Grandmother Lyndzei was not asleep. Trees don’t really sleep in any realm, not even the magical ones. But Amerie didn’t know that. Lyndzei felt terrible for tricking her, but there was something about the child she had to be sure of before she divulged any more information.
She watched with one wooden eye open to see how Amerie reacted in this situation, or rather how the realm reacted to her. She winced as she saw Amerie try to fall backwards. Poor thing, she thought. Good try, but that’s not the way you go about it. Lyndzei felt even worse when she saw Amerie start to cry. She was just about to pretend to wake up, when something remarkable happened.
A trail of stardust gently floated down to Amerie, circling her in shimmering dust. Amerie looked up, astounded. The tears in her eyes reflected the golden light swirling all around her, as if she was surrounded by a cyclone of stars. It was a glorious sight to behold.
Even Grandmother Lyndzei caught her breath, and could no longer pretend to snore. It was nothing like she had ever seen before. She had heard the whispers amongst the other Gateway Guardians that the missing Seeing Stone had sung a prophecy:
“At the tears of the unlost child
See the descent of starlight.
This child is marked saviour
Of all realms children’s plight.”
“Grandma Lyndzei! Grandma Lyndzei! Is this what you meant by the enchantment of the stars?! So this is normal in the star realm?!” Amerie gasped. Grandmother Lyndzei realised Amerie had noticed she was awake and gave a hesitant smile.
Amerie was enthralled. The starlight touched the part of her head that had formed a bump and soon it throbbed no longer. It even lightly tossed fruits and berries into Amerie’s lap, like it could sense her hunger. Though Amerie had initially been suspicious of the stars, she couldn’t deny the fact that they made her feel so blissful and warm. The light of the stardust felt like spring, when the warmth of the sun caressed her face, awakening after the cold winter.
“Please tell me everything you know about the star realm! I take back what I said before, it seems wonderful.” Amerie cried.
Grandmother Lyndzei promised that she would, but unbeknownst to Amerie, she already may have told her a little white lie. The starlight shower Amerie had received was not normal. To her knowledge, nothing like this had ever happened before. The stars were very private beings and looked after the star realm from a distance. The fact that they had shared themselves like this was not only mere kindness, but a sign. A sign that Amerie was special. A sign that she was the ‘marked saviour’?
It was something that Lyndzei hoped and dreaded at the same time. Hoped, because she in her ancient roots could feel that something evil and cruel was stirring in the realm and a saviour was desperately needed. Dreaded, because she had watched Amerie grow up. She loved her and wanted no harm to come to her. She didn’t want her shoulders to be burdened with a fight between good and evil. Lyndzei could not control the fact that this was Amerie’s destiny, but Lyndzei could control when Amerie found out that it was.
Her wisdom guided her not to tell Amerie anything about the prophecy. Lyndzei remembered the child who had been crying less than five minutes ago because she was hurt and hungry. If Lyndzei told Amerie the prophecy now, Amerie would be overwhelmed and perhaps her courage would fail her.
No, Lyndzei thought, I will not allow her well-being to be sacrificed for someone else’s battle. I will nurture her spirit, and when the time comes, she will be strong enough to make the right choice.
“Now then, Amerie, listen. The star realm is a magical realm, which can be accessed through star spots.”
“Star spots?”
“Yes. These are forged whenever a very special connection is made between humans in nature and the stars in the sky. When many human beings have an intense feeling of awe when they look up at stars, sometimes they feel so strongly they willingly (but unknowingly) give a piece of their souls to the stars. If the souls are sincere, the stars accept and allow a unique star spot to form in that location.”
“So that means, here in this clearing, generations of people looked up at the stars and formed a relationship with them?” Amerie asked.
“Precisely. Common star spots include places near observatories, or beaches and cliffs. They can exist anywhere in the world.”
“But how do you pass into them? I thought it might be that you get in and out by falling backwards, but that didn’t seem to work when I tried to get out earlier.” Amerie reached up to feel the bump on her head, but then remembered it was gone and snatched her hand back down.
“Ah,” Grandmother Lyndzei smiled knowingly, “You were right about the first part. The way you do get into the star realm through a star spot is falling backwards. But as I’m sure you’ve noticed already, things are a bit in reverse in the star realm. As you pointed out already, the Earth-Sun is not where it would normally be.”
Amerie nodded.
“So Amerie, if you want to get out of the star realm, you actually have to fall forwards.”
“Oh, I see! But in the star realm, am I still on Earth?”
“Yes, in a manner of speaking. This forest is identical to the forest in the normal realm, just with a different ‘filter’ in a sense. But whilst inside the star realm, you can only move within the location of the star spot. So if you wanted to go home, first you would have to fall out of the star spot, and then travel back home.”
“But what if someone accidentally falls in the star spot, and doesn’t know how to get out?”
“Oh, that’s expected. To help the lost people, each star spot has a Gateway Guardian who -”
But Grandmother Lyndzei had stopped here, because Amerie had shuddered and taken a step back. At the word ‘lost’ Amerie had remembered Miss Crystal shattering into a cruel witch.
“Amerie, whatever is the matter?”
“I can’t believe that horrid woman was a Gateway Guardian!” Amerie burst out with emotion.
“What do you mean?”
“That dreadful witch who asked me if I was lost and then basically exploded at my face because I said no. Why do you look so worried?”
“Because Amerie, the only Gateway Guardian of this star spot,” Grandmother Lyndzei said with a concerned glance, “is me.”
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