Star Fall

Chapter 1

Every night at midnight, the purple clouds came out to dance with the blushing sky. Her soldiers swirled around with a grace that somehow was both militant and wild. They swept across the skies in rows as their colours darkened to eggplant and neared Prussian blue as the clouds came together to formally bid the Sun Queen goodnight.

Sol's colour was the deepest red as she gazed out over her loyal companies, who protected her from dawn to dusk. It was well known that she felt these grandiose displays were too much, and that she was undeserving of them. The world whole heartily disagreed with her and, despite her embarrassment, they continued to thank her for her light when she set down for the night and celebrate her return when she rose in the morning. The sky crept to darkness as the Queen began her descent back to Earth. A flash of green flickered on the horizon in greeting as the Sun Princess began her tour of the western sky. The cloud guards deepened into darkest navy as the true stars started to twinkle.

The Star Fall began as shining bursts of light streaked towards the surface in one last homage to Sol. These guards had finished their shift and it was time for them to return to their human forms upon the Earth. Which meant it was also time for me to get going. I yawned and stretched in my spot by the window, giving Peaches one more scratch, as this was her favourite spot as well. I gathered my bag and lunch box and did a final sweep of my small apartment. My phone was still on the window seat, as I went back to grab it, I couldn't help but take one last glance out the window. The last of the lights sailed down and the world plunged into darkness.

***

The streets were empty at this hour as I walked briskly to my job as shelf stocker at the nearby grocery store. Night jobs paid extremely well because most citizens of Solarius fear the dark. I have grown to welcome embrace of the land as the city sleeps. I was terrified at first of course, the bedtime stories of the dark days before the birth of Sol sometimes still bubbled up when I rounded a dark corner but have become infrequent as of late. Initially I just needed the money, but now I enjoyed the quiet, dark peace.

I arrived at the grocery store and went through my routine of connecting my favourite radio station to the store speakers. This served three purposes; music made all work better, it made the empty store feel less creepy, and it helped drown out the sound of the buzzing fluorescent lights. I began my journey through the shelves, noting which products I would have to pull from the back. In aisle 2 the cat food was low and in aisle 5 I made a mental note that the ramen section needed some reorganizing. I jolted to a halt in aisle six, there was a gaping hole in the rows of product. Why the hell was our entire shelf stock of Oreos missing? Every kind was gone, from double stuffed to the thins. I was wondering what the sale price was and if I had enough room in my budget when I noticed the lack of yellow stickers. There was no sale. Was the Oreo’s company going bankrupt or something? Why the sudden popularity? I sighed as my belly decided it also wanted Oreos. Maybe I could still find some room in my budget, if we had any left.

Finished with my tour, I made my way to the back corner of the store and pushed open the employee only doors. I kicked something so hard it skittered across the floor. It came to rest in the middle of the bay, the light bouncing off the blue and silver packaging. I grumbled as I walked over and bent to pick up the pack, what was going on tonight with Oreos? I wobbled as my balance almost failed when my arm shot up with the box, it was empty! The hair on the back of my neck prickled and my limbs froze in place. Someone else was here. I turned my gaze slowly around the room, there were so many hiding places. Aware that I was armed only with an empty box of Oreos, I turned on my heel and headed back out the door, my non-Oreo hand reaching for my phone to call the police. My frantic gaze caught the black shape at the door and my phone fell, hitting the concrete floor with a sickening thud. My hands came in front of me, the Oreo box hitting my chest.

"Please don't hurt me! Take whatever you want! I don't get paid enough to stop robbers!" I babbled then dropped a curse at my nervous habit.

The shape moved like water, then it froze into the shape of a human. Their features slowly came out of the darkness like the trees across the street at sunrise. The dark hair on their head stopped brightening first, then his pale masculine features, and finally his startled blue eyes. As well as the Oreo in his hand. The innocence of the Oreo dropped my guard slightly. He closed his mouth and shook his head, as if to clear his thoughts.

"You could see me?" He asked with a touch of wonder.

"Yea...?" My face scrunched in confusion. "Why wouldn’t I be able to see you?"

"You shouldn't be able to see me in Star Form." He stated this fact like it was a law of physics.

I blinked and he was back in the shadowy form. He dodged left and right like we were playing dodgeball and I followed him with my eyes until he paused. Turning back into human form he rubbed his hands over his face.

"She can see me" He muttered to himself. "I guess the sensor does work sometimes." Then he noticed the Oreo in his hand and twisted the two halves apart. Well, he eats his Oreos the correct way, he can't be too psychotic, I thought.

"Are you going to explain anything, or are you just trying to get me fired?" My impatience seeped into my words; I hated not understanding something. My guard lowered even more as he licked the icing from the Oreo, he didn't seem like he was going to be violent.

He swallowed and met my gaze. "The Star Guard General will explain everything."

"The Star Guard? What the hell is the Star Guard?"

"Like the Cloud Guard, but actually important." he replied bluntly.

I jolted in surprise. How dare he insult the Cloud Guard; I have never heard anyone ever do so. "Who the hell do you think you are?" I spat at him, my arms coming to cross awkwardly as I still held the stupid Oreo box.

His mouth curved into a smirk "Star Guard Captain Arlo." Before I could form a retort, he continued, "and you have to come with me."

I backed up a step "Sounds like a good way to die, or worse. No thank you!"

He took a step back too throwing up his hands in a harmless gesture after hastily putting the Oreo pieces in his mouth. He ate them and became serious, saying "The ranks of the Star Guard have been diminishing and we need everyone we can get. Didn't you want to be a Cloud guard when you were a little kid?" I tried to hide the truth on my face, but he read it like an open book and smiled.

"You can leave after if you want to, but you need to report to General Nova, anyone with Star Power is required to."

I started to ask but he beat me to it "You can see me in Star Form therefore, you have Star Power."

"But I was tested!" I protested. "I don't have enough power to be a Cloud Guard, how could I have enough to be in this Star Guard?"

"The officials don't test for Star Energy," he replied smoothly.

My thoughts raced and swirled around my head like the Cloud Guard itself. An opportunity to be in a Guard even if it was with this unknown Star Guard, but my thoughts kept catching on something. "Why are the ranks diminishing?" I asked him with a sense of foreboding.

His eyes darkened and he hesitated. This was probably information he wasn't allowed to tell a civilian. "There are many who live in darkness who covet the Solar Energy possessed by the Queen and Princess. They have grown desperate as of late."

I knew there were lonely planets out there without light, but never thought about if were inhabited or not, let alone militarized. I sighed. I knew myself well enough, the mystery of the Star Guard would haunt me forever if I didn't go with Arlo. I figured that the risks were no greater than Cloud Guard in the end and I had accepted those long ago.

I held his gaze and spoke firmly "I'll go."

He nodded, expression turning solemn. Gazing around he grabbed another box of Oreos "One for the road!" then strolled out of the warehouse.

"Wait!" I called out. "What were you even doing here?"

"Looking for the Star Energy, we have a sensor but, it hardly ever works. I got hungry and there weren't any Oreos on the shelf. Is that your job?" He asked turning to me. With a smirk he added "I hope you make a better star guard than a shelf stocker."

I rolled my eyes at him, which only caused his grin to widen. I grabbed my phone from the ground, silently thanking the case from saving it, and I followed him out into night. I glanced upward and I could have sworn that the stars shone more brightly than before.