Chapter 53
November 8th - Grythen
Kismette
“Collided?” Kismette exclaimed at the top of her voice. “You mean we lost our powers?”
“No, no, no!” Deinja leapt up from his seat excitedly and waved both his hands in front of him. “Your stars collided and fused together, creating a larger star that burns even brighter than any of its parent. I never imagined I would live to see such a beauty in my life,” he smiled.
Even at this juncture, Kismette couldn’t help but observe it was the first time she ever saw him smile. I guess Master Highbridge is human afterall.
She did not notice when Jeremy had entered, and she jumped when he spoke, “The ancient mysteries of the stars were never fully understood, but I’m guessing that you two share a special connection now.”
“Jeremy!” Kismette cried, relieved to see him. Her mentor smiled in response and patted her shoulder comfortingly. “A special connection? Can he use my healing abilities too?” Hope was finally escalating in her.
Deinja shook his head. “I don’t think so. The star is half red, half blue. The colours don’t mix.”
Her mentor nodded at Deinja in agreement. “The brightness of a star or dust corresponds to one’s health. What I think happened is that the two of you exist together now.”
The other Segaris scratched his chin absent-mindedly. “Exist together… Might the collision be triggered by the willingness to share a life together, literally?”
She blushed. For once, she was thankful that Master Highbridge dwelled only on scientific explanations.
Jeremy tapped his finger against his lips, pondering. “He does not die because she is still alive. But existence of the person’s consciousness would be meaningless or impossible to function without a form to perform in.”
“So… he… exists?”
Jeremy was quiet for a long time. “Well, he is not dead, but it doesn’t mean he is alive. You said you heard him calling you?”
Kismette nodded vigorously.
“Maybe you should ask him how he is now.”
“But… how? I don’t receive anything from him anymore. Is he out of my reach?”
Deinja thought carefully. “I can’t say it’s not possible, because his star was extremely faint-to the point of fading completely-just before the collision. That might have made the connection weak. Still, I don’t think so. Your stars have already fused. Distances shouldn’t even matter.”
All of them fell silent. Another possible reason was obvious, but she did not want to hear it. Could his body have been destroyed? Did they chop him up or… or…?
“Maybe you need to call out to him instead,” Jeremy suggested, breaking up her thoughts.
Kismette looked at both her elders. “How?” she asked again.
Jeremy turned to look at Deinja too, but the man only had a grim smile. “I have no answers, Healer.”
Zaelem
Am I dead?
I can’t move. I can’t make a single sound. Is my soul trapped?
The sounds of footsteps surprised him. The tapping and scraping of shoes against the cold hard tiles formed mental images in his mind, illuminating their sources.
He could hear the sound of his coat being unhooked, but he could not feel it.
"See? A gun! Oh, and another gun! And a poisoned dagger!” A shrilly voice exclaimed. It sounded familiar, somehow. The nasal man continued enthusiastically, “I knew it the moment I saw him. He is not an ambassador, Your Highness. He is a filthy assassin. A trap. Quesdeja is known for being underhand."
There was laughter. A much deeper tone. Another man with a larger body mass, perhaps. "I am very impressed. You have indeed proved yourself worthy. I will send word to my honorary financial secretary for a handsome reward later."
“We should use the Cataze bomb now, Your Highness,” the shrilly man said gleefully.
“Ah, no,” the deeper voice replied, sounding amused. “It was just a hoax. Now that they have initiated a spark, we can go into war as rightful defenders and my allies must come to my aid.”
“Very clever, Your Highness, very clever! I am so glad those morons exiled me.”
“And you should be getting ready to lead the troops now, Jaelon. I will now entrust my army to you and I don’t expect you to fail me.”
“I wouldn’t, Your Highness. You have nothing to worry about,” Jaelon cackled.
*****
“My, it’s almost two in the morning,” Jeremy raised his eyebrows at his watch as he entered Deinja’s office.
Deinja looked up from his computer. “Master Viken, do you remember what I told you about Kismette’s star? About how the colour doesn’t seem red enough, somehow?”
“You said it was as though she only just made it into the healer’s category and perhaps that is why she couldn’t do all the simple healing like infections that all the other healers could.”
“Yes. But I have discovered something else. An examination of her star’s radiation showed that the energy levels were abnormally high in all the other wavelengths as well. I cannot believe I never thought to analyse her radiation strength until yesterday,” Deinja mumbled, a little cross with his oversight.
The older Segaris ran to his computer screen immediately and let out an uncharacteristic gasp. “Her star glows with all the other colours as well? Does she have all the other powers as well then?”
“No, she does not exhibit all the other attributes. The energy emitted from the other wavelengths is not high enough for those colours to jump from the ‘dust’ banding to the ‘star’ banding.”
“What does that mean, then?”
Deinja crossed his arms and leaned back on his chair. “Remember that time you told me about Kismette healing her own arm in Reensville and the bird near Espido? I was sceptical then, but I’m starting to think that maybe she didn’t imagine it after all. Her star’s higher energy allows it to connect with the magic well much better and hence stays active even outside the normal circle boundary. This also means that her range may actually be limitless.”
Kismette
Kismette paced in her apartment uneasily. She tried saying her lines aloud, hoping it would help. She shouted until her voice grew hoarse. She even opened her windows and screamed into the sky, until someone from the opposite block shouted back angrily.
She huddled on the floor, feeling like a silly goose. It was tiring. The cold, dry air made it painful to breathe deeply. The lack of response was demoralising, but how could she give up?
A fallen leaf flew past her window, carefree. It rode on the wind like a magic red carpet, off to an unknown destiny.
She turned away from the window. Her eyes were red and swollen, and she could shed no more tears. Even blinking hurts.
Everything was hollow. Everything felt empty.
The streets were empty. The houses were empty.
The sky was empty.
And my heart is empty.
“Zaelem… Why can’t you hear me? Why aren’t you calling me anymore?” she whispered and wiped the dried paths of her foolish tears with the back of her hand. Please don’t die. Please be in one piece.
The heavens answered her soft cries with gentle white fluffs.
Her eyelids grew heavy. The sky grew lighter as the time ticked by. Her eyes soon closed. Zaelem…
… ismette. Queen Cat. Hey, my shiny little button.
“Zaelem?” Her eyes flew open. No response came. “Zaelem!” she shouted. “Zaelem!”
Again, silence.
Undefeated, she began to re-enact her previous actions and closed her eyes, allowing herself to drift towards slumber. Zaelem… please don’t leave me…
… hear me? Hello…? Can you hear me?
Euphoria flooded every single cell in her body. She squeezed her eyes tight to counter their reflexive response and glued herself to the floor, worried that perhaps her movements would hinder their communication. “Yes, yes I can!” she squealed.
”Hey, munchkin. Can you hear me?”
“What? Can’t you hear me too?” Why does this work only in one way?
”What works only in one way?”
Kismette blinked. ”You can hear that instead?” She slapped her forehead and began to laugh. ”I have been screaming my head off since three a.m. in the morning!”
Was that a chuckle from him? Her muscles began to relax. ”You smelly gorilla! You had me worried sick. Where are you now? Have you reached Kiraul safely?”
She could hear him sigh. ”I have reached Kiraul… but I am not sure what has happened to me.”
”… What do you mean?”
”I… I’m not sure if I’m already dead.”
Kismette sat upright. Her heart began to pound. ”You are not dead. You are definitely not dead. Our stars collided. I live, you live,” she replied firmly. ”What happened? What… what did they do to you?” She wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear the answer. What if they decided to hack his head off? What if they bled him dry? Will I be able to heal that?
”They locked me in this room and electrified the entire chamber. I can’t move nor see anything, but I am conscious. I can hear them, somehow.”
She tried to breathe again. ”Where are you? How do I heal you? I don’t know where to send my energy to.” I’m sure you can still be healed.
He paused for a while. ”I know Jeremy has a detailed map. I don’t know if anyone has moved my body, though.”
She sprang up from the floor and pulled a long sleeved top over her head with such haste and roughness that the seams tore a little. For the second time that night, she bolted for her front door.
”Oh, and, um, I almost forgot…”
”Hmm?”
”Tell him that we’re headed for war now.”
Ning: Hands up if you remembered Jaelon! Not such an insignificant character now, is he? XD
I'm not sure if the explanation for the collision of stars was confusing, though. :P What Jeremy meant by "But existence of the person’s consciousness would be meaningless or impossible to function without a form to perform in" is that if they destroyed Zaelem's body, he would probably just be a voice in Kismette's head (sounds creepy o_o) and hence "not functional".
This chapter has quite a few tiebacks for the previous chapters too. (Which is why I'm anxious about updating regularly and hate taking hiatuses. :( )
Anyway, here are the scenes for:
Kismette's super range
Kismette talking about her fracture
Jeremy and Deinja discussing about the fracture
Previous: Interlude
Next: Chapter 54