"Erich just give us the damn star! All can still be forgiven! The council are nothing if not merciful." A man shouted while swinging his gladius at the bulky figure whom he was fighting.
"You know I can't do that Achilles! The star doesn't belong in the hands of you so called heroes!" Erich spat out the last word in true disdain "The star belongs in the hands of a true hero! Not in the hands of you lot of actors!"
Hearing that Achilles just laughed before replying.
"Who's a 'true hero' then Erich? You? Peh! If I wasn't afraid of damaging the Star you'd have breathed your last hours ago. You've been stuck in the mid levels of the hall for centuries Erich, just admit that you're dissatisfied and crave power. Don't go idyllic you know I'm not the type." He said this with a derisive smile plastered on his face.
Surprisingly Erich himself had a similar expression on his face.
"I know I'm just an average Champion, just one of many among the stars but I do have one thing you don't."
Behind him appeared a deep vortex from which a pair of dark piercing eyes were gazing out from. He stepped back and disappeared into the void with the star in hand.
"Erich you mad bastard! You're going to give the Star to the fucking Syndicate!? Do you want to screw over the world that bloody bad!? Shit! If you had tried to get away any other way I might have accepted it but you of all options picked the Syndicate. Well, I can't let you go that easily."
Within his hands appeared a bow and a single arrow. Drawing the bow and aiming for the vortex to prevent his escape Achilles murmured before firing his arrow.
"Teacher I hope this is what you wanted..."
The arrow glowed alike the sun and pierced the vortex causing howls and screams to echo for miles around before the vortex collapsed in on itself and with a last whimper it was gone.
And with it the Star too.
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I was walking back from the local shop after I was sent on a late night trip to get some obscure ice cream flavour for my little sister, a jug of milk for my Mum and a bottle of anti-depressants for my little brother. One probably stands out within that list but don't question it. Now as the eldest I am used to being an errand boy and I usually don't have any objections as it's not a big hassle, but today was different.
See here's the thing, it gets really cold in Ireland for no real reason. One year it even began snowing in late March when there wasn't a hint of it earlier in the year. This was even weirder though, it was mid-August so it shouldn't be getting cold for at least another two months, but lo and behold it was currently -3 degrees at 9:30 PM.
Apparently, none of us realised it as soon as we opened the door we were hit with a chill that made all of us shiver immediately. I quickly changed out of my shorts and put on my heavier jacket and my Mum turned on the heating and I set off.
Now out of the list of items I was to get you would expect the Anti-depressants the hardest to get right? Wrong. I said that ice cream flavour was obscure right? Yeah, the store only stocks 10 tubs in a day and it's always at odd times. For a Wednesday it's 9:47 PM. Which is pretty tame by their standards. One time it was at 4:11 AM which was not an enjoyable reason to get woken up that early in the morning.
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As I had been to the chemists frequently enough the Anti-depressants were easy enough to get a hold of, I assume I don't have to mention the ease in getting milk right? And as if God was smiling at me I managed to get 3 of the 10 tubs being sold.
Knowing I wouldn't have to go tomorrow thanks to that I had a smile on my face. My smile got brighter when I noticed the snow beginning to fall. I've noticed that as you get older that you lose appreciation for snow but I've always loved the stuff, one part owing to its scarcity in Ireland while the other being that fun my Dad and I had on snowy days as a kid.
As I was looking up in the sky at the snow falling gracefully I spotted a twinkle in the sky seeming to get brighter. I immediately found this odd as one of the things that come with living in a city is the lack of vision of stars. I first thought it was a plane flying too low but heard nothing around me, which was another irregularity for a city.
Ignoring it I continued on my way home, which wasn't too far now. I entered the gate while bringing the bins out while I was there and just as I was putting the key into the door I had a sudden impulse to turn around and check for the odd light in the sky to see if it was still there.
When I turned around I knew I was wrong to think that it was still there because it was hurtling straight for me.
I don't know what the speed of a falling star is but I can tell you this, it's near impossible to react in time to avoid. I couldn't and ended up with a direct collision to my noggin.
With that, my vision faded to black.
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Within a regular two-story house an odd scene was playing out. An old man was kneeling in front of a three-year old with a face caked with dirt and food. while the child was trying to look solemn with this appearance.
"Great Duke Gusoyn I have come for your help with a matter. I would like to request a Divination for an item's whereabouts. My Master told me to say that he hopes you can treat this as a favour repaid." The old man spoke to the child with a tone of respect and reverence.
"it seems Lucian must really value that item if he's willing to use that thousand-year-old favour. Oh well fine. Tell me the name and last known location, I'll see what I can do."
"Yes, Lord! The items name is the Star of Chaos, it was last seen with Erich Fellmane on the Planes of Lost Ones three months ago."
"The Star of Chaos!? You guys managed to find it? How could you let something that valuable be taken away?"
"The traitor had help from the Syndicate, we never expected he would side with them as he showed no signs."
"Now this is getting interested if the Star of Chaos and the Syndicate are involved. Let's begin." Gusoyn spoke as if it was the first time he had been interested in a long time.
The surroundings seemed to fade as a starry landscape surrounded them. Countless shooting stars whizzed by seemingly endless until one struck Gusoyn between his eyebrows.
"I have it. The Star of Chaos is on Earth, where specifically I can't tell but besides being told it's on Earth I have divined that it has already been used and has already changed into something else entirely. So you are looking for a single person within 7.5 Billion on a planet with a diameter of 12,742 kilometres. Doable but it will take a good while to find, especially when it's already been there for three months already. I wish you luck."
"Thank you, Lord Gusoyn! I will relay this information to my Master. I will be going now. Goodbye."
And without a sound, he was gone.
Now alone within the house, a smile crept its way onto Gusoyn's face.
"You should thank me young Nate, if it wasn't for me you would be within the halls hands within a day. I wonder what you can do to liven up this rigid world. I hope to see you among us in the near future. Until then I shall treat your journey as a nice show to ease my boredom."
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