Stars Beneath the Sky

Chapter 2

Astraea Achie

“Achie, Dahan dahan! Kakagagaling mo lang sa sakit!” Lina shouted. She is my personal nanny now. Before, kuya and I only had Tina, but because of what happened, Tina suggested her sister look after me. She said that Lina could handle my silliness and naughtiness.

I am not naughty though, maybe I was before, but now, I am a grown-up adult with the experience of multiple losses and two decades of war.

I was running around the yard, looking at the trees near the forest called Spellbound Willows, a weird name though. My Mamita on my father's side owned it.

She said an ethereal fairy once lived there. It sounds intriguing, so I tried to enter that forest so many times when I was a kid, and was able to enter it when the zombies came. It was the only place where it was safe at that time, until some of my subordinates took advantage of the forest resources, killing the animals and cutting down the trees, and the forest was so angry that it pushed us out of the forest and locked itself with a barrier.

Weird name for a weird forest indeed.

I was also so angry at that time, as it was the only heirloom that I had, as everything was in shambles at that time.

I still love it though. The trees, the friendly animals, are just so lovely.

I was about to enter the forest when Mamita Cleo called me. “Achie, don’t go there. You know the rules, you can play anywhere but never enter the spellbound willows.” She said, giving me a warning about the dangers inside the forest.

“But mamita, I wanted to see the flowers inside the forest. I saw Mom entering there and leaving unscathed. I don’t think it was dangerous to go there, or the curse was real. I don’t think people will turn into animals when you go inside that forest. Maybe ill-intentioned people, but certainly not a kid like me.” I explained, but she held still and carried me back to the house.

I can’t tell her that she will let me enter the forest in the future to find the flower, nor did I enter the forest before stealthily when I was a kid and touched a beautiful flower and the portal sucked me in.

I had a great childhood because of that. I met a friend and she was so pretty. Her hair changes colours from white at night to black in the morning.

It was such a shame though, that our gardener and his son saw me at that time and followed me inside the portal. They took advantage of the other world's riches and resources, the portal completely shut down, and I never saw my friend again. Her name is Alithea, as I remembered.

The father and son duo became animals in the forest in exchange. That is when I knew that the curse was indeed real.

I was punished that time because of what happened. I was crying heavily that time because I had never seen Alithea after that.

It has been 4 months since I reverted in time. It was a crucial process to live daily in the past 3 months due to the punishment of overusing my affinity, but gladly I recovered faster than normal people.

They said it was because our body is different from others, but I think it was because of my affinity. I can still use my affinity in this life as well, since affinities are connected by the soul and not by the body.

Mom even cried that time because she thought I would celebrate my birthday with blurry eyesight and severe brightness sensitivity. Mom was never the emotional type of person, but lately due to pregnancy with twins inside her belly, she became moody and emotional. She became really clingy with dad now. Usually, dad was the clingy type, dad is sure enjoys mom being clingy when she’s pregnant.

Makikita naman na sa agwat naming magkakapatid. Kuya Sage is only 7 years old, while I am turning 4 next month, and mom will deliver the twins 2 months from now.

Speaking of dates, a year and so months will be the first batch of stars to fall. It will land in various places around the world.

One star will fall on the private island of my Papa Helio, mom’s father. That island became a zombie-infested island because of the second batch of toxins. Its toxins are airborne, so it travelled fast; but for me, it was unfortunate, that island has so much potential to be a base. Even when it was infested with zombies, the soil and water wasn't contaminated, because of the first batch of star that fell near it.

It was later found that the first batch of stars that had fallen gave out purifying toxins combating the third batch's stars.

I should ask Papa Helio if he could give me the island, so I can make it a base, and plan for the future. I should look for resources and trusted employees on managing the island before the second batch’s fall.

I also need to make a vaccine before the second batch’s fall. The second batch’s fall of star is the most dangerous of all, it was the time where the toxins are dangerous to the people, altering the state of their brain and soul, making the body take a long period of time to adjust.

There are so many things to do, and so little time, I still don’t know what reason I would tell them if I suddenly ask for a property I didn't even bat an eye on before, and why I was building a base like territory on the Private Island I asked for. I would also be looking for trusted people. For sure they would doubt me.

Is it okay if I tell them that I came from the future where everything was in ruins, and they died so I came back to change the future?