A Cracked Star

[Stella] 

 

"Where the hell am I this time?" I say, confused at the sight that I see. I see neither of my sisters as I look around the place I find myself within. 

 

I find myself on top of a different bed larger than the three we had combined. It’s placed in one of the corners of the room I’m currently in. The room was quite long, the length of my room and my brother's room combined. Walking around I find a closet large enough to walk around in. 

 

Walking out, I see a bathroom with a sink and area to relax and soak in, there is also an open area with some metal contraption at the top. What use is that for?

 

Leaving the room I see a walkway that flows down the hallway before spreading across the walls with railings. Making my way to the railing I see that I’m on the second floor of this building. It gives me a clear view of a living room fully furnished and a fire pit on the end of the wall made of bricks. 

 

The color oddly clashes with a mix of bricks and wood. The room is spacious with a large rug in the center of the room. A few couches spread around with designs I’ve never seen before.

 

Continuing my search, I find myself in a kitchen with strange rectangle boxes that have long handles in between counters and cupboards. An island in the middle of the kitchen, a table with a few chairs. Going further into the house, I find a large room, larger than the living room, with a bunch of weird objects cluttered through the room.

 

A lot of objects seem to vary in size but all have a metal handle in between two of them. With them all a pair of two before getting larger. There are other objects all around but I don't know what I'm looking at. Just a bunch of things with ropes.

 

"Oh, you're awake, like what I've done with the place?" Turning around, I see Dawn at the door with Arya's notebook. She looks exhausted and more pale than usual. 

 

"What's the matter with you?" I say pointing at my own face.

 

"Wow, thanks for being surprised." Dawn rolls her eyes before heading back towards the living room. "Follow me, and if you’re wondering why I look like I’m on my deathbed, it’s because I’ve strained my mana reserves making this place look like this." 

 

She walks towards the window, grabbing the rope to raise the blinds. Revealing the landscape that has changed out in the distance. What used to be just a white blank space is now a wide valley of mountains, forests as far as I can see. I can even see a giant waterfall on the side of one of the mountains.

 

"You did this?" My jaw is hanging open as I continue to stare out.

 

"Yes, though doing all these changes took more out of me than I thought." She says, taking a seat on one of the couches. “Arya and I talked for a while about potential changes and what we could possibly do here. She gave some fun ideas all in all.”

 

What else could these two have come up with while I was asleep? I find it hard to believe that was all they talked about since Aray is prone to making crazy ideas. It doesn’t help that she has memories from both of us so her thoughts could be even more all over the place. 

 

I don’t know how Dawn thinks, or if she even does think before she acts. Oh god, she could be like my father and think of ideas and not about the consequences that come from them. No, no, I need to stay on track, it seems I've been hanging out with Arya too much, though I can’t really help that with us not being able to leave each other.

 

"What do Arya's ideas have anything to do with you changing everything here?" 

 

"Almost everything really. She told me to try out a lot of them and when I managed to succeed with some, I tried to take it further." Dawn says, scratching the base of her ears. "I tried creating some past equipment I used to train with and managed to succeed. Though I don’t feel any strain when using them. As I was changing the landscape I got ahead of myself and tried to find the limits of it. Every time taking a bit of mana though from our body, and I think my willpower too. Is that an actual factor I have to worry about?" She says with a small laugh.

 

"And the actual reason you took it so far?" I haven't known Dawn for long but from the little bit I've seen, she's insane. Her actions have been all over the place since talking with her yesterday.

 

"Cuz’ it was fucking fun." She said with a small smile on her face.

 

"There it is." I say taking a seat beside Dawn. Does she have a few screws loose in her head or something? She’s taking all this extremely well for someone who was dragged to a new world. "Hey Dawn, tell me about yourself. Your life before being dragged to my world." 

 

She has a look of surprise, as if she wasn't expecting the question. Not saying anything for a while before starting.

 

"There isn't much I want to say really. Life wasn't the greatest early on and even up to a few years before I wound up here. I just really enjoy the simple things really. . .books, games, and working out were what helped me through a lot of times.” Dawn says, tilting her head as if considering more things. "I guess cooking too, I enjoyed doing that with Pops. Oh, Pops was my grandfather, he was the one who raised me once I hit twelve." Her face softens. 

 

"I don't know my grandparents actually." I say. "My parents never really talked about them, always changing the topic in conversations. Obviously I was curious but I trust my parents, if they chose not to share I wasn't going to push further." 

 

Even after learning they knew about the state of our soul all my life, I still trust them. I might doubt some things they taught us growing up, but I know they never meant us harm. 

 

"The day everything changed for me, for us, was the day I learned that my parents knew about a problem I’ve been trying to fix for as long as I can remember." I say before looking towards Dawn, "Our soul wasn't in a great spot, fractured, split, you name it. Ha, apparently we shouldn't even be alive with the state our soul was in, a miracle I was told. So to learn the day we were called forth to each other that my parents knew about it irked me."

 

"Did you fight with your parents?" Dawn asked.

 

"A little, it was more of me getting emotional and yelling at them before storming off to clear my head usually.”  I say, turning my attention back towards the fireplace. "Not my brightest moment." 

 

Dawn responds, her voice shaking a little as if seeped with sadness. "Y-you should apologize, when you have the chance. If we have the chance." 

 

What does she mean by that? 

 

My eyes widen when I look at Dawn as her face show’s an emotion I’ve never understood before, as if she is reliving a moment in her past. I sit there in silence before eventually asking feeling the need to ask." Do you want to ta-" 

 

"No" She cut me off before I could finish.

 

Okay, I've been denied before but that has to be the quickest one, though now I know that topic is off limits. 

 

"Sooo, what did you and your pops do?"

 

Dawn's face brightens a little as I bring up her pops. "A lot of things really. He brought me to do activities he enjoyed during his life, like fishing or board games. I will say, I never understood the whole point of fishing, even if it was nice being able to relax during those times though. Hold on, lemme just do something real quick." 

 

Saying so, she flicks her hand out towards the fireplace sending a few bolts of fire into it. Nodding her head as she sees her work. 

 

"The one thing I'll never forget is when he adopted a rescue animal for me. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to see him again though." Dawn says as leans over to lay her head on my shoulder, poking me with her ears as they twitch from the contact.

 

"Do you like animals?" I asked.

 

"Love them, a lot of people in my world, while having strong relationships to animals, never had one like the one I shared with my little guy. His name was Rosco, he was with me everywhere if it wasn’t at school. According to pops, we were inseparable, not that I would have it any other way." Dawn said, wiping her eyes. "What about you, any animal you were close with?"

 

"No, I never had a pet or companion like that, I spent most of my time learning from my parents about their life's work. My father was a hunter, and mother an alchemist. I guess if you count my brother and sister then I did do things with them growing up." I say while feeling Dawn start to lean onto my shoulder.

 

"Are we, you know, still in your world?" She says, "I know for a fact it’s not my world." 

 

"Yes, we met a high priestess from my world in the place we were staying within the forest." 

 

"In the forest?" Dawn says skeptically. 

 

"Yeah, we’ve been staying in the forest for a few months now since we woke up. Anyways, the bad news is that I found out we're on the other side of the continent from my family." I say, "Speaking of family, Arya already calls us as her sisters, is that fine with you? We can be a sort of fresh start for you in this world, I hate to be a downer but who knows if you'll ever get the chance to go back home." 

 

I feel Dawn’s ears twitch as she stays quiet for a while. "I. . . I'm not opposed, it would be nice really. Though I don't think I'll ever stop looking for a way back."

 

"That's fine, just know Arya and I will help you as much as we can, all you have to do is ask." I say as I move my head to pet her ears, getting a clear reaction out of them. 

 

"Thanks, it really means a lot to me. If it wasn't for Rosco and Gramps, I would have been fine with just forgetting about my world. I think it's about time to head out, see what Arya is doing. There is one thing I want to try though before we head out." She says, getting up from the couch. 

 

That does bring up a good question, what is Arya doing? Knowing her she's probably just learning more about how to use her dual staffs while heading towards the exit. I can just picture her going through trial and error already, testing the most bizarre things that come to her mind.

 

Sighing I get up to watch Dawn as she calls out with her hand raised. "Starflame companion!"

 

Almost immediately I see Dawn start to tumble back. Catching her, I look to where she was just pointing, a magic circle, unlike any I've seen before can be seen on the rug as a wolf emerges from it with its tail swaying back and forth as it stares at us. 

 

It reaches up to my waist as it stands on all four of its legs, allowing me to inspect the wolf as it stands in place. Its fur is like the night sky, with multiple shades of light blue, purple, and gold running down the back to its tail. 

 

Looking further I see specks of white across its back, its eyes are a light purple. Around its right eye, is a shade lighter than everywhere else, making it a funny sight to see. 

 

"R-rosco?" Dawn says as she stumbles over to the giant wolf as she wraps her arms around its neck.