Sirius-Rayett

Aeliana should be dead.

She walked along the desolate streets. The sound of silence was painfully loud. Her body ached; her soul mourned. She did not know how much time had passed since the comet crashed and obliterated all life. She wondered how it is she survived. How she is still surviving.

Maybe there is still someone alive and her mind is making her feel like she is the lone survivor of some freak accident, she reassures herself. The loneliness is making her melodramatic. She is not the heroine of a dystopian novel. She scoffs at herself and keeps walking.

Destination… unknown. What feels like a lifetime to her confused mind is surely no more than a few days. She doesn’t know where she’s going but she knows she should be somewhere.

Her necklace felt heavy on her chest. She clutched it, her fingers have long since memorized the mysterious engravings: “Follow the sun, for it is your heart and soul.” What was strange was how she knew what it said, the engraving wasn’t in English. Aeliana didn’t know any other language and no one at the orphanage knew what the markings meant. She had this necklace since she was a baby, the orphanage had said that was the only possession on her when she was left on their doorstep twenty years ago.

It seemed to be around sunset when she finally realized where she had walked into. Her distracted mind hadn’t noticed that she was somewhere near a beach. The texture of the sand between her feet had awakened her sense of self back into reality. The smell of salt in the air was harsh and sharp in her lungs.

The sun was setting, and as she looked at the horizon, she noticed how bright the sun was becoming.

How odd.

She blinked, hypnotized by the radiance of it. Her necklace felt warmer and warmer by the second. Without looking away she yanked her necklace off her neck and tightened her grasp around the heart shaped locket.

The light was blinding. The sun was becoming too hot, too bright. But she could not look away. She was meant to observe this phenomenon until the end. Perhaps this is how she died. Her delirious mind had concocted this fantasy to lead her into the ocean and drown herself. The pessimist in her did not mind that idea. In fact, she almost embraced it. Except for the nagging in her chest that felt this was too real. This was not how she died at all.

Her whole body buzzed by the warmth. She felt her mind at the precipice of something great and wonderful. Suddenly, solar flares raged angrily across the sea. They pricked the water, scorching everything in its path, leaving webs of fire behind. Impossibly, bright fire raged across the ocean, heading directly towards her. A rational person would have moved a long time ago, the heat of it too much to handle.

Aeliana walked towards the shore.

Her toes touched the water. A wall of fire formed around her. Burning. Blazing. Scorching. She reached out to touch it. Her chest constricted painfully, and still, she reached for the fire. The flames licked her fingers slowly at first, the sensation numbing. She burned. White hot heat scorched her. They pulled her in, engulfed her.

Fire was suffocating. All-consuming. And yet, she needed more.

As she thought that, everything stopped. The heat stopped. Light became dark and heat became cold. She shuddered and as if she had woken up from a dream, she blinked, her eyes focused.

A man stood in front of her.

Wide eyed, she appraised the man and realized he was already doing the same. Unabashedly, in fact. At first glance he appeared to be naked, but as she focused, she realized he wore a full body suit, fire blue, like the flames that had disappeared in his wake. His hair was a golden brown, eyes bright blue, sparkling even in the darkness that now surrounded them. A heart shaped locket glowed around his neck. Aeliana gasped. Panicked, she remembered hers, still wrapped tightly around her hand. Her necklace seemed to glow as well.

“What…?” she whispered, her eyes glancing between both lockets.

“Aeliana” he replied, relief evident in his voice.

Aeliana narrowed her eyes at the strange, beautiful man. “Who the hell are you? How do you know my name?”

His eyes scrunched; his expression became troubled. He reached out to touch her, then paused halfway as if waiting for her permission. Aeliana made no move, her body stiff but defiant. She wrapped her arms around herself and stood her ground. “Aeliana” he echoed, “You’re alive.” His whole body tremored. If possible, his body became more radiant, he emanated light and fire.

A moment later, the sun-kissed man seemed to compose himself and inspected where he was. He seemed otherworldly, and somehow – although Aeliana was not sure how – she knew him to be out of this world. “Who are you?” She emphasized. She glanced at his heart-shaped locket once again, her heart clenched painfully as she inspected her own. “Where did you get that?”

“My name is Cedric, Crowned Prince of Sirius-Rayett,” he bowed majestically then glanced up, catching Aeliana’s eye, “I have searched the galaxies to find you, and here you are, your majesty.”

“Excuse me?!” Aeliana screeched. This man was delusional.

“It is quite a long tale I have to tell, but what’s important right now is that we get you home. Will you allow me to escort you home?” He put out his hand and bowed once more.

“My home is clearly destroyed, as you can see. There is no home left!” Aeliana gestured at the destroyed wasteland that just a few days ago had been filled with crowds of civilization. “I’m not going any where with you prince of whatever! You better start talking, or else I’ll throttle you!” She had some martial arts training; she was not totally useless. She was sure she could cause some damage.

“On the contrary, mo chridhe, your home is not this strange place.” He squints his eyes at the ocean, the waves where rising higher and higher now, the sun had set a while ago. Instead of the darkness that usually accompanied the end of a day, the moon’s light was luminescent across the water, sparkling like individual diamonds. Even the sand seemed to sparkle by the moonlight. “Although this planet was once a beautiful land, it is no more. The Dorchades made sure of that. We must go mo réalta, I’ll explain once I know you are safe. We must make haste back to Sirius-Rayett. Please.” Aeliana started to realize that this was something bigger than her. The conviction behind his words made her pause. He was a stranger. An extraordinary, other-worldly stranger. However, as she stared into his crystal blue eyes, she realized that she believed him. Most surprisingly of all, she realized she trusted him.

With one last glance at her surroundings, she took his hand.

The sensation was indescribable. Her body felt scorched, singed, and somehow, she felt no pain. Her locket was branding her. It burned, bright blue, beaming. In the back of her conscious thoughts, Aeliana concluded that she was not human because a human would have died from so much heat. “Your soul longs for home,” Cedric whispered. Her hand still in his she glanced up at him. He reached for her other hand, and as they connected, she realized that his heart locket was also blazing blue. Unbelievably, the lockets glowed, gravitating towards each other. They opened on impact. Like a supernova, they exploded into pure blue fire.

Once Aeliana’s vision cleared from the white spots, she noticed they where no longer on the sand near the ocean. She wasn’t sure, but her instincts told her they were no longer on Earth. As if reading her mind Cedric chuckled, and bowed down, kissed one wrist, then the other. Aeliana’s heart and soul blazed, a different heat consuming her. “Follow the sun, for it is your heart and soul,” he whispered. Aeliana gasped. “mo réalta, it is you. My heart and soul have longed for you. We can finally go home,” Cedric smiled brilliantly at her kissing her wrists once again.

“Where is home?” Aeliana whispered, awe and confusion blurring her thoughts. The thought of letting go of Cedric frightened her. They where no longer on Earth, that was fact. Everything was white, endless. There was no beginning or ending to what her eyes could see. She wasn’t even sure if her body was on flat surface, or if there was even gravity for that matter. If she let go, she might drift away into the endless void.

“We are between worlds, mo chridhe, portals between the stars and galaxies. Our beloved Sirius-Rayett has been missing their queen for far too long.”

“You keep saying that! Why? I’m no royalty! I was an orphan!” exasperated she let go of Cedric. Although she immediately felt the loss of his brilliant heat, she trudged on. “Stop being so cryptic and explain yourself! I must be mad but I believe you I just don’t know why,” her voice broke on the last few words and her body collapsed. The weight of the passed few hours, the passed few days even, crushing her.

Cedric knelt in front of her, “This is mo Chridhe,” he tore his locket off his neck and placed it in Aeliana’s palm. “My heart belongs to you as yours does mine. Sirius-Rayett is our home, our beloved réalta. It is the brightest most luminous star in the universe. Twenty years ago, our home was razed to the ground. Billions of our people were lost to the gods. There was nothing left. A mere memory of the luminous planet we once where remained. The Dorchades took you from us. They took you from me,” Cedric bowed his head, pain radiating from him.

“I still don’t understand.”

“We were born from one star. Its essence burned bright and once it imploded, scatters of fire, light, and flame, shot across the galaxies all merged into this heart-shaped locket. Mine and yours. They are one star, and its heart leads home. It is the only we way we can go back.” Cedric reached out to hold Aeliana’s bright blue locket. Her heart thudded drastically as his fingers made contact. “So beautiful, mon chridhe,” he whispered.

“Where does me being royalty and you being prince fit into this story?” that seemed to be what made Aeliana the most uncomfortable. The fact that there was an entire civilization that lived on a star, supernovas exploding and them being soulmates of some kind did not trouble her. She believed it whole-heartedly. However, she couldn’t grasp the thought of her being any kind of ruler.

“We were born from the most powerful star in the universe. Our destiny has been written from the creation of these solar lockets. Through these lockets we prove our birthright. As one, we can take our rightful place and restore the people of Sirius-Rayett to the luminous planet star we once were. Are you ready for that? To take back our home from the Dorchades?”

Aeliana wondered how fate and destiny where funny things. They dealt her such a rough childhood, destroyed her home planet Earth, made her feel alone and abnormal for being the lone survivor in such a catastrophic doomsday situation. Only to realize that this was not the end. A brand-new path for her had been revealed. A reason for her existence, and most importantly, someone to share her journey with.

“I’m ready.” Once again, they clasped hands, and endless light overcame them.