《Substellar》 Prolouge PROLOGUE: When I was little I always had role models. I wanted to be like someone, learn from them and grow like them so I could walk in the steps that amazed me so much one day. But when your whole life is planned for you, it''s hard to be like those who inspire you. Because they¡¯re the ones dying for control. I woke up one day in my home. Space is my home. The breathtaking night sky that you humans look up at when night falls was like my globe; So many countries and cities, so many towns. My mom says I was born in Sir Orion¡¯s Nursery. For a star, when your fusion starts your life does. It''s like being in the womb of your mother; Until you are truly born you aren¡¯t really a person. After birth I wandered space for a bit. New and naked, looking for something or someone to tell me what to do. Random things stuck to me, and I was always feeling feverish, but I kept moving until I saw a bright light. It was someone like me. She was grand, and clothed, and far older. The woman asked me if I had a name. I didn¡¯t know if I did, but I made one up. ¡°Rayes,¡± I muttered. I had never heard my voice before and it startled me. It left my mouth cold and dry and confused. ¡°Exquisite,¡± the woman said. ¡°I am Sahl: this galaxy''s supergiant of prophecy, and the official of this prefecture of the cosmos.¡± Her voice was light and warm, and I was sure she was what I was looking for all that time. That was when I had my first role model. All I desired in the moment was to be as beautiful and inviting as she. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°You mustn¡¯t have a mother star, I see you are quite young and frail.¡± She looks around me, taking note of all the little rocks attached. I didn¡¯t know why they were there but I didn¡¯t think they caused any harm. ¡°I see you have a few satellites dear. Those may become planets and moons which will orbit around you for your lifespan. They will be entrusted to you, but in truth there are no obligations to treat them well. . . But please do! Planets and moons are still deserving of much respect. We all are, aren¡¯t we?¡± The star attempts to laugh it off. The topic had obviously hit an odd nerve for her. ¡°B- but why do they attach to me like that? Does it happen to all stars?¡± ¡°Yes my dear, it is our gravity. It will cause you to attract many celestial bodies. It may also cause you to get stuck with other stars, in fact. . .¡± She pushes from behind her a star around my size and age. ¡°When some stars are young, they are sometimes given sibling stars as well. I think you and Ryko here were made for each other.¡± The girl tries to hide behind the edge of Sahl¡¯s pointer finger. Maybe she was shy? ¡°You can speak to her little one. No need to be afraid, you¡¯ll be stuck together for a while.¡± Was I gonna have to be around her all the time? I didn¡¯t know what to think of it. ¡°I¡¯m Ryko!¡± The girl shouts. ¡°I¡¯ll be the best sister ever! Miss Sahl already taught me a lot about having a family!¡± Sahl laughs lightly. ¡°Yes, I did. And one more surprise¡­ Pollaria!¡± A scruffy looking woman a lot taller than me and Ryko runs in from the opposite direction. Her hair is short and white-gray and she looks a bit old, maybe middle aged. ¡°I¡¯m here! I¡¯m here I promise! Now where are the girls you talked about?¡± She looked down at me and Ryko and her eyes watered a bit. ¡°Maybe. . . youth is just as beautiful as you told me, Sahl.¡± She wiped a tear from her wrinkled eye. ¡°I miss it.¡± She scooped me and Ryko up into her arms, and pulled us into a strong hug. After a lot of laughing, I opened my eyes to see an eerie smile from Sahl behind us. The start of the end Chapter 1- The start of the End ¡°Rayes, you know what you¡¯re doing is outlandish. Don¡¯t danger yourself just so you can be ¡°different¡±. It isn''t worth the pain it may cause.¡± I bit my lip and clenched my fists, when she talked like this it made me so mad it hurt. I gnawed on my teeth and let her ramble on. There was no point in trying to stop her now anyway. ¡°But that¡¯s just how it is, and- are you even listening to me?¡± ¡°No.¡± I stare straight into her pure white eyes, cold and callous. I hope it pisses her off. ¡°You should though, this is important,¡± Ryko pouts. Mission failed successfully? I don¡¯t think she was actually upset, but I take it as a victory anyway. ¡°Ryko, you shouldn¡¯t think that way. Why were we made if we aren¡¯t of any importance to the universe? The least we could do is see as much of it as we can. This little cluster is too confined for me. I see the same stars in the same places all the time. It¡¯s boring and repetitive, you get it don¡¯t you?¡± I paused for a second, hoping maybe she¡¯d open up to me. Show me that all these years she¡¯d been hiding the feeling, convincing herself. I knew she was, a sister knows¡­ but Ryko could never say it to me. ¡°I do.¡± She could? ¡°But we can¡¯t feel that way Rayes. Not anymore. Not since things changed. You know this-¡± ¡°But I didn¡¯t want things to change! I wanted to listen to my role models and be like them. Learn the error of my ways and become better. And I''m still allowed to do so! Even if nobody thinks I should!¡± I hold my hand against my face. I hate being reminded of those events. Even if you didn¡¯t get hurt yourself, it was hell to even think about it. Those who were always taking from others were rewarded, those who only gave: exiled and treated with such disrespect. I hated it. And now it meant I was expected to shut up, sit around, and look at the same faces all the time, everyday. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. No fair. I stormed away from Ryko, holding her head down. She was obviously affected too. We both knew this wasn¡¯t okay, we weren¡¯t okay. But still, she always wanted to be strong. And I hated her for it. . . . ¡°It can¡¯t be only me momma! I saw it in her eyes, she cares. How can I get her to- '''' my mother star blew smoke in my face. ¡°You can¡¯t.¡± My mothers hands always had a pipe in them. She would take a smoke, and blow it in mine or Rayes¡¯s face. Contrary to how it sounds, it wasn¡¯t a bad experience. The pipe contained the fibers of our existence as stars: dust and gasses, like the nebula we are born from. The pipe was a home without being there. ¡°I know, but I still want her to feel. . . okay, you know? She has the right to feel and I want her to know that. I just can¡¯t find out how to convey it.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t tell her anything ,Rayes. Not until you do it yourself.¡± ¡°She will see. If you make a change she will see it in you, and learn from you, and grow. Rayes, you can become her role model.¡± My mom had opened my eyes again. She had shown me what I really needed to do. I had always had my own role models but now, it was time to be one myself. It was the only hope for my sister, the only way to save her and all the other red dwarfs affected by the new order set in place after the war. *Red dwarfs are small, cool low mass stars that are extremely abundant. They make up around 75% of the (around) 200 billion stars in the milky way alone. First Companion Chapter 2- First Companion What to do? What to do? I wasn¡¯t so sure anymore. I was so excited to help and teach Ryko but it''s so obvious to me now that I haven¡¯t a clue what I''m even doing. My mind is so cloudy, it feels like I''m back where I started in the nebula all those years ago. I can¡¯t even focus as I''m wandering through somewhere I''m supposed to know like the back of my hand? What is wrong with me? ¡°Agh-,¡± I knew I wasn¡¯t focused, but who knew it was enough to shamelessly assault some random guy! ¡°I¡¯m-,¡± ¡°Ma¡¯am I am so sorry, I should¡¯ve looked where I was going- and, are you hurt? Do you need medical assistance? I carry a first aid kit-¡± the man just started talking at what seemed to be the speed of light. I could barely understand what or why he was saying anything because I had bumped into him. ¡°Excuse me. . . would have been fine as it is, but either way I bumped into you!¡± I put my hands up in a signal for him to stop digging through his messenger bag. He does, but looks up at me for what seemed like a milenia (maybe it was) with pale green eyes that I thought had seen a supernova, and he started crying. ¡°Oh, oh I''m sorry did I say something wrong? I didn¡¯t mean to, I swear!¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s just that. . .no one has ever been so *sniffle*, kind to me.¡± I was shocked to say the least, if not on the verge of laughter. Could it be true? Was this the result of the war? Was he a red dwarf too? Or maybe a - ¡°I¡¯m a brown dwarf so, you know since everything happened we haven¡¯t gotten much respect at all. - *Brown dwarfs are a sort of in between for high mass planets and low mass stars. They are properly considered substellar objects or even substars. Though they cannot fuse hydrogen and helium at a constant like stars do; They can have solar systems and use a type of temporary nuclear fusion. It¡¯s hard to find people who won¡¯t take something like what just happened as an insult worth hitting me for.¡± What did he just say? Hit? ¡°Even after the war, couldn¡¯t you file a complaint? There¡¯s no reason to assault someone simply for an accident?¡± ¡°You. . . don¡¯t understand. The war didn¡¯t just take away the responsibility on the supergiants and main sequence stars for our mistreatment, it allowed it. Any star, including a supergiant can mistreat us without any consequence, complaints are completely ignored. I tried once,¡± I held my mouth in horror, who knew things had gotten this bad. I had always thought the conditions of red dwarfs were so horrible too, when people like him couldn¡¯t even make a simple mistake without being hit? What was wrong with the cosmos? ¡°I- I can¡¯t believe that, I¡¯m so sorry. I didn¡¯t know things had gotten that bad. . .our elders were right. We really can¡¯t trust them. Not anymore.¡± The man looked down with sorrow and patted his damp eyes, it was rightfully so. Ever since the war no one but the larger stars were safe. People weren¡¯t even advised to play nice with their planets anymore. ¡°What¡¯s your name by the way? It¡¯s good for us low masses to stick together you know? Even if you¡¯re a brown dwarf and I''m- not,¡± I handed him a notepad as well. ¡°Oh and also, if you have the flare app, you can write down your user on here. . . that way we could keep in touch you know?¡± He nodded his head and started aggressively writing. ¡°It¡¯s Braun, by the way. What¡¯s yours?¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. . . . ¡°Have you heard about the tournament for the new supergiant position?¡± Braun asked me. I figured I''d walk with him for a while, I had no clue where I was going anyway. His reddish brown loose - curly hair sat right under my shoulder. Every once in a while I''d use his head as an armrest. ¡°What? Oh, no I haven¡¯t. I¡¯d hope it¡¯s someone kind who wins though. We need more of the good ones. Supergiants, I mean.¡± Ever since the war, the elder¡¯s recommendation system was gone. Now, the supergiant position was chosen by a big tournament with a lot of fighting. Millions of stars gather through the millenium to participate and win, though I¡¯d argue they have no idea what they¡¯re getting into. ¡°You should come and see for yourself! There will be many watching, and it would be nice to have someone with me. The other journalists are always so horrible, and the announcers are usually elsewhere.¡± It sounded cool, though I was skeptical. Where would I stay? What would I do? I wanted to make a life for myself outside of the cluster I came from, could I even make one there? ¡°I don¡¯t know. Right now I''m kinda looking for something to do. Maybe a job? Something that¡¯s important to . . .people I don¡¯t know. I just. . . I Just can¡¯t tell if i¡¯ll be able to be productive while watching a tournament.¡± He thought for a bit, and crossed his arms. ¡°Well maybe I can get you a job, or better said my mother star could help. You may know her if you''re near her prefecture. Sahl? The prophecy supergiant?¡± ¡°Sahl is your mother?¡± I was dumbfounded. The words had brought me back to memories millions of years ago when I first started . . .well, living. ¡°She was the first person I ever knew actually,¡± I grinned. ¡°Is she still as sweet as she was back then? I remember her being very nice to me.¡± His mouth widened into a crooked smile. ¡°Fortunately yes, she is! And even to me she¡¯s a great mother star. Even after the deal that caused it all.¡± ¡°There was a deal involved? I¡¯d like to hear about that,¡± I mentioned. ¡°It starts with two of the supergiant stars, my mother Sahl, and her coworker Mekomia. They had neighboring prefectures, but never ever got along; Though for good reason. Mekomia was and still is a proud bigot and constantly bad mouths low mass stars and planets. She swore on her life that all of them were below high mass stars and were simply less smart and couldn¡¯t perform as well. Well, my mother disagreed. She said that since the war they haven¡¯t been given the proper resources, and if they were, they could do just as much as any other star could. And so, they set up an experiment," ¡°And?¡± ¡°The experiment was me. I was raised by Sahl as her son for around 2 hundred years; got the hang of all the star essential knowledge. Then, at 3 hundred I was given a test on all that stuff I learned, provided by Mekomia. It wasn¡¯t hard and I passed, but short answer, she didn¡¯t care.¡± I could believe it. I had heard stories from far and wide of her prefecture and how badly red dwarfs were treated there. Me and Ryko always stood clear of it. ¡°That¡¯s just horrible. People will do anything to be hateful, even ignore what¡¯s so obviously in front of their eyes,¡± I noted. Braun nods his head. Suddenly a bright, luminous figure appears over me and Braun, and his deep green eyes light up. ¡°Miss Sahl!¡± Supergiant ¡°Braun? Braun, that must be you!¡± She backs up so we can see all of her face and let me just say I was shocked. I remembered her being a lot bigger than me but I could¡¯ve sworn she was like 1,000 ft shorter than this or something. How was Braun not amazed? He was microscopic compared to her, how did she even see him? Or hear him? It didn''t make sense. ¡°It¡¯s me! Can you see me?¡± ¡°No! Braun I can¡¯t ever see you, you know this,¡± he sighs, then lifts his head up and turns to me. ¡°Miss Sahl, this is my friend Rayes! She¡¯s really nice! Didn¡¯t yell at me when I bumped into her or anything. And she¡¯s a red star, just like you. . .but a lot smaller,¡±. Sahl looked around for a while squinting her eyes, ¡°Can you talk, I have such awful eyesight. The war happened before I could get any extra help from. . .you know who,¡± ¡°I¡¯m right here! Next to Braun pretty much. Did you get extra hearing? How can you hear us?¡± She looked stunned for a bit and then moved toward me ¡°There you are! And you guessed it! I do have enhanced hearing, it''s kind of wearing out though. . .¡± She looked kind of sad. ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to be in the presence of such a wonderful star, ma¡¯am. From my cluster I''ve only seen the supergiants from afar. And you¡¯re so pretty too! Braun told me so many good things,¡± I kept going on. She had a big grin on her face and started laughing slightly. ¡°This girl should be an announcer, she sure can charm one.¡± ¡°I was actually gonna ask if she could get a job as one! She told me about wanting to work so. . . could she?¡± Sahl smiled even bigger. ¡°Of course, everyone has been needing something to do since the war. We¡¯ve been quite understaffed at the arena, actually,¡± I wanted to jump with excitement. Ryko had to hear about this! Maybe she¡¯d wanna work somewhere too, or when this was over we could get jobs together? I don¡¯t know. . . I just wanted her to be happy. For us to be happy, maybe even Braun. I mean, 5 days together is a lot to some. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. *Supergiants are stars (normally red) in a late stage of life. They are (as the name suggests) very large, though red supergiants actually aren¡¯t very hot compared to other stars. Blue supergiants on the other hand are. Also, note: hypergiants (which will appear later) are almost in the same class, but are a bit above due to reasons which will be explained. Also, in star time, the equivalent of one year is around 1 million human years, and the rest of time measurements (minutes, days, weeks) works in accordance to that. For example, a star day is about 2,740 human years. The stars do recognize it is still a long time, but they still consider it small to their very long lifespans. Braun is very happy about this and gives me a tight hug. His itchy green sweater vest forces my cloak out of the way and brushes the bottom of my wool shirt. Maybe his hug was a bit too tight and made me, but I started laughing. Sahl smiled warmly and clasped her hands. ¡°You two sure are getting along well. Braun, you know the way to Spira¡¯s galaxy right? Because if you don¡¯t you should ask for directions-,¡± ¡°I¡¯m good!¡± Braun takes out an interactive map from his messenger bag and puts in some coordinates ¡°If I ever get lost, all I have to do is use this.¡± ¡°Well okay, I won¡¯t bother,¡± Sahl says. ¡°And Rayes, I¡¯m sure you know better than I do, but be wary of the other supergiants and even the honored larger main sequence stars. Some of them have been on power trips ever since they were well. . . allowed to,¡± her head falls to the side, and her dusky orange- red waves with it. ¡°Promise me you won¡¯t let them get to you, you know they¡¯ll try.¡± Bitch- A - Thon Chapter 4- Bitch- a - thon Me and Braun were lucky to have such connections to a supergiant as we do. We got this huge suite with 3 rooms, 4 projectors, and its own studies. I spent at least 3 days videotaping the entire thing. Ryko needed to see this! I couldn¡¯t record a voiceover though, so I figured I''d just tell her everything as soon as I got back. I was in Braun¡¯s study for the millionth time today, but this time I was there with a true purpose. ¡°Braun.¡± ¡°Yes, Rayes. Do you have a good reason to be in here this time because I was just about to get on this ca-,¡± He caught a glimpse of what was above my hand. ¡°Isn¡¯t he beautiful? I never thought I''d get one! I¡¯m gonna name him Vee,¡± I said to him jumping up and down excitedly. ¡°A planet already! How old are you?¡± ¡°300.¡± *300,000,000 in human years.* ¡°I¡¯m only 5 years younger than you and you have two though! That isn¡¯t fair!¡± He looks at me annoyed. ¡°Oh I don¡¯t know, maybe it''s a bit unfair that I can¡¯t fuse properly either. You know the whole hydrogen- helium thing,¡± ohhh right. I forget he can¡¯t do that all the time. Why do other stars even care? ¡°Pffft, that doesn¡¯t matter, you¡¯re literally just as much a star as me or any other one! And just as smart, maybe even smart- er?¡± I say, swirling my finger in some dust that somehow found its way into my orbit. ¡°Well, that never mattered to anyone but my mom and you. . .even if it doesn''t do much thank you. The universe needs more people who don¡¯t have their heads stuck up their asses,¡± he says, and turns back to his computer and smiles. I look down at Vee. He¡¯s made of all this gas and dust, and he isn¡¯t like me on the surface. He¡¯s cold and icy and his skin is soft and sensitive and I''m careful not to burn it. He¡¯s just like a baby. I can see why Ryko is so defensive of her planets now, the fact that one day I might have to hurt him. . . hurts me. I wanted to get my mind off the future, and decided to walk around the arena. I had never been in Spira¡¯s galaxy before. Or any one other than my own, that of Sagittarius A*. I felt so small and unimportant walking in these ivory halls. It was almost as if I could see everything in the universe looking out the large windows. But even more things were with me in the arena. I saw stars over twice my size, loads of them. A lot of them were talking about all different things, like how they were gonna win the competition and their newest fighting tactics. Some were talking about who they knew they were gonna ¡°crush¡± and who they were scared to go up against. The name ¡°Portia¡± popped up a few times. I stared up at the skylight ceiling and looked around at the seating areas to see if one was small enough to get onto. I found one that looked good enough and shyly put Vee down. I scooted onto the seat myself and just. . . sat and wondered what to do. So many people were passing by and. . .Braun? ¡°Braun!¡± He turned his head and started making his way towards me. ¡°I was looking all over for you! Man do you even know your way around here?¡± I. . . . I didn¡¯t. ¡°No. . .¡± He rolled his eyes. ¡°And if you had gotten lost?¡± ¡°I¡¯d ask for directions.¡± ¡°As if anyone here would give them to you? They¡¯d have to hear you first and they tower over you with height and conversation! ¡° ¡°I¡¯d ask another red dwarf!¡± ¡°They¡¯re in a whole other part of the arena, you see this one isn¡¯t the fittest for-¡± ¡°Red dwarfs,¡± A girl answers. She looks irritated. ¡°Your little friend is right. Your type shouldn¡¯t be here, get back to where you belong, will you?¡± Who did these people actually think they were? ¡°Excuse me? Why is there a seat this small here if I can¡¯t be here at all? And who the hell are you to tell me I can¡¯t?¡± I hadn¡¯t noticed a group of stars around her size gathered around her and they were all snickering. I sat back,crossed my arms, and closed my eyes, putting on a fake stuck up act. Braun looked terrified. ¡°What did you just say to me? Do you understand the situation you''re in? I could crush you!¡± ¡°Mmmm, what? I couldn¡¯t hear what you said, sorry.¡± ¡°I could really hurt you! I could!¡± ¡°Oh that¡¯s too bad, I had hoped we¡¯d have an honest, agreeable conversation. But. . .you''re not loud enough! So sad.¡± I pouted my lips. ¡°Your gonna fucking die!¡± ¡°Yeah. . .um. . . no, but come back in a few- actually a lot more than a few trillion years. Us red dwarfs live for a pretty long time! And stay the same while doing so. . . cool.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. *Preface: Red dwarfs are cooler stars, but their energy output is horribly unstable. This isn¡¯t gonna be a big part of the story (yet. . .) but I don¡¯t want anyone coming after me for being scientifically inaccurate.* That set whoever this random girl was off. She was a blue star, and they don''t stay blue too long. They cool to red, just like us. She lunged at me and Braun who might I remind you said nothing to her, but was stopped by this yellow star behind her. ¡°Portia, portia, you¡¯re gonna hurt yourself!¡± Her curly hair had become visibly engulfed by flames and was turning purple. Purple is the hottest of the hot for us stars. Her skin was getting purple too, and the star behind her was seriously struggling to hold her back. I was starting to actually get worried, and looked around for Braun who was nowhere to be seen, but heard a voice in the crowd of stars that was louder than all. ¡°She¡¯s gonna hurt who?¡± It was Miss Sahl and another star accompanying her. ¡°Portia, I urge you to control your temper! If you hurt someone I will assure you are disqualified from the competition, and most of us know you are almost bound to win it.¡± She held out her hand to Portia and she climbed on. ¡°Miss Sahl, I asked them to move to their designated sections and they didn¡¯t listen. I¡¯m their senior! They should-""Portia, you know this section of the arena allows everyone, and she could have been trying to learn her way around,¡± Sahl sets Portia back down. ¡°Mekomia, Ramos, take Portia to the infirmary and assure she has no burn scars from overheating,¡± the star with Sahl looks up in fury. ¡°Sahl why do I have to? Why can¡¯t you do it? You were the one who got involved in this whole-""Stop it Mekomia! It''s your job as a supergiant to assure the citizens are safe, and I must deal with the others!¡± Mekomia groans and yells for Ramos and Portia to hurry up. With Portia¡¯s arm around his shoulder, the star holding her back before scurries behind Mekomia as fast as he could keep up. ¡°Now, what happened?¡± . . . ¡°And I really wasn¡¯t doing anything! Neither was Braun and she got all upset with the both of us! Was I really all that wrong to defend myself?¡± I rolled over in my seat so my face was close to Vee¡¯s. ¡°Oh lord Rayes, we truly do need more brave souls like you.¡± Sahl says with laughter. ¡°Speaking of Braun, where is he?¡± I hadn¡¯t even thought about that yet. I had a clue though. I got on my knees and looked behind the couch I was sitting on. As expected, Braun was crouched behind it. Crying. ¡°Hey, it¡¯s alright now! The Portia girl is gone,¡± He looked up at me with teary eyes and I couldn¡¯t help starting a frown. I held out my hand and let gravity pull him up. Sahl made her way over and looked around trying to find him. He started sniffling though, and that seemed to work. ¡°Braun! Oh my, are you okay?¡± ¡°Yeah, thanks ma-,¡± ¡°Sahl!¡± Mekomia appears from behind us, seeming livid. ¡°Can you stop dragging me into your weak charity work! I¡¯d appreciate not being thrown into these awful preschool affairs!¡± She points at Sahl¡¯s face with a sharp red fingernail; Sahl slaps it away. ¡°You know your duties, don¡¯t act like this is a burden to you, Mekomia.¡± ¡°You''re always going so far to help your lousy little orphans! They know what some stars may do to them and still wandered around a place that wasn¡¯t welcoming of them, that isn¡¯t my issue!¡± Sahl gets up from off her knees and dusts off her dress. ¡°Yes it is if we sense someone is in danger, or at least I believe so,¡± her gaze hardens on Mekomia¡¯s eyes. Daring her to keep speaking.¡°Not anymore.¡± The words came out of her mouth slowly, a reminder of the uselessness of caring at all in the first place. ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk to you right now. You can¡¯t even handle your duty to be a role model and protector of the people. . . supergiant of natural beauty? What a joke, Mekomia. You can barely even be beautiful on the inside,¡± Sahl turns her head away from her and starts to walk away. Mekomia turns her head to the side in frustration and anguish; I saw she was holding back words. ¡°You¡¯re still the same after all these years Sahl! Won¡¯t you ever understand you can¡¯t do anything? This is how things are now! For fuck¡¯s sake just. . . deal with it!¡± Mekomia looks as if she might choke on her tongue. I chew on mine; If I speak I may be damned. Braun Sits silent and peaks from behind the hiding couch. He watches it all happen quietly. ¡°She¡¯s wrong,¡± He whispers in my ear. ¡°I think. . . my mom did change a bit.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Braun looks hesitant, it''s like me, him, Mekomia, and Sahl are all at a big awkward family dinner. Chewing on our words and food instead of saying anything. In our instance, there was no food. . . or hydrogen. Just arena¡¯s and awkward silence. ¡°I mean. . .Mekomia isn¡¯t only the supergiant of natural beauty, she¡¯s also known for her position of general knowledge. Back when was quite young, before the war of elders she wouldn¡¯t dare speak of her natural beauty. She lived by the notion that because Mekomia was so horrible personality wise, she shouldn¡¯t be recognized as beautiful in any way.¡± ¡°Wait- that. . . what do you think it means anyway?¡± He lies his head down on the top of the couch and sighs. ¡°I don¡¯t know. . .there have just been so many things off. I wonder if maybe the war caused her to forget things. . .or something. Maybe the impact was traumatic or something? She¡¯s just been a bit of a different person ever since. I¡¯ve tried to ask her about it but. . .it seemed like she was keeping something from me.¡± ¡°I mean, I''m sure that was it. I was only 15, but I still was so scared and I felt so affected I barely wanted to talk about it at all or even move from my prefecture. One of the fronts was next to mine since an important supergiant was in the neighboring one. My sister is still affected by it I think. She never wants to express her emotions or anything,¡± ¡°I know. I was 20, and Sahl was involved. I never was allowed near the fights but. . .it''s said she suffered a pretty bad injury.¡± I turned away from Vee and looked at Braun. ¡°Really? What did it look like?¡± His brows furrowed ¡°I actually never saw it,¡± ¡°Oh. Maybe it went away?¡± Braun shrugged his shoulders. Making Amends Chapter 5- Making amends I woke up in the place I always do, the infirmary. ¡°Portia! You''re awake!¡± I¡¯m instantly greeted by a familiar voice and his familiar hug. All of this is so familiar because I''m a mess and end up in the infirmary near every day. ¡°Why am I here? I wasn¡¯t even all that hurt this time,¡± I rub my head in frustration and taste my own dry mouth. Ramos shrugs, ¡°You hurt yourself a lot with all your fits. Be lucky you didn¡¯t get any bad scars. They could¡¯ve disqualified you,¡± I lay back down; I¡¯m totally exhausted. If only angry me thought about how much the fury and turning purple thing takes out of tired infirmary me. Maybe she¡¯d think about poor Ramos, who is sent by the watch supergiants to drag me here every time. Who willingly sits by my side and reads a book or some normal star shit like that. ¡°Ramos, stop sitting here until I wake up like you do. Just take me here and go. Seeing you do all this because of me makes me upset, you know that.¡± ¡°It shouldn¡¯t, I¡¯m your friend.¡± He always has been, since 10 years old. *10,000,000 in human years. He had always helped me when I threw some fit over some little thing, and put myself in danger. I started shivering. Solar flare 1, 2, and oh no! Storm. *To stars, solar flares and storms are like fits of anxiety or crying. The energy that comes from them can be used in battle though. ¡°Portia, Portia don¡¯t cry! Oh I''m sorry I didn¡¯t mean to make you cry. . .i¡¯ll leave if you want me to!¡± I instantly shake my head so hard it makes me a bit dizzy. ¡°No, no that¡¯s not what I meant at all. I just. . .wanted you to be happy. And i¡¯m always causing so much bullshit and. . .you¡¯re too good for this Ramos; Is what I mean,¡± My hair starts to feel hot and my hands turn to purple lava. ¡°Portia, don''t stress out! I¡¯m fine! You know I made the choice to- ""But why?¡± I hold my face in my hands. ¡°Because. . .I swore to you I''d stay by your side. All those years ago. No matter what happens I''m not letting go of that promise, no matter what happens to either of us,""Even if they choose me to be supergiant?¡± Ramos pauses for a bit and looks into my eyes. There was nothing there but white anyway. I don¡¯t know why he would. ¡°Absolutely.¡± I start laughing, and he joins me. . . . I decided to avoid the communal part of the arena for a while. There are too many people there who seem to hate red and brown dwarfs too much. Braun decided to come out with me this time. I told him it would be good to meet with the other workers; Most of them were like us anyway. We stumble into a hallway with a lot of brown dwarf girls. Their heads all turn to us unanimously as we walk in. I felt out of place. ¡°Oh wow. . .people.¡± A girl in the crowd says. Suddenly they all came running toward us, and by the end of it there were so many people around me I thought I might drown. ¡°Where are you guys from? Can you stop for an interview? Are you here to watch, or work?¡± So many questions flooded my ears. After a while it just faded to ringing that made them hurt. I covered Vee¡¯s, his face had just started forming and he was obviously expressing pain. ¡°Don¡¯t . . .swarm themm,¡± a girl said slowly and tiredly. It wasn¡¯t loud enough though, and she was obviously paying more attention to her mobile projector. ¡°Can you idiots stop harassing them!¡± A thundering voice rolled through the crowd and low and behold. . .it parted like the red sea. A girl just around my size walked through the clearing in the crowd and looked from side to side, inspecting the girls. Me and Braun stood at the end of the clearing. I hoped he too was wondering what the hell he got into. The girl finally stood before us and for some reason a gust of wind came and blew through the crowd. Her dress and curly pigtails were swept to the side, but she stood firm in her lace- up riding boots, and glanced to the left. ¡°Lena,¡± ¡°Yes, captain,¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you help these two?¡± ¡°I was- I tried,¡± She said and bowed her head. ¡°You have one of the loudest voices I''ve heard on the phone. Use it. Girls!¡± They all looked up instantly, and the general¡¯s words were met with a unified ¡°Yes captain.¡± ¡°Can you interview someone without acting like complete barbarians?¡± ¡°Certainly captain.¡± ¡°So why not here? Why not now?¡± The crowd erupted into a huge clutter of many words and sentences starting, but finished with a ¡°SILENCE!¡± From the captain. ¡°Michia Luna. Speak to me. What happened here?¡± A small girl on the end of the right group bites her lip before choking out ¡°Well, ma¡¯am; We hadn¡¯t seen anyone in so long. . .we just couldn¡¯t help but get a bit excited-¡± ¡°Excited isn¡¯t swarming poor- what are your names exactly?¡± ¡°Braun.¡± ¡°Rayes,¡± My head naturally tilts down. I looked back up at the general and saw her death staring me with wide, round eyes. I quickly move my head back to where it was before. ¡°Excited isn¡¯t swarming poor Braun and Rayes. Apologize.¡± Another unison erupts; ¡°Sorry Braun and Rayes¡±. ¡°Sorry about that, and sorry my indolent sister couldn¡¯t help you two as a vice- captain should when the main one is away,¡± Lena looks down. ¡°My given name is Ricky, but this one here can refer to me as captain,¡± She points at Braun. ¡°Is he working as an interviewer or announcer too? When will he start?¡± ¡°Actually, no, I''m an announcer. Braun is a journalist. He was hoping to meet with some of the others, but offered to show me this place since I''ll be announcing.¡± Ricky looks surprised by that. ¡°Why would anyone like you want to announce? Why not be a journalist or something?¡± ¡°Well, Sahl said-¡± ¡°Sahl?The prophecy supergiant? How might you know her?¡± ¡°She actually just so happened to be Braun¡¯s mother star, but I met her almost right after I was born,¡± Ricky takes Braun by the hand and falls to her knees. ¡°I formally apologize for telling you to refer to me as captain. As long as your mom hears nothing of it you can call me Ricky as well! Or maybe Rick for a nickname? Anything you¡¯d like.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s okay. You probably won¡¯t see me around much anyway,¡± Braun laughs it off. ¡°Oh, but I hope to! You must be quite excellent to be chosen as one of Sahl¡¯s children!¡± ¡°Oh. . .maybe. It was to prove a point though; But she did teach me a lot!¡± Ricky stands up, still holding Braun¡¯s hand. ¡°Then you may have a word for my incolent workers. Come, teach me some of these things Sahl told you! Both of you!¡± She drags Braun away and I follow close behind. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. On the way toward what seemed to be Ricky¡¯s office, Braun tripped over Lena¡¯s shoe. ¡°Oh, excuse me. Lena right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s Vice Captain Lena to you,¡± ¡°Lena! You do know his mother star is Sahl right? What if he gets her to burn us to a crisp! Don¡¯t you wanna live Lena? Don¡¯t you wanna live!¡± Ricky takes Lena by the shoulders and shakes her violently. ¡°I don¡¯t give a damn, he should show some respect. New recruits always do,¡± ¡°If you want me to call you Vice Captain I will, and my name is Braun. For the record of course,¡± ¡°Hmmm , this one talks too much. Think you¡¯re better than all of us ¡®cause Sahl¡¯s your mommy?¡± ¡°Of course not Captain,¡± . . . . ¡°Lena.¡± Lena smiles and walks away. Ricky¡¯s head turns violently from side to side in complete stress and anxiety. She looks at Braun, and cries. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for my sister''s behavior! She¡¯s just so rude and horrible! Please don¡¯t tell your mother to fire us! Our planets will die without-¡± I give Braun a look and we both start laughing. My ribs start to tense up and hurt. ¡°It¡¯s okay, it¡¯s okay. . . I like her,"he says. Me and Braun have to pass through the communal area to get back to the suite. The mere thought scares both of us. I don¡¯t need a Portia repeat, and neither does Braun. We walk without sitting down, looking at, or talking to anyone. Unfortunately, we ran into the yellow star from the hectic day before. ¡°Oh lord, not another conflict. Rayes, prepare yourself,¡± ¡°To do what? Curse somebody out, because i¡¯m sick of thi-,¡± ¡°Hey, uh. . do you guys have a minute?¡± The star from the day before stands before us, biting his lip. Was he nervous? I couldn¡¯t tell, but I wasn¡¯t sure what he was here for. Was he gonna try and scold us for arguing with Portia? Or try and attempt some sort of get back? I honestly didn¡¯t wanna find out. ¡°Um. . . I just wanted to say sorry. For what Portia did. I know I can¡¯t apologize for her or anything but, I wanted to say sorry for even seeing what happened and not breaking it up sooner.¡± An apology? ¡°That¡¯s new.¡± ¡°Oh, wow. Thank you so much for that! Not many people feel any remorse when people like us are mistreated, you know.¡± ¡°Yeah, thanks. . .Ramos, was it?¡± ¡°Yeah, Yeah. It¡¯s no problem. I mean I always thought secretly it was wrong to act the way some people do toward the dwarf stars. I was just too pussy to speak up I guess,¡± ¡°Cool, cool, so what are you doing being friends with someone like Portia?¡± ¡°Oh, we''ve been friends for a real long time. She¡¯s always gotten so worked up over everything. It¡¯s a condition. Intermittent Overheating Disorder. Happens to a lot of blue stars actually. I just wanted to be there for her; All this time. But things have gotten out of control. Too much. I still wanna support her, but I have to make sure i¡¯m not paying for her actions, or making others pay,¡± ¡°Good. That¡¯s how it¡¯s supposed to be. Stars just need to be nicer nowadays,¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± Ramos tells us about a group of stars he knows that would be open to interviews. Braun has appointed me to do so and get him some material for his journalism work. I am stoked, to say the least. It makes me feel quite honored actually. Ramos is leading us over to the group of stars, but in the start of what will turn out to be a series of unfortunate events, we are stopped by- ¡°It is I, the great and loveable Alor. I wish to be interviewed,¡± ¡°By who exactly?¡± ¡°The little brown dwarf who is loved by Miss Sahl. You see, i¡¯m not exactly on her good side right now-¡± ¡°His name is Braun. And he isn¡¯t doing interviews, I am. It¡¯s for his journalism work, do you still want to be interviewed?¡± ¡°Ehh, sure why not. As long as I''ve got something to do with one of her sons, I should be able to win Miss Sahl¡¯s approval. We can start right-¡± ¡°Hey. . .I know this dude. He¡¯s the guy who got caught switching up between Sahl and Mekomia. Now they both don¡¯t like him,¡±Ramos squints to get a better look. ¡°Yup, that¡¯s him.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t interview anyone who is or has tried to be on good terms with Mekomia, me and Braun came to this agreement already. Right Braun?¡± Braun nods his head in agreement. Alor bites his nail and chews on it for a bit before speaking. ¡°Blasphemy! You have no clue how hard it is to get the appeal of those supergiants! I haven¡¯t the slightest clue how to behave in their favor! They naturally disliked me. Is that fair to an innocent contestant?¡± ¡°If Miss Sahl doesn''t like you, I''m sorry but you¡¯re the problem. And I¡¯m saying that as her son,¡± ¡°Curse you! All of you. I will win the competition and prove to you all that I too can be a supergiant! I don¡¯t need those two to help me anyway!¡± Alor storms off, so furious his pale yellow skin turned a shade of rose around his nose and cheeks. ¡°What a weirdo.¡± Fight! Chapter 6- Fight Today is the day of the tournament, well the first day. Sometimes, these things drag on for months. I was just hoping they didn''t; I¡¯d have to announce for the first 5 matches, no matter how long they took. Ricky had been the one to give me the honor of announcing first. She says it might give the tournament a good look to have a bubbly red dwarf announcer instead of a sad brown dwarf one. We were in the main part of the arena, where all the fights took place. They all happened on a platform that looked like a boxing ring, but with nothing around the edges. Which meant nothing was stopping you from going flying if you took a bad hit. Around the square platform was an oval floor covered in nebula dust and gasses to break falls. Around the floor were seats that stretched up into what seemed like eternity. To house as many people as it does, the arena needed a lot of seats. Ricky and Lena had come along before the first round of competition to show me the ropes and what to expect. As the competition drew nearer, my stomach started to churn. I hadn¡¯t ever been this nervous before. Ever. It was odd, but I also hadn¡¯t done anything like this ever. Maybe Ryko wouldn¡¯t like this, she wasn¡¯t anywhere near as extroverted as me anyway. ¡°Okay, so this is the lift. When you hear the tone you have about 5 minutes to get on it before it starts to move up, so get on it quickly. Your mic will be on with the tone so be quiet until you''re above the platform.¡± Lena puts a headset on my head and presses a button on it. ¡°Is your buddy gonna come? You know, curly hair, glasses, sweater vest, khakis?¡± ¡°Braun? Oh yeah he should be here, I don¡¯t know when though, why?¡± ¡°No reason, just tell him I''ll be in row 356 seat 20, if you can.¡± Lena walks away and Ricky runs after her yelling something about being nice to him. After a quick text on flare to Braun, I quickly got the same nervous feeling. I knew the walls of the arena were billions of feet away from me, but with this feeling in my chest, it seemed like they were gonna squish me; Like every seat had eyes and they were watching me. Wait- that was it. I felt like. . . I was being Watched. I looked around, turning my head so fast it made me dizzy, but I couldn¡¯t find the eyes. What the hell? I knew for a fact someone was looking at me, I had felt hot my entire life, but I kept getting horrible chills. This just wasn¡¯t right. I couldn¡¯t even focus enough to remember what I was supposed to be doing. Getting on the lift, that was now lowering into the basement under the arena floor. Realizing what was happening, I ran to it quickly, and jumped on. I scratched and hit my head, hoping to get it into the right place, at least the absence of my usual ponytail helped make scratching easier. The announcer dress codes were actually quite strict. No more wool shirts for me. They didn¡¯t even allow my favorite blue sweatpants, but my boots stayed. I was given a dark red button down shirt and this horribly itchy tan suit vest. Paired with it were some tan dress pants with red vertical lines. I counted them, checked my outfit for dust, and brushed through Vee¡¯s hair. He hadn¡¯t started talking yet, but the announcer girls said to make sure our planets looked their best too. I had given Vee an outfit similar to mine, but his was a full suit. I tried to focus on him for a while, he had grown really long hair in the few days he¡¯s been alive. It was almost to his legs now. Us stars can¡¯t grow our hair too far without it burning off at the ends. It made me really admire any beings who could grow their hair super long. Pollaria, Vee, Braun. He was just stupid and decided to keep it short. Man, if I could grow my hair past my shoulders I would be so happy. The lift finally came to a stop and I was hit with the presence of dust, an old book smell and a dim luminosity in between darkness and dawn. Of course, it wasn¡¯t an issue for me as a star, but us red dwarfs are dim and can¡¯t light areas super far away. From what I could see, boxes labeled fragile and don¡¯t touch were all over the place. Some were open, others were completely closed, taped up and all. I knew to mind my business, especially because I was still so sure someone was keeping their eye on me. I couldn¡¯t understand who though, but it seemed I was about to find out. I heard rumbling, and more, and more, until BAM, a star around the size of Ramos jumped up from behind me. ¡°Boo!¡± They started laughing hysterically while I just stood frozen in fear. ¡°Didn¡¯t expect a contestant to be here did you? Well this is my hiding place, and you were the first to come here so. . .¡± ¡°Wait, wait, wait. You¡¯re a contestant? Shouldn¡¯t you be getting ready? And, you¡¯re talking to me! Why?¡± ¡°What do you mean why? A girl can¡¯t have a conversation? Usually you dwarf stars are so much cooler than everyone else in these stuck up, high chin, bitchy competitions,¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°No, no. I just mean most people like you don¡¯t wanna talk to us! It''s kind of refreshing, honestly.¡± I scratched my head. Boy was I having some luck running into all these nice high mass stars. ¡°Woah! Making generalizations I see! You must think all of us blue stars are mean, destructive, hotheads who turn purple because someone *Exaggerated gasp* sat on a chair!¡± She holds her hand against her chest and makes a painful expression. ¡°You saw that?¡± ¡°I see everything. I hate talking to stars my size, they always suck ass and think they¡¯re better than everybody else. And even worse, they expect you to feel the same if you¡¯re like them; It¡¯s torture! So, I mostly stay out of the way. My only acquaintance here is Ramos. He was telling me about you, actually. I wasn¡¯t sure if you were the right girl, but most red dwarfs go into journalism, so since he pointed out you were an announcer I was certain it was the famous Rayes! Though I had seen you before, but not much of your face,¡± ¡°It makes sense that you and Ramos are friends. You know, you guys are both really good people.¡± ¡°Aww, you little charmer. Flattering me and such, but it doesn''t take much honestly; Being a good person,¡± ¡°Of course. But still, you deserve a thanks. . .um,¡± ¡°Nahara, it''s a pleasure to meet you!¡± I smiled only to realize that again, I got so distracted I forgot about the tone, and lift, and my job as a whole. ¡°Oh shit!¡± I dashed toward the lift, and hopped onto it, just making the tone. ¡°Alright stars, planets, and the like! Let¡¯s give it up for the 10th annual supergiant tournament!¡± *Loud applause from the crowd.* ¡°I know I''m excited to see who the next star of the millenia will be! And to see some gruesome fighting! For our first match, we¡¯ll have Alor against Maia!¡± *Stars have absolutely no physical strength differences due to gender, so men and women fight in the tournament alike. Alor waves and the crowd is silent. I wonder how such a pretty boy could have absolutely no fans. He looks irritated and brushes his golden blonde hair out of the way angrily. Maia is an orange star; I haven¡¯t really seen one of them in person before. Not only that, she wears this huge witch hat; Was it a part of her power? ¡°Let the match begin!¡± . . . Maia is beat. There was no true fight anyway. She took off her hat and attempted a chant, but it was quickly stopped when Alor threw her off the platform. This happened to everyone else who went up against him. The way the tournament works, if someone wins, they keep going against the other contestants until they lose. If you lose the first fight, oh well, someones stronger than you anyway. Lena approaches the stage. ¡°For our 15th fight of the 10th annual supergiant tournament, we will have Alor against Portia.¡± The fight begins. Alor is obviously nervous. His radiation is all out of whack and he¡¯s having small solar flares. Portia is shaking out her hands. Alor charges up a radiation punch, gathering all the heat he can around his hands and charges towards Portia ready to strike. He made a huge mistake doing that. Portia uses one of her hands to catch him in his tracks and grabs him tight with a now charged hand. She then used it to throw him by his leg face first into the cold floor of the platform. ¡°Ouch.¡± Ricky shuddered next to me. Alor is sturdy though, even after all of that, he manages to get up again and regain his balance. Trembling, he heats up his hand and holds his hand to his face; Healing all the bruises and his now un- broken nose. Everyone watching can tell; This will either be over really quick, or Alor will have to get real serious. Alor holds his hand up and detaches his arm from the rest of his body; It loses form and instead turns to a sphere of boiling plasma. He lowers it with his now regenerated arm, and throws it toward Portia, who is now checking her projector with her back turned to him. She turns around to see it coming towards her, but it isn¡¯t much to her anyway. She elbows it back at Alor who just barely jumps up and dodges it, but this distracts him from Portia running up for another punch. She jumps into the air and supercuts him right before she hits the floor, then as he¡¯s on his way down, kicks him off stage. ¡°I literally didn¡¯t see him get up, it was so scary!¡± Portia shivers dramatically. The crowd is stunned. I get a chilling feeling again, like I''m being watched by a million eyes. I looked up into the crowd; My eyes met by a million blurs of bright faces that I couldn¡¯t discern, no eyes. Nowhere. But when I looked down, I saw Portia¡¯s eyes, and her head going up, up, up, and a face peeking over the arena. Bright, unfamiliar eyes. Looking over the arena. Invasion Chapter 7- Invasion Portia holds her hand over her gaping mouth, I knew what she was thinking. A star shouldn¡¯t be that tall, that substantial? Well, now everyone was thinking that. All eyes were on it, whatever the hell it was. It had horrible eyes, too pale for comfort. ¡°Why did you stop? Shouldn¡¯t you have more matches? Oh my, did I come too late?¡± Nobody responds. ¡°I guess I did, oh well,¡± It began to turn around, but its white eyes turned black, and within an instant debris was flying through what remained of the arena. It had hit the wall of the arena, destroying it. People in the seats highest in the arena went flying, and people in the lower seats were crushed under Debris. Some debris came toward me, but I formed a sword out of burnt off hair and sliced the block in half. Ricky and Lena are crouching behind me. ¡°You two okay?¡± They nod their heads yes. I run off to find Braun and any other smaller stars or brown dwarfs that may need help. Turning to the side, I see Sahl and Mekomia walk in; Mekomia opens a spell book and whispers something I can¡¯t hear. Time seems to slow down. *From here until it says otherwise, we are operating on human/earth time scales.* Sahl takes a fan from behind her and throws it into the air. The invader is in the process of hitting the arena again, when Sahl¡¯s fan acts as a boomerang and within minutes, it is near the invaders neck. BOOM! The fan grows, and explodes. Mekomia whispers again and time resumes. *Back to star time* The invader falls backwards. ¡°Y- y0u¡¯r3 HuR7ing me again! S- 370p!¡± Again? Had they met Sahl and Mekomia before? The star then attempts to tear its own face off. It turns and thrashes at its eyes and face until it''s completely deformed, its eyes and nose and mouth and ears were all in the wrong places; Some of the strands in its long hair were hanging off by a thread; Its hands kept thrashing and pulling. By the time it had stopped, its ears were detached, stringed to its body by a thin line of skin; It went back to normal within a few seconds, and its eyes went black again. ¡°Stop arguing with me! You created me!¡± It pulls itself up from falling, attaching its hand to the broken arena and lifting itself up. Was it arguing with. . . Itself? The invader screeched horribly and caused pain in our ears. Bigger stars around me started storming. I could barely even see with all the dust around me, clouding the air, and swallowing the screams. Suddenly, Sahl comes running towards me with Braun, Nahara, and Ramos in her hand and scoops me up into the other. She runs for the lift, and stomps on it so hard it starts to fall before jumping onto it. We crash hard into the ground after a few seconds of falling. I cough and wheeze and try to get myself together. ¡°Sahl, do you know them? They said something about you hurting them again. . . did you maybe fight? During the war?¡± Sahl looks at me terrified. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°No, that thing was talking to itself. Me and Mekomia have both never even seen it before!¡± Rumbling ensues from the arena above us, and a chunk of what used to be the floor almost hits one of Ramos¡¯s planets. Quickly, I drew my sword and jumped to cut it in half. ¡°Oh stars, thanks for saving Gaia there. You know, she¡¯s terrestrial so she¡¯s sorta fragile,¡± Ramos inspects Gaia for any damage. ¡°Oh I know! Vee¡¯s that way too.¡± Sahl looks around frustratedly. ¡°Look, we need to get out of here, Rayes! You''re an announcer, do you know where the exit is?¡± I shake my head. ¡°I do!¡± Nahara starts running for a dim sign, pushing all the dusty boxes out of the way as she did. Sahl followed suit, though for her it was more like 3 steps. She tried to push the door open desperately, but it wouldn¡¯t budge, so she took out her fan and sliced the bar to push it open, sending us all out into open space. ¡°Mom, if you don¡¯t know who that star is? Might you know someone who does?¡± I helped Braun up. Sahl¡¯s face changed, it was obvious she was uncomfortable. ¡°I do, but I honestly don¡¯t really wanna see them all that much. . .Okay, for the good of the star world we¡¯ll see them. But you all must promise me that when we get there, you say nothing. Nothing at all. All of you. Got it?¡± . . . ¡°Sahl? And friends, odd that you''re paying me a visit. You never call, or write.¡± Sahl¡¯s expression grows slightly annoyed. ¡°Elder TON, we need your assistance, it''s a very serious matter! Many are in danger right no-¡± ¡°Only come to me when you need my help, huh? That¡¯s how it always is. No one wants to hang around such a sad old man like me, right?¡± Sahl clenches her teeth so hard they might crumble into stardust. ¡°Elder, please there¡¯s a star. . .it''s stronger and more massive than any of us, even me, Mekomia, and Stephen, and it''s out for us all. I fear that only one with your power could-,¡± ¡°Oh, so Quasi¡¯s back? I didn¡¯t think that was possible. Fine, I''ll deal with Quasi, you always were my favorite Sahl. But first, you must bring me an offering.¡± ¡°What kind, Elder?¡± Sahl¡¯s teeth were seriously in danger. ¡°That blue girl, in your hand. I think she¡¯d make a great addition to my accretion disk .¡± ¡°Please- I can give you a few planets instead? More dust? I¡¯ll have some from the closest nursery right away!¡± ¡°I want a real meal, Sahl. Or you know what¡¯s bound to happen.¡± Meal? What was gonna happen? Sahl started to panic. I had never in my life seen a supergiant have a solar storm this bad, but Sahl was flaring up horribly. What exactly were the black holes even capable of? *Black holes, (as you probably know), are structures so dense and with such intense gravity that not even light can escape. In this story, they are the current supreme elders of the universe. Stars are expected to serve and respect them, no matter how big or small they are. ¡°He -he means me right? I thought- I didn''t mean to. . .did I upset him?¡± Nahara is storming profusely. ¡°Shhhhh!¡± Braun covers his mouth with his pointer finger. His gaze is menacing. ¡°He¡¯s not gonna actually kill me. . .right? This is just a joke! Ramos, tell me this is a dream, or it isn¡¯t real! I¡¯m imagining this right!¡± ¡°Stop talking!¡± Braun is pulling on his hair. He looks like he might explode. ¡°Is it gonna hurt?¡± ¡°A lot.¡± White eyes I had never seen before appeared from behind Sahl¡¯s hand. I didn¡¯t know where they started, when they ended, but I could feel the stare I had before when I was in the basement. These eyes felt the same. Sahl draws her fan from behind her back and raises it to them, her face is so cold, i¡¯ve never seen it like that before. ¡°Elder, please excuse me for what I am about to do.¡±