The history books remembered Castaic as a paradise. It was once a sanctuary of scenic views and outdoor leisure, where the Old World came for boating, camping, and the simple joy of the wind against the water. But time is a cruel editor.

  As the world scorched and the "Drought of Light" took hold, those postcards of the past were incinerated. The secondary attractions—the hiking trails and the campgrounds—had long since vanished into the dust. Now, the basin served a much grimmer purpose. Under the shadow of the mountains, where the heat-haze warped the very air, lay the true destination. A place Alistair Valentine called a "tomb". This place… It is called Pyramid Lake.

  "Damn why is it hotter here than in Sacramento..."

  Elara took a deep breath as the sweat on her forehead was absorbed through her skin. A source for ammunition .. She looked up from Alistair's device and took in the sight of Pyramid Lake. She still has her doubts about Alistair's device. What if it was wrong? What if there was nothing in here? What if all this is for nothing and she comes back to her father empty handed. She shook her head, getting those thoughts away from her. She began to glance around the lake. A few casuals were fishing in the murky water, while others sought whatever meager shade they could find on the shoreside. Looming over the water was a beautiful, jagged mountain, the shape of a pyramid within its stone structure. Her heart was like a cheetah, her gut seemed to turn. Everything relies on this next place or she will be lost once again. She would've disappointed her father again.

  "Yeah, I'll take it. Anything will do, honestly," Elara said, tossing a handful of credits to a grime-covered dock worker.

  “Hmm" The man took some time to respond, finding the right way to say it. "We only got one boat after this group of men were following behind this girl and a country girl.. It was weird and the Country girl was just going on and on about how she would finally have another part of her again. I was about to refuse to give them a boat but....." The man pulled out the cash they paid. "But they paid so much for the boat. I couldn't complain. With these two? I might just retire!” The man said

  She watched the man gloat over the money before she turned her attention to the boat. It was a Fountain 47 Lightning—a sleek boat capable of hitting 115 mph.

  "What the hell? Well... I guess this is what I asked for," she muttered, climbing aboard and revving the engine.

  She followed the digital breadcrumbs on Alistair's device. It guided her far to the left of the mountain, away from the civilian shores. But as she prepared to make a hard left into a narrow canyon, she came to a dead stop. There was no path. Just a sheer, sun-bleached rock face.

  "What is this bullshit!?" she hissed, tapping the screen. The map explicitly directed her to go the mountain. What nonsense was this?

  Then, the device sputtered and shut down entirely, its screen going pitch black.

  "Eh? What the? Why is it.. Shit, Alistair said it was gonna last till I got inside but not this early.. That's odd." Elara gritted her teeth and smacked the device against her palm, hoping it would turn back on. No luck. She shoved it angrily into her pocket.

  She stared at the dead end, frustrated, until she remembered the truth of her bloodline.

  Elara closed her eyes and tilted her head up. She absorbed the oppressive, 200-degree heat of the sun, letting it pool in her chest until her bronze skin took on a glassy sheen. When she opened her eyes, her obsidian irises flared with a blinding, emerald-tinted refraction beam. The concentrated light struck a hairline fracture in the stone wall..

  Then she slammed her eyes open and the mountains side caved in from a force. Opening a cave..

  “Heh heh… I did it.. I actually did it!” With excitement she sped into the cave. When she entered the tomb it seemed to be endless till she reached the shore side.

  She idled the boat inside, parking it in the shallow water and tying it to a nearby rock. As she stepped onto dry land, she analyzed the walls. They were covered in cryptic, ancient writing. It looked like a lost tribe had lived here over ten thousand years ago

  "What... is this language? It seems African," she whispered, tracing her fingers over the dust-covered symbols. She studied ancient languages but this was something else. Something older. As she followed the words deeper into the tomb, the temperature plummeted. She felt it—a change in the air. A physical, heavy pull.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  "Huh?”

  “What is this? It feels... unreal."

  She turned the corner, and her eyes widened in shock.

  A being sat slumped against the far wall like a puppet with its strings cut. He wore ancient, tattered shorts. His skin was a beautiful, radiant brown, much darker than hers, and intricate tattoos were splayed across every inch of his visible body. His dreadlocks cascaded down his shoulders, their stark white tips standing out in the gloom. The way that around his body the air seemed to pull to him. He looked... asleep.

  She was not sure if this was the star or not.. Because,

  “He's like a..a black hole.” Elara said. Now filled with fear and amazement. This is something unreal. Far more ancient to the other star fragments, power she felt. This was unbelievable.

  Before Elara could take another step, a heavy, scraping sound echoed from the tunnel entrance.

  "Y’all Sterling's sure do talk a big game like you know power."

  Elara spun around. Standing at the entrance to the chamber was Maverick Montgomery, her copper hair sparking with static electricity. Beside her stood Cassidy Houston, the daughter of the Texas Governor, flanked by heavily armored side officers.

  "But look at ya," Maverick drawled, her voice like grinding metal. "Standin' here in the dirt, sweatin' through that pretty silk."

  Elara thought, her blood boiling at the sheer arrogance.

  Elara sighed. She looked at Maverick. Huh… Honestly I thought you'd be like a.. Minotaur or something But you just look.. Well I don't know that.. Old look.” She said unamused.

  The air turned cold as silence fell inside the tomb.

  Cassidy’s smile vanished, replaced by a cold, authoritative glare. "Elara. Move. That Star fragment doesn't belong to you or your state. So... move, or I'll have our Enforcer here kill you."

  Elara stepped protectively in front of the sleeping boy, summoning the ambient heat into her fists. "What? No! I can't—not after all this work! I won't allow you to take him!"

  "Elara! Stop messing around!" Cassidy yelled, her patience gone.

  "I told you I'd rather die than let you have him!" Elara shouted back.

  Cassidy gritted her teeth and clenched her first till her knuckles turned white. “You think I care.. Fine, have it your way.” She points at Elara. “Maverick.. It's been awhile.. So have your fun. Just don't kill her, we can say we saved her from the star fragment after you consume it.”

  Maverick smiled wide and began to laugh and jump “Finally!” She then reached for the weapon on her hip “y’know.. I've been into these new guns that may have been developing.”

  She pulls out a simple pistol and puts bullets into the chamber. She lifts her hand over the chamber and a liquid begins to drip into the bullets one by one. It looked like oil. Once she closed the chamber and the gun began to glow.. As she pointed it at Elara.

  “Aright! Here it comes!” Maverick said with a smirk

  BOOM the gun was fired. For Elara everything looked so slow, the bullet began to shake then what was one became 100.. She wasn't given enough time to react. She knew she wasn't going to die.. But was this it? Is this the end? Is it over?

  A foot away from Elara's face, the burning amber light of Maverick's bullets simply... bent and disintegrated. The kinetic force warped downward, swirling like water going down a drain, before vanishing completely into the floor. The tomb fell deathly silent.

  "The hell was that, Mav?!" Cassidy shrieked, spit flying from her mouth. "Was that a taunt?! Why did she stop your attack that easily? Explain!"

  “Ugh..” She closes her eyes and brings up her arms then the bullets disintegrate. “Huh?” She touches all around her body. “Heh.. haha.. I'm fine , I'm really fine!”

  Maverick froze, her eyes wide as she looked at Elara. "No... that wasn't me," she whispered, her heavy accent faltering. "And it wasn't her, either."

  Cassidy looked pissed. "Yeah!? Then who the hell is it!"

  Maverick slowly lifted her hand, her finger trembling slightly as she pointed past Elara. "Him."

  Elara turned around.

  The being that had been asleep was now yawning, stretching his arms out as if he had just woken from a pleasant nap. He lifted his head and opened his eyes. His arm length was longer than Elara ever expected.

  They were stars. He was heterochronic—one eye was a pure, void-like black that looked like staring into the pit of space, while the other was a brilliant blue, reflecting the horizon of a morning sky at the Salar de Uyuni.

  the boy mumbled, speaking a dead tongue as he stretched.

  He stopped and turned his head toward Cassidy and Maverick, his face dropping into a cold, stoic expression.

  Mavericks face looked now terrified as she recognized the being.. No way.. I defeated you… Long ago.. How the hell are you back!”

  Cassidy looked at Maverick with confusion. “What do you mean come back? Is he not a star fragment? Is he not a part of you? Then… Who is he..”

  Maverick keeps her eyes on the being. “His name is Zephyr Alshar.. A star from long ago.. One who should be dead right now! I sent you into the abyss Billions of years ago!”

  His face scrunched in mild annoyance as he locked eyes with the towering Maverick.

  "Fine," he said in perfect, unaccented English. He looked back at Elara. "I'll help you."

  Elara's eyes widened, a triumphant smile breaking across her face. "Great! My name is Elara Vane-Sterling, daughter of—

  Before she could finish the sentence, the boy vanished. There was no blur of motion, no sound of rushing wind. He was simply gone.

  A split second later, he appeared directly behind the armored officer standing next to Cassidy.

  He twisted the man's head backwards with zero effort, snapping his neck before the guard even realized he was there. The heavy body crumpled to the floor.

  Zephyr turned his heterochronic gaze to Maverick, who was now shaking with a mixture of burning anger and raw, undeniable fear. This wasn't just a fragment. This being was one of the First Stars.