"Oh!" Sothis remembered, "I forgot to show you your siblings!"
"Show me," I asked, standing up, legs shaking.
Sothis placed his palm over my forehead, and I was instantly transported somewhere underground. I was in a large area within a cave that had many diverging paths. It looked like the area I was in had been the center. Several meters ahead of me was a platform with several stairs leading up to it. The most intriguing part was what had been on the platform. A sizable crystalline barrier of sorts floated a couple inches off the platform. It glowed a bright blue, but it occasionally flashed red or yellow.
In the barrier were my siblings, Kaleb and Katie, who were both in a fetal position.
'They're fine in there; I had to get them before you got chased,' Sothis explained, his voice ringing within my skull.
So Sothis could use telepathy, too?
I walked to the large crystal, wanting to get a closer look.
"Wait, Comet. You can get close, but make sure not to touch it," Sothis warned me, "It could break the barrier."
"Alright," I assured Sothis, only getting a closer look.
They looked so… At peace.
I stared at the barrier for a while in silence until Sothis intervened.
"Alright, let's catch you up on your constellations," Sothis announced.
"Alright." I agreed, still looking at my siblings.
I wanted to hug them one last time.
In an instant, my surroundings transformed back to where we'd been. Mother's large shadow made me think it had gotten dark outside.
"Alright, stand next to Mother," Sothis stated, stepping several meters from me.
Sothis reached his arm out, and the gold ball from earlier materialized on his palm. This time, instead of directly coming from his palm, yellow particles gathered around it in the shape of a sphere. It reminded me of dandelion seeds being swept away by the wind.
"Think of the ball like a container; it has all of your "gifts," or at least it had all of them." Sothis went on, "Now there's only two."
Sothis threw the ball up casually like it was a baseball.
"So I'm guessing any time I lose, I lose most of my "gifts," right?" I discerned.
"Yeah, that's pretty much the gist," Sothis replied.
That sounds like a complete pain in the ass.
"One of them is The Phoenix; what's the other?"
"The other one is a constellation special to you, Komotis," Sothis elaborated, "Usually when one earns a gift, it can rarely be stripped from them. You, however, are a special case."
That's extremely annoying, but what's done is done. There's no way I can fix that now.
"On a more positive note, your soul should still have many physical abilities ingrained into your vessel. I like to call it muscle memory." Sothis explained, throwing the ball a little higher.
Now that he mentions it, I remember times when my body felt like it had been moving independently. There was one time I'd defended Katie back in the foster home when she needed to eat. The cunts saw her as easy prey to steal her food. Fighting felt so natural that I thought it was just my protective instinct.
"How do I get my gifts back?" I wondered, prepared to get started.
"Well, one has to have a strong ambition to live, and when I say that, I mean a strong will to live. If one does, they'll be recognized by the gods and the pillars." Sothis explained, "That usually happens when life is threatened, and you're backed into a corner."
Sothis had a sour expression when he mentioned the pillars. They don't sound that familiar to me, but I think I've heard of them. I decided not to ask about them for the time being.
"Gifts are designed to help a being survive more efficiently. Think of it like a ticket to a more prosperous life." Sothis explained, throwing the ball at me, "I need you to hold it so I can activate it."
I caught it, and it began to shine brightly. Sothis's palm faced me, and a thin beam of light shot out, entering the ball. In an instant, the ball spun so fast it looked like it wasn't spinning at all. Moments later, it shattered into thousands of pieces. It now looked like dandelion seeds shooting into the atmosphere. Sothis was focusing hard the entire time, eyes closed and everything. I stood there in awe, but I didn't think I had any expression visible on my face.
The particles then gravitated towards me, making me think thousands of tiny floating lanterns were gathering around me.
"Just a few more…" Sothis concentrated, positioning his free arm, palm facing up, and making eye contact with me.
He chanted:
-Foinix, The gifts given to Comet Koilos shall now reunite!-
-Return Transcript, SOUL RE-ENTANGLEMENT!-
Ugh, my last name.
Anyway, in the blink of an eye, the particles encircling me targeted my heart and raced into it. There was an expectation of pain, but it was surprisingly soothing. The heavy feeling my body was enduring was dissipating. Now that I felt more attentive, I'd assume that other aspects had been slightly improved, too.
"There we go! You know how long I've been holding onto that?" Sothis retorted sarcastically.
"It was the same in the past of the couple's lives, but in this one, you should still have a menu to see your gifts. It's different for any and every constellation user." Sothis said, walking up to me and fist-bumping me.
"Menu?"
It sounded similar to a video game, but that term could describe many things. It could be because I occasionally played games here and there when I could.
"There should be a dot in your field of view; just focus on that, and you're golden," Sothis told me, resting on a sprouting root.
I focused on it as he suggested, and the menu popped up. I'd expected it to be something like a video game, but this was a little eerie. Most of the text was almost unreadable. Rune-like symbols were covering most of my vision. It shined a dark purple that flowed from top to bottom. I could only make out my name. A piece of actual readable text read: 'Incomplete Constellation'
— — — —
C̷̢̰̮̯̉̏̊ò̴̢̜͈̯͈̳͙͚̠͇͕̭̳̯̳̂͒̾͑̾̊͘͠m̵͉̥̲͍̻͂̀̎́́̂̋̒͒̂̆͝͠e̷̥̍͋̆t̵̥̥͉̼̱̯̼͔̱̝̯̀ͅ ̶̡̤̥̝̱̝͔͖̘̥̽̈́̈́̎̊͗̍̈́̏̅K̵̡̧̠̜͇̠͙͔̟͍͊͌͐͌̇̈́ơ̸̙̤̤̿̽͒í̶̭͚̜͍͙̤̳̪̮̘͕̘̤̀͑̽̈́͐̈́ḻ̸̡͈̮̯̈́̌͂̇͆́́̀̑̎̽̀̇̅̿ó̷̯͎̰͔̳̂͗̅̈́̽̒̊̊͑͝s̸̜͔͚̫̦̣̫͍̲͇̼̤͇̀̑̈́̌͂́͒̎͆̅̌̇́̊̕
Incomplete Constellation
— — — —
"Now that we have the foundation set, you need to earn the gift." Sothis announced, "Remember what I said about life being threatened in one way or another? That will be our next step," Sothis noted, "I got some trials for you to complete!"
"I understand. What do I have to do?" I prompted Sothis, prepared for anything that I'd have to endure.
"Well, first, I've gotta check on the first planet we'll be heading to," Sothis explained, standing up and dusting off anything that got on his pants.
"We're heading to Celeste first to purify its core." Sothis declared, stretching his arms and legs.
"Celeste…" I muttered to myself.
That planet also seemed to carry weight to it when I heard it.
"I'll be back in a bit!" Announced Sothis as he ran and shot himself upwards through the clouds.
The impact left a giant crack in the sky. Slowly, the sky changed from a once beautiful bright blue to a cool dark blue. A sea of stars and gas replaced the array of clouds. Back where I lived, you never really saw the night sky to its fullest, so this was absolutely breathtaking. I still couldn't change my expression all that much.
After experiencing the second step, it's been that much harder to smile; I feel physically unable to.
Anyway, what about that first trial…?
"Shit…" I whispered to myself, standing straight and readying myself for whatever was out there.
If this was the first trial, then I couldn't back down. But then again, Sothis didn't specify what I'd be dealing with. All I know is that something will threaten my life.
As of now, the menu wasn't worth exploring since it was just the same thing and unresponsive overall.
'Yo! Can you hear me?' Sothis startled me, his voice echoing in my head.
"Crystal clear, but you scared the shit outta me," I answered, walking away from Mother into a more open area.
'Maybe I should do that more often for you to show emotion, ha ha!' Sothis laughed.
"Yeah! That'd be so funny!" I replied with a snarky remark.
But seriously, I've known Sothis for a short time, but the back-and-forth we had sometimes was enjoyable.
"How is the core?" I asked.
'Not there yet. Gotta make sure we can secure a route. Also, good luck later!' Sothis disappeared.
Sothis was strange, but I didn't hate it. Anyway, I had to be focused on whatever had been out there.