A Cracked Star

[Arya]

 

“Enough about my name, what did you want me to tell you Dawn?” I ask her.

 

“Mana, you mentioned that it was used to get out of this place but I don’t know how to use it.” Dawn says.

 

“Oh.” I forgot to show her how. “Right, eheh.”

 

“You forgot to show her, didn't you?” Stella says as I feel myself growing embarrassed.

 

“Before we get to that, why are your eye colors different?” Dawn asks. 

 

“Uhhh, couldn’t tell you really, we just woke up and they were like this. You have purple eyes now by the way.” Stella points out to Dawn.

 

“Wait really?” She asks, bringing a hand to her face. She goes silent as she starts to focus on something. 

 

“What is she doing?” Stella asks as she looks back at me. 

 

“Just wait.” I say right before a stream of mana leaves Dawn and forms a small hand mirror.

 

“Oh wow, you’re right.” Dawn says while inspecting her eyes. “They look quite beautiful too.”

 

Seeing the dumbstruck face on Stella I start to laugh quietly, drawing Dawn’s attention.

 

“What’s the matter?” She asked.

 

“You just used mana idiot.” I say laughing. 

 

“I used ma- wait I’m not an idiot!” 

 

“Come here I’ll help you get a feel for your mana.” I tell Dawn.

 

“You can do that?” 

 

“Maybe” I shrug, I don’t see why I couldn’t.

 

“I’ll trust you then.” Dawn says.

 

I have Dawn sit on the ground as I put my hands on her back, slowly putting my mana into her back, quickly finding her mana channels. 

 

“You should be able to feel a warmth spreading throughout your back right now.” I told her.

 

“I do, what do I do now?” She asked.

 

“Just focus on that feeling and follow the paths it takes, remember those paths, those are the channels within you that mana uses to go from one part of your body to another. You’ll find the center of this system should be located around our heart.” I told her. 

 

“Wait, isn’t that the ax of the leader of this place we’re at?” Stella says off to the side.

 

“Not anymore.” Dawn says.

 

“How do we have it, actually, how is it restored? The ax head was shattered when we saw it in the temple earlier.” Stella said.

 

“You’re still calling that place a temple?” I asked.

 

“I couldn’t think of anything else to call it.” She replied.

 

“It’s a stronghold, or was.” Dawn said. “Thanks for helping me feel my mana by the way. I should be able to use it by myself now.” 

 

“Oh no problem.” I say as I help her get up and seated into a chair. “So a stronghold?”

 

“Yeah, the guy who was the leader actually told me about it and how he held off what he called the world’s invaders.” Dawn said.

 

“Can I examine the weapon while you explain?” I asked, interested in how it fixed itself.

 

“Go ahead, it should be fine if you touch it.” Dawn said as I closed in on the ax’s handle. “I think.”

 

“What do you mean I think?” Stella asks. 

 

I try to pick the ax up but find that it’s extremely heavy. Continuing to struggle I eventually feel it start to move before I feel it shock my hand. It quickly spreads across my entire body, making me let go of it. "Why did it shock me?" 

 

“Probably because it’s linked to me? Well actually, that shouldn’t be a problem since we’re the same soul, right?” Dawn said.

 

"Uh, you should look at the ax." Stella told me.

 

Looking towards the ax, it starts to glow a bright orange and light blue on the ax head while the handle is black and purple. As it continues to glow, I start to feel a connection form between me and it. I reach back for it again, somehow sure it won’t shock me again.

 

As my hand grasps it, I feel it start to change as the mana inside it starts overflowing causing the ax head to split, changing into two staffs. The staff on the right forms two circles at the top that connect from four corners, like a compass turned slightly to the side it stops changing as it leaves a spike at the top of the outermost circle. 

 

The left staff turns into a long spear, glowing dark purple and black. The shaft for both staffs didn't change in length, with both being as long as our body length.

 

"The murals never showed the weapon having other forms right?" Picking them up, I notice the weight I felt earlier seemingly vanished. Allowing for me to carry it now.

 

"Wait, doesn't this mean I won the bet?" Stella says with excitement as she starts jumping around. 

 

Bet? What bet did we maaa- oh fuck. Feeling a frown on my face as I remember the bet. "W-we don't know if it will turn into a bow for you. This bet isn't over yet." 

 

"Then hand it here so I can find out." 

 

"Okay~" I say with a grin as Stella takes over for a bit. Only to fall face first into the dirt. The weight of the staff affected her like it did when I tried to lift it in the ax form.

 

"HAHAHA." Dawn and I laugh as Stella picks herself up from the ground. "You didn't watch me fail trying to pick up the ax?"

 

"Ha-ha, laugh it up now, but you won't be when I win this bet." Stella says, with a smug look on her face. Making me laugh even harder as there was more dirt on her face than I thought. "Oh shut up, tell me how you made it change."

 

"Just kept trying to pick it up." I say. “Maybe try to inject some mana into it at the same time. That should speed it up maybe.”

 

"That's it? That's stu- ahh! Shit you weren't kidding." Stella said.

 

"Why would I lie about that? You heard me when it shocked me too." 

 

"Tch" 

 

“Hey Dawn, did it shock you when you acquired it?” I ask her.

 

“Nah, she was itching to form a contract with me or something.” Dawn says.

 

“Contract?” I replied.

 

“That’s the only thing that came to mind when I thought about it, I agreed and she connected my soul with her.” She says.

 

During this conversation, Stella grows quiet as she stares at the two staff that are rejoining. The two staffs once together, start to glow blue unlike the mix of blue, orange, purple, and black.

 

What we see is a bow that is pitch black from top to bottom with blue veins that pulse at random across the weapon. It forms ridges that run along the limbs of the bow with the grip being completely straight. The grip has part caved in where a blue crystal is formed. It has a notch near the middle of the pitch black string that pulses the same color as the veins.

 

As it finishes changing I see Stella look at me with a smile from ear to ear. "Magic, bow." 

 

"Whatever, we need to find a place to rest and hide for the night, we might be able to take one more of those things but not every one of them."

 

"You better keep true to your side of the bet" She says with a smile as she sets the bow onto the table. 

 

“What was the bet?” I hear Dawn ask.

 

“I have to let her use my tail as a hug pillow for the next what, week?” I ask Stella.

 

“Month.” She states.

 

“Fuck.” 

 

“So, what is our current plan?” Dawn asks.

 

“Currently, our body is resting inside a building we found further out from the majority of the ruins. Though I had to fight another one of those swarms earlier to get to it. It ran after I pelted it with some fire, or solar magic really.”  Stella said.

 

“Swarms?” Dawn said.

 

“Yeah we were supposed to get some arcane focus for Taleah but with the swarms appearing throughout the ruins, we’re just gonna relax until noon to get out of here. The entrance is sealed until noon in case you didn’t know.” Stella said as she leaned back in her chair. 

 

“So then what, we wait?” Dawn asked

 

“That’s right.” I said. 

 

~~~~~

 

The next morning rolls around as I’m taking the chance to get more familiar with our new weapon. SO far, I’ve understood that the right staff allows me to use solar and ice magic with less strain on my mana reserves. While the other spear can be used to distort space, though it immediately repairs itself after I do it. I haven't managed to learn of anything else it can do or the limits of it. 

 

The staff also seems to allow for me to sense my surroundings more clearly. I can control small sections of it, but so far I haven’t seen much use outside of twisting whatever is inside it. Might get Dawn’s opinion on it later.

 

Lastly, whenever I bring one staff over the other the space between them starts to distort and push away clearly showing a reaction to each other. I can’t see to the other side of it with how bad it starts to look. The only reason I haven't tested with it further is because the longer I hold them over the other the pressure can be felt growing stronger. 

 

"Ayra. . . don’t leave the bed." Looking over, Stella is floating upside down, somehow still asleep. At least, I believe she's still asleep. How did she even manage to come out? 

 

Thinking so, I feel a small smile creeping onto my face as I grab Stella into my arms before going back into our soul space. Dawn is still asleep, but I feel she'll wake up soon. Placing her down, I start to leave, only to feel a tug on my tail. Looking down, Stella has already managed to snake her arms around my tail into a hug. 

 

"Is this normal?" I hear a voice quickly turning my head to see Dawn laying on her bed with a soft smile. Her head propped on top of her hand. "I can barely remember an age where I did the same with my mother."

 

"Are you alright?" I asked, seeing her pale complexion as she laid there.

 

"Hmm?" She replies, confused from my reaction.

 

"Your face, it's paler than before." 

 

"Oh." She says with a chuckle as she understands, "Yeah I'm fine, just had another rough night of sleep."

 

"Another?" I say.

 

"Now back to my question, does she normally do that?" Dawn asks.

 

"Yeah, she’s been doing this more and more as the days pass. I won’t say I don’t enjoy it, it has helped me get through the night.” I say.

 

“For what reason?” She asked.

 

“I find myself waking up some nights from being caught up in a memory, I wake up feeling extremely anxious and find it hard to fall back asleep.” I replied, remembering the nights I struggled to realize that I’m not either one of them.

 

“I hope you’ll eventually stop seeing them then.” Dawn said as she continued to stare at Stella. “I take it you’re taking the wheel today?” 

 

“Wheel?” I asked.

 

“Yeah, control over our body or whatever, we gotta have our body still if this is our soul.” Dawn said.

 

“Huh, didn’t expect you to catch on that quick.” I say.

 

“Really?” Dawn said, looking at me like I’m an idiot. “The concept isn’t that hard to understand.” 

 

“Meh, anyways, you know how you made the chairs right?” I said, changing the subject.

 

“Yeah, what about it?” Dawn asked.

 

“I want you to see how far you can take it, whether it’s just small or much larger changes.” I asked her while getting Stella unwrapped from my tail.

 

“Seems interesting enough, I’ll look into it while you’re doing whatever it is you planned.” Dawn said while yawning.

 

“Thanks, I’m gonna head towards the exit now, gotta get a move on before we miss the exit opening.” I said leaving our soul space.