Amelia felt the chill as they crossed the narrow stone bridge, the win biting through her cloak. She gripped Orion tighter, desperate to shield him from the cold, from the storm, from everything. She could feel the strain of the journey in her legs, the fatigue settling into her bones. But the thought of the Cult, still searching for them, kept her moving.
"There's a town up ahead," Isol said, pausing just short of the bridge. She looked down at the map she'd carried since their escape, her finger tracing a path toward a marked village. "We can rest there for the night. They won't look for us in such a small place"
"Are you sure?" Amelia asked, her voice tense with worry.
"I'm sure," Isol said, her face unreadable, but there was a firmness in her tone that Amelia knew she could trust.
By evening they reached the village. It was small, nestled in the shadow of a mountain range, with only a handful of homes dotting the landscape. The people were humble, and their lives simple. Amelia had no doubt they'd never encountered someone like her, someone like Orion or Isol.
But there was something comforting about the quietness of the place. For a brief moment, Amelia allowed herself to relax, to let her guard down. She and Isol rented a small room at the village's inn, paying with the last of their coins. It wasn't much, but it was enough to let them sleep, out of rain, out of sight,
That night, as Amelia lay beside Orion on a cot in the corner of the room, she found herself drifting off into a light sleep. But it wasn't peaceful. In her dreams, she saw the Cult. She saw the face of the Celestial, Malek-young, yes, but his eyes.. His eyes were full of things Amelia couldn't even name. The storm outside seemed to mirror the storm inside her heart.
When she awoke with a start, her hands were trembling. Orion's soft breathing was the only thing that calmed her, pulling her back into the present. She sat up, wiping the sweat from her brow. The room was still and quiet. But she couldn't shake the feeling that they were being hunted, even here.
The next day, they left the village before dawn, walking in the direction of Lithonia. Isol kept a steady pace, as though the weight of the world didn't bear down on her at all. Amelia foillowed close behind, keeping Orion secure in her arms, her gaze constantly flicking from one shadow to the next, always listening for the sound of footsteps, the call of the Cult.
By the time they reached the edge of the kingdom's territory, the sun was beginning to set, casting the world in a golden, fading light. They were close. The gates of Lithonia were still a day's journey away, but Amelia could see the landscape beginning to change. The tall, rolling hills gave way to stone architecture she knew so well. The fields were clearer, more open.
Amelia felt her breath catch. This was it. The borders of Lithonia. They were so close.
But there was still one problem.
"You should get some rest," Isol said "The gate is guarded, and we'll have to be careful. We can't risk being caught at the entrance."
Amelia nodded, but she couldn't bring herself to sit down. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw flashes of the Cults shadow, saw Malek's strange hollow eyes, saw the twisted form of the Celestial-the one who would take Orion's star from him.
"Why does it feel like we're running forever?" Amelia murmured her voice weak "Will there ever be a place we can just.. Be?"
Isol's face softened for a moment. She didn't speak but her eyes spoke volumes she understood the weight of what Amelia was asking. Isol had long since learned that the journey was never over. Not for people like them.
A few days later they finally arrived at the gates of the Kingdom of Lithonia.
The stone walls loomed above them stark and imposing, Amelia couldn't help but feel the weight lift from her shoulders.
They had made it.
Deep down she knew the cult wouldn't stop. Not now. Not ever. Malek was out there and soon Orion would be forced to face what he was, whether he was ready or not.
But for now, they were safe.
Back at the Cult's stronghold, deep within the stone walls of the Temple, Malek sat in a dim chamber. His small hands rested on the edges of a stone altar, the cool surface grounding him in the quiet room Three marks glowed faintly on his skin, like bruises on his young body. The Star of Night, the Star of Destruction, and the Star of Power. Powers, not stars. There was nothing inside him except the burn of their abilities, pulsing through his veins, like a storm waiting to break free.
He didn't feel like a Celestial. He didn't feel like a god. He just felt like.. Like a boy. A child in a world too big and too cruel for him to understand.
But even at two years old, Malek felt things. A rippling in the air. A flicker out of something shifting. Something out there.
The boy-Orion-was out there, too. And for the first time, Malek felt a deep, foreign stir within him.
Why did Selene choose him?
The question echoed in his mind, pulling him into a storm of confusion. He had no answers. No words to describe the tight, aching feeling in his chest. Was it jealousy? Anger? Fear?
No.
It was the feeling of being awake.
For the first time in his life, he wasn't just the Celestial-he was a child, feeling the weight of the world shifting, and he didn't know what to do with it.
The chamber was dark.
Not in the way shadows flicker or the light dims-but dark in the way deep water is, still and endless.
Malek did not cry.
He never had.
He watched as they carved stars into his young body, his skin bore three marks-one on his shoulder, one on his eyebrow, and the last one in his palm. All of them were stolen. None of them truly his.
Each mark glowed faintly. Power hummed through him like electricity in a dead forest-present but silent.
He could move the darkness to his will, call upon tremendous strength, and damage anything he wishes. But no voice spoke to him. No warmth. No presence. The stars were not there. Only their husks.
He knew something was missing.
And at two years old, that awareness festered inside him like a splinter under skin.