《The Star People (Reincarnation)》 1 - Her Stars She held the stars in her hand one day, and the next they were ash. It¡¯s popular to tell children that god is watching over them. That they are safe as long as they do their daily rites and attend church every week. It¡¯s popular to tell children when to wipe their asses and when to wash their hands. It¡¯s popular to control a child¡¯s life. She looked at the ash, tears falling. It¡¯s a belief that god only looks out for those who are righteous. It¡¯s a belief that god only grants passage to heaven to those that have done no wrong. It¡¯s a belief that hell will swallow sinners. From the tears rose figures, she watched in awe. It¡¯s a lie that those who do good will only have good done unto them. It¡¯s a lie that those who slaughter for the sake of their god are holy. It¡¯s a lie that those that seek peace ever find it. The figures became heroes that led the people. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. There¡¯s a system in all things, good and evil. There¡¯s a system to the way blood flows through the heart and out the wounds. There¡¯s a system that states the rules of the world, that overrides every child¡¯s imagination. She watched her creations with joy, knowing stars lived in every one of them. Maybe there¡¯s peace in chaos, a kind of subtle mindlessness that comes when your whole focus is on survival. Maybe the peace that every ties to uphold is heresy, traitorous, against what god wanted. She loved them, even when they turned their swords against her, Isn¡¯t it weird what we do for others? Some we won¡¯t give the time of day. Some we call trash and spit on their faces. Some we tell to kill themselves, that the world is better off without them. Some we hug. Some we kiss and tell them we love them. Some we treasure above ourselves. Some we put down our lives for. ¡°God¡±. 2 - Heroes There¡¯s a story about a hero being reborn, to justice and all good he is sworn. And as the story unfolds, you find that the end is just a story untold. It¡¯s everyone¡¯s story, and the ending is theirs to make. My feet hit the stone, a thud sounding around me as I landed. The enemies turned their heads to me, watching me with gaping holes. The undead. The closest one lunged at me, I easily dodged and it fell to the floor. I took my magic gun and shot down at the enemy¡¯s head. One down, seven more to go. I ran towards the next two, bashing their heads together, with my strength, the two heads exploded on impact. The clap of my hands resounded in the small pit. Two more down. Five more to go. I aimed for the slow bottom feeders that ambled their way towards me. Bam. Four, I thought, taking out the first one. My aim was usually crap with these things, but the enemies were close enough for me to target their fat heads without much of an issue. Bam. Three. Bam. Two. I aimed carefully, the last two were at the back of the pack, near the opposite wall. One of the undead was a lot taller than the other, probably the boss. I grinned, that was perfect. I took out the smaller one easily enough. Bam. Bam. I was down to the last one. I pocketed the gun and drew my sword. I twirled it in my hands, a smile on my face. The big fella ran towards me, much faster than his underling counterparts. I swiftly evaded his incoming fist and sliced off his hand at the wrist. My sword met little resistance as the target was just rotting flesh. The beast drew back, holding his hand with a scream. I guess the undead felt pain too. I charged at the creature while it was occupied with its numb. I aimed for the head, stabbing my sword right through its eye. The undead howled and fell to the ground. I swiftly gather up the magic cores in the undead creatures on the floor and jump out of the pit. Another day¡¯s work over and done. I smiled at the newbie adventurers that were making their way through the forest. I warn a few that the path they were on would lead to the pit I just cleared. I may have cleared it but falling into a pit was still a good way to get your ankle twisted. The guild master greeted me at the door. The guild master was a stout woman, hearty and youthful for her age. Though she was only the guild master of a branch office, she was pretty much second in command to the whole guild, given her position. She was in the leading branch for most magic core retrievals. Quite a good place to be sitting. I greeted her and we chatted for a bit about the fight. Though it was easy, she blew it out of proportion. Just like always. Our chat quickly ended and I went to one of the receptionists. He was an average man, no distinguishing features besides his pleasant smile and calming nature. If I was gay, he would be my type by all means. But I¡¯m not, I¡¯m more into his womanly counterpart with large breasts. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Hello,¡± I greeted him. I placed the bag of magic cores on the desk in front of him. ¡°Eight magic cores.¡± ¡°Okay, let me just check them and I¡¯ll get the money for them.¡± He took them out one by one, the first five were lower level cores, easy stuff to obtain. They were more white than blue, so they weren¡¯t worth much. The next one was the undead boss, it was a nice skyblue, but he was still a low level creature, so it also wasn¡¯t worth much. The last one was just another one of the firsts. He calculated the costs in his head and said, ¡°It looks like it¡¯s three big copper coins and one copper coin. Sound about right by you?¡± I analyzed the cores before I got here and that estimate was a copper coin over what I had gotten for market price, so I readily agreed. He handed over the money and I left. I was at the job board when a voice called me from the game. My mother was calling me. ¡°What?¡± I angrily yelled from my computer. She yelled right back saying, ¡°It¡¯s about time you stop wasting your time on those stupid games, don¡¯t you think? Go get a job!¡± I had already told her many times before that it wasn¡¯t that easy. You had to apply and wait, do the interview and then wait. I was in the middle of waiting for the outcome of my last interview, though it wasn¡¯t looking good. ¡°Are you ignoring me?!¡± ¡°Of course not ma.¡± ¡°Then answer me you good for nothing.¡± I rolled my eyes and logged off of my game. ¡°What¡¯s for dinner?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t ¡®what¡¯s for dinner¡¯ me! I am a busy woman, why don¡¯t you make dinner some time.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know how to cook!¡± I yelled exasperated as I opened the door. My mother barged into my room with a bag in her hands. ¡°Oh no, what are you doing?¡± ¡°I¡¯m packing your bag. It¡¯s time you get out of this house. You¡¯re almost thirty and all you do with your life is play games. It¡¯s time you leave.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t mean that, do you ma?¡± She glared at me, ¡°Do you think this is a game?¡± She shoved more random clothes into the bag and the opened the window. As she threw the bag out the window she yelled, ¡°Now go get your shit!¡± I grumbled, knowing what was going to happen. I took my toothbrush from the bathroom and got some water bottles from the pantry. I walked out the front door, and just as I expected, the front door closed and locked behind me. I shoved the water bottles in the bag and sighed. Could this day get any worse? I guess that¡¯s when I called the world down on me. Or maybe god. Because as I walked out onto the street and up the block, I got stabbed and the guy ran away with my bag. I hope he lives well, considering I had to die for it. And I guess this is where the real story starts, because when I opened my eyes, I was laying in a grassy field filled with flowers and a little girl sat next to me. 3 - Alara I¡¯m not the type to say that things should go a certain way or things have to be placed a certain way, but I do like a bit of order in my life, where ever I can get it. ¡°So you¡¯re finally up?¡± I glanced at her, the way her blonde hair danced in the sun with the gentle breeze. She was pale, like she¡¯d been stuck in a thousand year winter. She turned to me and I saw oceans in her eyes, they were so deep and all knowing. Her lips were plump, and she spilled eternal beauty. Like a statue. That was when I knew the girl before me wasn¡¯t human. ¡°Who are you?¡± She sighed, ¡°Now¡¯s not the time for that. You¡¯ve died.¡± ¡°Oh. Oh yeah. Well that sucks.¡± ¡°You¡¯re taking this well.¡± I shrugged, ¡°What else can I do?¡± ¡°Spoken like a true enlightened one. You should have become a monk in your past life, you¡¯ve got just the mentality for it.¡± ¡°That would have been boring though.¡± ¡°If you had become a monk, we probably would have met earlier.¡± ¡°Are you god?¡± ¡°My name is Alara.¡± ¡°But are you god?¡± She tilted her head, ¡°I am not the god of your world, so the you that retains your memories from your past life should not be calling me god at all. I am not god of yours.¡± ¡°What was so urgent?¡± Her eyes widened like she had forgotten. Geez, air head much? ¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry. Let¡¯s get back to business. First let me tell you a story.¡± She turned her attention back at the sky. It was evening, but still light enough to see everything clearly. ¡°There once was a god who was very powerful. She fell in love with the stars and tried to make her own. She succeeded, but her stars quickly turned into a fine powder and fell to the earth. The goddess cried for a long time, her tears soaking in with the powder.¡± The people on the earth screamed in fear, as it was raining ash. They thought a volcano had erupted and was coming for their lives. Soon, after the dust had settled, the people gradually came back.¡± From the piles of ash rose people, the people that lived on the earth gathered around and rose cries of joys, calling the beings heroes that would save them from monsters. The heroes took their roles with great attitudes, and led the charge of conquering monsters and demi-humans alike.¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Only, they didn¡¯t stop there. Soon, the heroes turned their swords on the goddess that created them. They attacked her believers and her priests, taking away her power until *poof* she vanished.¡± The girl ended her story, looking down heartened. I sat captivated by her story, knowing that down in my soul, it was true. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard this story before. Certainly it was a big enough event for it to be at least passed along verbally.¡± Alara waved her hand, ¡°It didn¡¯t happen on your earth, but an earth that exists elsewhere.¡± I nodded, understanding that this is one of those alternate dimensions thing. ¡°What happened to the heroes?¡± ¡°They were revered as gods until a new god stepped in and created demons. The heroes had a much harder time fighting the demons, as they possessed power much stronger than innocent people and monsters. So they turned their swords on the demons and vowed that all heroes would exist for fighting demons.¡± ¡°Why would a god do such a thing as creating demons?¡± She gave me a wry smile, ¡°It was so that humans would forget about killing gods and use all their efforts against demons. Gods, after all, are rather weak creatures.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t that goddess step in when her believers were being killed?¡± ¡°She loved the heroes that contained her stars. She loved them so much that they became her doom. Now she stands as a lesson to us all. If we want to survive, sometimes we have to be cruel even to the ones we love.¡± Alara gave me a sad smile. ¡°That¡¯s why, I¡¯m sorry to you.¡± ¡°Me?¡± What was so good about me? I was almost thirty and had wasted my days away on video games. I was no good if you asked anyone around me. Hell, even my mother was tired of me. ¡°I¡¯m going to send you to that world, or that¡¯s where your soul is heading whether or not I say so.¡± She scooted closer, giving me a kiss on the forehead, ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯ll leave you with these gifts, use them well. I pray for the day you safely return to me.¡± My body shuddered as I felt something coursing through me. I closed my eyes and asked, ¡°Who would you be praying to exactly?¡± That seemed to ruin the moment because she gave me a sour look. ¡°I¡¯ve given you gifts to aid you on your journey, the least you can do is thank me and not ask me stupid questions.¡± I bowed my head, ¡°Thank you.¡± She smiled triumphantly at me. ¡°That¡¯s my boy. Now go get ¡®em.¡± I wanted to ask who I was getting but the scene faded away with her head turning to watch the sunset. She whispered something but I couldn¡¯t understand it, her voice was too soft.