Chapter 28: Chapter. 28: Interlude: Calling Of The Stars

Matt froze. At that moment, right after the notification, the whole world seemed to pause. Stopped in its tracks. The air stilled, the trees were drained of color, and the only thing that remained was the sky, now with a brilliant aurora. An overwhelming pressure enveloped him, as if he was forcefully placed in stasis. Looking ahead he saw the Dark Elf, Blair, trembling on her spot, she had been brought down to an impossible slow.

And then, the notifications continued, the voice of The System continued.

[Once upon a time there were no stars, nothing to watch. Once upon a time there was no grafting, no planetary ascension, no greater goal…

As time passed, things developed, as time passed, greater power was discovered, until finally a Prophecy was born, something to change fate and defy the commandments of the Universe.

And now, Prophecies are offered to you, an Initiator. An opportunity from beyond beckons. The stars have fallen, they await.

It came down to a whisper.

Do you not see it? The Power?

Matt felt his brain slow, as images were revealed to him as in an almost slow motion, an out-of-body experience. Everything switched and at that moment he felt like a simple spectator watching a film play. The images focused, and first there was a man, he could only see his back, it shone in a blue hue at the edges, and the entire blurry background palpated with azure waves. Giant towering horns protruded over his head, and he held two swords. He screamed, a guttural scream, one that unleashed pure primal rage to something ahead. At that moment everything came into view.

It was a wide opening, enough to stifle him from craning his neck up; it was as wide as a football stadium, or at least that’s what he imagined. Stalactites hung overhead like teary drops, ready to pierce anyone below at a moment’s notice. Their shadows cast on the ceiling by the emanating blue light, and then he turned back to the man, where there had been a moment of silence after the scream. And then he saw it, as far as the eye could see there was incorporeal blue mist, crackling at the air with little disturbances, every rock it brushed was pelted. As if it was sand, it evaporated into fine glittering grains.

There the man stood, and in the middle there was something else, a giant animal, its eyes staring with nothing but two gaping holes. Its rounded snout constantly breathed the abrasive dust. Four legs, thin as small logs, eerie enough to send shivers down one’s spine. Atop of its head were horns, but unlike the man’s they had protrusions upon protrusions, each expanding into smaller ones like the branches of a tree. That’s when it clicked into Matt’s mind.

Everwood Moose?

The man screamed once more, and jumped. Higher than anyone could have imagined. Like a mortal bringing down a god, it landed on the Moose’s head and began stabbing away at it. Dust glittered as if it was a floating galaxy, though as if it were a dying star, it coalesced, pressed, and finally befell on the man.

A bright flash was seen along with the sounds of rubble.

The scene shifted, and all of Matt saw was pitch black darkness. And then there was a pale green light as he saw a silhouette. Not long after, there was a fire and a squeak. The game of tag continued as Matt slowly began to recognize the silhouette as Blair. The arrow and fire exchange continued as Blair seemed to one-sidedly bully the figure in the middle, some sort of ostrich type bird it seemed.

As she prepared what Matt recognized to be explosive shot, something bizarre occurred. There was a primal scream of rage, and like a lightswitch, or perhaps even a bomb, the cave walls reached critical heat, melting off in an instant as everything turned into a pool of lava. Hell descended on the cave, molten rock poured from the ceilings as the ostrich’s flesh melted off like liquid. And yet there were no screams.

The scenery switched once more.

The earth quaked, and something with a staff walked atop a hill. Next thing he knew, a blazing inferno engulfed the distant trenches.

It switched.

And switched.

The scenes became shorter and shorter, the destruction worse than the last one. But all of them had something in common.

Overwhelming power. Before he even knew it Matt was sweating, feeling fear and some odd amount of excitement.

Did you feel it?

Normally unobtainable power. Something buried with time. Now at reach. Uncovered secrets, unsettled debts, the stars saw it all. After voting, after judgment, stars fell, and now they can be touched.

Do you want it?

Do you want a Prophecy to make your own?

The ability to control your own fate?]

[Reach for it. Make it yours.]

Matt felt blood rush to his head as once more everything returned to normal. Stars shone overhead, and in the distant sky he saw the stars turn into lines. As if it were a meteor shower they all streaked through the sky, some closer than others but it was like a rain of beauty. He couldn’t help but be filled with an odd sense looking at them.

Reach the stars, and make them your own. It felt as if it was a primal directive of his being. He turned to look at Blair as she heavily breathed and reached for her bag. Her fingers shook with a small fiery crystal, and after a lot of twitching from her ears she stowed it away with an incredibly ugly face. It was as if she had eaten chalk, Matt felt as if she had just cried after seeing her. All she could do the following moments was mutter and take deep breaths. Matt felt weird too, though maybe not as weird as Blair. However, he still had a good head on his shoulders, so even though he wanted to run off and look for the falling stars, he decided to stay by Blair’s side until she composed herself. Which took about a minute.

“Ha,” she exhaled. “Thanks Glim.”

“Glim?” Matt asked worried now for her mental health.

“Ah, no, nothing.” And then she chuckled.

It had affected her more than he expected. Matt couldn’t help but cough to ease her a bit.

“We should head back to our camp, perhaps check these Prophecies.” Matt would’ve been lying if he didn’t want to just sprint in the direction where he believed one would be. Blair seemed to have some semblance of control, but he still saw desire in her eyes.

In the end, she agreed.

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Some minutes of light jogging passed, Blair wanted to go faster, Matt could just see it. But due to poor him and his stats all he could do was hold her back. He honestly felt bad, but at the same time he was thankful she didn’t fuck off and left him alone. I mean, they had never even heard of each other’s species before they met⁠— well that wasn’t true, it was just one-sided from Blair’s side. Matt knew of elves, and so far it seemed rather accurate to his minute knowledge. Though⁠— not everything, at least no fictional elf he could remember had jumped straight to kids when getting told they are attractive. That was a first for him in his entire life.

At least she didn’t seem to regard him as a creep which made him feel slightly less awkward. She didn’t even seem to care for the interaction. Which made him think about something else, and that was when he remembered the bird. As he followed Blair back to camp, he couldn’t help but ask.

“Blair, the ostrich you fought in the visions, what was it?”

“Ostrich?” She asked back with confusion.

Matt took a deep breath, as he continued his jog. “The firebird.”

“Oh, the Boreal Kame.” Boreal? It didn’t seem too Boreal to him. “Yeah, it was a Guardian, though it was the Guardian Of The Last Flame. And it was way stronger than the snake.”

Matt gulped. She had fought that thing, and killed it? The first thing he thought about was how. Then he remembered the snake practically dying in an instant, though afterwards Blair had shot through the air and hit a tree. The snake fight was bloody, he couldn’t imagine just how bloody the fight against the bird was. I mean, he was totally sure she probably one shot it too, just like the snake. When he met her she was totally fine, sure she had used plenty of potions, but she was alive and kicking, and level 10 too.

Well now though…

[??? Lvl. 11]

He hadn’t seen anything higher level than Blair in the Skirmish, well the snake boss was up there, except it had gotten erased by the elf in front of him. Matt shook his head and simply decided to continue the journey back without making questions, the more he thought about it the more mediocre he himself felt. The proverb: ‘Comparison is the thief of joy,’ had never rang more true to him. Moreover she now had a sort of spear too which she managed to perch on her back.

The only thing Matt was glad off, is that the elf was considerably friendlier than he could’ve ever imagined. He never expected her to be his friend, who would? But just knowing she was willing to listen to him ramble about daily life on Earth was reassuring, granted, he was unsure on whether she paid attention or not.

The backtracking continued for a while, as usual Matt had to stop to recover his stamina, but this time around there were less stops. The sooner he arrived to camp, the more time he had to claim a Prophecy, the sooner the better.

Hours passed as they finally arrived at the familiar clearing, but it seemed oddly desolate. There was no watch out, and he felt as if it was suddenly deserted. Blair looked around with utter confusion, she seemed to be looking at something, and then she took a step forward.

There was some rustling from the nearby bushes, and before he knew it Blair had a bow pointed at the movement. Not a second later, two familiar bushes popped from the bush, and Blair drew a deep breath. Samantha and Andrea. Two coworkers that were practically inseparable in the office, Matt rarely saw them working as a Sales rep instead, he was simply in a different department.

They smiled and tensed ever so slightly seeing Blair lower her bow. However, their eyes lit up when they landed on him, Matt. Part of him felt happy that he was being regarded in such a way, and part of him dreaded it. He had hoped Dante would handle all of it, he never liked being in the limelight after all, but alas, it turned out quite ugly. Having no choice Matt had to stick his usual complaints and excuses up his ass, and simply get to work. And now he was facing the consequences of being a leader.

“Matt,” Andrea called before running along to him with Samantha, they disregarded Blair and looked at him. “The visions, the visions…” Andrea hyperventilated.

“They were so real,” Samantha said after a deep breath. “But the problem is what came after. Romeo left! And, that other guy, the one with the spear! They argued for like two or three hours straight, but both of them just fucking left like, like, two minutes ago or something! The one with the spear tried to convince Romeo to stay, he didn’t! I can’t remember his name!”

“Will, he was Will!” Andrea completed.

“Right,” Samantha nodded. “Will basically said fuck this, and also left afterwards! He chased after Romeo wanting to talk about something!”

Matt drew a heavy sigh hearing Andrea’s explanation.

The two people had left. Not like he knew much of them, but nonetheless once more two people had left. Matt clenched his fist, rage boiling inside of him. He was sure he would be called a pussy by some people, but he felt like the spectator of a horror movie. What part did these people not get? If they went and did their own thing in the forest, they would fucking die.

Part of him seethed. He didn’t think Dante would die, but those other two? Fuck. If only he could’ve stopped them, just a few minutes sooner and he would’ve made it. At the same time, could he really have? Would it have been worth it? He doubted it, if they couldn’t stick together now, then it was probably better for them to leave. Matt grew anxious, he simply had no idea of what to do now. A fluttering sensation rubbed on his shoulder.

It was warm and solid, he looked to his back only to see Blair, in all her hooded glory smiling at him. He managed to see under her cloak and at her body, but for the first time ever he didn’t have any intrusive thoughts, simply appreciation for her.

“Thanks.” Matt closed his eyes.

“We should get going from here, to wherever those things are.” Blair said with a nod. Matt agreed, but…

“No!”

Samantha pleaded, and Andrea was just quiet. She didn’t seem onboard with the idea either, but Matt couldn’t really tell, however, that didn’t really matter right now. Matt took a deep breath making sure to waste as little time as possible.

“If we want to be together we must grow stronger, we must grow stronger to not die. This is the path to strength. Both of you won’t need to fight if you don’t want to, but.” Matt took a deep breath. “If you don’t want to follow us then you’ll die.”

He kind of felt like shit wording it in such a way, hell it could even sound like an indirect threat. He saw panic flash through both girls before they reluctantly nodded.

Blair too nodded in acknowledgement that it was time to go. “We are leaving to somewhere else, Glim where do those things land?”

She asked the air, Matt stared with bewilderment hearing that name once more. Blair’s ears twitched before she stopped on her footsteps.

“No way, right?”

Her voice was playful, but her eyes told a different story. A bright flash came from the sky, and with an ear-splitting sound an explosion occurred, not even a hundred meters behind them.

[A nearby Prophecy calls to you.]

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