Summoner of the Stars |
Issue 6
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"So what’s the catch?" I asked. I remember those words so long ago, and yet I should have read all the rules, and I didn't instead I was careless, reckless, and stupid all because I wanted to turn back time. Now time is destroyed. How did I end up destroying time? How did one become one with the stars?
I remember I woke up in my normal place on my desk surrounded by a cluster of books and papers scattered around like clothing in a teenager's room. The room was dark and dank, giving me the same impression of dread. The air smelled like the bog I came from. Sour like pickles, but bitter like fresh coffee. I stood up and opened the window to see the kingdom surrounding me as I rub my eyes. The light shines on my burning pupils and I groan. I turn around and I see, The king, an old graying man that walked with a cane, looking at me with a nod as I nod back to him. I must get to work. My body aching from the spells I’d performed nearly exhausted me. I hop over to my desk and swivel into my seat, I lay my hand on my cheek and sigh. I had only wished I could have a more exciting life but I was just sequestered in my seat. I was just doing what was requested of the king with nowhere to go and nobody to see. It’d be a big honor for a large Saddleback Toad to work for the king. I was the first of my kind. The epiphany that I was there for my race and not my ability hit me well early into the job. I was the only Toad on his staff and he tried treating me extra special, all needs were met, though I knew he was not a pleasant guy toward others. Sadly, I don’t have a job for shit, it’s not exciting, it’s not fun, and it’s not thrilling. I just sit and wait to be told what to do. The only highlight is I have a place to sleep and food to eat. I always hear the laughter of fellow adventurers and warriors pass by as they talk about their quests. I’d mutter in anger while reciting a book I’d already memorized. One day as I was chanting, I suddenly sighed, stopping myself then from my chants. Then a thought grew in my head: there was a spell. I was told to never use it. No ordinary being knew of it, only wizards knew it. I hop up to the top of a dusty shelf and grab a weathered paperback book. It was beaten up and damaged like it had been taken with a baseball bat. The pages were thinner than hair and the ink faded. I gently opened it as dust made a mushroom cloud on my face. I slowly turn the pages with my sticky mucus hands smearing the ink. I gag and then sniffle from the collection of dust. I sometimes ruin the pages by ripping them or getting them wet, making the old ink get on my hand. I arrived at the page “Go back in time,” So, What’s the catch? I thought as I read the spells' Adverse effects. “Adverse effects: 1. If you change the past you’ll become one with the stars, 2. Change the passage of time, 3…”. I kept reading the list, which lasted far too long as I grew bored. I yawned and sat in my seat. Holding my hand in the air. Finally, I started reciting the chant, stood up, and raised my other hand in the air. I stopped. Did I want to do this? I look back as I hear laughter, happiness, and freedom. I took a deep breath. I was stable here, I was safe here, but I was unhappy. My mind was made. I recite the chant. “Take me to the time I know. Take me to the time I see. Take me for a time. I wish to BE.” I feel the earth beneath me quake, the ground shake, and the world around me disappear before my eyes, as I see the arms of a strange being grabbed me and pull me into a dark void, as it opens wider and wider. More arms of different kinds from humanoid, tendrils, crab-like, and various other monsters grab objects from within my realm and take them, sucking me within. I hear a monster’s blood-curdling scream as the world gets consumed before my eyes. I turn to see a beast with billions of floating blood-red eyes, a fanged toothy smile, and a black headless body, with four tentacle arms; that morphed into human hands and human-like legs, covered in white hairs. He bends down toward me and darts at me. “Hello,” he said, his voice high and a raspy chuckle that echoed loudly in my tiny ear holes. I covered my ears as I felt the vibrations and ringing of his voice pound my head. My head swirls as the stars around me come back into play; they were real stars. Real nebula, real cosmos, Scattered like child food on a dinner plate. “Sorry kiddo,” he said, interrupting my train of thought and softening his voice. He stands back up and looks down at me still smiling wildly, twitching with a jolt in his shoulders. He spoke again “The name The Summoner, Summoner of the stars, I take care of all things dealing with past, present, future, and alternate realities. How can I help you,” I looked up at him as he looked at me. My first question was why was his name Summoner of the Stars, but I knew I didn’t have time for questions. I had a mission. “I,” I stumbled as he smiled widely at me. “I want to turn back time, I hate my job, I hate my life, I want to tell my past self to live a life of adventure.” I replied “Is that so.” he replied slyly. His demeanor suddenly changed as he then replied quickly, “Welp as long as you're aware of the risk I can’t stop you,” he said. He snapped his top left fingers and like that my vision goes black, I woke up in my old room with toys scattered across my floor. I was my old self. I look in the mirror of my pinewood dresser and see a reflection. There I see a young toad brown and yellow covered in dark brown and black spots. I look at my face seeing the acne and clean shave before I was forced to wear the old wise beard. I smile, today’s the day I decided on my career. Wosh, I turned around and I thought I’d seen someone else from behind me for a moment, they rushed for the closet as I slammed it open and I saw myself, I stepped back in shock and was taken aback but the panic and fear he had on his face, blood, and guts covering his body he quivered when he held the cape of a fallen warrior as he spoke. “Don’t do this, adventure is murder, adventure is death, adventure is the demise” he croaked. As he lay shaken I held my hand to conduct a spell but I had not learned magic. Frantically in a panic, I look at my future self and back to myself. Scared at the man I’d know I’d become. I go over to console him then another voice comes from the background. “Stop!” It was me. His body was shackled and chained. He reached out for me the rattling of the chains reverberated in my ears as he pleaded for me to live a life of adventure. Like that, another toad appeared then another popped into existence as we all began to talk. Finally, the ground shakes, and I fall back into the monstery void, hands grabbing me and pulling me into starry light rooms there, the same man, The summoner of stars. “You outdid yourself, sure did, you kiddo,” he said mockingly slowly clapping. “Truly outdid yourself,” He said more sternly. I hear a laugh that grows louder and louder like an amplifier and magnifies the room. It rattled and shook as if he was a maraca at a large stadium. The Summoner of Stars begins to show several versions of himself floating in midair like he cast a spell using a power vortex in his center aiming it for me. I try to run but I’m held down by his giant squid-like tendrils that squeeze tighter as I jerk. I feel myself begin to squirm but there is no use, my heart is racing, and my body shakes, I feel my lungs lose air as the tendril grabs onto my vital organs pressing tight and The Summoner of the Stars says. “NOW YOU MUST BECOME ONE WITH THE STARS” he yells, lifting his hands in the air and casting a light ball down on me. The summoner of stars throws it and I see the light swallow me whole as it gets brighter and brighter for a moment I go blind. I wake up in the cluster of stars forever floating. A flurry of lights. Forever living with my mistakes. and from time to time the Summoner of the Star will remind me that I should have read everything before doing a spell, or to remember to understand the consequence of my actions. I was stunned. I stepped back in shock and was taken aback but the panic and fear he had on his face, blood, and guts covering his body he quivered when he held the cape of a fallen warrior as he spoke. “Don’t do this, adventure is murder, adventure is death, adventure is the demise” he croaked. As he lay shaken I held my hand to conduct a spell but I had not learned magic. Frantically in a panic, I look at my future self and back to myself. Scared at the man I’d know I’d become. I go over to console him then another voice comes from the background. “Stop!” It was me. His body was shackled and chained. He reached out for me the rattling of the chains reverberated in my ears as he pleaded for me to live a life of adventure. Like that, another toad appeared then another popped into existence as we all began to talk. Finally, the ground shakes, and I fall back into the monstery void, hand grabs me and pulls me into starry light rooms there, the same man, The summoner of stars. “You outdid yourself, sure did, you kiddo,” he said mockingly slowly clapping. “Truly outdid yourself,” He said more sternly. I hear a laugh that grows louder and louder like an amplifier and magnifies the room rattles as if he shook it like a maraca. The Summoner of Stars begins to show several versions of himself floating in midair like he cast a spell using a power vortex in his center aiming it for me. I try to run but I’m held down by his giant squid-like tendrils that squeeze tighter as I jerk. I feel myself begin to squirm but there is no use, my heart is racing, and my body shakes, I feel my lungs lose air as the tendril grabs onto my vital organs pressing tight and The Summoner of the Stars says. “NOW YOU MUST BECOME ONE WITH THE STARS” he yells, lifting his hands in the air and casting a light ball down on me. The summoner of stars throws it and I see the light swallow me whole as it gets brighter and brighter, and for a moment I go blind. I wake up in the cluster of stars forever floating. Forever living with my mistakes. |
GABRIELLA WILLIAMS won 2nd Place of the Fiction Writing Contest. Gabriella writeS for fun. She lives right off the coast of Maine, and travels across the east coast United States writing fictional stories.
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