Starbright (The Starbright Series) (16 page)

“Um….
s
o Lucifer is like the main bad guy, but he has a universe of evil to run, so there are other lesser
A
ngels that do his bidding on planet.”

“So they really are trying to destroy
E
arth. This isn’t like a movie, this is real?” Tristan smiled cynically.

“Definitely, this is real, this is probably as real as it gets. Earth is the last planet with
life;
the Darkness has taken all the others.
If
E
arth falls, the Darkness wins.”
I finished matter of fact
.

“You got a big job ahead of you, Stel,” Tristan put a reassuring arm around
my
shoulders.

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” I
sighed, leaning into him and relishing in his comfort.
I
laid
my
head down on his shoulder and tried to repress the insecurities bubbling up inside of
me
.

“If anyone can do
it, it’s you,” Tristan squeezed me
and pulled
me
closer to him.

“Tristan, I’m s
ix
teen. I haven’t even picked up a sword yet! How am I supposed to protect all of mankind from
all
of the forces of evil?”
I
tried to swallow them, but
my
fears fell from
my
mouth before
I could stop them
.
I
was supposed
to be courageous and confident….
insecur
ity
was only fuel for
my
enemies.

“
A sword? Stella that is so hot!
Like Princess Leia hot!
” Tristan teased, deflating the tension buzzing around
my head
and lessening
those disabling
fears for a few moments.

“Oh my gosh, shut up!”
I
shrieked, elbowing him in the ribs.

Comfortable silence fell between
us
and the rest of
ou
r time was spent watching the
S
tars overhead. There was a lot to worry about, a lot to think about for both
of us
, but together it seemed like
we
could conquer it all.

Chapter S
ix

             
“Morning,
s
unshine,” Seth called to
me
as
I
trudged
my
way through three feet of snow to meet him.

             
I
mumbled something
incoherent in
reply and pushed my
boots through the thick snow to meet Seth and Jupiter in the middle of one of
my
father’s fields.
I
was warm enough with
my
inner light creating a haze of warmth around
me
, but
I
still clung to
my
thermos of
hot chocolate
as if it were an indispensable life-line.

             
Jupiter stood in the middle o
f the field, hands poised
in an intricate
and very involved
Tai Chi
pose
. His eyes were closed and his face scrunched in deep meditation. His legs held a wide stance and his outstretched
arms
progressed slowly in precise movements
and in perfect sync with his torso
.  He paid
me
no attention.

Swords of all different shapes and sizes lay littered on top of the snow. Seth stood, with barely contained energ
y, in athletic shorts and a cut-
off t-shirt. His biceps gli
stened against the morning sun with the warmth of his glow illuminating him in a soft haze. He clenched and unclenched his fists excitedly and bounced on his toes as if weapons training were the most exciting thing in life to him.

I
joined Seth, still recovering from little sleep the night before.
I
didn’t doubt
I
would work
my
self awake but training made
me
nervous.
I
knew
I
would learn how to use
all of the different
weapons and sooner than later a sword would feel like a natural extension of
my
body, but
I
was late getting started. Seth had been using swords forever, and he was an obviously skilled fighter.
I pictured him as a toddler with little baby-sized daggers instead of chew toys. I on the other hand,
had a fantastic jump shot, a killer spike and a spot on shot on goal from eighteen yards out, however that wasn’t much to use against the Darkness
, unless of course
I
challenged them to a game of Horse
.

This day had been a long time coming, but with the start of today was some seriously added pressure in that
I
only had a year and a half to learn everything
there was to learn about being the Protector of Earth
and become the skilled fighter
I
was supposed to be
…
.
destined to be.

That wasn’t a whole lot of time.

I
looked out at
my
father’s fields that rolled on for acres. The sun was just rising over the eastern hills and casting long shadows on the crisp and untouched snow.
My
footsteps followed Seth’s and Jupiter’s but other than
our boot prints
, the only
other indentation
made in the vast purity of white were animal tracks near the edges of trees that lined the property.

I
decided there had never been anything more pure, more clean
…. more
wholesome. The ground glistened against the rays of the sun, sparkling like diamonds in the light of the morning. This ground, even though frozen, felt like
me
, symbolized
my
cause. A shudder trickled down
my
spine as
I
thought of how the Darkness would destroy this, take this pure beauty away from
E
arth and swallow the goodness whole.

I
also wondered how training this morning would affect
my
father’s planting come sprin
g
. 

“Let us begin,” Jup
iter called from where he stood with
eyes still closed and palms still outstretched.

“Are you ready for this?” Seth asked
me
, his smile widening impossibly at the corners of his full mouth.

“Of course I am,”
I
groaned
dryly, not willing to give in to
my
fears, but clearly not ready for any of this. “You’ll go easy on me right? It’s my first day and all….”
I
reminded him, hoping for some sympathy.

“That’s true,” Seth conceded. “But I don’t like to lose.”

I
laughed, believing him. “Me either,”
I
confessed, taking the challenge.

“Seth, why don’t you take the broadsword,” Jupiter instructed.

“Ah, man,” Seth grumbled. “You know I prefer the cutl
a
ss.”

“Which one is the broadsword?”
I
asked, taking a few steps forward to examine the weapons collection glinting brilliantly against the snow.

Seth picked up a sword, medium-sized in length and with a heavy hilt. He held it out for
me
to
take and I nearly dropped it, not expecting that kind of weight. I
caught
my
awed reflection mirrored in the shiny, deadly blade
as I lifted it with both hands
.
I
handed it back to Seth and then
took a step back automatically when
he
began to swing it around his body as if getting to know the weapon in some intimate way
I
didn’t quite understand yet.

“And which one is the cutl
a
ss?”
I
asked out of honest
curiosity
.

Jupiter pointed to a longer, thinner sword that thickened at the end and rounded to a half moon point.
I
stared at it for a moment, trying to place why it seemed familiar.

“That’s a pirate sword!”
I
exclaimed when the movie-marathon from the other night was recalled in
my
mind.

“Argh,” Seth grunted, sending
me
a sideways glance and an amused smile.

“Stella you take the two-handed claymore and we’ll start with some basic technical movements,” Jupiter instructed, not even pretending to move forward to help
me
find
my
assigned
blade
.

I
sighed while examining the collection in front of
me
.
I
hadn’t even realized, prior to five minutes ago, that so many different types of swords existed, let alone that they all had a different name.
I
had held
my
father’s battle sword before, but that was more like the one that Seth held now. Micah’s sword was a piece from heaven though, brandished in the lowest level and meant for the wars fought in other realms. His glowed with heavenly light, the same way the user did and was tasked with defending its Angel Warrior until the death.

These swords were manmade and meant for practice
and fighting battles on Earth
. They would do the job that
my
father’s would, if
I
was ever called to fight with them, but they weren’t nearly as cool. After all they didn’t glow.

I
took a tentative step forward, toward a sword with a hilt made like a cross. The blade rounded like the end of the pirate sword only from hilt to tip like a
long crescent
. Watching out of the corner of his eye, Seth cleared his throat,
and tilted his head discretely to the left
.

“That, young Star, is a shamshir, and not what I asked you to pick up,” Jupiter reprimanded
me
, noticing
my
hand drop to
my
side at Seth’s warning.
Jupiter
bent down and
picked up a sword with the same style of
hilt, but with a blade that was straight like Seth’s.
I
had a hard time telling the difference between Seth’s broadsword and
my
two-handed claymore at first, but then
I
noticed the weapon
I
held was
a little smaller and maybe easier to handle for a first-timer.

Or for a girl.

Or m
aybe both.

J
upiter went on to explain what I already
instinctively knew, “This sword is a bit lighter than Seth’s but will match up well when it comes into contact. Although keep in mind that it’s shorter than his, so you will need to give yourself some space.
You will need to grip it with both hands, even if it’s lighter than Seth’s, it still has some weight to it. You’ll need both hands to maneuver it properly.”

I
had started to realize how heavy it was just while Jupiter was talking. Being a Star,
I
had access to supernatural strength, but
I
wouldn’t come fully into
my
powers until after
I
turned eighteen.
My
glow intensified as
I
let the inner-Star kick in and help
wield my
weapon.

I
gripped the leather-wrapped handle with both hands an
d held the sword in front of me
, staring it down as if
I
could will its power into
my
abilities without having to struggle through the
hard work and blood, sweat and tears
part. But nothing happened. The doubled-edged blade stared back at
me
waiting for
me
to make the first move
, not the other way around
.