Stella:
It's been quite a bit of time since our departure from Earth... and even more time since my best friend, Kathlyn, tragically died...
I remember how much of a mess I was back then, and how hopeless I felt, even before then when Anwir met an unfortunate fate... or when the war was announced.
Even if right now it feels like a continued delay I'm grateful for the peaceful times... for as long as we have them.
With the passage of time a change occurred in me as well... and I have to give all my gratitude for this to my love... my supporting pillar Maverick.
He's a sweet, kind and caring guy. From what I could gather he has been in love with me for a while, and thanks to my mental powers it wasn't long till I found out on my own and then he faced me with his heart laying bare.
Well some things led to another and I started to give in... at first I was reluctant as my usual self is a coward... but he changed me... made me go out of my shell and see a new world.
And he did all that by simply making sure I knew that at all times he'll be here to support me, to protect me... to give me a shoulder in times of need and that was enough.
I've fallen for him, head over heels...
And with time I've learned to control my powers and stopped listening to his thoughts and feelings entirely... I have no reason to as I already know everything.
I know how deeply he's in love with me, I learned that rather than reading it. He might be perverted at times but that's fine, I accept it. I know at the end of the day he loves me and only me.
This is some sort of loyalty I thought it's not possible outside fiction... but I got proven wrong, and not only by him.
Adonai, our dear friend, albeit he's trying to hide it and out of respect I stopped prying on his feelings as well. He's lonely... he's sad... he wishes things could've turn out differently.
He harbors a deep love for Kathlyn but now... there's nothing he can do anymore. Similar people get together as the saying goes.
I'm not sure if he'll be ever able to let go of this past... and I don't want to intervene either. This is something he has to figure out on his own but I can't help and want to help him somehow.
He does so much for us, he did so much for us and at the end of the day we are his friends. Even if he would've done nothing we would've still supported him.
We took this trip to be together... and this wasn't a one sided decision. Both me and Maverick decided we would rather be labeled as traitors if that's what it will come to. We could never abandon such a friend in times of need.
Two souls who can only love a single person in their entire life is indeed a rare occurrence and I'm the lucky woman who can share her destiny with one such man.
If I have to draw a line after everything that happened... I'm glad I didn't killed myself when I thought of doing so... I'm glad we took upon this journey and I'm glad we got to experience so many things together.
Adonai is out today so Maverick took the initiative for a date... which we didn't do in a long time.
I mean sure we have our intimate moments most of the days, but a date is still something I should be steadily prepared for. So a dress, yes I need a really good dress for this... I'm sure he'll be happy if I were almost nothing as well but we can't go like that in public.
Yes this is it, this should fit me to a notch.
...
Looking at myself in the mirror, the deep purple dress complimenting my hair, the lightweight material, the details on the laces, and the additions of the silver belt along with the golden embroidery in the swirling patterns.
Yes this really gives me a sense of extra confidence, after all a dress is a lady's armor. And this lady is stunningly beautiful.
"Stella, are you ready to head out?" He shouted, as he entered the room.
And I could see his jaw basically dropping to the ground, astonishing, beautiful, I can't believe this is my girlfriend.
I'm sure this is what has been going through his head all this time but I dared not to ask or to speak a word. It is a man's job to compliment when he sees. I might not be my cowardly self anymore... but I'm not a bold one either.
"You look beau... no... astonis... no... I can't really find a word to describe how I see you right now." He stumbled on his words, trying to find not some common, perhaps sufficient way of complimenting me. He wanted to go the extra mile and I was very grateful for this.
I giggled and rushed to take his hand, stopping his awkward movements and indescifrable rambling.
"Let's head out." I said, giving him a reassuring smile.
...
We're heading towards the main part of the town, most of this date is supposed to be checking around, getting familiar with the place.
We've discussed with Adonai and we will be staying here for a while so it's best we get to know at least a little about our surroundings.
"So, is there something you spotted and you want to check out first?" He asked me.
"We can check that jewelry shop right there. I'm a bit curious to see how they look on this foreign planet."
A bit cliche but I'm really curious about alien jewelry... I'm a woman at heart after all.
The shop interior was nothing extraordinary, just like a shop on earth except that at a counter was not a human... if it weren't for his hairy uncanny body everything would feel normal.
But the jewelry, yes... time and time again it was proven to us that food is uh different to say the least, and we had to get accustomed to new delicious yet awful looking food and the opposite of that.
The jewelry here is mostly meant to represent special figures in the history of the universe, I can at least tell that much.
"This is Adam... and this is Lilith... I can recognize the important four figures, but can you tell us more about, for example this one?"
I pointed towards what looked to be an octopus that instead of a body it had a huge eye.
The history of the universe is an interesting subject for everyone at the end of the day.
"Ah this one..." He said in a grumping voice... "I can't say for sure if it is real or not but so many people believe it exists that it's one of the best selling merchandise everywhere... Yog-Sothoth, a being with powers over time rivaling even the ones of dragons... no one remembers or knows for sure how this entity came to be, but the rumors are that one heretic, outland or a lot of other names sealed the entity..."
Yog-Sothoth... outlanders, so even in the universe there is fiction huh.
"Outlanders, Heretics, what do they mean?" Maverick asked innocently.
The hairy man took a bit to think and then spoke. "I can see that you're all humans, so you're not aware, the legends say that at times there are entities from across the universe which undergo a process of early awakening. This makes them heads to be hunted by other people so they can't get an earlier advantage than others. We don't know how it happens, but there's an altar dedicated to Yog-Sothoth in a place I've long forgotten. And at the entrance of the altar... there are heads... heretic heads displayed by the gate in where Yog-Sothoth is supposed to rest."
The man shrugged giving us all this info, not sure himself if this is real or not... this must be quite an old tale.
"What about these three?"
With a curious expression the seller looked at another one.
"This is the last one if you're not buying, get out, they are supposedly how The End looks like."
The End... the faction Ragnarok is one of the leaders... but wait.
"What do you mean supposedly?" I asked.
"No one knows their true forms, it is true that they present themselves in one way but no one has ever seen the real them. There are speculations going around and this type of jewelry was made, but we don't even know who the other two are... We know that son of a bitch Ragnarok but the rest are still a mystery to the public eye. Funny isn't it. For a faction this big and feared... no one can tell what the other two look like."
This makes sense I guess... worrying about the situation won't do any good, this isn't my decision to make... about who Adonai will follow. And so I took a piece of jewelry that was designed after the interstellar idol and left.
"Ah damn it."
Maverick said with a sigh.
"What is it?"
"I wanted to buy that piece for you, but you went and bought it for yourself."
He said while scratching his head and giving me a sad expression... in times like this... it can't be helped.
"If you really feel that bad, we can cut the date shorter and uhm you know give me something a bit more personal."
I said, blushing as I held my purse to my face so he couldn't see my expression clearly.
But the message was sent across and he quickly grabbed my hand and we ran back to the hotel...
We visited one place but it couldn't be helped... this is just who we are. Running through the crowd I could pick out feelings, not from Maverick but from people around us, looking at us with disgust, interest, evil, wicked, beautiful thoughts, all of them, as if we were something they don't see very often.
...
After the deed was done we just relaxed for the rest of the day and as night was drawing closer, Adonai entered the hotel.
Me and Maverick were relaxing on a chair when I spotted him carrying what seemed to be a drunk child?
...
Maybe we should be more worried about what he's been up to, but not today... Today I'm content with staying like this.
Looking up I saw Maverick sleeping face, and not being able to help myself I gave him a kiss on the check and snuggled in his arms, waiting for the sweet fragrance of the night to take me away to the ethereal realm of dreams.