The Star

I have seen the end of all things.
Black smoke escaped past my charred lips, and I could feel my scorched lungs crackle within me. Embers flitted around my blurry vision as I lay prone. Agony wracked me, though my voice was lost. Achingly and sluggishly I tried to raise my head. My skin split and protested, popping blisters and opening wounds. Somehow, I could still feel every nerve as it cried out in horror at the ruin of my body.
My boots were melted to my feet and the leather of what had been gloves to my hands. What had once been a fashionable yet practical coat was now blackened and ashen. It too had been fused somewhat to what of my skin remained.
Around me, my home, my husband, my friends, my city. It burned. The beautiful blue stone towers that had once stood proudly were now nothing more than slag. There was nothing left. Nothing except for myself.
Miraculously, impossibly, I was alive.
Inspecting myself, I saw spots of blood blossoming all about my body. In several spots, I could see bone, as my skin had been taken from me.
In agony, I pulled myself from the cobbles and gripped my sword as tight as my fingers would allow. While there was nothing of my home that remained, I was still an Honor Guard. I will defend these ashes and ruins. That alone was all I could cling to. What purpose could I have now?
Ahead of me was a creature the likes of which a man such as myself had never seen.
A latticework of bones thinly covered in flesh spun in an orb floated before my eyes. The thing wielded five thick tentacles, each pointed straight away from itself as if it were a star. Greasy brown hair bristled out from under the body of the creature, and from here these tentacles protruded. Inside the cage of its body, a brilliant green energy burned.
It spun slowly, just as it had as when it came the night before.
We had inspected it, tried communicating with it. And its only answer had been destruction. The annihilation of everything. Like an exploding star.
Almost everything.
Defiantly, I raised my weapon, and the steel of the blade hung red and limp. After a moment, it gave way to gravity and I was left with nothing but the hilt.
Even still though fate had gifted me a small glob of molten metal to fight with. I vowed to my gods that even with such a meager weapon I would serve them.
I must destroy this monster.
Under my boots, I heard the snap and pop of the bones of my neighbors and friends. I didn’t think of who they may be. Such an answer in this moment would be nothing more than another wound. If it had been the man I loved, I had no doubts whatever force had preserved my life would give out.
The Star still spun, as if watching my approach. No plan had entered my mind, and I’m sure the creature could sense this. What threat could a walking husk pose? I was insignificant to its power. I prayed to any god that would listen as I was shadowed by the creature’s power.
As I grew closer to it fear began to take hold of my heart. Pumping my boiled blood, each heart beat flaked bits of my broken skin away. Standing under its massive form, I raised what was left of my sword and shouted. There was no words, only a whispered groan. It was not much of a battle cry, but it was all I had.
In answer, the Star flooded the air once more with its radiance and my sight ended. Around me, I could feel the very elements that composed the universe being blasted into oblivion. So certain was this destruction I was sure this must be death.
Yet I still felt pain. I felt the pain of my body and the pain in my heart. I could feel pieces of myself falling away, what was left of my clothes incinerated. I could feel the blood that had once been inside my veins evaporate the vapor edging against my bones.
And I still stood.
Sight returned to me, and there was nothing. What had been left of my city was now glass. No more were ruins or burned bodies. No more were the signs of the vibrant lives under the blue towers. There was nothing. Nothing but myself and the vile creature. A skeleton and a horror.
My bones curled upwards, the flaky fingers curved in desperation. Above the glass surface on which I stood, the Star gazed down. Silhouetted by smoke and feeble light, I felt the awe of its terrible might as I stared into its light.
It's five arms struck down and grabbed me, losing their intense stiffness as they encased me. In the grasp of the monster, I met pure and true terror. Any thoughts on prayer to my faiths and sorrows of my loss had fled my mind. In the clutches of the Star, I only knew the certainty of death. How constantly by death we are all surrounded. From the smallest bacterium to the ones I love, it all ends. And I have known this. I have always known this. But still, the Star bequeaths this lesson onto me and the horrifying revelation. Everything will die, but I will not.
I have been abandoned. I have been lost. And there is nothing in the universe that will reach out to claim me. But there was only one that would love and accept me now. All that would have me now is the creature that swaddled me lovingly. As if I were a child.
The daunting grip of the thing released me, and I saw the sky. No longer was it ablaze. No, instead I saw all of the eternity of everything stretched before me. Endless stars and nebula littered my vision and imposing before it all was the Star. Below me was what I could only assume to be my home, the world I had once known. Now it was like a marble, as I could see straight through it, and the ribbons of material that laced it. As beautiful as it was, I felt a despairing heartbreak.
On my skull, I felt the tender touch of the Star and a query.
Will you accept this freedom?
What other choice did I have? I was left with nothing. All I could do was accept.
Upon my nod of confirmation, the Star grew more tendrils from its grimy mane. These were sinewy and black, and at the end of each was a single eye. Every one of them bore into my very being as if they could see the soul contained within my skeleton.
The eyes wrapped about me, entwining my bones and leaving secretions. In fascination, I observed as the tentacles broke from the creature and became my body. With each appendage that left the body of the Star, the creature seemed to wilt. The light within it that had once promised Armageddon was now dimming to little more than a flicker. It’s mighty five arms began to crumble and crack. What had been the weaving of bone and meat was now imploding upon itself.
With each second, it became less and I became more. No longer was I made of flesh. No longer was I a man. I was something more.
I was a child. I was infinite. I was a Star.