Episode 4: Staring Into The Heavens

Elara never minded being alone, it meant that there was no one around that she might hurt. However, the feeling that she felt in the now totally empty van was a loneliness that she had never felt before. Her first and only group of human friends had left her behind carrying her good wishes and prayers with them to their respective lives. When it was the other’s turn to secure an ending, it seemed easy for her to eventually do the same. Now that they had gone it seemed as if the weight of the world was once again set back onto her shoulders. As she drove the seven hour stretch back to where it was that the idea of her came into being, she considered if she even deserved an ending. The others had lives to live and people to live for. Elara had nothing. No place to go, no grace from her mother above, and no people to save. What was a knight without her people? A husk. An empty shell of pristine armor sitting upon useless shoulders. 

Around 3:00 a.m. in the morning and about four hours into her journey beneath a moon like a sliver in the star filled sky, she stopped at a gas station. After filling the tank using the money Phil had left for her in the glove compartment in case he would not be returning, she stepped inside for food. Although Elara did not require human sustenance to persist, she had grown a strange fondness for gummy peach rings. Moss had often had them and she had been offered one many times over. Now it seemed to be her only connection to her friends left. When she had stepped up to the register the cashier named Tyler, who was likely stoned beyond his wits or simply tired, spoke bluntly to her while ringing her up. “I say, you are a rather large woman. It's ok. Great, actually. Yur my type of gal. I’m not hitting on ya though, sorry honey I’m taken.”

On a short hand, he flashed a golden ring. His gaunt eyes watched as the bag moved under the red light and flinched slightly at the beep that followed. “Y’know, I sometimes miss when I lived for myself. I could like do what I wanted and stuff y’know. But times change and once you have depended on someone for so long it can be hard to think of yurself. That’ll be two dollars, miss. Cash or card?”

She handed him the only bill she had left after gas: a crumpled Hamilton which he began to slowly make change for.

“But, I tell ya miss. One, two. Making yur own way ain’t that bad. Three, four. You just need ta be open- Five, six, to whatever life gives ya. Seven and eight dollars. That's yur change. Thank you for shopping at Sinclair. Sorry you had ta listen ta my ramblin, s'pose I’m just tired, ya know. Well, stay safe out there, miss.”

Although she knew that he didn’t know her situation in the slightest, his slurred words still hit closer to her heart than she would have wished. ‘Be open to whatever life gives you.’ was what he had said. She shook her head as she walked back to the dark van. Usually she was the one giving advice, not a random cashier. However, as she considered his words throughout the rest of the drive, she could feel her mind softening to the idea of being open to whatever happens. As she arrived in Lowell, Massachusetts, the sun began to break through to dawn and she knew what had to be done. 

Leaving the van in the parking lot closest to the apartment building never to be driven again, she removed her large cloak and moved to the door prepared to begin a new life.

She stepped up to the door and lifted her hand. Her knuckles hovered for a moment before dropping. Elara was suddenly aware of her fear. What would happen if the door opened? Would she be taken back? She shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Under her breath, she mumbled the phrase: “Come what may.”

Raising her hand once more, she let it hit the door once then twice, allowing her fingers to linger on the gray wood a moment longer before settling at her side. Hearing footsteps beyond the door, she straightened up and kept a stoic face. Elara was prepared to win this battle as she had won many others before: through brute force or die trying. A second later, the door swung open causing her heart to jump whilst she stood still. The woman inside the house didn’t say a word but rather looked her up and down before slowly revealing a smile of recognition. Elara opened her mouth to begin the decree of her will that she had practiced over a hundred times in the car but, before she could speak, the woman wrapped her arms as far as she could around Elara’s waist. “I have missed you, star light.”

It sounded as if the woman were crying, tears of joy. Elara began to blush. She had never heard words like these before. Much less directed toward her. Elara gently lowered her hand onto the woman’s back. “I believe it is time to end our story. Once and for all.”

The woman pushed away from the armored woman and nodded. “Yes. Yes, I think it is.”

She gestured into the house. “Come on, I don’t think either of us can wait much longer.”

Elara smiled and stepped into the foyer. “Neither of us ever could.”

This is the story of the savior from the stars.

Those five months since she had left the people of Vala staring at the heavens. Their savior had left them and their city was destroyed. Tents had been erected and an altar to Citalá of Monoceros, mother of all stars, had been built but their unceasing prayers remained unanswered. Every hour since that day when the Wyrm had been destroyed, they watched for a sign of grace from the sky. There was a night on the fifth day of the sixth month when not a single star shined in the sky, the people of Vala gave up all hope and resigned themselves to a forsaken existence. It was at this moment that a bright star, that even outshone the moon, appeared at the highest point in the sky just as it had six months ago. As a beam of light struck the center of the crater of the once city, the people knew their savior had returned. When the white haired woman named Elara appeared she wore not the ornate armor which she had when she had worn before. Rather, her large figure was clad with a simple brown tunic and pants the color of new spring grass. In her arms she held a large bundle of beams twice as wide as she was tall and, over her immense shoulder, was slung a bag so full of stone that it nearly touched the ground.

Upon reaching the gate, she dropped the beams and the bag at the feet of the citizens. After a moment of silence, she knelt to the ground before them and hesitantly opened her mouth. “Please forgive me for my foolishness. I became pride filled. When I did, your beautiful city and your people paid the price. Allow me to rebuild it. Allow me to try to earn your grace once more.”

The people were taken aback by the strange change in demeanor. They were confused why it was that she asked them for grace when it was her that was the blessing. After a minute of confusion, the woman, Anna, who was once the queen of Vala, stepped forward from the crowd and placed her hand in Elara’s hand and led her back to her feet. “Of course, oh great warrior, you never lost our faith. As it was spoken by Citalá, even in the darkness a light will always shine. However, if you believe that you must earn it, then so be it. But, do not work alone. Allow us to work alongside you. Those of us who did live, owe you our lives, afterall.”

Over the course of the next several years, Elara and the citizens of Vala worked to rebuild the glory of the city. Elara was the one to place the first beam and the last stone. When the job had been completed, she stood once more before the altar of the moon. She offered a final prayer to her mother in the sky asking her to protect these people and guide them through their time on this earth. For the first time since the destruction of the city, she received an answer. It was simple but it was all that she needed: “Yes, my child. You have done well.” 

With a distinct feeling of satisfaction and hope for the future, she said her farewells to those that had helped her. Anna was the last. She offered Elara gold and riches and a room within the palace itself but she turned it down. “The smiles on the faces of your citizens and the kindness you have shown me are gifts enough.”

When it was done, she looked back to the heavens and asked the stars if she was worthy enough to return to their splendor in the sky. In a blink of light, akin to that of a candle being gently blown out, she was gone and there appeared a new star in the great beyond. It became called Elaris, the symbol of hope.

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