Run, Star… run.
The ground trembled violently. Tiny stones and shards of rock rained down from the jagged wall above, rattling and skittering across the tiled floor.
"Come on, my boy! You have to go!" A young woman's voice wavered between urgency and desperation. Her face drawn tight with terror. Worry weighed her features down like a physical burden.
"Please, Star, you have to leave now," the woman begged, her desperate voice lowering to a whisper that echoed through the walls.
A huge thud hit the wall behind them, followed by wild scratching sounds. Sounds that made the hairs on Star's arms stand on end.
The woman spun instinctively and stared at the wall. It was the only barricade separating them from the threat behind.
"Take her… Star…" she begged, her voice rising, raw with fear. "Run!"
Tears streamed down the young man's face as he stared at his mother, who knelt before the little girl she was entrusting to him. His heart was heavy; filled and flooding with an agony so deep he doubted another human had ever endured it.
"I… I can't leave you… Mum… please… we can't…" he cried, his voice guttural and broken. Tears streamed freely as he sniffled wildly. "…We need you, Ma… please."
Tears rolled down the woman's face too, though she tried to remain brave and maintain composure. But she loved her kids, and that was the reason she had to make this hard decision.
"Please, Star, you have to go… protect your sister," the woman whispered, doing her best to steady her voice. "You are all I've got…" Her lips trembled. "I love you so much."
Just then, the thud hit again, and pieces of rock started to fall from the wall above them.
"Come on, you need to hurry, Star," the woman urged him. She turned to the little girl, who was crying her little heart out, and he smiled weakly. More tears spilled from her eyes. With love and tenderness, she cupped her cheek and stroked it with a trembling thumb. Then she turned back and looked up at Star, holding his hand.
"You are so brave… so, so brave," the woman encouraged, doing all she could to restrain her tears, but the harder she tried, the more they rolled freely.
"I…" Her restraint shattered and she struggled to speak.through hot sobs. "I… will always be with you," she wept. "…Just remember that."
Star's tears fell harder. His grip on his sister's hand tightened, yet his legs refused to move.
"Mom, please come with us," the little girl managed to say, her once-angelic voice twisted cruelly by cries and tears.
The ground shook violently again. And as if on cue, another violent impact struck the wall. Cracks spread across the stone like spiderwebs, and chunks of rocks fell More from above.
The woman turned to the wall, then back to the little girl.
"Star will protect you," she assured her with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Now go, Star… take her." She inhaled sharply. "That… that is my final wish."
"But…" Star wanted to say something.
"Go!" her mum bellowed as she stood up. "I will hold them off!"
Star grabbed his sister's hand, who by now was wailing, crying herself inside out. As he ran toward the small crack at the opposite side. His insides twisted badly, his mind spinning with fear and guilt as they rushed toward the only safe exit.
Just as he crawled out after his sister, another tremendous impact struck. The wall once behind them finally gave way, collapsing inward with a violent roar of stone and dust.
Star's heart leapt
"Mum!" he gasped, his stomach lurching as he turned back.
His eyes widened.
What he saw hollowed him.
A hungry, deep ache ran through him, urging him to go back and save her.
But inside his head, he heard her low, dying cry:
"No, Star… go… make my sacrifice count. Take her… and go."
A sudden bright light swept over the place, followed by his mother's loud yell.... and then...
"Nghhhhhhhhh!"
Star jolted up, almost knocking down the person standing above him who had shaken him awake.
Alert, his eyes dilated as he looked around, but there was no looming danger, no threat. Just him, her, and the cave they were inside.
He breathed deeply, collecting himself. Nothing had changed so far. Nothing, except for the dawn now stretching over the horizon.
"Star…" came her little voice, crisp and angelic, filled with innocence and morning peace.
Star turned his gaze to her, forcing a fake, optimistic expression as he examined her.
Her long silver hair, dirty and roughly tangled, cascaded down to her waist. Every strand was still in one piece, a beautiful rhyme to her sharp blue eyes. Her once-beautiful face was now pale, with brown dirt spotted across her cheeks, forehead, and nose. The purple, expensive royal gown she wore, or what was left of it, was tattered and unkempt, hanging on her thin frame as a clear sign of how low they had fallen.
"Are you okay?" she asked, her worried tone betraying exhaustion. "You were talking and acting… all weird while you slept. It scared me."
"Hey, hey, hey, Star's okay," he retorted sharply, sitting up. "I'm fine" He lied with a forced, reassuring smile. The look on her face showed she wasn't satisfied with his answer, and that she wasn't buying his smile.
Star sighed, resting his back against the cold cave wall. "Alright, come here," he said, gesturing for her to sit beside him.
She obeyed. Calmly and gently, she sat beside him, and Star crossed his hand across her little shoulders.
"Don't worry about me, Ava," Star said, this time with a genuine smile.
Ava nodded, returning the smile.
But something inside Star couldn't help but noticed her skepticism. He didn't blame her; she was still six years old, and yet she had already witnessed horrors that were breaking him apart, horrors that were eating him away. And He was seventeen. A ten years gap.
All he could do was imagine what she had been through: the agony of losing a mother at such a tender age, the pain, the hunger, the cave-to-cave survival. As royalty, she was unprepared. She had only known comfort, yet somehow she had survived all this while.
Star's heart grew bitter, heavier.
"Look," he muttered with an apologetic nod, "don't mind the way I sleep…" he chuckled lightly. "I'm a notorious sleeper... and ... You are not going to lose me.... I promise" He rubbed her cheek.
"The new world shouldn't be so far from here," he murmured hopefully. "Very soon, no more hiding. No more hunger."
His stomach growled loudly. Ava giggled.
Star chuckled too. "Don't mind my tummy," he whispered teasingly to her ear, "his just a little bit angry, you know?" Ava laughed lightly again.
"Yeah" Star chimed, "Well, as i was saying" he breathed, as he continued "soon, all the running, hiding… it will be over. You'll do whatever you want."
A bright smile lingered on Ava's lips, warming Star's heart more than the rising sun. She was all he had. That smile quenched his hunger, though his stomach had already rumbled profusely, a quick reminder that he needed food.
"Whatever I want?" Ava jeered jovially, eyes wide with excitement as she turned to her brother.
Star chuckled. "Whatever, sis," he replied grandly, as though he were the king of this new world.
"So I can own as many swords as I wish?" she sneered, eyes blazing warmly at him.
Star let out a low snigger. It was lovely and brave how she had always wanted to be a warrior, but mum wouldn't allow it, and neither would his father, the king, because she was still too young and a lady.
But in the meantime. "Yesss," Star replied, drawn into her fantasy, forgetting his throbbing nightmares.
"Yay!" she gasped gleefully in a low tune. Normally, any girl would rejoice noisily, but Ava had learned not to make much noise.
"Okay… and so I can also choose not to get married," she chimed, innocently and confidently.
Star couldn't help it, he laughed, marveling at how oblivious she was to the depth of her wishes.
"Why?" Star asked, steadying himself through laughter.
"I don't want to," came her angelic, and somehow oddly annoying voice. "Mom didn't want me to be a warrior. She wanted me to be a wife… to give birth," she exhaled, shaking her head. "If I were a warrior, I would have saved her."
A heavy wave of emotion and regret swept over them.
"And Star," she added, "giving birth is… eww!" She made a disgusted, funny face.
Star laughed, a sound mingling irony, love, and warmth. He would give her time to grow, knowing her little misconceptions would change with age. By then, she would forget she had ever said such things.
He chuckled, one that came from his now settling laughter. "Bright and loving soul," he thought. She was the best person he had ever met, highly ambitious, kind, selfless, genuine, and loving. Her beauty was more than physical; it radiated through her character.
However the only expression left on Star's face was a wide smile. "It's okay, Ava," he said with courage, stroking her cheek absentmindedly. "You can have all the swords in the world if you want," he chuckled, then shrugged. "I can even teach you how to wield one."
A gasp of joy tore through Ava's lips as she spun almost involuntarily toward Star. "You will?"
"Yes, of course I will," Star replied casually. "It's me and you against the world, remember?"
She stared at him, smiled, and rested her head on his shoulder. "You're the best brother." She murmured, feeling comfortable, save, and secure with him. "I love you so much, Star."
Star held her close. Her presence alone was enough. Her words were his hope, his comfort.
"Love you too, Ava, and it's going to be all right," he said with a nod.
But that smile on his face vanished just as he was sure Ava wasn't looking at him anymore. And the weight of reality returned once more.
"'Is it really going to be all right?' He pondered.
Taking a clear look at things, he wasn't anything close to "a best brother." He lied about the New World. There was nothing like a New World that was devoid of monsters, corrupt system, threats, or family scrutiny.
Maybe he didn't lie so much about there being series of grasses and flowers, and butterflies. But the parts where there was no monsters, or the parts he said that it was filled with everlasting joy and everlasting sunshine, was just a myth.
In truth, they were headed to another kingdom, just like theirs. And the kingdom also is named New World, but New World is just a name.
However, what choice does he have? He needed to lie to protect her, at least to keep her innocent heart warm, to give her joy and hope, and to keep her mind away from the horrors she saw, the horrors she felt, horrors of seeing her kingdom stumped to the ground, by monsters and demons of different calibers.
Horrors of seeing people die, kids, mothers, adults, warriors. Seeing bloodshed like it was a water fountain, and the worst of them all, seeing their mother killed right in front of them.
Which kid deserved that? Not to mention the hell they've been through these past three days. Sincerely, she was strong and brave, with a golden heart, and as much as he protects and keeps her save , she too protects him.
Because she's the little thread holding his sanity together, the only tether he has to caring about this frusterating world, should anything happen to her.
Anything at all.
He would never forgive himself.