The Stolen Star

by Halyna Franko

head. “But why are there no icons?”

  “I will try to explain it to you, although it's probably difficult for you to understand. When we offer our prayers to the Virgin, or Christ or the Archangels or the Great Saints – we see their holy image in the living nature that surrounds us.”

  At that moment Natalie wanted to ask him about God the Father, but hesitated, however he answered her:

  “Only the most deserving see him as a result of their divine energy, when they need an answer or advice to the questions that disturb them immediately."

  In the church there appeared a table in the middle of the platform with chairs placed around it. Trays laden with fruits and berries appeared on the table. From the arbours and from all sides came other venerable and holy men…, but they looked anything but Elders, as they were all men of differing ages. Even those with grey beards were extremely energetic and handsome with quick pleasant and kind smiles.

  “My children, we welcome you here and with great joy we will help and support you.”

  They all sat together at the table and offered the sisters the fruits and berries that were as rich as their island. Strangely, it was already night but the sisters felt no fatigue whatsoever. The beauty was extraordinary! The trees seemed to straighten and the sky opened out before them littered with huge shining stars. It seemed to Natalie and Sophia that they could even hear them ringing and the light shining forth from them was so bright that they could reach out and touch it. One of the Venerable Elders got up.

  “You have liberated your energy from the powers of darkness but, at present, it is scattered throughout space. Now we must gather it all up.”

  Then the rest of the Venerable Elders got up from the table and disappeared, leaving Natalie and Sophia sitting in their chairs. The Elders raised their hands to the heavens and the stars saluted in return with a multitude of bright rays. And all these rays flowed and concentrated into two light yellow columns that stood right in front of the sisters. Initially the columns looked like two lines but as more and more rays added their power the columns filled out and grew. When all the rays of light had entered into the columns the Elders lowered their arms. They then went down on their knees and after a certain amount of time the columns of light disappeared. The sisters were left literally shining with the light of the energy that had been returned to them, an energy that gave them the strength and desire to complete any task there and then.

  Natalie whispered to her sister:

  “I feel like I could explode from this seat and fly like a bird.”

  “Best not,” smiled their guide, “better save your energy, you are going to need it.”

  The Venerable Elders and the sisters flew back across the river and landed on a forest glade, the sisters were now able to fly themselves independent of the others. There they found the Angel already waiting for them. The sisters bade a fond farewell to each of the venerable brothers going up and embracing and kissing their hands as a sign of their huge gratitude. The sisters got into the starship and the Angel made several circles around the island. Natalie and Sophia’s eyes were filled with tears, but these were tears of joy that our sinful world could contain such islands as these.

  “That was simply a miracle!” Sophia murmured.

  The Dark Powers are Unmasked

  The starship did not fly very high.

  Sophia whispered to her sister:

  “It would be interesting to know what faces us now.”

  And the Angel replied with a smile:

  “You are on your way to meet up with your children. They are now on a space ship with their old friends checking out its latest military technology. We cannot help them in their efforts, we are waiting for reinforcements. Give them all your love and leave them with some of your new found energy because their strength is getting low after all their efforts. We will stay with them for a while and then…”

  “And then what?” asked Sophia unable to control her impatience.

  “Oh, how like your children you are, or to be more precise how similar they are to you. And then…” said the Angel smiling openly at the mothers' childlike questions, “things will get very interesting. But for now let’s get to the space ship,” the Angel informed them.

  When they got there neither Natalie nor Sophia had seen anything like it. Not far away was a rose coloured cloud and a little further off was a dark black cloud under which a multitude of white clouds raced to and fro. And all this was going on right above the Earth. Apart from these different coloured clouds there was nothing else to be seen, Natalie bent right over trying to get a better view of the expanse of the heavenly space. The Angel gave the sisters their glasses back.

  “They are very good at magnifying things.”

  Having put on the glasses the sisters gave out a gasp: The pink cloud was a space craft, further away from it was a transformer, which managed to change shape three times in the short time that they observed it, and below swarmed a multitude of starships very similar to their own. The angels were blockading the spaceship from the City of the Robots preventing their return back to earth.

  “Our ship was trying to carry out negotiations to ensure that the Divine Stars' energy that has been stolen would be returned to their rightful place. We tried to make this understood by flying in a small ship to the compartment in the Robots' ship where the stars' energy has been hidden. But this is all very dangerous. The robots repeatedly fired weapons and beams at us from their ship. So we decided to wait for a while until reinforcements arrive.

  “But what will happen if the boys aren’t allowed to shoot or use this military technology?” said Sophia getting noticeably more anxious. “And what might happen to our children?”

  “The children are absolutely safe; the most effective way of fighting with these dark hearted robots is to use child-like energy. We have trained them well but they have lost a lot of energy needlessly as a result of being unnecessarily heroic. Therefore I have arranged this meeting so that you can transfer a part of your energy to them to give them the strength needed until help arrives.

  “How should we behave towards them?” asked Natalie.

  “Like any normal meeting between any parent and their children: give them hug, speak to them, and give them confidence in their final victory.”

  Literally a few minutes later Natalie and Sophia found themselves hugging their two boys in the space ship. Michael and Ben didn’t stop talking for a second. They reported everything they had been doing, right down to the smallest details. They were particularly proud of how they had flown around the robot's transformer and discovered a light source in one of the enemy craft's compartments. Of course, they would have happily liberated our Star there and then if they hadn’t been given the order to return immediately. Listening to their story the Angel smiled.

  ‘Yes, yes,” the Angel thought, “only they didn’t notice that their reconnaissance flight was accompanied by several angel starships.”

  And he told their mothers about this so that they wouldn’t worry unnecessarily. The children talked on with their mothers for a long time and then, completely exhausted, fell asleep in their arms. The mums very carefully lay them down in some nearby armchairs and flew off with the Angel so that the miraculous reinforcements might arrive more quickly.

  The starship flew ever higher and higher. The Earth had already long ago disappeared out of view and still they flew and flew. The sisters managed to sleep, relax and restore their strength after all their worry and fears for their children. And all the while their starship flew ever on into the heavenly distance. The sisters looked expectantly at the Angel.

  “I will outline your next mission to you very soon,” said the Angel in reply to their inquisitive glances. And soon the starship moved alongside a huge space ship. It looked slightly strange, at its tail floated a flying saucer that could have come straight out of a UFO movie. And in an instant the sisters
found themselves transported inside the central body of the ship where there were a great many people. It seemed to the sisters that they were all moving very purposefully from one place to another. The Angel sat them down in some comfortable armchairs and went off somewhere. Very soon he returned.

  “It appears that this place not far from the fifth dimension is the site of an emergency.”

  One of the eyewitnesses quickly explained the situation:

  “A UFO has appeared here that had been secretly hidden in the mountains by the Earth’s demonic forces. They had constructed it back in the middle of the twentieth century. Then it had an accident when it hit a part of an asteroid. Somehow they managed to repair it and for a long time it flew around here on the very edge of this world that is more perfect than our Earth. The patrols of the fifth dimension reported to the Higher Authority that there were earthmen that wanted to befriend them and had invited them to the Earth. Of course the forces of darkness were quickly exposed and handed over to representatives of the Higher Authority. Our space ships took them prisoner and their UFO is now tied on to the end of our ship.”

  The Angel showed the sisters how the discussion had gone with the demonic crew.

  “How could you violate and overstep all the laws of life granted to the Earth by the Higher Authority?

  “We wanted to improve the civilisation of the Earth.”

  “Of the Earth or was it done in your own interests? After all, you did do everything in secret. And also how many of the best scientists did you take hostage and force into hard labour? How many human lives did you destroy?"

  "Well, we..." the chief began.

  "So, tell us, each of you, for example, what is your favourite animal?”

  They all began to babble at once: some liked cats, some dogs and other various types of predatory animals.

  “And thus you shall return to the Earth.”

  The Angel said sadly:

  “How much misfortune would have been prevented if these Satanists had only been spotted in time? Now all the angels are going to have to leave the ship and the rest of the mission is going to have to be carried out by you, with the help of the ship’s crew of course. Here, at the entrance to the fifth dimensional world you will need to wait for the arrival of a bright ray - this is the light from a large Divine Star. The energy from it is enormous. Originally this Star used to shine constantly, keeping humans from misfortune and supporting them in their moments of tribulation. But the Earth’s dark forces formed themselves into clouds and prevented its healing light from reaching people. And when the black clouds formed into a particularly powerful layer, catching up all the star’s energy, it even began to be go out and now everything depends on people, their behaviour and most importantly their strength of faith. Then the Divine Stars will come to their aid and send their shining light. Now my dears you have to do everything in your power to wake the star up and reignite it. And its divine light will help your children prise your family's Divine Star away from the robots. You have already done much to pave the way for your victory; all that remains is for you to give it one final push. I have to go now but God will help you along with all the Higher Powers!”

  And with that the Angel flew away. For some time the sisters just sat there deep in thought. But then a huge black cloud appeared and enveloped the whole ship. Natalie and Sophia were immediately stirred into action. They began to fervently recite a huge number of prayers, holy verses and repeated them many times like the incantation of many psalms. The threatening cloud began to get a bit lighter, but it only required the sisters to take the slightest break and it would once again fill the heavens with its wreaths and spirals of black mist. The space ship was becalmed in the foul mist and moved only with great difficulty. The sisters went to see the ship’s crew. Passing through the ships halls and compartments they discovered that some of the crew were in contact with the demonic forces. The Satanists had taken on the form of beautiful women claiming to have been taken hostage by pirates in order to take advantage of the crew’s good nature and pity. And in some cases they had succeeded. Natalie and Sophia were shocked at the naivety shown by some of the members of the crew allowing the forces of darkness to have almost taken the ship hostage. The sisters approached the Captain and informed him of their fears and their displeasure at the behaviour of some of his crew. The Captain immediately gathered everyone together for a meeting. Natalie and Sophia explained what the black cloud was and what the consequences might be of having any communication with the demons at all. After this meeting the cloud ebbed away from the ship a little bit.

  Sophia asked the Captain:

  “Has this ever happened before?"

  “Yes sometimes these clouds go around in great banks and we find ourselves escaping one only to be embroiled in another. However, this is the first time that I’ve ever seen such a dense formation of them. Evidently the Satanists are afraid of losing something very important and valuable to them,” said the Captain looking in some alarm at the sisters, “evidently, you are going to have to continue to keep asking for the Saints to keep coming to our aid. Do you know how to do this? We aren’t going to be able to do this on our own.”

  The sisters recited huge numbers of holy texts and prayers and remembered all sorts of saints and holy men in their prayers.

  Then in a moment of inspiration Natalie remembered:

  “We have forgotten about the Venerable Elders, they always come to your aid at critical moments.”

  So the sisters began to recall the Elders in their minds and simply talk to them explaining how impossible the situation looked and asking them what they were to do. And the Elders heard their cries for help… The sisters had barely started communing with them before the venerable inhabitants of the holy island were sitting with them in a circle. The sisters made a helpless gesture in apology.

  But the brothers answered:

  “You were right to call us; you are under attack from these demonic forces. First they need to be chased away, then you will have to pray hard to stop the Star from extinguishing."

  The appearance of the Venerable Elders on the ship soon produced results. The black cloud stood its ground for a bit longer but then dispersed into thin air like smoke. The space ship was able to make significantly better headway and they were nearly at the entrance to the more perfect world. But it was no easy matter to ignite the star, time was required to restore and repair the cosmic space that had been defiled by the presence of such a destructive satanic presence.

  Golden rays of light began to appear in the tender blue heavens. The rays began to get brighter and brighter. And then a blindingly golden light shot past and through many worlds eventually arriving at the Earth. The space ship quickly found its way to the spot where the black transformer lay, the transformer, which contained the divine stars' energy that had been stolen from Michael and Ben’s and many other families. As soon as the huge current of light illuminated the two cousins’ starship, they literally flew along the star’s rays towards the robot’s diabolic ship and in the same instant the compartment containing the divine starlight broke loose scattering its priceless contents free. Once liberated, the stars made their way through the heavens to their true and proper place in the universe.

  Victory! The Star, the family’s Divine Star had been restored and was now shining in its rightful place in the firmament where God himself had placed it. At that moment the demonic transformer disintegrated before everyone’s eyes and disappeared. Michael and Ben along with their mothers found themselves back together again on the Angel’s starship. The Venerable Elders also disappeared as quickly and mysteriously as they had arrived. Although Natalie and Sophia did manage to bid each of them farewell before they left.

  Very soon they were back home. Michael and Ben embraced their mothers and the Angel congratulated them all on their great victory.

  “Never forget that we are
always near you!” their wondrous Angel said in farewell.