Page 1 of Starfall

Ari

I n five days’ time, I would die.

The physical body I’d occupied for almost twenty years would crumble to dust at the stroke of midnight, my soul given to the heavens.

In five days, I would become a star ?—

And I couldn’t wait.

I gripped the marble banister overlooking the human realm. Elation swept through me and my pulse thudded wildly. At my back, the sounds of a harp played, a fellow star maiden plucking the chords of a wistful tune.

Masked by clouds of steel and shrouded in the magic of the Eternal—the entity that ruled over us all—the floating city of Maldia was a beacon of hope amidst a canvas of black.

The only home I’d ever known hovered just out of the mortals’ reach, my sisters and I protected from the debauchery thriving below.

Soon, we would all be in the heavens, a part of the universe, something bigger than ourselves. My pulse raced at the very thought.

The only problem now was selecting my Chosen.

A mortal out there slept peacefully, completely unaware that I would bless them with their greatest wish. My final act. A rite of passage every star maiden performed to show their devotion to the Eternal before he gifted us the sky.

The Eternal commanded all divine beings; star maidens, violet-eyed ravens, water sprites, and forest nymphs. All were expected to sacrifice their lives for the well-being of the world. To maintain a vital balance by completing their duties.

Maybe once I ascended, I would meet the mighty Eternal. Would he find me devoted enough? Respectable? I leaned on the banister, lost in my own daydreams, thinking of the faceless immortal whom I’d always yearned to meet.

If he saw me, truly saw me, perhaps he would be proud.

Biting my cheek, I peered over the edge and glanced over the unconscious lands of Alderon. I had to choose a soul by myself. A star maiden’s journey required it.

In all my years, there hadn’t been a whisper of a dreamer that called to me. But tonight…tonight felt different. The air, which usually smelled of jasmine, now held an unfamiliar scent; something earthy and warm. The more I inhaled, the steadier my eager pulse became.

Standing on the tips of my bare toes, I drank in the darkness consuming the many cities and towns I had only glimpsed through others’ eyes. The untamed seas I wouldn’t sail or explore. The people I’d never meet. The adventures I could barely imagine partaking in.

I might know the smell of rain, but I’d never felt it wet my skin. Never stopped and cradled a red rose, bringing it to my nose to inhale its lush scent. I had seen love and passion shared between two partners, but I didn’t understand the meaning behind the stolen kisses and tender words.

Yes, I devoted myself to my sacred mission, but that did not mean I didn’t watch the humans and their lives from time to time.

Could anyone blame me? They lived so openly, so recklessly .

I’d observed as they fell in love and proceeded to have their hearts broken.

It amazed me that they’d then open themselves up once again to the pain of love—an emotion that dictated most of their actions.

It was both foolish and beautiful how much they fought for it.

It was the reason I dove into their realm with a searching heart, greedily plucking moments that didn’t belong to me.

Dreamwalking would be the closest I’d get to knowing the mortals I served.

My closest friend, Lily, understood my curiosity, though she wasn’t impatient to assume the role fate chose for her.

One could hope her hesitation would change once she witnessed the glory of the Eternal for herself.

After we ascended, our souls would be content and free from the burden of physical or emotional discomfort. The Eternal promised us as much.

To be so free would be a gift.

Shutting my eyes, I allowed my divine soul to drop, to detach from my physical body. I plummeted on a wistful breeze, nothing but a spectral flicker of light. If anyone were to look my way, they’d see a flash of silver, there and gone before they could blink.

Prayers greeted my ears, the ones captured within dreams. They surged around my phantom form as I hunted for my perfect Chosen.

The darker desires were prone to growl, the guttural voices desperate and demanding.

They sent shivers that rattled my teeth and coated my vision in shades of deep blue and steel.

A part of me—well, truthfully, a large part of me—hungered to give in to the temptation to reach out and touch them, to listen to their depraved whispers.

These sinful wishes lured me like fish to bait, and only common sense had me steering away from their corrupt invitation.

I swayed as I avoided a dense gray shroud. It clung to the top of a fine mansion situated in the countryside near Athos. My insides tingled as I swerved up and away from the threatening fog. I resented the regret that flooded my chest.

Danger , I reminded myself. Those dreamers are dangerous .

As long as I strayed to the lighter dreams, nothing could harm me when I Dreamwalked—my corporeal body remained on that same terrace on Maldia. But I couldn’t shake the unease that the seductive darkness triggered. Rather, I didn’t like how much I wanted to explore it.

A passionate gust of wind carried me higher, far from the slate clouds, and I flew across the unpredictable realm with the speed of a loosed arrow.

It had taken years of practice and hard work to conquer this method of meditation that Mistress Lina had required us to master.

As the Eternal’s guide, she had a duty to ensure star maidens fulfilled their purpose.

My lids fluttered as my soul coasted, as thousands of voices stretched out to grasp me, all begging for my attention. Each was a melody all its own, every wish veiled by the mask of sleep, a different song my heart ached to learn.

A small child on the southern isles held tightly to a father long gone, a soldier killed by the king of Alderon’s bloody war.

A girl in the northern mountains of Venturi envisioned herself astride a fine caramel steed, journeying beyond her small town in search of adventure.

Another child dreamed of summer days spent in a meadow, the blistering sun warming his brown skin, his younger brother at his side.

Children were so very innocent with their desires.

The older dreamers, on the other hand, were significantly greedier.

They often thought of riches and notoriety, or fantasized about experiencing the elusiveness of true love.

Even if I sought to grant the wish of true love, the act was strictly forbidden.

Love couldn’t be granted, only earned. To force affection could end in disaster, ruining the sacred balance of time and space.

It was up to us, the divine, to maintain this peace.

The star maidens, the nymphs, the water sprites, and the violet-eyed ravens guided the mortals with a steady hand.

Without our subtle direction, without the symbols of faith we provided, they easily fell into chaos, with wars and famines rising up to ravage their souls and land.

Diligently, I continued, pausing when I advanced upon one dreamer, a fragile mist of baby blue and white encircling a refined townhome in the notorious city of Persh. Something about the woman’s hushed murmurings captured me, and I closed my eyes and stole into her dream.

The night sky faded, replaced by the image of a gorgeous woman with silken black tresses and impossibly elegant features.

In her fantasy, the raven-haired dreamer walked beside a broad-shouldered man with dark hair, his gait one belonging to a man with purpose.

I squinted, attempting to glimpse his face, but the sun obscured almost everything except his muscular silhouette.

Together, they strolled down crowded streets, the midday sun washing across their faces and painting them in gold.

The woman lifted her arm as though to grasp the man’s hand, but she hastily dropped it at her side.

Coming to an abrupt stop, she let her companion continue onward without her. He didn’t look back.

I frowned as a swift haze of curling navy clouds flickered and spun, obscuring the light. How easily her dream shifted, a mansion coming into view, jewels and riches and parties flashing by in a blink.

She didn’t covet affection. Greed saturated her heart.

The discarded lover lingered in my thoughts—the stranger with sinewy muscles and a loyal spirit. He’d trusted her to walk with him, to follow him into the unknown, and the woman deceived him. While I hadn’t seen his face, a pang of familiarity struck me, the sensation foreign and uncomfortable.

“Come on, at least give me a good one,” I demanded, shooting back into the heavens and far from the town house, which now lay swathed in a gray navy blue.

Shuddering, even in my phantom state, I shifted southeast to a region infamous for its dense woods and the lethal creatures that thrived in its thicket.

Crystal streams spiraled across the rich green land, the rivers so clear I could almost see their rocky bottoms; the sprites likely hard at work purifying the water.

Rising like weeds were the overcrowded cities of Lark and Darionna. Smaller towns dotted the countryside, though they were insignificant specks.

I prepared to shift west when I heard it.

A voice, but not just any voice.

The pacifying murmurings of affection and hope and faith captured my heart and snagged on its frayed threads. I couldn’t stop myself even if I wanted to.

I shot off toward the sound, its timbre a melancholy lullaby.

There.

In a town not far from Persh, a farmhouse lay cloaked in plumes of brilliant yellow and gold.

I squeezed my eyes shut once again, thrusting my soul beyond the walls of the dreamer’s home.

Hovering above his bed, I took in the view of a striking young man tossing and turning in a narrow cot, the day’s toiling in the fields marring his deeply tanned skin.

He was beautiful—even while restless—and I clung to his image, an unknown sensation causing my head to spin.

It had to mean something. That he could be the one.

Without hesitation, I slipped into his mind.

Flashes of memories assaulted me the deeper I crept; of a woman with kind eyes swinging a child in her arms, joy wrinkling her brow. Summers spent in meadows and freshly baked bread laid out on a checkered blanket. The roar of laughter as she told stories beside a hearth.

A whirling of gray, and then the days of sunshine dimmed, turning overcast. The woman no longer roamed open fields and sang to her children. She didn’t smile and brighten the room with her laughter. There were coughing fits and fatigue, and the imposing shadow of death.

And how the boy grieved. The bitterness of his anguish coated my tongue, and such a crushing sadness weighed on him that it nearly broke my heart. His connection to the woman reminded me of how I felt about Lily.

Love.

While it couldn’t be gifted, it had certainly been earned in this case, and the boy’s soul wept for the mother he’d soon lose too early.

My eyes snapped open, and my mind returned to my body back on Maldia.

Now that was an admirable wish. I didn’t have any choice in how my life would end, but selecting my Chosen? I could control that. And soon, I’d undergo the ceremony of the Great Fall.

Connected to the rest of my sisters, we’d fall to the mortal realm, when, at midnight, I’d touch the forehead of my dreamer. I would grant the man who wanted to save his mother with the gift of life.

I smiled, relief weighing my bones as I grounded myself.

It only took you twenty years, Ari . I scoffed at my indecision. At least I could rest now, and my fluffy bed with its thick coverlet and copious number of pillows beckoned to me.

I prepared to turn when I saw it? —

A glimmering black feather floated onto the pristine marble of the ledge.

Gold flecks shimmered on the downy barbs at its knife-like tip, and I cautiously picked up the feather, cradling it in my palm. A violent shudder worked down my spine the longer I stared at the unusual gold that sparkled like magic beneath the moon.

“This must be a good sign,” I whispered, placing a kiss on the soft plume, like a promise.

Before I could tuck the token in my pocket, a glacial wind gusted, stealing my prize from my hand and lifting it into the night sky.

I swore I heard the sound of laughter on the breeze.