When stars betray

Chapter 7: BLAME

Back in the room where they are locked up, Iris and Laden sit in silence. The whole time, Iris is ashamed to the point where she can’t even look at him. “I know you don’t want to talk right now but I just want to let you know that I’m sorry.” Iris says while avoiding eye contact with Laden. He doesn’t respond for a brief moment then proceeds to say, “It’s my fault for even trusting you in the first place. We’re not home because of you, because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut!”. “I was just a kid and I was curious! By the way, what even happened and where are we?” Iris raises her voice back. “An explosion occurred, we’re probably not even in the same universe anymore, don’t you understand that we are both stars?! We can’t touch each other.” Laden explains and watches Iris stand up and walk towards him.

“Why in the world didn’t you just tell me back then? HUH?!” Iris screams “This is all your fault!” she continues. Laden looks up at her and stands up himself, he is so much taller than her so he looks down at her and says calmly, “Screaming isn’t going to get us home, Iris. As much as I hate you right now, we will have to stick together.”. Iris looks up at him in rage, but as soon as their eyes meet, it’s like she loses her ability to speak. She feels stuck in his gaze, his eyes look so soulless, she feels her heart speeding up for some unknown reason. “You can ease up honey, I don’t bite. Considering I literally can’t touch you, you know.” Laden says in a mockingly teasing way and steps back.

“f**k you, Laden!” Iris screams looking clearly annoyed. “You wish.” He chuckles as the door to the room swings open and a woman walks in with a tray of food. “Good appetite.” The woman says as she places the tray on a nearby table, leaves and shuts the door behind her. (After the explosion, Iris and Laden had both gone into a dream state while moving through space, where they lived and grew up for 10 years before landing on planet Nothera.) Laden and Iris eat up and then it’s time to go to sleep, but there is a problem, there is only one bed. “Take the bed.” Says Laden as he sits on the floor, “No thank you, you can have the bed.” Iris responds. “Stop trying to act tough and take the bed.” Laden insists, “I don’t need you to be nice to me, I’m fine.” Says Iris. They both end up sleeping on the floor on opposite sides of the bed.

Fast forward to the following morning, sun rays are beaming through the glass of windows, birds are chirping, it’s the first day of Holidays in Eldoria. Orna and Liya head to the training field where Lucian and Kael had already been practicing their powers. Orna lifts water from the water pond nearby and directs it to Liya where she used wind to form a small tornado. Lucian grows pines and pokes Liya from the back then Kael lights fire with his bare hands and kills the pine and says, “Leave her alone.” In a joking way. As the all continue messing around with their powers, Rowan brings Laden and Iris to the field to join them. “We have to find out which gifts you both possess.” Says Rowan as he leads them both into the field. Iris looks around confused, “Gift?” she asks. “Yes, they will brief everything up for you.” Rowan says while pointing at Lucian, Orna, Kael and Liya standing awkwardly in the corner.

Rowan then leaves them there as he has work to attend to. Laden turns around and sees Kael approaching him followed by Lucian. “Hey man, I’m Kael. This is my twin brother Lucian. That is Orna and her twin sister Liya too.” Kael introduces themselves. “We are completely unrelated.” Says Liya. The keep chatting for a while and Iris and Laden explain everything she remembers while the others tell them all about their planet and kingdom. Surprisingly, they all get along well except the heated tension between Iris and Laden. The others can sense it but understand to some level. Liya, Lucian, Kael and Orna show off their powers to Laden and Iris but quickly realize they either don’t have gifts or just don’t know how to use them. Well it was understandable since they are from a different planet.