Chapter 1: Falling Stars
The dark of the night, quiet and still. Not a sound to be heard, the sky black and dotted with billions of specks of light. There was an occasional red streak of light that passed overhead. The village fast asleep, only the men on duty during the night were up and about guarding against the creatures of the night.
"You must keep your pace up, we have to be there before nightfall." Farlyn's mother said with annoyance.
"But my feet hurt!" Farlyn complained in a whiny voice.
Her mother turned and looked at her, then said "Your pain is worth your life, not your comfort.'' She then grabbed Farlyn's hand and pulled her along. Farlyn started to trip and she tried to tell her mother to slow down, but her mother kept going on about all of the things that could happen if they didn't make it back to the village before nightfall.
After a few minutes Farlyn snapped and screamed "It hurts! Let go of me, I`ll walk on my own!"
Then suddenly a loud boom shocked Farlyn, she didn't remember this being a part of her memory. She suddenly awoke from her deep sleep. She sat up in bed for a moment alarmed, her heart was racing from the loud crackling booms and from her dream. She didn't feel fully awake.
She sprung out of bed, she felt as though she was still sleeping but the cold wood of her floor suggested otherwise.
The bells of the Village were all ringing, light poured in through the window. It was bright, brighter than the sun had ever been before.
I looked over to the time candle, it had burned down to half. 'It's midnight?' I thought to myself. "What is going on?" I muttered to myself in a shaky voice.
I walked over to the window and looked out of it. Bright balls of light were falling from the sky, each would flare bright and then die down. Some exploded and blinded all who tried to look out of their windows.
"BOOM!" "BOOM!" "BOOM!" as each shockwave hit everything, the ground and my bones shook.
I ran down the stairs and out the front door and into the street, some people were running around screaming "The stars are falling! the stars are falling!" Others ran to the closest guards and started asking them what was going on, some of the villagers had weapons in their hands.
I instantly thought of a friend who worked as a guard during the night. I ran down the market street, then turned left and ran down the street that led to their post.
"Heyy! Heyyy! Lev`em!" I yelled while running.
"What are you doing here Farlyn?" he asked in some confusion.
"I-I W-wanted... to know... what is going on." I said out of breath.
"I don`t know, the stars just started falling randomly not too long ago."
"Creatures of the Night!" A guard up on the village wall shouted.
"Men to the walls! Protect the gates! we can't have any of them in!"
"You must go. Go back to your house now, stay there until the morning." He said pointing back to the way I came.
"But I can help fight those beasts." I said in some excitement.
"No, not tonight. We should be able to handle them ourselves." He said in a dismissive manner then turned his back to me, and sprinted up to the gate to help defend it.
I looked around in fear and frustration briefly, I stood there for a few moments. The sky would light up as if it was day then fade away into night.
Just before I turned to run back home, a group of men and some women ran past and formed a line on the ground just below the wall. They had a mixture of bows and slings, some carried baskets full of stones and arrows.
"Ready!" a man on the wall yelled, while holding a fist in the air. He waited a few moments as the sling-men and bowmen loaded their weapons, then he gestured his arm forward, opening his hand as a signal for the sling-men and bowmen below to fire. The stones whistled through the air as they left the slings, and the bows made a thumping sound as the hand that held the arrow steady in the bow released the string. All went silent for a few brief moments before screeches started emanating from the other side of the wall.
"HA! These beasts are weak against our defenses!" A guard on the wall boosted in cocky cheer.
"Finish 'em all off!" The captain yelled to some bowmen up on the wall, as each archer released each of their arrows the screams of the creatures began to stop one by one.
"Ah, it looks as though that is all of 'em!" The Captain said in a raised relieved voice.
"LOOK!" one guard screamed in fright, the man almost fell from the wall as he pointed up into the sky. I looked up and saw it, it looked as though the sun itself was falling out of the night sky.
The dark of the night slowly faded and the light of day slowly started to take its place. My heart started to race, what is going on? I thought to myself. Some falling stars here and there are normal, but this? None of what was happening this night was normal. Is the world coming to an end? Has a god been displeased with us? Did someone unleash a grand, great spell by our enemies? Suddenly before I knew it I was blinded and then it felt as though I had run straight into a wall. A few moments later I found that I couldn't breathe, the air had been knocked out of me, and that I was on the ground.
As I laid there on the ground another brighter light appeared lower to the ground, this time the sky turned red then once again my vision became white I could see nothing. A few moments later my vision returned, the ground shook violently I was kicked off of the ground and into the air 3 times before resting back on the ground. I moved to look north east to where this star had fallen. The sky glowed with a dark red, the clouds vanished as a thin silver bubble moved outwards, as the bubble got closer the sky glowed redder and redder as it got closer. One guard stood up off of the ground and moved to look through a hole in the wall that formed through the violent shaking of the ground. Then the bubble hit the wall, the wall instantly was blown away some of the wall vaporized and so did half of the guard. I was blown back and rolled across the ground then everything went dark.
A ring of yellowish lights appaired from the dark, it took me a few moments to realize that each light was in fact an eye. As my vision slowly came to, my surroundings became more apparent. I looked around to find nothing but black in all directions except for the white round floor that I found myself on.
I then looked back at the ring of eyes, this time to see what they belonged to. A creature stood there in a cloak that appeared to be made of its own skin. I looked down and slowly moved my gaze up its body, it stood on two massive arms. The hands resting on the ground and just peeking out from under the edge of the cloak. In between its legs? No, it's arms? Was a small curve of skin that ran between each arm. I then looked up back to the ring of eyes and found that each eye sat on a scale and each scale lined the edge of the hood of the creature.
Is this all just a long and weird nightmare? I thought to myself.
"This… This is no dream." The creature spoke in a deep voice that seemed to echo.
I stood and just stared at it in disbelief. I felt as though I should run away from this thing, to get as far away as I could. But I didn't see anywhere that I could run to, any place to escape. I was stuck here with it.
"Ah... you are afraid of me." It paused for a moment then continued. "Do not be afraid... Hc'lovtoep... I mean you no harm. I bring you peace and salvation... life."
"Is… This the afterlife?" I asked with confusion and fear in my voice.
"No, it is not…" It stared at me for some time before speaking again. "This place… all that you see around you… Is nowhere and everywhere. It is a place of entirety, of nothing… it is the beginning of all and the end of all…" it started to walk along the edge of the white floor.
"I'm not in my village anymore, is what you're telling me?" I replied with some fear and panic in my voice.
"No... you are still in your village. you havent left it at all."
"Where is everyone else? Why can't I see anything other than all of this?" I gestured to everything.
"It's because only you lived, It seems you are the only survivor I could find..."
Has the world ended and am I the only one left in it? I thought to myself.
"No... Hc'lovtoep it... has not. nor is it ending, not yet at least. Nor are you the last."
"What are you?" I asked with curiosity and fear.
"I am Vibew'lasti. I am one shard of the Lic'emHigch." It replied as it looked out into the black.
"I've never heard of any of those names before."
"I see, this world has yet to be touched by a shatter-ling..." It paused for a brief moment then continued. "I am what you might call a god... Hc'lovtoep."
"A God?" I asked with some disbelief in my voice. It didn't look like what I imagined a god to look like.
"Hmm time is running short... Hc'lovtoep. Do you... wish to live?"
"Of course I wish to keep living." I replied quickly with disgust and some anger in my voice as though what it had just asked was a stupid question.
"It.... seems as though you have not given that much thought." it said in some amusement. It turned its gaze back to me and away from the dark black of nothing.
"What do you mean?" I asked in confusion and annoyance, I started to find myself less afraid and more annoyed and angered by this creature as time went on.
"To put things into perspective for you Hc'lovtoep... you are dying as we speak. You do not have much time, but I can save you. Do you wish to be saved?" It cocked its hood to one side.
I sat there for a moment thinking about what it meant by saved. Saved? Saved how? Saved from what? Death?
"Saved how?"
"By taking a shard... You will become a god."
"A shard? A god? What?" I felt as though I was losing my mind and that none of the events that just happened a few moments ago had really happened.
"The wax is melting... your life is coming closer to an end Hc'lovtoep." It replied and took a few steps closer to me.
What do I have left to lose? Everyone is dead if this god is to be believed. But I don't trust it.
"Do it." I said in a nervous voice not quite sure what to expect.
"Ah, yes..." It walked over to me and placed its hooded face near my ear. I wanted to back away but I felt stuck with fear, frozen like I had just been dumped into a cold bath.
"Sleep Hc'lovtoep, best wishes to you. May you live long and rein for many eons." It whispered into Farlyn's ear.
I moved to look at its face, but as I did, I felt a sharp piercing pain come from my chest. I looked down slowly to see red, lots of red and what looked like a claw sticking into my chest. Then my vision blurred and started to fade out.
"Shhhh.... don't you... worry. This is a part of the process... Just sleep. Don't fight it, just sleep young one." It softly said to me as it slowly lowered my body to the ground.
Suddenly I felt pain and weight all over my body, my eyes opened to see a sky full of smoke and the god standing four yards away staring at me. All of the black that surrounded me was gone and so was the white floor.
"Sleep Hc'lovtoep, save your strength... This is where you have been this whole time, this is why your life is coming to an end Hc'lovtoep." It paused then turned its back to me and spoke. "Good luck and see you Hc'lovtoep sometime soon.'' Then it spread two massive wings out and took to the air.
My vision faded in and out, and so did all of the aching pain that I felt all over my body. My eyes felt heavy and it was hard to keep them open. My arms and legs eventually went numb and soon the rest of my body, the battle to keep my eyes open soon became weaker and weaker until my eyelids slowly started to close, until nothing.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone