A Thousand Fallen Stars

It was a bright and sunny day. The sky stretched endlessly as Nell tucked his body into a ball. He rolled through a barrage of paintballs, the splattered ink catching him as it ricocheted off a wall.

Nell turned, gun in arm. He searched for his target: Rhyss, over six feet tall, hard to miss. He was gone.

Nell turned again, just in time to see Rhyss at his seven as he skirted behind a barrel. Mmm. Nell stalked him. He came to the barrel and stood: paintballs loaded, gun ready, finger on the trigger.

Nell’s spine arched as paintballs splattered against his own back. He tried to get away — around the barrel — but slipped on a rock. He toppled toward a barrier wall.

As he fell his finger clicked the trigger and a ball of paint flung into the sky. The gun clattered beside him and little unbroken balls of paint poured around him. The last ball, from above, splatted onto his back.

Everything stood still.

Nell’s finger stung. He looked down. Blood seeped from a rock crusted cut on his palm. As he studied it, his skin ejected the rocks in preparation to heal.

He pushed himself toward his knees.

“What are all these marks?” Rhyss asked.

Nell pressed himself against an old stone wall to bring himself to standing. Where his bloodied finger had touched, a carved star illuminated golden yellow.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Nell said. He touched the carving of a star, embedded deep into the earth. Where his finger touched, the star glowed brighter. Nell pulled his hand away.

It was too late. When the light reached the edge of the star, adjacent stars lit up – a trail.

Rhyss pulled Nell away from the wall.

The two followed the trail down the wall. Where stars met, the wall burned away and disintegrated into an opening to a cave.

Rhyss looked at Nell. Nell’s heart pounded in his chest.

With his paintball gun in hand, Rhyss led the way into the cave.

Hundreds of stars began to illuminate in a dome shaped room. They walked to the center of it, and the entrance closed behind them. They were encompassed in darkness, with only the stars to guide them.

“Where are we?” Rhyss asked. He spun in a circle.

“It’s a dead realm,” Nell said. He scanned the room, then froze. Out of the corner of his eye something scurried behind some rocks. “There should be nothing here,” he said, his eyes fixed on the spot he saw movement.

Wings flapped in the distance. The sound of leather rubbing against leather echoed through the cavern.

“This is good,” Rhyss said, paintball gun held to his chest. “Hello?” he called out to the room.

“Don’t encourage it,” Nell hissed.

Rhyss shrugged. It was too late.

“We come in peace?” Nell said. There was nothing else to say.

More nosies filled the room. Always out of the corner of their eyes, a glimpse of some fur or a rounded body. The distinct gust of wind as something flew through the air, yet in the dim lighting there was nothing to see.

Nell took two steps back, away from the edge of the room. His back grazed something. The hairs on his arms stood on end. He counted back then whipped around.

Rhyss stood there, his eyes wide. They exhaled together.

“Wicca works off blood sometimes. We could stop it if we make a spell.”

A dark shadow dove from the peaks of the cavern toward them, the stars behind in blocked out.

From behind a rock, one of the small things emerged. It was not even two feet tall, covered in brown and black patches of fur.

“It’s kind of cute,” Rhyss said. He took a step closer.

“Do you think it has fangs?” Nell asked. He stepped closer too. “Hello?”

The thing hummed and buzzed. The room burst into blue and yellow light, every edge of moss illuminated. The creature hummed on, and others joined it.

Rhyss looked at Nell again.

Nell swallowed – they were surrounded.

“Run!” Nell yelled.

Together, they dashed over the fuzzy munchkins toward the entrance. Nell pushed against the dirt but nothing happened. The munchkins descended upon them, then halted.

From above, a screech echoed through the cavern. All of the stars went black except around Rhyss and Nell. The bat-like animal dove toward them, a fuzzy munchkin on its back.

When the last of the air left their body, ropes flung through the air with knobby rocks on either end. They wrapped around Rhyss and Nell, tying them together.

The fuzzy munchkins walked up to them, humming in a language Nell had never heard before. They walked closer, their stubby legs leaving trails in the dust instead of tracks. From their sides, short arms extended into longer branches of body that lifted Rhyss and Nell.

They were carried deeper into the cave, along a path of glowing stars. The chanting grew deeper. The voices echoed off the walls of the cave. When they stopped, and the ringing stopped, they let go. Nell and Rhyss fell from their arms. Where there should have been ground, there was nothing but stars. They wooshed past; their bodies fell together.

Rhyss managed to loosen the rocks and adjust. He nudged his head toward Nell’s ear. “You can fly, right?”

He could, but his wingers were entangled.

But… Death or eternal falling.

Nell focused on the air and pulled it toward them into a mass. Their fall slowed.

“That is correct,” Nell said.

When he was close, he could see the rocky earth pass by until he found a darkened space. Nell caught the opening. He pushed a gust that sent them toward the tunnel. Their bodies fell to the ground, safe but still trapped.

They wiggled free of the bonds. Nell stood and dusted himself off. “Are you okay?” Nell asked.

“This place should be in a game,” Rhyss replied.

“If we survive, we can make it.” Nell pulled Rhyss down the tunnel. He listened for little buzzing munchkin sounds or slippery steps on the cave floor.

It was hauntingly silent. 

“Is it going to have little fuzz monsters?” Rhyss said, about the game.

Nell shook his head. His heart thrummed in the background of the silence between words. 

“I think this part is clear,” Nell said just to speak. “But I don’t know how far underground we are- if we can get out.”

“It smells like death,” Rhyss commented. 

Likely, because they weren’t the first in the tunnel. 

Rhyss was right. Nell could smell something strong. “It smells like…” He lost his footing. Green gas filled the air down the tunnel. It billowed toward them. “Like…”

“Nell?” Rhyss whispered.

Nell’s eyes closed. He wobbled. Humming overcame him.

“You okay?” Rhyss asked.

Nell blinked awake. “Yeah?” He looked around at sand and dust. His body was coated in paint. “I’m fine?” He looked at his hand.

“Are you?” Nell asked. 

“I think so?”

“Did.” Was he blacked out the whole.time? was it a dream or a memory. Nell looker behind him at a wall covered in star engravings.

“Don’t touch them,” Rhyss blurted.

Nell looks back to Rhyss. Behind him, the wall hummed.

Nell reached for Rhyss’ hand. “Let’s get out of here.” He dropped the transport pack, and nothing happened.