I wasn't home. Or anywhere I could recognize but it was very pretty here. Wherever here may be. There were lights of variating brightness littering the sky.
"Pretty," I said. Shifting up, I tried to move towards them but they weren't in my reach. "Huh?" My vision focused and so did my sense of reason. Where was I? I wasn't swept up in hand-weaved blankets in a colorful beach house. I was not on the couch, drifting off to the TV. I wasn't even asleep on the soft, warm sand outside my home. Was this just a peculiar dream? Was I to be panicked? Normally I would panic, but I couldn't help but be distracted by the sight before me. Stars, I know for sure that those specks were stars. Splashes of cool colors; blue, purple, green, painted the black canvas of space. It looked like a flurry of colored smoke bombs.
"Kailani Hi'ilei." A gentle voice filled my ears. "Welcome." It was a familiar voice, a lady who I haven't heard in years.
"Blue!" I cheerfully shouted. A soft chuckle confirmed it was her. "So, it's finally time?"
"Yes, Kailani." There was a lingering sadness when I smiled. Becoming a warrior of the sky was a one in a million sort of deal, but it was a deal comparable to a double-edged sword. For one, I could go to space and protect that in which I love. But I also have to leave what, or who, I love.
"Will I ever see it again?" I asked. Looking around at the waves of space, I wasn't able to find Blue. Where was her voice coming from?
"What do you mean?" Blue asked confused. Jeez, has she ever heard of a family?
"I mean, will I ever go home? Will I ever go back to Earth." I explained.
She paused before answering, "If there's a threat there, yes."
"And?" That couldn't be all. Right? Hopefully.
"And...? What do you mean by this?" It sounded like I was just listening to her through headphones.
"Is that all?" There was a moment of silence.
"Yes." She said blatantly.
"Oh." Was all I could respond with. I was really starting to rethink my decisions. This might be too bold but I have to ask, "Do I have to do this. I think I've changed my mind." Another moment of silence, but this one was painfully long.
She sighed. "No. You were chosen for this, you cannot back out now. This is your destiny." Despite the fact that that was heartbreaking, I never thought I'd have to hear that phrase.
I balled my fists, "So? Shouldn't I have a say in the matter?" I crossed my arms. Digging my nails into my skin, I tried to not have an outburst.
She said matter-a-factly, "No." In seconds my chest heaved, my body burned, and I swear my vision started to shake. My legs trembled to the point of imbalance. Though it wouldn't matter, I wasn't exactly standing on anything.
I started to yell, "No? NO! What do you mean no?"
"I mean--" No. Don't talk. Let me speak!
I was quick to interrupt her. "Yeah, I got it. You don't have to repeat yourself. Why can't I decide? Why is it your choice? You decide what I do, but I don't even know what I'm doing! You've told me nothing. Now you're sending me out into space, to what? Defeat demons? Fight aliens? Taking me from my family. My world!
"You're sending me alone. I'm going to be alone for the rest of time. Aren't I?" Yeah, yelling at a cosmic goddess seems like a bad idea. You don't have to tell me. I started roughly scratching my arm. My long nails, scraping the skin. Almost to the point of peeling. It was a nervous habit I had yet to shake.
"You will not be alone. There are others," she suddenly said.
Quickly, I perked up. "What?"
"I said, you--"
I interrupted her again. How is she not tired of me yet? "No, no I got you. It's just an expression of surprise." I explained.
Blue sighed. "Stars, you humans, and your talk." What does that mean? "No, you won't be alone. There will be 12 others," she coughed, "Excuse me, 11 others there with you. You will all have to work together to protect your star cycle."
"You mean the solar system?" Star cycle was cooler sounding to be fair.
"Call it what you like, but I'll be transporting you now." Purple lines all perpendicular to each other appeared from thin air, forming a grid. "This is the Grid." Oh, well there you go. "The only way you can get there is through here."
"So, where exactly is there?" I asked, still taking in my surroundings.
"Your new home, Ouranos."
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My stomach felt like it was churning and my head felt like it was on a roll. And not in a good way. I never wanted to do that again. From where I laid, I felt something familiar brushing against my skin. Sand. Dry, and rockier than I was used to but definitely sand. Slowly I sat up and opened my eyes. The sun was blinding, well of course. But my eyes took a while to adjust before I was able to see where I had landed.
I was on a beach. Not my beach, that's for sure. The sand here, as mentioned before, was rocky, gravelly. There were many large rock formations and boulders here and there. They all seemed to be in interesting shapes, some had massive holes in the middle of it. It wasn't a very clean coastline. But unlike my beach at home, these sands had plenty of shells, starfish, and flowers covering the sand. Flowers? On a beach, I don't think that's possible. Nor should that be happening. Either way, it was pretty to look at. Messy, but pretty.
"Uh, hello?" A deep, velvety voice said from behind me. I turned to look at him. There, standing about a foot away from me was a very tall half-Asian and half-something else man, looking down at me. He was young, most likely around my age. He had smooth, tan skin, a square face and strong jaw. A cute, small, and wide nose. Rust-colored hair, that was swept to one side, and sat neatly behind two horns protruding up from his forehead; went down into a braid. When I said he was very tall I meant it; he had long legs, which looked longer given he had dark gray, calf-length pants on. With a short waist, and broad shoulders. He wore a plain white shirt with a long bluish-gray cardigan on top, two gold bracelets on his arms, and plain black flip-flops. Oddly enough, the last thing I noticed was the patches of shiny, hard-looking, red skin and the massive scorpion tail, slightly waging from behind him.
"Oh, uh. Hey." We stayed there staring at each other until I noticed his big, round shades. They looked like mine but his were tinted yellow. "Hey, I like your shades."
He nodded. "Thanks. I like your pigtails. Quad-tails?" He asked, but I just shrugged. My hair was dyed yellow, at the roots, and faded into blue with red bangs, it looked like a reversed sunset. Somewhat. It was also in double pigtails or quad-tails, two short ones at the top, and two short ones at the bottom.
I stood up and dusted myself off, shaking sand out of my hair and off my skirt. God, he somehow looked taller now that I was standing. I stuck my hand out and introduced myself, "I'm Kai--" Wait, should I be saying my real name? Is there like some unspoken rule against it? "Cancer, I'm Cancer."
He shook it, "Scorpio, if you hadn't guess yet." He presented his stinger. Yeah, it should've been obvious.
On a somewhat awkward note, I asked, "So, where is everyone?" He made an 'oh, right' face before answering.
"Well, most of them probably already know you're here--"
I interrupted him with a question, "Wait, how?"
"Well, you did arrive here in a bolt of lightning, that everyone could see. Don't worry about it though, we all came here like that."
I remained silent, surprisingly I wasn't surprised. It's a weird feeling. "So, where should I meet them?" He turned to point and his stinger almost swung into me. He quietly apologized. Once I lined up where he was pointing to, I saw what looked like the remains of a Greek temple. And alike greek temples, it was settled atop a hill. A tall hill. "Oh."
"Don't worry you won't be alone, I'll take you there," Scorpio said. Yeah, it's good that I'm not alone. "You wouldn't want to go alone, it's kind of creepy."
I looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed. "It's a hill," I commented.
"Well it gets dark sometimes, it's gets weird then."
I raised my hands to the clear blue skies and said, "It's the middle of the day!" I took another look to make sure I wasn't crazy, and sure as hell there was a cloudless sky, with a piercing yellow sun in the middle. Then I realized the sun looked... off somehow.
He shrugged, raising his hands up as if scaling two objects with his hands. Scorpio grimaced then slapped at the air. "You'll see what I mean. Let's just go."
So, off we went to climb mini-mount Olympus. Just so I could meet everyone else. I wonder what they'll be like. And I wonder what Scorpio meant about the hill. It couldn't be too bad, now could it?
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