Page 28 of Bonds of Starfall

Hundreds of lives and stories and pasts, all converging at this tiny spot in the woods.

Rin stared up at the night sky. The Stars were gorgeous, and something deep inside her felt melancholic, nostalgic for something she couldn’t remember.

She would be up there one day. It was as inevitable as the sun rising and the moon falling. No one and nothing could stop it—least of all, little old her.

She sighed. No use speeding it up with an incessant spiral of thoughts—or reckless actions. She would find out the secretsdeath held eventually—sooner than most, if the doctors were right about the Nova shortening her lifespan.

Stepping away from the ledge, she sat down, legs dangling over the air. The concrete was cold under her, seeping into her skin.

Isolated as it was up here, that was, perhaps, why she started to mumble aloud:

"I’m happy for them. Truly, I am. But…" Rin blew out a sharp breath. "When will it be my turn? Am I destined to be alone forever, for this life? How many lives will I be forced to live alone? What life will I be on when I meet the Soul—or Souls—meant for me? What will they be like? What will he be like? Will he be kind, quiet? Strong? Will it be a thousand years from now? How many lives will he have lived without me? How many lives will I live without him?"

Her words grew quieter and quieter with every question, uttered into the still night air. The Stars winked above her, unanswering.

"I just wish I knew," Rin breathed. "Please—just this once. Let me have something… extraordinary."

Her head hung low, white hair falling into her face and obscuring her vision. She bit her lip so hard she tasted blood. She would not cry. She wouldn’t.

After some time of sitting there, when her thighs grew numb from her still position and her fingertips were white with cold, she heard the faintest buzzing sound in the air.

Rin picked her head up, wiping the back of her hand over her traitorously wet eyes. Just as she pulled her arm away, she gasped.

"What is that?"

She stared at the thing in front of her, hovering in midair.

A shadowy impression of a human body floated right in front of her, made of pure darkness.

Her lips parted, and she scrubbed at her eyes.

Blinked.

But the shadow was still there.

Rin stumbled to her feet, swaying near the edge, and the shadowy shape raised a hand toward her. She saw the visible imprint of a hand, palm raised, as if to ward her back, away from the ledge.

Her brows furrowed.

"Oh god." Rin laughed lowly. "I’m going crazy."

She hadn’t had anything to drink, not even water, for if she did, she would have suspected someone of slipping something in it. But she had had nothing. There was no explanation for this.

Except…

"Is this my heart?" Rin asked the shadow. "Is my time running out now?"

She shook her head and looked away with a self-deprecating huff. The shadow did not feel malevolent, but radiated peace. Comfort. The longer it wavered before her in the sky, the more at ease Rin felt. Until she found her erratic heart slowing.

She pressed a hand over her chest, feeling the steadiness of her pulse. She had never felt it so… normal before.

Rin stared at the shadow. "Thank you," she murmured.

And right before her eyes, it dissipated. Like smoke, fizzling away into nothingness, leaving Rin with a calm heart and peaceful mind.

Rin’sgrip on the Echogun in her hand was unfaltering as she ventured deeper into Nova Zone 21.

She had been sent back here again for her second assignment, and this time, she was prepared for what she would be forced to face. She wouldn’t falter this time, or become prey to her weak memories.