Matthias Oreklein’s Blog

Aaron looked down on the worlds.  They were all sprawled out sporadically.  He looked up to see the sun illuminating.  Morning and nights were strange from this perspective.  What looked like a sunrise and set from all worlds was actually an illusion created by the Veil of Blue, the sun really just illuminates and then extinguishes.  The Metronome usually floats around the sun to regulate its winter and summer patterns.

Aaron floated far from the sun halfway between the existence and the Star World, Polaris.  He was so far away from the existence that all of the stars were numberless and moving at incredible speed until their forms were spread out and elongated into strings of light.

It hurt Aaron being so far away from home.  He had spent the last six years protecting the people of the existence from the shadow of the Star Eater, but now on his twenty-first birthday he was on his way to the Land of Death.

Turning away from the sun illumination he began to fly toward the home of the only person who could save the worlds.  He raced forward his massive red comet’s tail trailing behind.

 

Over the past six years Aaron’s powers had increased immeasurably.  He was surprised how he had fought the Star Eater before and how the Star Eater could be so powerful.  Aaron had currently visited over twenty thousand worlds and has changed so much that even on the surface of a world his red comet’s aura still luminesced slightly.  Unfortunately he has not returned back to Earth ever since his first perceive.

Aaron, the only human perceiver in history, possessed two coveted native abilities, the ability to travel between worlds at will, as a perceiver; and the ability to learn, as a human.  Humans, the last ignorant race in the existence, took their native learning ability for granted.  Of course they never realized that other races were stuck with the talents and gifts they have had for generations.  Humans on the other hand can learn any ability they want as long as they visit the world of its origin.

Aaron discovered his gifts one fateful day in which the first watch of the Timekeeper was placed in the hands it was destined for: Aaron himself.  Yes, Aaron Robinson was the bearer of the most powerful piece of technology ever created, the Star Eater’s watch coming in at a close second.

Over the past six years Aaron had discovered many of the watch’s hidden abilities, they were so numerous he couldn’t even begin to remember them all consciously.  Fortunately for him he could remember how to call them forth.

Aaron flew quickly, he was surprised at the rate of the stars.  He had never known a star he couldn’t out fly, but these stars were neck and neck with Aaron.  It was then that he realized that he wasn’t flying anymore, but falling with the stars toward the surface of Polaris.

He hadn’t expected his arrival so soon.  Landing on his feat heavily he gazed in awe around him.  There had never been an official record of Polaris’s existence but the legend was passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation.  The legend was nothing compared to the real thing.

Aaron stood in the midst of a flat expanse of white with blue and white a aurora flowing from the surface of the world.  As the stars neared their final resting place the moment they touched the surface they disappeared.  Aaron marveled around him at the sight.  It was then he saw the man.

He was standing with his back turned and hands clasped behind him.  His legs were spread and his robe blew in the imperceptible wind.  He had long white hair that hung down to his waste.  Aaron instinctively tried to use is all seeing vision to view the man’s front, but for some reason it wasn’t working, as matter of fact none of his voluntary gifts were working.

Aaron gazed down at his hands.  His comet’s aura was glowing but the aurora of Polaris itself was blowing the red light upward like wind and smoke.  Aaron walked over the man, he was obviously alive. Stars were the souls of the dead, and how could he touch the surface without disappearing as well?

As Aaron approached, the man spoke, “Hello, I have been waiting for you to come.”

“That’s what they always say,” replied Aaron side by side with the man.  The man was large among average humanoids, but Aaron was gigantic.  The man was a head shorter than Aaron.  Aaron had no problem speaking to him in this manner.

The man chortled slightly under his breath.  “Yes I guess it does seem cliche but it is the truth.”  Aaron noticed that the man wore a shroud and goggles to hide his face, just like the Star Eater, but white.  “Why are you here, Aaron Robinson: the Last Perceiver?”

“Legend says that there is one on this world that can help me defeat the Star Eater.”

“What do you mean defeat?”

“You know.  Overcome, finish off, win…”

“Oh, that kind of defeat.  Do you know why he does what he does?”

“Yes, but I have a feeling you do to.”

“True… but say it anyway.”

“He wants to reach polaris in mortal form.  To do that without being a perceiver you must consume enough stars to have enough energy to fly such a distance like a star.  What happens if you stand here in mortal form?”

“Think about it.  Does standing on a foreign world affect anyone but humans?”

“No I guess not.  Does that mean there are gifts to this world too?”

“More than you can imagine…”

Aaron went white, he already had enough power.  “Keep going,” urged the man.

“I guess the Star Eater would want to come here because it is the final resting place for souls.  He would have an unlimited source of power.”

“Logical explanation, but actually, he want’s companionship and peace.”  Aaron gawked at the man.  “Gabriel was not the first Star Eater,” he continued, “I was.”  He pulled off his shroud and goggles.  his eyes were shining white with the light of millions of souls trapped inside.  When he opened his mouth light spilled out as well.  The sign of a Star Eater.

Aaron backed away slightly reaching for his swords.  “Do not be afraid.  I was once corrupt like Gabriel, but I am reformed now.  Do you realize how many stars I have eaten and how they affect me?”

Aaron slowly turned his head from side to side.

“I have consumed so many that I don’t even know my own name.  I have consumed so many that I know everything that has happened is happening and what will come to pass, but understand almost none of it.  I have consumed so many stars that I am half star.  In essence I am cursed, I cannot die, so I stay here tending to the stars.  My eternal penance.”

Aaron gaped appallingly.  “Does that mean the same thing will happen to Gabriel?”

“It might,” sighed the Man, “but not if you get him here as soon as possible.  I have to be the one to convince him to give up star eating before he becomes like me.  It may take eons to empty his blood of starlight, but at least he still has blood to purify.  The moment your veins are filled with nothing but starlight you cannot die.”

“How long have you existed?” Aaron didn’t want to use the word alive because he was technically neither dead nor alive.

“Since before the division of the worlds.  I have very faint memories of running through the fields of paper flowers as a boy, visiting the golden capitol of the Fennerites.”

“Why do I have to be the one to bring him here?  Can’t he come here on his own?”

“NO!  If he consumes enough stars to arrive here on his own his heart will be pumping starlight before the three quarter mark!”

“How am I supposed to bring him hear?” asked Aaron.

“Follow me,” he said almost teasingly, “Your ancestors left you somethings on the mortal side of Polaris.”

“My ancestors?” puzzled Aaron.

“Come,” was all the Man said.

Matthias Oreklein’s Blog by Matthias Oreklein is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.