The Star And The Void

The world ended with a cold and suffocating silence.

 

I expected the afterlife to be a place of judgment. Perhaps a final reunion with the parents I had just watched die. Instead, there was only the void.

 

I existed in a place of complete and absolute darkness. I couldn’t see anything not even my own hands.

 

I tried touching my chest where the dagger had pierced. The dagger was gone. The wound was gone.

 

I stood up and started to walk. I didn't know which way I was going. My hands reached out but touched nothing.

 

Images of the fire played on repeat behind my eyes. I saw the castle burning. I saw the blood on the marble floor. I saw my mother at the foot of the throne. I saw the sword through my father’s heart. I saw the golden eyes of the woman who killed me.

 

Every step felt like a reminder of my failure. I was the Lord of the Grand Duchy, yet I had watched it burn. I had let my people die in the streets.

 

Maybe this darkness was my punishment. A quiet place for a soul that couldn't protect anything. I kept walking aimlessly. I wanted to scream but I didn't have the strength.

 

Then the darkness broke.

 

One by one, cold and distant stars began to flicker above me. They didn't bring warmth but they gave the void a shape.

 

In front of me, a small hill rose from the ground. It was the only thing in this empty world. A single golden star detached itself from the sky. It fell slowly, trailing a line of light through the dark.

 

It landed at the top of the hill.

 

I moved toward it. As I got closer, the light grew soft and steady. It wasn't like the fire that destroyed my home. It felt different.

 

I reached the top of the hill. The star sat there, pulsing like a heartbeat.

 

I hesitated. I remembered the last time I reached for something I trusted. But there was nowhere else to go.

 

I stretched out my hand. My fingers brushed the surface of the light.

 

A blinding flash exploded. The world was enveloped in its bright light and the darkness was wiped away in an instant. I was forced to close my eyes but the light still filtered through my eyelids.

 

***

 

I gasped.

 

My lungs burned as if I had just surfaced from the depths of a frozen lake.

 

My eyes snapped open.

 

I wasn't in a void. I wasn't in a burning throne room.

 

I was lying on a bed with sheets tangled around my legs. They were soaked with cold sweat.

 

My heart was beating fast.

 

The room I was in looked exactly like mine but… it wasn’t covered by flames.

 

"Master Julius? Master Julius, you are finally awake! You had us worried sick."

 

The voice hit me like a physical blow.

 

I turned my head sharply toward the sound. A man stood by the bedside with his hands folded neatly. A look of genuine concern was etched into his aging face.

 

I froze. My breath hitched in my throat.

 

It was the butler, Sebastian.

 

I had seen him lying in the hallway of the castle with his throat slit and his lifeblood pooling on the marble floor.

 

"You... you're alive," I rasped.

 

My voice didn't sound like my own. It was higher. It lacked the gravelly sound of a man who had spent years at war.

 

The butler replied with a small and puzzled smile.

 

"A strange thing to say, Master Julius. Though you did give us quite a scare. You suddenly collapsed during training this morning. The court physician said it was simple exhaustion, but you have been out for hours."

 

I stared at him. My mind was racing.

 

Is this an illusion? Is it necromancy?

 

I had fought sorcerers before who could weave dreams out of thin air.

 

I reached out and grabbed his sleeve. The fabric was real. The warmth of his arm beneath the cloth was real.

 

This wasn't a dream.

 

"Leave me," I commanded. My voice gained a sharp edge. "Go outside and wait. Do not let anyone in."

 

"But, Master—"

 

"Outside!" I roared.

 

The butler bowed hurriedly. His eyes were wide with surprise as he retreated from the room.

 

As soon as the door clicked shut, I threw back the covers and stumbled toward the full length mirror in the corner of the room.

 

I stopped dead.

 

The man in the mirror was a ghost of a self I had forgotten.

 

I was younger. I was much younger.

 

The scars across my face were gone. My hair, which had grown long and ragged, was now cut short. My facial hair had not fully developed yet.

 

I looked at my hands. They were calloused from the sword, but the deep scars of a dozen battles were absent.

 

Then I remembered the coldness of the blade.

 

I unbuttoned my shirt with shaking fingers. I looked for the wound. I looked for the hole where the black steel had pierced my heart and ended my life.

 

There was no wound. The skin was unbroken and smooth. But in the place the dagger had struck, there was a mark.

 

It was an eight pointed golden star. The lines were sharp and precise.

 

The realization hit me. This wasn't the afterlife. I had returned. The golden star in the void had somehow brought me back.

 

A sharp knock at the door broke my trance.

 

"Master Julius, please hurry," Sebastian’s voice called through the door. "We will be late for the banquet."

 

"What banquet are you talking about?" I asked.

 

My mind was still trying to anchor itself to the present.

 

"The alliance banquet with the Everwinter Kingdom, of course, Master Julius," he replied. He sounded confused. "The guests will be arriving soon. Your father expects you at his side."

 

The Everwinter alliance banquet.

 

My blood ran cold.

 

That banquet happened about 8 years ago.

 

It was the night the first treaties were signed. It was the night that set the stage for everything that followed.

 

It was the beginning of the end.

 

"Today," I whispered to the empty room. "Today is the day the nightmare began."

 

I ran past the startled butler.

 

My boots thundered against the stone floors that, in my memory were still slick with blood.

 

"Tell my father I will join the banquet later!" I shouted while running. "I have urgent matters to discuss with the Knight Commander!"

 

"But Master Julius!"

 

I ignored him. I needed to act fast.

 

If I was back and if this was truly the past, then the shadows were already moving.

 

The black robed figures didn't just appear out of nowhere the night the Duchy burned. They had been invited in. They were already among us.

 

I sprinted towards the training hall, thoughts racing as I planned my next move. My younger body felt light and almost alien in its agility.

 

I found the Knight Commander standing near the weapon racks while he oversaw the final drills of the afternoon.

 

He looked up and was surprised by my dishevelled appearance.

 

"Oh, Lord Julius," the Commander said. There was a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Recovered from your nap, have you? I told you that—"

 

"Commander," I interrupted while I gripped his shoulder. "I have urgent information. My collapse this morning wasn't from exhaustion."

 

The Commander’s expression instantly shifted to one of professional alertness.

 

"Go on."

 

"I was attacked by some mysterious figures, but I fended them off. They retreated after hearing people coming."

 

I hated the deception but I couldn't just tell him I had come from a future where everyone he knew was dead. I couldn't tell him that the woman I loved would eventually drive a dagger into my heart. He would think I was mad.

 

The Commander’s face went pale.

 

"An attack? On the grounds of the Grand Duchy? I offer my sincerest apologies, Lord Julius. My men and I failed to safeguard your wellbeing."

 

"I accept your apology," I said. My voice was cold and commanding. "But if those men dared to aim at my life on a day like today, they are definitely after our guests from Everwinter. Or worse, they are already inside the walls."

 

"I understand," the Commander said. His jaw was tightening. "I will immediately increase the security and double the number of guards around the castle. I will also conduct a full reinspection of every servant and guest-worker present inside the castle walls. We will find them."

 

"Good. Do it now," I said. "And Commander... stay sharp. Don't trust anyone."

 

"Should I assign a few guards to follow you, Lord Julius?"

 

"No," I said, turning away. "I'll be fine. I have my own business to attend to."

 

I left him barking orders.

 

I didn't go to the banquet hall to see the faces of people who were supposed to be dead. I didn't go to find my father or my mother.

 

I left the castle and town. I climbed the narrow stone stairs of an abandoned watchtower outside the town on the forest’s edge until I reached the roof.

 

The air up here was fresh. It lacked the bitter taste of smoke that had filled my last moments.

 

The sun was dipping below the horizon.

 

I stood there for a long time while looking out over the peaceful town I knew was destined to burn.

 

"I know you're there," I said looking at the growing darkness in the corner of the tower.

 

"Come out."

 

The shadows seemed to thicken.

 

From the darkness, a figure stepped forward.

 

They were wearing the same familiar black robes that had destroyed my life.

 

The cycle had begun again.