Eastar looked at his father, who nodded to him, they both looked at Earth. The commander chose where they would get down.
— We'll go to the Sirion Kingdom, they do not accept human there, but stellars were their ancestors, so, we'll be deal with honor. Moreover, who governs is the descendant of a great friend .
— Sure, sure. Can be. — The boy barely listened, just wanted to get to the planet right away.
— So let's go. I already explained how to do it, right?
— Yes, focus my energy on the point I want to reach. Empty my mind of shape. Feel the beams of energy, and force me into them. — He spread his arms and smiled.
— Yeah, but you'll understand it's a little harder to do. Very well, follow me!
The star's body began to shine, short lines of yellow light began to leave his body toward the planet, he began to lose shape, and his body was turning in a beam of light, suddenly, he started to get down with an immense speed, frightening Eastar.
He shook his head and hurried to imitate his father, emptied his mind and focused on the point where he was going down, following his father's trail of light. He only saw his body tingle and saw the beams of blue light coming from her belly, saw her arms and legs disintegrate and join the beams.
The sight was so strange that it deconcentrated him for a second, and an ache punctuated where his left foot would be, he forced himself to concentrate again and was suddenly in a crazy falling, faster than anything he had ever seen.
"Not even my mother could reach that speed" was what he thought when he suddenly saw only green in front of him. Then he stopped, following his father's advice to imagine his shape coming back and an opposite flow of energy pushing upwards instead of downwards, but it was too late.
He felt the impact and taste of earth, felt the pain coursing through his body, especially his foot. Was lying facedown in a large hole that he had apparently created.
Tried to turn around and lie on his back. A laugh came from your right. Growled while the face of his father enter in his field of vision.
— Did you understand what I said?
— Yes, this is worse than a double training session with you. — He moaned, brushing his hair out of his mouth and eyes, his father watching the effort at the crater rim. — I bet Mom must be laughing at me too.
— I doubt she saw it, she's so busy with these little trouble beasts of the east that I highly doubt she'll see anything we do. — He sat on the edge of the hole, crossing his legs. — Probably when I get back, she'll ask why we haven't come down yet.
He looked at his son lying on the floor, knocking his gray clothes off the ground, that overalls were already over, but the boy refused to dress like his father.
Aros himself preferred to keep up with the traditional armor of the celestial soldiers, with sturdy plates with hard and other malleable parts, differentiated by the hardening process of the thickened dust. In his case, a mixture of purple and orange took over the armor.
— And now? — Asked the boy, who felt lost now he was there.
— Now get out of that fucking hole!
Eastar tried start to climb where his father was and felt locked, turned his head, moved his arms, but was still lying on the floor, standing still.
— Of course, how stupid of me. — The commander slapped his forehead. — You have to stand here. Gravity does not allow us to slide, and try to fix you in the floor. — Seeing his son's look of confusion, he rolled his eyes and walked down the side of the hole. — Just think that you have to lift yourself on both legs.
— Oh… all right.
Eastar threw himself aside, then facedown, and his face filled with dirt. He grunted something incomprehensible from his capped mouth.
— What? — His father asked, confused.
He braced his hands on the earth, lifting his upper body.
— I said: Bad idea.
The boy looked down, saw his legs outstretched and began to bend them, with a small smile, he fixed one foot and then gave a slight upward thrust. This caused him to rise a few inches off the ground and then stand up.
— Ra, very ea... — He swung his arms around as he fell backwards, banging his head on the floor. — easy.
— It makes you ready for the second lesson. — Aros held up a finger. — Balance. It is not enough to lift the body, it has to keep it upright while moving.
— Okay, okay. Already understood.
This time, more calmly, Eastar got to his feet, fixing them right in the hole. From above, Aros laughed.
— Great, now go up.
The young star crossed his arms and faced his father.
— That way, brat. — The commander stood up and began to mimic someone climbing. — Hands and feet. And then walk. Like this. — Imitated someone walking.
The boy nodded, like a student listening to a very important lesson from the teacher, and began to imitate his father's movements. He leaned forward, grabbed the edges of the hole and hoisted himself out of it, lying on the grass. He got up faster this time and staggered .
His left foot hurt and he looked down, finally realizing that his little finger was pointing up.
— How wonderful…
He bent down and turned his finger in place, gritting his teeth with pain. Unlike humans, the star had no bones or internal organ, but a dense liquid energy layer — or stellar blood — just below the skin cover maintained control of the internal energy flow, fold it in regions that should not bore a pain much like twisting or breaking a bone.
Finally he rose again, his feet firm.
— It is not so difficult. — Said as started walking. The pain in the foot gradually diminished as the energy flow returned.
Aros followed as the boy hurried step and gave small hops until stopped with the hands in his waist, smiling at him.
The commander rolled his eyes and went to his son.
— Now let's go to Londrian, get some food and drink. This is the most important thing to do every time you reach Earth.
— Why?
— You 'll understand quickly. — He said.
Which led Eastar to scowl at the unnecessary mystery.
They walked trough the clearing and entered a area surouded by trees with a small track. Following the trail for a while, it was possible to see a white bridge, wide so that a dozen men could cross side by side, it cut a river and overlooked a large gate of a city, still covered by trees, which didn't allow Eastar to admire them right
The young star followed in his father's footsteps, still feeling his whole body aching and the taste of earth in his mouth, that was a funny feeling because he had never eaten anything. Stars lived on their own energy, they didn't need to feed, breathe, or anything else needed by humans.
As they walked, the boy marveled at the beauty of everything, the thick trunks of the trees, the mulch their branches made on top of their heads, the colorful flowers. It was wonderful to look at it so closely, it was so different, so clear and colorful.
He shifted his eyes to the city towers he saw above the trees, and tried to see beyond, into the distant mountains behind her, and realized that he couldn't.
— Dad, I think the fall made me hit my head very hard, or this city is too far away, because it is my limit of vision.
The boy regretted saying that as soon as the words came out of his mouth, his father looked at him with a smile, lifted a finger and began to recite:
— It's the planet fault, all our senses become less acute here. Unlike space, there's a lot of matter on this place, molecules, physical laws... — He lowered his finger and crossed his arms. — all this bullshit your mother could explain very well, but I can't explain it to you, that never interested me much. — He shrugged and continued: — We still have sharper senses than humans, so just get used to it.
They reached the bridge, and Aros thought his son's chin would hit the ground.
Finally the city were in plain sight, a huge gate was on the front of the bridge, was at least ten meters high and fifteen people Aros size would be able to walk through it side by side, was of black wood, tracks golden horizontals cut through him with carvings of battle and hunting — Eastar could have sworn that was his father in one of those images.
Around the gate, an even higher white wall stretched in both directions. Behind the great wall they could see that the three towers belonged to a white castle.