645. The Stars of The Ancient Past

645. The Stars of The Ancient Past

“Your role was as clear as the same star that history once remembered you for. You came to me with an answer to my despair. A light to the dark of my woes. A hand enshrouded in blue and gold cut through the darkness. It was a human-like gesture, a concept foreign to all Stars. But thanks to ‘Her’, I understood your intentions without a word shared.”

Magus didn’t know how to digest this sudden revelation. On one hand, it seemed to annoy him that Michaela knew who he was all along, all the while he contemplated his existence on his Floor.

On the other, he was grateful that he at least had a reliable answer to his search. His present role aligned perfectly with who he was in the past, but Magus did not celebrate or cheer like his usual self.

“I was a Star of such great magnitude. I see. Odd how I have zero recollection.” He fixed his tie, flicking out the Magician tarot card from his sleeves. “I had my own suspicions already of being a Star. Polaris was my name. A star of guidance and divination.”

He tucked it away into a deck consisting of 78 cards. 22 of which were the Major Arcana, and 56 being the Minor Arcana. An invisible smile lingered on his face. It was something that one could only sense.

They imagined it being one of relief.

“May I ask what this Polaris gentleman was like? Did he conduct himself in an orderly way?”

“A Star like Polaris carried a different scent from the Stars I’ve crossed paths with. They, out of us all, were a Star that could live amongst humans. Your form... I cannot remember it well.”

Michaela allowed them to probe deeper into her mind.

But alas, they could not see the other qualities of Polaris. He only vaguely resembled a human, covered by robes and a face that shone like an orb of light. Michaela on the other hand, had assumed a form closest to a human.

“Why is it that a Star like thee hath chosen to remain fallen?”

“Despicable, cryptic language laced the tongue of the Stars. Polaris was no different. I replied with only a single phrase.”

Michaela spoke.

“Because I’ve lost my reason to soar.”

“Doth thou wish to return?”

“My place is here next to her in this world. I’ve fallen because I could only wish to build a world where she and I could belong. Humanity and Stars cannot coexist.”

It was Micheala’s belief that the Stars and humanity were incompatible. They both would inevitably lead one or the other to ruin. Stars functioned on aspects of humanity, and humanity can only thrive in this world with the Gifts From the Stars.

“What is it that thou wishes for?”Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com

“To bring her back. That was all I wanted. It was my first wish. Polaris was not a Star that could grant such things. Instead, he only pointed into a direction. That same place was where the greatest bastion of mankind resided, closest to the collapsed sun that devoured all light in the skies.”

While one side of the world flourished in abstract lights, the other was utterly devoured by the darkness of the black hole. Only a blue hue emanated from its horizon and unnatural accretion disk that spiraled around it.

It was so unimaginably large that it seemed like the world was constantly on the brink of being devoured whole.

She hissed with an odd, understanding vitriol towards this being.

“Its domain was a black forest that I needed to cross to reach that bastion. As you can already imagine –”

“– There was some resistance. Believe it or not, this Star is the reason why I am beholden to the ideal of justice and judgement.”

“Because this very Star taught me the nature of prejudice. Of judgement. Order. What should be and what shouldn’t be, and why it must be so within its ‘kingdom’.”

Michaela smiled as the small, fluffy verion of the One Thousand Eyed bird hopped into her hands, emitting a faint, golden light from its many eyes.

“Isn’t it strange how many facets of thought can be applied to a single Corrupted? Like the light refracting from a window, revealing abberations of compiled memories like that of what you see within my memories. The One Thousand Eyed bird is but a diluted form of an old adversary, but also a grim reflection of who I was, what I enacted, why I did it, and how I – who believed themsleves to be the most righteous – was no better than the same beasts I sought to skewer.”

The image of ‘Her’ appeared suddenly. It flickered over multiple iterations of ‘Her’ across the loops until finally resulting in one last refraction from the light.

“The bird represents many of my shortcomings. I am my worst enemy. But equally, it represents the prejudice I will face by my enemies. The Accusers who are equally as guilty as I.”

Michaela conjured the power of Absolution in one hand, marking her departure from the power of Arbitration that belonged to the Stars.

“I had been limiting my presence which is why I chose to remain within the Nexus. Even my son Iscario does not know that I am the Arbiter. If they all knew that I am still very much alive, then it will only be a matter of time before the likes of Uriel begin to personally move.”

Suddenly, Michaela’s tone dramatically intensified as all eyes were devoured by hers.

“While your enemies are the impurities of all.”

“Mine will ultimately be the Stars.”

“Assuming they do exist in the Expanse, or beyond the Veil."

“Now let me tell you how the Captured Star came to be – and how, I earned the name of the Arbiter before I became an Archetype. Despite what you have seen from the Icon of Judgement, Frost, mankind did indeed flourish underneath my rule.”