As Kepler’s vision focused, having now awoken, she saw her Satellite out on the ground in front of her, a safe distance away from her sleeping back. Her small lab set was set up with the legs anchored a few centimeters into the ground, just in case she kicked it in her sleep. Thankfully, her worry was unfounded. After Kepler put on her glasses, she saw that the compound she was working on the night before had finished synthesizing. Her eyes glowed behind the glasses as she read out the Status display that her protostar power gave her.
Celestinoponeratoxin Antidote
- Type: Antidote
- Description: Derived from the abdomen of a venomous ant-type Celestial, this medicine has the capacity to restore and heal those afflicted with Celestinoponeratoxin. Consume orally for best effect.
“Yes!” She whispered, pleased with her results.
She corked the vial of lavender liquid and sent her chemistry set into her soul cluster, where it would remain alone until the next time she needed to whip up something.
She crawled out of the tent, but only after very slowly unzipping it. The thought of quickly and loudly opening it, and waking up the other participants filled her with much more dread than killing a Celestial. When she got outside and looked around in the dimly lit spacious cave, she saw that there were a few people awake as well, milling around the campsite. One of them was Arden, who sat at the burnt out remains of the fire last night, tapping his foot with sweat pouring off his face.
“A-Arden?” She asked. When he didn't respond, she asked again. “Arden?”
This time he reacted. He snapped his head in Kepler’s direction and gave a weak smile.
“Oh, Kepler. Morning, I think.”
“Are you okay?”
“Not really,” he said. “I woke up a few hours ago from the pain. The numbing agent wore off. Please tell me the Antidote is done.”
“You've been enduring the pain of celestinoponeratoxin without anesthetic for a few hours?”
“Its not the worst pain I've felt,” he said with a shrug. “This is definitely up there though. Fire hurts less than this, somehow. In terms of physical pain, I think this is the worst. And it's been going on for hours.”
“Why didn't you wake me up if it hurt so much? I would have helped. I could have given you more anesthesia or been able to finish the antidote faster.”
“I'm aware. I just didn't want to wake you up. I'd feel guilty.”
For a moment, Kepler felt a kinship with Arden, like they were cut from the same cloth. She pulled out the antidote.
“It's ready,” she said, handing him the glass vial. “Drink it.”
When the numbing agent wore off, feeling was able to return to his arms. Mostly pain, but he could also move them as well, so he was able to accept Kepler’s concoction. As soon as he grabbed it, he uncooked it and splashed the liquid down his throat. He didn't even taste it, but he sure felt it.
Over the course of the next five minutes, Arden's pale skin regained color, and the anxious shaking in pain slowed until he was able to take a steady breath for the first time in four hours.
He never thought that the absence of a feeling could feel so enrapturing. For a moment, he wondered what felt better: pain dissolving after enduring it for several hours, or a night with Vera.
“Thank you,” he said with a heavy breath of relief.
“You're already looking a lot better.”
“I feel like it too.”
Arden stood up and stretched all of his limbs, comforted by a normal feeling that wasn't like his arms had been dipped in acid. After making sure that all of his digits were working as intended, he noticed that Kepler wasn't meeting his eyes.
“Are you alright?” He asked. “Are you still thinking about what happened? We told you it's fine.”
“J-just because y-you say that d-doesn't mean that it is.”
Arden sat back down with a sigh.
“I'll be honest, I'm not good with the comforting thing. I've only done it like once or twice, and I felt like I was saying stuff just to mollify the people, not actually comfort them. So how can we help you?”
“W-we?”
“Yeah. Me, Sya, and Vera. We're all a team, right?”
“Only until the end of the assessment…”
Arden leaned back and folded his newly healed arms. Just the act of being able to do so filled him with a joy that was able to counteract the mood.
“Do you want us to only be a team until the assessment ends?” Arden asked.
“D-does it matter what I think?” She asked, finally looking into Arden’s eyes.
When he saw Kepler’s eyes, he could see that they were trembling. Arden would never claim to be a psychoanalyst, but he could guess what was present in them. It wasn't something so simple as fear. It was doubt.
“Yes, it does. Even if we don't stay a team, you are part of it currently. Your input is important. This is a party, not an oligarchy.”
“Even if I'm the weakest?”
“Okay, two things,” Arden said, holding up two fingers. “One, strength is always a never-ending road. Just because you're weak now doesn't mean that you'll stay weak.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Kepler looked down.
“So I am weak…”
She yelped when Arden reached across and flicked her in the forehead. She rubbed where a welt was forming.
“What was that for!?” She whisper-hissed.
“To get you to focus. I just told you that weakness is temporary. I guarantee you that everyone who you think is strong begins weak. They did not leave the womb clutching a dumbbell. At least for their mothers’ sake, I hope not.”
Kepler giggled softly at his words.
“I’m going to assume that you think that me, Vera, and Sya are strong.”
“Right.”
“I can’t speak for Vera, because we’ve only known her for a few months, but do you know what Sya and I were like a few months back?”
She shook her head.
“I was the punching bag of the local gangster. He loved how the Status would heal people faster, and take advantage of that to inflict even worse pain. At the same time, Sya was terminally ill. So we weren’t exactly given a loaded deck in the game of life.”
“You’ve come this far in a few months?”
“Yeah. And we started at the bottom. Especially Sya. She’s only been a Starborn for half the time me and Vera have been.You’re smart enough to work with medicine and poisons; you should be able to figure out why I’m telling you this.”
“Where I am doesn’t define where I’ll be.”
“Right. It’s only a starting point.”
“What was the second thing?” Kepler asked.
“I’m sorry?”
“You said there were two things. The first was what we just talked about.”
“Oh, right. Strength is cool and all, but it's not necessary. Not a lot of Starborn are good at fighting, even if they are under the warrior label. Take healers for example. Their combat ability is pretty damn low, but they have other roles to fill.”
“K-keeping their team alive.”
“Right. And it's different depending on a Starborn’s power. Truthseekers are Starborn, but their whole thing is discerning truth from lies. If you don’t want to stand out on the frontlines, that is completely fine.”
Arden recalled the conversation he had with the Status administrator before his trial. It had called him and every other Starborn that would rather fight monsters than being a wage slave an insane idiot.
“What is it that you want to do with your powers?” he asked the anxious girl. “Vera wants to spite her family. Sya and I just like having fun now that we’ve finally gotten a chance to have some fun. Training and fighting Celestials is almost addictive to freaks like us.”
“What I want to do with my powers?”
“Yeah. You don’t need a lofty goal either. Money or recognition is enough. If you don’t have a long-term goal, then it's also fine to just live in the moment. That’s partially why Sya and I are like how we are.”
Kepler sat in silence for close to a minute as she collected her thoughts. For a moment, Arden thought that he said something to upset the alchemist, right up until she spoke again, this time with no anxiety.
“...My mother left my father shortly after I was born. He remarried when I was nine, and they had a child together. After my little brother was born, I was treated like a ghost. All of a sudden, the family consisted of my dad, my new mom, and my brother. I was jealous of my brother, but I couldn’t bring myself to hate him. He was the only one that treated me like a person. I wanted to be successful, so I started studying medicine. I was happy when a Golden Stargate appeared one afternoon when I was alone with my brother. He wished me luck, and I thought that the rest of my family would have to start paying attention to me once I became a Starborn.”
Kepler’s hands balled into fists on her legs as tears fell from her face.
“I was only in there for a few days, but it was enough for the dream to fall apart. When I came back as a Starborn, only my brother was happy. My parents were more surprised than anything else.”
Veins bulged on her face as anger surged through her.
“In the two days I was gone, my parents had already gotten rid of all of the stuff in my room. I meant nothing to them. They had so little belief that I would come back alive that they already got rid of everything. They saw my possible death as an opportunity first and foremost. They were more disappointed that they had to give my room back than the fact that I came back alive after walking between worlds!”
“That’s…awful…” was all Arden could say.
“They wrote me off as dead immediately. I saw then how little I actually mattered to them. They had no belief in me. I would never live up to their expectations because they had no expectations of me at all. That was when I realized that my dream of getting attention from them was hopeless.”
“So what did you do?”
“I left. I realized that they didn't care if I was dead or alive. So I ran away. I left two notes, one was for my brother. I told him that I loved him, and explained to him why I was leaving. The other was addressed to my parents. I dissolved all of the stuff that they put in my room with a concoction that I made in my trial. Their note was short. ‘Do you care yet?’”
“Fitting. How long have you been a runaway?”
“F-four days,” Kepler said, her stalwart facade crumbling after having finished retelling her trauma. “A-as soon as I l-left, I signed up for the assessment.”
“So you're like, just now a Starborn. You haven't even been one for a week.”
“I don't need recognition from my parents anymore. I just want a place where I belong.”
Arden chuckled softly.
“It's a good thing you found us then. I doubt there's another party of Starborn as accepting as us. We don't care where you come from. We're weird. But we try to enjoy our new lives as Starborn as much as possible.”
“Even if you get doused in poison?”
“I said try, we're not always successful, I'll admit, but danger comes with the territory. I've been set on fire five times already. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Bear in mind, our group is unique, so if you actually stick with us, you'll see some wild shit. If you want to be able to stand beside us, I can teach you a thing or two if you're willing.”
“Y-you’d do that for me?”
“If you want to,” Arden nodded.
“Please teach me!”
Arden gestured to an empty part of the campsite, untouched by people. It would make the best place for some training.
“Head over there. I'll be right over as well. I need to do something first.”
“Okay!”
When Kepler sprinted away, Arden sighed as he watched her. He felt the approach of two red-tier auras and asked them a question.
“How is it that there are no happy backstories?”
“Beats me,” Sya said. “You feeling better?”
“Definitely. How much of that did you hear?
“Pretty much all of it,” Vera said.
“I can't believe her parents treated her like that,” Sya said with a scowl. “I want to do some mundane abuse.”
“You want her to come with us?” Vera asked.
“Absolutely.”
“We still need a team name,” Sya noted.
“In due time,” Arden said, getting to his feet.
“Are you actually going to teach her?” Vera asked. “It's a lot harder to teach than it is to learn. Why do you think teachers need licenses?”
“I still want to help her,” Arden said. “Even if I'm not a great teacher, I'm sure she will see some improvement. Plus, I'm not giving her the Vera Special. I just want her to hold her own against weak red-tiers. She wants a place to belong. If that place is with us, she needs to at least not be a liability.”
“Do you need help with the training?” Vera offered.
“I’m going to say no. I don't think her body can withstand one of your sessions.”
“You say that like your body can,” Vera said, licking her lips with a sultry expression.
“Alright, enough,” Sya said. “I know you two couldn't sleep with each other last night, and won't be able for the next several days, but that's no reason for you to long for each other so openly in front of me. Arden, go train with Kepler. Vera, you can come with me to prepare some food for them when they're done.”
“Are you going to give her some meat?” Arden asked, turning away. “That's my job.”
“Strike two. If there's a strike three, you won't be given any for the rest of the assessment.”
“I don't want to starve.”
“Then go train.”