Starburst: Half Light Read online

  Starburst

  Half Light

  Alyssa Rose Ivy

  Contents

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  I. Rachel

  1. Rachel

  2. Rachel

  3. Rachel

  II. Noah

  4. Noah

  5. Noah

  6. Noah

  III. Angie

  7. Angie

  8. Angie

  9. Angie

  IV. Caspian

  10. Caspian

  11. Caspian

  V. Kelby

  12. Kelby

  13. Kelby

  VI. Rachel

  14. Rachel

  15. Rachel

  VII. Angie

  16. Angie

  17. Angie

  VIII. Noah

  18. Noah

  19. Noah

  IX. Caspian

  20. Caspian

  21. Caspian

  Thank You

  Afterward

  Soar

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Copyright © 2019 by Alyssa Rose Ivy

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Design: Cover Couture Photos (c) Depositphotos

  Created with Vellum

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  Enjoy your visit to the Half Light…

  Part 1

  Rachel

  1 Rachel

  I waited in the darkness. I had spent so little time of my life outside and away from artificial lights that never failed. Even though my room on Andrelexa had no windows, there was always the hint of lights coming from somewhere inside, and it kept full-on darkness away. This kind of darkness was new to me, but somehow I would not let it send me into a full-blown panic. Just because the sky was currently starless, didn’t mean it would stay that way forever.

  I closed my eyes. I couldn’t see anything with my eyes open, so I might as well focus on my other senses to help me. I took two small steps forward, and I hoped I was still moving in the right direction.

  Rachel. I heard my name in the wind again. At least it sounded like it was in the wind. And it was most definitely female. It sounded like it was coming from somewhere ahead of me.

  With my eyes still closed I followed the voice. Maybe I was being stupid, perhaps having my eyes open could help my balance or keep me moving in the right direction. But somehow it felt like the right decision. The only decision.

  I walked forward, trying to ignore the intensity of the wind. I was definitely walking into the wind now, but if this was the way I needed to go, I’d just have to deal with it. At least my helmet protected my face from the brunt of it.

  I listened for my name, but all I heard was the howl of the wind. If it hadn’t been so dark I would have opened my eyes to see if there was anything else causing the noise, but that would have been no use. Instead, I kept moving forward, straight into the wind.

  Something cold clasped my shoulder. I jumped and turned around, my eyes flying open. I saw nothing. It was only darkness. I was tempted to reach out around me, but I was frozen.

  “Hello?” I forced the word out.

  “Is this yours?” A light male voice asked.

  My heart rate skyrocketed. “Is what mine?”

  There were a few beeps.

  “Amsi?” How had I not even thought about the robot? I’d assumed she was at my side the whole time. Had we become separated?

  She beeped.

  “I believe she may be broken.” The male voice spoke again. “If you need my help fixing her, please let me know.”

  “Who are you?” The wind continued to howl, but facing this direction I could hear better.

  “Bando. And who are you?”

  “Rachel.” Not that my name would mean anything to him.

  “Are you an intruder?” His voice sounded a bit further away. Was he actually afraid of me?

  “No. I’m here to find Veraka.” I had no other excuse to give. It had worked with the gatekeeper, and hopefully it worked with whoever this was.

  “Oh. You are the one.”

  “The one what?” I tried to follow.

  “After all these years I’ve found you.” His voice was louder. He was right beside me again.

  “Found me?” I tried to follow. “What are you talking about?” I took a step back. I wanted to get away from this being, whatever he was, but I also needed to get Amsi.

  “You are my assignment. I have been waiting.”

  A coldness bit into me as if the temperature had dropped several degrees. His assignment? “Nothing you are saying makes any sense to me.”

  “Are you not half of a starmate pair?”

  “I am.” Of course. Everything tied back to that. There didn’t seem to be any reason to lie to him. At least he sounded like a him. As I couldn’t see anything, I was only going off his voice.

  “Yet you do not know your destiny?” There was genuine surprise in his voice. “How can that be?”

  “If I knew my destiny I probably wouldn’t be wandering around this pitch black desert.”

  “You cannot see?” There was more genuine surprise in his voice.

  Maybe admitting that part was a mistake, but he’d figure it out soon enough himself. Besides, for all I knew this being was my only ticket to Veraka, which meant my only ticket to Noah. “No. Not at all.”

  “Oh. That is too bad.”

  “It’s rather inconvenient.” Night vision would have been quite convenient right about now.

  “You didn’t seem lost. You were heading in a straight line. Well, relatively straight. You veered off a couple degrees every few steps.”

  “I was following a voice.” Once again maybe I was revealing too much information.

  “The one calling your name?” Bando’s voice was no closer, nor further away. I would focus on it remaining sufficiently far away. If the being wished me harm, he could have harmed me already.

  “You heard it too?” So it was real. Not a figment of my imagination. I hadn’t seriously doubted myself, but it was still helpful to get some confirmation.

  “I assume your robot heard it too.”

  Amsi beeped. Why wasn’t she communicating beyond the few interspersed beeps? Was she really broken? If so, it was my fault. I had brought her here. But then again, I had built her in the first place. I would fix her again as long as I got her back.

  “So you did not expect to meet me.” Bando made it a statement. Not a question. “I will not lie. That hurts my soul.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry. All of this is very new to me.” Did I now have to add to my list of woes feeling guilty for not knowing I was going to meet some random creature in the desert? That thought led to other ones. What was Bando? Was he humanoid? More monster? It was impossible to know at this point. But ultimately I knew his form didn’t matter or determine whether he was friend or foe.

  “That is because you are from a broken starmate pair. It should not be like this.”

  “Evidently. Nothing in my life has gone the way it was supposed to.” Being kidnapped from Earth under false pretenses for a start. But it started even before that, with my parents being forced to send my brother and me away.

  “I would assume that is the case for most.” There was nothing loaded in his statement. He was just speaking fact.

  “Can you help me find Versaka?” Hopefully he wasn’t going t
o tell me that went against my destiny. It was the only plan I had.

  “Sure I can. Turn around and keep going to way you were going.”

  “Then why did you stop me?” I tried to keep my annoyance at bay. If there was any chance this creature could help me, I needed him at my side.

  “Because I thought you’d want your robot.”

  Amsi beeped again.

  “Was I wrong?” There was a real question in his voice.

  “No. I want her.” I held out my hands for her. Instead, I touched something freezing cold. I pulled my hands back.

  “Sorry I know my temperature can be hard to take. But we can’t choose who we are, can we?” There was a sadness in his voice. Something resonated with me as if a close friend had shared the words.

  I put my arms back out and resisted the impulse to pull away as he set Amsi in my hands.

  She beeped. I didn’t know what the beeps meant exactly, but I hoped I wasn’t missing some dire warning.

  “I take it you are going to come with me?” I adjusted Amsi so she was resting against my arm. He hadn’t actually said he would be coming, but he had said he was waiting for me. I assumed his role would extend beyond the few words he’d shared so far.

  “Yes. You are my assignment.”

  “An assignment from whom?” Maybe I shouldn’t have been wasting my precious air inviting some strange, cold, creature to journey with me when I didn’t know if his motivation was dangerous. I also realized no matter what he told me, it could still be a lie.

  “From the Overlord, of course.”

  “The Overlord?” I repeated the term. “Is he the ruler here or something?” I knew very little of this planet. In the future I was definitely going to spend more time researching.

  “The Ruler of Soldrum?” Brando laughed. “Don’t be silly. He is the ruler of this side of the universe.”

  “There’s a ruler of this side of the universe?” Was he talking in code or something? It’s not as if “this side of the universe” was a planet, or something that could have a single ruler. Even a ruler that took over planets still was just a ruler of those planets. Maybe that’s what he was really saying.

  “Yes. The Overlord.”

  I waited for him to say more, but he didn’t. Instead I went with a slightly different line of questioning. “And he has had you waiting out here for me?”

  “For years. Yes.”

  “You have been waiting here in the middle of nowhere for years?” I raised an eyebrow. He had to be kidding.

  “Well, I was in hibernation until someone, or something,” he looked at Amsi, “came by. Then I woke up, checked if it was you, and after they left went back into hibernation.”

  “Is that why you are so cold?” I knew I was wasting time I didn’t have, but somehow I couldn’t help but ask the question. Despite everything, I wouldn’t lose my humanity.

  “No. I am always cold. It is my nature.”

  “Oh.” I debated my next move. Did I ask him what he was?

  He took away my indecision. “I am a snow-demon.”

  “A snow-demon?” The snow part made sense because he was so cold to the touch; however, the demon part didn’t sound good. But I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. I’d learned names could be very deceptive. “What planet are you from?”

  “I’m not from a planet.”

  “How is that possible?” There was a lot about the universe I didn’t understand.

  “I am born from the universe to fulfill a certain purpose.” He cleared his throat. “My purpose is to aid you so that the balance of the universe can be restored.”

  “What happens if we fail to restore the balance?” All we had been told was that our role was paramount, and I knew if we didn’t accomplish it the result was going to be bad. But how bad?

  “First, there will be chaos. War. Suffering for all. Eventually the inhabitants of the universe will decimate each other, and the universe will be destroyed.”

  “Destroyed? Is that even possible?”

  “Of course. A new universe will be eventually be created, which is all well and fine aside from the fate of those of us created to live in this universe.”

  “Has this happened before?” The answer wouldn’t change anything, but I had to ask.

  “On a smaller scale. Usually when war and strife is at its height.”

  “But we can still save this?”

  “Yes. But we have to get the starmates aligned.”

  “Okay. Let’s find Veraka.” Maybe I couldn’t trust this snow-demon, but I had no choice.

  2 Rachel

  The wind picked up again as we continued in the direction I’d heard the female voice. Bando moved beside me silently. Almost too silently.

  He made me nervous, but now that we’d had some conversation I was a little more at ease. Amsi continued to beep every so often. I knew as a robot she couldn’t actually be in pain, but somehow it was hard to remember that when the beeps grew slower and deeper.

  “The robot will be fine.” Bando seemed to have no trouble talking over the wind. Unlike me. Maybe it was part of being a snow-demon. Whatever that was. It was still pitch black, and I couldn’t help but imagine what he looked like. The demon part made him sound like a monster, but perhaps that was altogether wrong.

  “I hope so. I made her myself, so I am rather attached to her.”

  “You have a special soul.”

  “Because I’m a starmate?” I turned toward his voice.

  “Or maybe you are a starmate because you have a special soul. It’s impossible to know.”

  “You can hear me.” The wind didn’t seem to affect his hearing.

  “Yes. You’ll find I can hear almost anything.”

  I pushed forward. The wind didn’t seem so bad now that I was sure I was headed in the right direction. I didn’t absolutely know I could trust Bando, but I needed to believe I could.

  “For example, I can even hear your heartbeat. Has anyone ever told you have a small heart murmur?”

  “What?” With everything else going on he wanted to worry me about my health? And it seemed like the kind of thing Caspian would have told me. Then again, he’d kept so much from me, that it would have been unsurprising if he had kept this from me too.

  “It is not anything to worry about, but I thought it worthy to share.”

  “If it isn’t worth worrying about, why is it worth sharing? I don’t need anything else to panic over.”

  “Okay. You prefer for me to hide all but essential information.” He spoke as if adding to a list. “Noted.”

  “Not necessarily everything but stuff like that.” I was stressed and frazzled enough. I couldn’t afford to add too much to the list.

  “You mean the important stuff. Your health is important.”

  “You said yourself it wasn’t all that important.” Had he been making that part up?

  “I said it wasn’t anything to worry about, not that it wasn’t important.”

  “Okay. Let’s stop talking.” We were getting nowhere. “I am wasting air.”

  “If you could see you would know your air has been refilled.”

  “That isn’t possible.” But it would have been convenient.

  “Sure it is. I was given the authority to refill it.”

  “The authority?” I refused to slow down while I waited for an explanation. It’s not like I could have seen him even if I stopped.

  “Yes. I was given the abilities I’d need to help you. Just as you will no longer need your translator if I am within earshot, which as I have told you can be a very far distance. I have extremely good hearing.”

  “How is that possible?” None of this made sense. A new thought entered my head. Was I hallucinating? Was all of this a fever produced illusion? No. I wasn’t hallucinating. I could feel Amsi in my arms, and I’d felt the snow-demon’s cold flesh.

  “I was created to serve a purpose. You are that purpose. Consider it this way. You have your very own snow-demon to assist
you from now on.”

  There was something creepy about that. I tried to remind myself that demon might not be as bad as it sounded, but it was hard to get past.

  “Let’s finds Veraka. Do any of your ways to help me involve getting us through this desert faster?” Now that would have been very convenient.

  “I’m sorry. No. Normally I would be able to, but you are following a voice. A voice that is deeply rooted in the universe. I cannot interfere with that.”

  “That’s too bad.” I pressed forward. Even if I had more air, it didn’t mean time wasn’t of the essence. I needed to find Veraka and somehow get back to Noah. I hoped he was okay. Was he worried about me? Did he think I was okay? I was pretty sure he would be worried. Yet fretting couldn’t help me right now. I had to keep my mind clear and focused.

  “I believe this journey is essential for your development.”

  “Oh. I see. Wonderful.” Yet another example of someone knowing what was best for me.

  “Now that you don’t have to worry about air, why are you worried?”

  “Because I need to get back to Noah.”

  “What good will getting back to Noah do you right now?”

  I thought over his words. “I want to see him. I need him.”

  “You don’t need him. Want him maybe, but those are entirely different things.”

  “You don’t have to have an answer to everything.” And needing someone wasn’t always a bad thing. Was it?