Chapter 20 Star Enchanted

The supportive power of love never ceases to fascinate me. This time it is Henessada’s love for her country. What wouldn’t you do for your country?

“Get in, Demi, before it’s too late.” I hear Sada’s voice in my head.

“Where are you?” I say aloud, as I’m worried and upset at her absence.

A familiar ramp stretches from out of the cloud and onto the city wall. It’s Eva. What a relief. Iris and I run up the ramp.

“Gidealis! Where are you going? I need you here!” Behind us Kimaaris tries to get closer, pushing people aside.

The king stops with his mouth open, as well as everyone else on the wall, watching up ascend into the clouds.

Not that I ever cared to impress him, but now I did it without even trying. I must admit, it feels good. You can’t call this a “cheap trick”, either. This spacecraft is expensive.

A gust of wind almost blows us off the ramp, and Iris holds me tight. He cares deeply about me, and I wonder if I deserve it.

Inside I find Eva. She’s got a concerned look on her beautiful face. I no longer notice her being completely transparent, and sometimes moving really fast without walking.

“How did you drive the ship here, you have no physical brain!”

“Apparently you don’t need the physical aspect of the brain to produce a wave. I guess the ship just picks up my inclinations. But I still could not do it alone.” With those words she leads up on the bridge of my grandfather’s ship.

Henessada stands there, pushing the screen with her fingers, looking busy and knowledgeable.

“The interface of connecting to the ship’s mind is not that hard to learn. Especially when you really need him to get someplace quickly.” She says, still looking at the screen in front of her.

“Him? How did you get here?” Iris is utmostly surprised.

“There is no time, you guys.” Sada is distressed, but composed.

I look at the screen and the feeling of fear, overwhelming, disastrous fear creeps into my soul like water seeps through the ground. Slowly, but inexorably.

The screen shows the field, where the foreign invaders stopped paying attention to whatever dark mass hanging in the air, and continued smashing, killing, and sending into a run anyone opposing them. The scene is horrific even for me.

Our troops are being pushed closer and closer to the city wall without any support from the city itself.

“You’ve brought us here to save our cowering, worthless lives, right? Why? I’d rather die in the battle…” Baron Leo is in tears, watching our imminent defeat.

“Your sacrifice is needed here. I figured out how to get to the Star.” Sada looks at us, takes my and Iris’s hand, and brings them together. “The key is for two loving hearts to break through the wall to get the Star with good intentions. Go into the room, Demi.”

“What did she just say?“ I turn to Eva “Is she implying I can get to the Faith Star without Leot, without Kallitris and all their mysterious powers, just with my simple lowly Iris?”

“Yes, Domiarn. The Star is designed to be accessed not by a powerful charisma, but by a soul in love. Hurry. We do not know how it will affect Iris, though. But, let’s hope he’ll survive.”

There is no sound on the screen, but the battle intensifies, as more of the invaders march from the woods and straight into the battle. The sun comes out from the clouds and shines upon the terrible view. Our troops are almost done for. The bodies are scattered everywhere.

“I don’t care if I don’t survive it.” My husband hugs me, and I imagine the dark room with the Star.

“I’m in.” I whisper, and the silence falls among my friends. They hold their breath to see if Sada’s idea will work. So much hangs on it now.

So many times I’ve seen it before, and still the surrealistic appearance of the Faith Star amazes me yet again. It is essentially a program, written by Leot, and hidden in Ari’s mind, which I inherited with the copy of the Star. It is a program, designed to fix the wrongs of the world, not to create more wrongs. That’s why Kallitris needed to suppress my subconscious resistance by chemicals to gain the access to the Star. He has been taking it without my knowledge or consent, and he has a reason to be secretive about his purposes.

If it was not for the war and Henessada snooping around, I would’ve never found out.

The Star is right in front of me.

“I’m here.” Baron Leo appears in the imaginary room in my mind, and admires the Star. “Two loving hearts have arrived. Open the door!”

I touch the invisible wall, and it disappears. We walk to the Star, and I want to take it. I can’t take it alone, and I’m afraid to jeopardize Iris. Eva is certain this was never attempted by anyone without sian genes in them. Iris might not be able to handle the power.

“Please do not worry about me. We are losing soldiers.” My husband, handsome and lovely, has other people’s interests at heart before his own.

There is no time. I take the Star with all its clandestine secrets while still holding his hand.

The energy hits me, and blasts through my whole body. It is somewhat painful, but also exhilarating. I can feel the most amazing power ever! I can do anything. I am unconquerable and enchanted! I am the Star!!!

“Demi! Calm down! Order it to kill all the invaders. Now.” Sada’s voice in my head is loud and demanding.”

I do what she says, and hope to hold the Star for a little bit longer. To do something else. Not to part with it, ever. The Star shines from within, translucent and bright. It’s hard to imagine that it is only an algorithm, and the rest is an illusion.

“Look, it heard me! It is changing color!” I say to Iris, and notice, that he is no longer with me.

The next moment a high-pitched noise breaks through and wakes me up from the trance. The room with the Star disappears. I’m still on the spaceship. Henessada and Eva are glued to the screen, watching intently.

But before I walk to them, I see Iris on the floor without any signs of life.

“Oh, my! What happened?” I kneel by him and touch the artery on his neck. He is alive, but unconscious.

“What I believe happened is what we were afraid of.” Eva sighs, and her chest is going up and down under the tight suit. Weird how lifelike she really is. “He is Triana’s grandson, of Karistal strain, as we all were. All of us, but Ari. Our kind is not meant to be subjected to such overloads of energy.”

“Then what about the two loving hearts?!” I scream, shaking Iris by his shoulders.

“Apparently Leot meant “two physically strong loving hearts…”

“That’s not funny, Eva!” I bite my lip and shake my head.

Before I can do or say anything else, Henessada growls and looks at me with utmost anger.

“What is this?!” She points to the screen.

I get up and look there. Our soldiers are fighting hard, but there are very few of them left. However the foreign invaders all of a sudden drop their weapons, turn around and run away for no particular reason.

“Give me a close up!” Sada barks an order to the screen.

There is a feeling of us flying ever so closer to the fighting warriors, and I can see our solders’ faces. They are bewildered at first, but then, as more and more invaders take up running in larger and larger groups, our soldiers scream in joy, shaking blood-stained swords in the air. Some chase the foreigners, some start helping their wounded fellow warriors.

People on the city wall erupt in rapturous expression of the arguably weirdest victory in the history of earthly wars.

“Would you like to explain yourself?!” Sada gets in my face, and she is really, really pissed.

“What? I did what you asked me to do! I followed you to the hateful capital, saved your country, possibly lost my spouse to the exposure from the Star, and you are not happy?”