Power From the Stars

Fulgor and Miles were on the courtyard of the school, walking and talking in their free time.

“Next time I will win.”

Miles was already tired of hearing this.

“You always say that and you always lose.”

“He probably cheats, that is no other way.”

This conversation went longer than Miles would like, until Fulgor saw other thing to distract him.

Lapis was playing volleyball with some of her friends. The girl was expert in any kind of sport, being better than both Fulgor and Auron. Against Lapis, Fulgor did not care about winning, he just wanted to be close to her.

“Isn’t she the best?” Asked Fulgor drooling.

“I prefer Barb if I am being honest.”

“Barb? But she is evil!”

“You just say that because you always get in trouble and she scolds you.”

Barb was also playing volleyball with the girls; she was taller than Lapis and had long blond hair. She was serious all the time and Fulgor feared approaching her.

“Who cares, it is not like we would ever talk to them in a romantic way.” Said Miles defeatist.

“How can you say that! Ok, I have decided, today is the day I will declare my love to Lapis, that you inspire you to do the same with Barb, even if I think she is evil I support your bad decisions.”

A long sigh came from Miles, he remembered that Fulgor said a similar thing last week and did nothing about it, so he did not expect any progress.

Before Fulgor could act, Auron approached the volley circle, carrying a bouquet. All the students stopped to see what he would do. For the surprise of everyone, he kneeled in front of Lapis.

“My beautiful Lapis, you are the prettiest girl in the whole school, no! In the Whole world. Please accept this flower I bought with all my heart.”

The girl froze as all the students watched in a deadly silence. Fulgor felt rage growing inside him and an enormous fear of what she would answer. This could be the biggest defeat of Fulgor yet.

“Thanks, Auron, but I don’t think I can reciprocate your feelings… Sorry.”

The world shattered around Auron, feeling all the stares judging him, by the same time Fulgor never felt more relieved.

“What was that, Auron? I did not know you liked boys.”

A new boy approached, the same age as the others. He had curly red hair and an evil grim on his face.

Auron was too shocked to answer, but Lapis was clearly affected by the words.

“I’m not… a boy.” Lapis’ answer was shy, something not very common to her.

“Really, so why don’t you dress or act like a girl?” Enger, the boy who was bullying Lapis, laughed at his own words.

Sparks started flowing from Fulgor’s body. He was ready to throw a lightning bolt at Enger when Barb interfered.

“Leave her alone Enger, you are just jealous that you will never be with a girl as cute as Lapis.”

The bully continued to laugh.

“I will never want to be with someone who looks like a guy.”

The laughs of the boy stopped, being replaced by screens. For a second no one understood but then everybody saw his hair on fire.

Enger ran, looking for a place to extinguish the flames as Kazen arrived, dispersing the crowd.

“You have to return to your classes now. Go!”

Most of the kids obeyed. Kazen approached Lapis, now far away for everyone to hear their conversation.

“Are you alright?”

Lapis was not looking sad, she was just introspective, like her brain was preventing her from understanding her truth.

“You know, there are people in this world that don’t have love, Lapis. This is the origin of most hate. You need to know that you are who you are, and that is great. No matter how you dress or how you act, there is nothing to be ashamed of.”

Her gaze met Kazen’s and he saw there was something trying to get out however, whatever that was, it was buried deep.

“I like my hair and my clothes and to play sports.” Said she without energy.

“That is great!. You just have to be truthful to yourself and everything will be fine. Sometimes it is hard to ignore the others, but you have to remember that love can shield you from hate.”

“Wow, who would guess you could be this deep.”

Fulgor and Auron arrived in the conversation, both showing embarrassment for their own reasons.

“I am very deep, ok?”

Ignoring Kazen, Auron began to talk.

“This changes nothing, if you need anything, Lapis, you can count on me.”

“Me too! I am your friend after all.”

Lapis smiled at her friends, trying to return to her natural self, even if it was just an act.

“Of course! After all, we still have to protect the stars!”

The assistant teacher looked suspicious to what they were talking about.

“What stars?”

It was Auron who answered.

“My family had this for generations, I think it is the same for Lapis, but Fulgor probably stole his. Apparently, it is something very powerful, it is dangerous even trying to use them.”

The trio took small objects in the shape of stars emitting a faint light, Fulgor’s was yellow, Auron’s was sky blue and Lapis’s was a deep brown.

In the instant Kazen saw the objects he fell to the ground with winded eyes.

“Why do you have this?”

“My father found it on an excavation, the rest is like Auron said, it was in their families.” Answered Fulgor ignoring Auron’s comment.

The group knew the stars were important, however Kazen’s reaction made them more anxious.

“Those are the Elemental Stars. I have seen some in the past. Every elemental will come after you to get these. With this you might even surpass my power.”

The idea was exciting to Fulgor, but Auron was thinking about the other part of the speech.

“But only a wind elemental can use my star, the same is true for the others and their elements.”

“Yeah, but this won’t stop people trying to get more power. This is way more serious than I thought.”

Lapis was looking at her stars, trying to understand how something so small could be so dangerous.

“What are these?”

Now, sitting on the floor, Kazen tried to explain.

“As far as I know they are fragments of an elemental meteor that came to earth a long time ago. Some say that this was what extinct the dinosaurs. Anyway, I don’t know the science behind it, but the energy on these things is infinite. This power can destroy your body, but if you harness it right, no one will be able to defeat you.

Suddenly the weight of the stars grew and grew, as the trio felt they were carrying a bomb, without knowing how to disarm it.