When Stars Fell - A Short Story

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A whirlwind of turquoise-colored energy manifests and begins furiously swirling in place, the whirlwind is so powerful that it makes cracks in the stone brick floor, it stays there for fifteen seconds before it begins slowing down, as it slows down, the energy compresses and solidifies into a being.

Lothius stood tall and gazed at the massive floating island, patches of small floating land and rock orbit the central massive island. A black castle sits atop the island, despite its menacing appearance, Lothius knows that is simply his best friend’s place of residence and he has nothing to worry about. He smiles as he cannot wait to meet his friend again, with a flick of his wrist, Lothius disappears in a whirlwind of turquoise before reappearing in front of the entrance gate to the castle.

He looks down at the dark soil, while it may look dry and decayed, several colorful tulips emerge out of it. The gate slowly creaked open, Lothius gazed up to the sound of the gate opening. As it fully opens, Lothius walks in and admires the architecture of the place, he rolls his eyes and smiles at the handiworks of his friend. He looks around and feels somewhat unease at how eerily quiet the place is, of course almost no one in this world nor any other worlds know about this place’s existence, this shouldn’t be a surprise for him but for some reason, today feels… different.

Lothius stops in front of the blackstone doors into the castle, he focuses his thoughts at the doors and wills them to open, in which they do so. Lothius enters and wills the doors to close behind him, after entering he looks around and notices the blackstone brick walls to have dents on them, he ponders why but quickly brushes it off. He walks through the dimly lit halls of the castle before coming across the door to the throne room, he finds it odd that there are no guards today, he feels the door to the throne room, rough dark wood with metallic bolts reinforcing it.

Lothius starts to will the door to swing open, however it is somewhat a hassle, Lothius tilts his head in confusion before trying again with more willpower. Finally, the door swings open, Lothius looks inside and sees two figures, one is wearing regal purple robes and is as tall as he is, the other is half the first figure’s height and appears to be wearing a cloak. The second figure appears to be holding a dark grey book with rune markings all over its cover, the second figure reacts to Lothius opening the door and scurries away as it disappears into smoke. Lothius watches in confusion at the figure disappearing before setting his eyes on the other one.

"You and your ominousness, Horus", Lothius shakes his head and chuckles, Lothius looks at Horus with his glowing cyan eyes and smirks at him. "Good to see you again, old friend", Lothius walks towards his friend and offers his hand, Horus looks down at Lothius’ hand and stares at it. Suddenly, Horus grabs his hand and pulls him into a hug, Lothius yelps in surprise before the two share a laugh. Lothius pulls out of the hug and playfully punches Horus’ shoulders, "It’s good to see you too, Lothy", Horus laughed.

"My my, what have you been up to ever since the last time we met? Protecting worlds from eldritch chthonic beings? Or inventing never-before-seen technology?", Horus grins. Lothius simply chuckles and rolls his eyes, "A bit of both, perhaps. Anyway, what have you been doing? Who was that one that disappeared into smoke?", Horus laughs and waves his hand. "Oh not important, anyhoo…" Horus’ body melts into black liquid before he manifests besides Lothius, "How is that avatar project coming along?" Horus grabs Lothius’ shoulder, "Eh… A bit slow but hey? Better than nothing, right?" Horus nods before letting go of Lothius and walking towards the massive circular red stained glass window, he gazes out and just stands there.

Lothius seems concerned and approaches Horus, "Everything fine, Horus?", Lothius stands beside his friend and grabs Horus’ left shoulder.

Horus smiles softly, he keeps gazing out of the window. "Dark times are approaching, Lothy. I fear of a dreadful future ahead, corruption and disorder is growing faster than ever", Lothius looks at Horus’ eyes, he could see worry and fear in those neon purple eyes, "destruction is inevitable, and chaos is certain… These bright blue skies will be covered with blood and dust, the seas will be polluted by the dead, the sun might not shine anymore as **entropy** consumes this world", Lothius notices Horus shaking as the latter tightens his fists.

Lothius pats Horus’ shoulders and chuckles nervously, "Horus…" Lothius smiles at him, "Whatever cataclysm is heading towards us, I promise we will have the power to fend it off and create a brighter future for all life in the universe", Lothius demonstrates by holding up his hand and conjuring a bright sapphire sphere of light with golden streaks circling around it, he looks at Horus and gives him a reassuring smile. Horus slowly looks at Lothius’ eyes and slightly smiles in response.

Lothius finds himself in a lifeless forest of dead trees and charred soil, he looks up and sees numerous draconic creatures shrieking and flying across the sky as fire rains down from the clouds, he sees explosions and large chunks of land being thrown across the land. A large shadow looms above him as a massive golem-like creature made of igneous rock with cracks of red all over its body lands beside him, the creature turns to its left and looks at Lothius with its glowing red cyclopean eye. Lothius tries to act neutral by backing away slowly from the creature, however the creature soon raises its oversized cylindrical arms and prepares to crush Lothius. Lothius’ eyes widen and he instinctively holds out his hand, suddenly the golem is launched back and violently slams into the ground. Lothius sighs and turns around, he spots the floating castle and focuses his mind to teleport up there, he closes his eyes as energy encompasses every inch of his body, he opens his eyes and finds himself at the doorstep of the castle.

The castle’s gates have been destroyed and forced open, Lothius rushes into the castle and sees numerous soldiers firing arrows and screaming.

"Don’t let them in!", "Protect the castle!", "Reallocate the core energy!"

Lothius teleports himself inside of the castle, he sighs and calms himself down. He needs to find Horus. Lothius runs across the halls and comes face-to-face with a large dark reptilian creature with serrated teeth. The creature snarls at him and prepares to pounce on him, Lothius groans and readies himself. But just before the creature pounced on him…

"Lothy!"

The creature turns around and bows its head as Horus rushes towards Lothius, the latter sighs and approaches him. "Horus, what on earth is happening?!", Lothius asks, Horus orders the reptilian creature to go away before replying to Lothius, "The Olympians and the Kamis ordered an attack on my followers, they are trying to breach the castle".

Horus telekinetically opens the door to his throne room while Lothius follows him, "But why?! What is the purpose of them attacking you?!", sounds of explosions and creaking can be heard from outside, "Four months ago, the Divine Council legalized forceful integrations into human civilizations where every pantheon was allowed to enforce their control over humanity", Horus holds out both of his hands and uses his magic to repair the cracked walls of the throne room while Lothius watches him in awe, "I rejected the council’s decision and suggested them to leave the humans alone for once", shadowy tentacles emerge from the walls and reinforce the broken pillars, repairing any cracks in the room. "of course, the Olympians and the Kamis didn’t like that, and now…"

A blinding explosion was visible from the throne room, Lothius gasps in surprise as he approaches the stained glass to see what is happening outside. Suddenly, one of those igneous rock golem Lothius encountered earlier crashes down from the ceiling and lands in the middle of the room, it faces Horus and prepares to crush him. Lothius holds out his hand as numerous glyphs and runes begin to manifest, forming a cyan glyph circle that flies towards the golem’s back. The glyph attaches to its back as the golem suddenly twitches, the golem falls apart and crumbles to a mess of rocks. Lothius approaches towards the mess and inspects it, he looks up at Horus. "Are you fine?", sound of glass shattering can be heard from behind Lothius.