the class, groaned and/or grumbled in response.

  “Psst! Hammy!”

  I looked to see Gwen waving in my direction with her arm in a newly-covered cast. “Good luck,” she whispered.

  I winked at her. “No problem,” I smirked. I waited until she turned her attention back on her test to shudder at the thought of mine. Shooting one last look out the window at the tiny dragon, nonchalantly clawing his way up the waterspout, I sighed and began filling out my answer sheet.

  An hour and a half later, I walked up, handed my test to Martha, and left the room, not saying anything. Worst test ever, I decided.

  Gwen came up beside me. “Did you do all right?”

  “Piece of cake,” I lied brightly and brilliantly. “Martha’s going to have to try harder to stump me next time.”

  Gwen laughed. “I didn’t study at all,” she admitted. “I forgot about it entirely. I hope I don’t fail.”

  “I’m sure you did fine,” I assured her. “You can study with me next time.”

  Gwen nodded. “I might have to. You always do so well on her tests.”

  “Hey, Gwen, how are you feeling today?” Tim suddenly popped up beside her. It’s more than a little creepy. Like stalker creepy.

  “Oh, hi, Tim,” Gwen smiled. I was a little surprised. Usually Gwen was a lot, well, less fake about pretending to be nice. “My arm’s doing as well as expected.”

  Tim slowed down a bit. “Did you hear about the meeting for the play?”

  “What meeting?” she asked. “I don’t remember any play practice being scheduled.”

  “Well, Ms. Carmichael’s coming in from Rosemont on Wednesday,” Tim replied. “You should come, if you can. The Rosemont students will be here, too. If you’re not feeling well, I can give you the details later.”

  The gloomy expression on his face made me so happy I could almost forget the history test.

  Gwen nodded. “We’ll see,” she repeated. Then she waved good-bye to Tim and began to walk with me again. “I wonder if there’s a chance of reopening the play,” she mused.

  I shrugged. “Well, it was postponed, not canceled, technically.”

  “That’s right.” Gwen gushed. “I hope it opens. I did really want to be a star.”

  “Maybe you’ll be a star one day, like in Hollywood. You’re certainly pretty enough for it.” (Cheesy, I know, but it worked.)

  “Well, I don’t know about that,” she giggled. “Well, see you later.”

  I waved as she walked away. So Gwen and Tim weren’t so friendly this week. That made me happy (very happy.)

  However, my happiness was short-lived (of course); looking out the window of the classroom, I saw Elysian again. The happiness inside of me popped like a soap bubble. That thing was getting annoying. Really annoying.

  “You can’t follow me to school!” I nearly shouted on my way home. The newly November air was chilly, but I didn’t realize it as I glowered at the tiny dragon on my shoulder. “What do I tell people if they see you?”

  “You can’t keep ignoring me, or your mission,” Elysian huffed angrily.

  “I’m not ignoring you. I’m yelling at you! And I don’t know what mission you’re talking about,” I seethed.

  Elysian shook his head. “I was under the impression you were mourning, so I let you be. But now I see you were just trying to ignore the truth, so you could get on with your life.”

  “So?” My voice nearly cracked. A couple of people passing by me on the street gave me funny looks. I glared at them and waited until they were out of sight. Then I turned back to Elysian.

  “Now, where was –” I started to hassle Elysian again, only to see he was gone from my shoulder. “Huh?” I looked around, feeling my anxiety build. I could only imagine what someone would say if they saw a dragon sauntering down the street. “Where’d you go?”

  I caught sight of that slimy tail of his soon enough; Elysian had disappeared to look into a window across the street.

  I hurriedly picked up the small animal, nearly choking it as I tucked it halfway inside my backpack. “What are you doing?” I asked through gritted teeth. “You’re making me upset.”

  Elysian snarled. “I’m making you mad? Excuse me, but who’s the one in charge here?”

  “What do you mean?” I narrowed my eyes. “I’m in charge of you, not the other way around!” And I shook my backpack with Elysian inside, to prove I was the bigger, stronger one.

  “Uh, Hamilton?”

  Oh, great. Someone had seen me.

  I looked up to see Rachel smiling down at me from an open window. “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Uh, nothing. Hey, Rachel.”

  She gave me an odd expression before waving me in. “Come on in, I’ve got a new drink I want you to try!”

  “Okay! Be there in a minute!” The second she left, I glared at Elysian. “What were you thinking, coming over here? You’re in the human world, where no one has ever seen one of you before. You’d be placed in a museum or a zoo or maybe a freak show carnival faster than you can say –”

  “Are you coming?” Rachel asked, opening the door.

  “Uh, yeah. Just making sure all my stuff’s here,” I lied.

  “Oh… well, come on in. Business is slow right now; and Grandpa Odd’s here, just warning you.”

  Ah, no wonder she was bribing me to come inside. Grandpa was home.

  “Judgment Day’s coming!” the old man greeted me with a raised drink.

  Rachel rolled her eyes. “He was reading O’Connor earlier, if you’re wondering. She is one of his favorites,” she explained as she handed me a drink. “This is a pumpkin chai smoothie. It’s sugar-free, low-fat, and full of healthy nutrients.”

  “And yet, it tastes like a regular, drinkable pumpkin chai smoothie,” I smile after the first sip. I had an over-appreciation for the normal things in life lately.

  “Judgment’s Day’s coming,” Grandpa Odd squeaked up again.

  “Uh… Rachel?” I raised my eyebrows in a silent question.

  “No, he’s just insane; I don’t let him drink.”

  Grandpa Odd was slouched over in his chair, his
head down on his folded arms (like a student in a boring class.) I tried not to laugh. “He’s well named, really. I’ve never met anyone so ‘odd’ before.”

  Rachel grinned. “That’s part of our family’s Norwegian side. We’re actually related to the founder of Apollo City, Ogden Skarmastad.”

  I supposed that explained the insanity. Hereditary.

  “Judgment Day’s coming!” Grandpa Odd straightened. “You’ll see! When Judgment Day comes, no one will be expecting it.”

  “But if you know it’s coming, then doesn’t that mean it’s not coming?” I snorted.

  The old man looked at me intently. “Just because I know it’s coming, doesn’t mean it won’t. It’s coming soon, but you will not be expecting it… not expecting it at all.” He leaned in closer and added, “And you won’t escape the consequences – or making a choice…” Then he sat back down, and began to brood into his cup once more.

  Elysian was mesmerized by Grandpa Odd’s presence. “Hush!” I hissed at him, before he could no doubt make some kind of comment. “You’d better be good.”

  “So you think it’s good?” Rachel smiled brightly. “You really like the drink then?”

  “Sure do,” I nodded, thankful for the opportunity to cover. “In fact, I’ll buy another one for the road, if you don’t mind. And throw in a sandwich, too, with lots of turkey and roast beef and cheese; seriously, no organic stuff.”

  “Sure, I’ll get it right away,” Rachel grinned.

  A few moments later, I was once again headed on my way home, a bag in my one hand and another smoothie (already half gone) in the other. I liked going to Rachel’s. Too bad every time I showed up it seemed that odd man was there.

  “Can I come out of here yet?” Elysian asked, his voice muffled from the inside of the backpack, and his body squashed between the textbooks.

  “No,” I still burned with anger at his earlier antics.

  “Please? This has to be considered pet abuse.”

  “No it’s not; and my mother’s a lawyer, and you can’t testify anyway. We’ll be back at my house in a couple of moments, would you relax?”

  “Come on.”

  “Look, you’re irritating me. Why can’t you just go back to whatever radioactive sewer pipe you crawled out of and stop bothering me?”

  Elysian slithered out of the backpack and dropped to the ground. “First of all, I did not crawl out of a radioactive sewer pipe. I was sent down here from the Realm of Immortality. Second, you need me. I told you this before. How else are you going to be able to fight the evil your world now faces?”

  “What evil!?” If I didn’t feel so radically annoyed, I would have thought the very idea was laughable. “There is no evil! This is a postmodern society, moron. Nothing is able to be considered bad. I’m sure you’ve got it all wrong, whatever it is you’re talking about.”

  Elysian sighed. “I can’t believe you’re really the one I was sent to come find –”

  “Who would send you along to come find me?”

  “I’ll tell you everything, if you’ll only give me the chance.”

  “I don’t want to know!”

  “Your ignorance is impossible to deal with!” Elysian roared, as he jumped up on his hind legs. His wings grew bigger and his body became longer and fuller. He transformed into his real dragon self; I briefly heard some young children nearby scream as Elysian tossed me onto his back and took off for the sky.

  15

  Beginnings

  Whoa!” I yelled in surprise as I dropped my sandwich bag. “No! I paid good money for that!” I complained, grabbing onto a pair of Elysian’s horns just before I almost fell off Elysian’s back.

  “Be quiet!” Elysian’s voice was deeper and scarier to me in his true form. He hauled me up further and further, until the city was a glimmering speck on the dirt below.

  “Where are we going?” I asked a moment later. I was having trouble keeping my breath as we went up higher.

  Finally, Elysian slowed down, and I discovered my fear of extreme heights. “This is your world, right?”

  “I suppose,” I agreed, awed by the spectacular view even as I am annoyed with my abductor. “Can we go back down to it?”

  “No. Do you see the stars?”

  Of course I saw the stars. Billions of them were swimming all around my vision; I was dazzled and dizzied by the twinkling lights as Elysian continued. I also remember vaguely hoping we were not on NASA’s radar.

  “I will tell you what happened now. This world’s darkness has clouded my memory. This side of the River Veil – the River of Memory which guards immortality from humans – is hard on creatures like myself.”

  “Well, that’s too bad, but can we just –”

  “Hush. I’m talking now,” Elysian interrupted, and even from his bigger body voice, I could tell there was an irritated quality to it.

  “A long time ago, the earth was peaceful, and full of light. It was a treasured among all worlds by the Prince of Stars. He protected the earth with his warriors.”

  “So he’s an alien?” I asked, remembering my nicer dreams.

  “No. He was much more. He was the one who brought the human race to this planet – it was a planet of his own design.”

  “You mean he made it?”

  “I’m talking here,” Elysian rolled his eyes.

  “But that’s impossible.”

  “You are so rude. Can’t you just let me finish the story before you ask your questions?” When I glared at him, he seemed to take it that I had given my blessing on him. “Anyway, some of his warriors, his Stars, turned on him.”

  “Wait. Stars? Stars are just huge burning balls of gas. They’re not people.”

  Elysian huffed again, and I bit my mouth shut. Why did I want to learn about this anyway? I asked myself. Don’t buy into this. You’ll be an outcast if you do. That’s what happens to people who believe crazy things. And then they get sent off to asylums. You don’t get to go off to college and become a lawyer if you go to the asylum; it’s not like it’s AA.

  “…peace of the world and all of humanity’s soul was hollowed out, all because of his betrayal. We think he did it largely out of spite, but we are not sure. But there will be a day when he answers for it.”

  Huh? I hadn’t been paying attention.

  I resumed listening because I was being forced to. But no one could make me believe anything I didn’t want to believe. I put my skeptical face on.

  “The Prince of Stars, and his Stars of the First Light, the Manorayashon, fought the emptiness in order to save the people from complete destruction. The Prince and his forces were able to seal away the most deadly of their foes – the Seven Deadly Sinisters, the Saadonrasha, trapping them within the white-hot intensity of a bright star.”

  “Wow. That sounds really… made-up.” I was about to add additional comments to my critique when I recalled the vision of the supernova. The faces of Orpheus and his rainbow of charges. The relentless figure hounding me in the back of my mind, cloaked in the shadows of my willful ignorance.

  I switched back to the concerns at hand as Elysian glared at me. “I was there. I saw it myself.”

  “Well, you think weird and look weird and should be made-up, too, you know,” I countered.

  Elysian sighed. “You are so narrow-minded. You don’t believe in the impossible until you see it, smell it, run psychoanalytical tests on it, is that right?”

  “So? I like knowing what’s real and what’s not.”

  Elysian sighed again. “Your delusions would be quite amusing if they weren’t so sad,” he told me, and I was offended. “Your perception is extremely limited. But back to what I was saying.

  “The Seven Deadly Sinisters were the most powerful of all the dark forces’ warriors; they were worse than humans who rebelled, because they were once among the highest ranking Starlight warriors before they turned.”

  “This has got to be some kind of unwritten portion of Star Wars or something. You know
, ‘the dark side of the force,’” I laughed.

  “You’re stupid,” Elysian smacked me with his tail. “Light and Darkness are not natural enemies – there is no such thing as dark in the sense there is such thing as light.”

  “I’m stupid? Of course there is such thing as darkness.” Now I had proof Elysian was all wrong about everything he’d ever said.

  Elysian narrowed his eyes. “What is darkness, but the absence of light? It is the void you should watch, because snuffing out the light is more dangerous than shielding it.”

  “What?” I scratched my head in confusion. “You mean –” I stopped there. “Never mind. I’m not buying this. Let’s just skip this part, Elysian. I’m getting hungry and tired, and I’ve had a bad day, and I don’t understand, and I think I need some rest.”

  Elysian frowned at me. “You’ll never learn the truth if you get caught up in your emotion-driven excuses,” he warned.

  “Well, can I just worry about it later?”

  Elysian shook his head, irritated.

  “Fine. Where do I fit into this whole mess?” I asked. “Just tell me and get it over with.”

  “You are a Star, fallen into humanity, an Astroneshama. And you had been chosen to capture the Sinisters once more.”

  “What!?” An incredulous look crossed my face. “That’s not possible. I don’t want to have anything to do with this, including capturing anything!”

  “You have to.”

  “But I don’t want to! They’re not really bothering me –”

  Elysian smirked. “Oh, so that Gwen girl means nothing to you at all? Yet you seemed pretty determined to save her from them.”

  I shut my mouth. Elysian had me there. “Well, so what if she does? That doesn’t mean I want to protect the whole world. I’ll just protect Gwen.”

  “What about your other friends? And your family? Your brother? Everyone you’ve ever known and liked and loved and cared for?”

  “There aren’t many people I care for –” I found myself grasping at straws now. “Elysian, you’ve got the wrong person. I mean, I know I’m a genius and I’m strong and I’ve got the looks to be a great superhero, but I don’t really want to be one. I like being a sports star, someone who is admired by fans and girls and… more girls!”