Be Careful What You Wish For

by darkstone57

Chapter 4

“What do you mean, ‘impossible’?” Starlight demanded of Cyrus as she focused her magic on her wounds.

“I meant what I said.” Cyrus replied bluntly.

The two of them stared each other down for a short time before Cyrus began to walk toward her.

Starlight steeled herself, running on the assumption that this male creature was a pawn of the dragons, only to be surprised when Cyrus positioned himself across from where she was and gently sat down with his legs crossed. He rested his elbows on his knees and continued to inspect Starlight. The continuous frown on his face still seemed to make Starlight feel uneasy.

“There is only one way to leave this world.” Cyrus stated flatly.

Starlight’s eyes narrowed at him, feeling she knew where he was going, she decided to ask anyway, “And, that is?”

Cyrus said nothing.

Starlight began to feel frustrated with this creature as it continued to stare her down until she noticed that it took, from Starlight assumed to be its right claw, and pointed one of its straight upwards, toward the crevice exit.

“Is this a joke!?” Starlight snarled at Cyrus, feeling she was being made fun of. But, the only reply she got was the sound of dragon’s earth shaking roar as she looked up and saw it fly over head and disappear almost instantly.

“That,” Cyrus began after the roar’s echo ended, “’Giratina’, is your only hope of escape.”

Starlight did nothing but scoff at that, “I figured as much...” Then she realised something, “Wait... You called the dragon by name.” Starlight observed as she looked again at Cyrus’ unchanging expression.

“Yes,” Cyrus replied, his tone unchanging, “His name is; ‘Giratina’. He is a deity that is connected to the world I am from; he serves the God of my world by protecting the balance of reality.”

Cyrus looked over his conversation partner again for a moment before scoffing, “To think it wasn’t just my world he would keep check on.”

Starlight didn’t know what to make of what Cyrus just said, ‘Deity? God? Another world?’ taking a moment to try and think of what to say, Starlight decided to speak her mind, “How do I know that anything you just said was true?”

Cyrus’ frown deepened slightly as he began to slowly chuckle.

Starlight began to feel more uncomfortable at the sound of his hollow laughter and asked with unease, “Wh.. What is so...”

“Let me guess,” Cyrus began, cutting her off, “You tried to use a powerful of means of, what I can gather from looking at you, magical prowess to rip apart time and space to create the world that would be made of what you desire the most?”

Starlight said nothing but her jaw dropping was just what Cyrus needed to see.

“Gathered as much.” Cyrus said, condescendingly.

“How...” Starlight began, still flabbergasted, “How did you know that?”

“Because I tried to accomplish the same thing.” Cyrus replied, bluntly.

Starlight was left baffled by his words. This being, whose face, displayed nothing but apathy and anger, wanted to create a new world in his image. There were so many questions rolling around in Starlight’s head.

“I am interested in one thing about you though.” Cyrus admitted.

Starlight was throw off when he spoke up and decided to indulge him, “What is it?” She asked, feeling cautious.

“When Giratina thwarted my plans and brought me here, I woke up here with him observing me with caution,” Cyrus began, as he recalled the day he came here, “After those meddlers bested me and satiated his rage, he left me be as I came to realise over time that maybe this is the world I sought after all...” Cyrus realised he went off topic as he was looking at the vortex above and then redirected his attention to his conversation partner, “Yet, as for you, you’re sitting here with cuts and bruises; meaning you attempted to defend yourself.” Starlight looked over her well being with furrowed brows as he spoke, “So, I ask you out of interest, what happened?”

Starlight flinched at the thought of reminiscing how afraid she was. But, as her magic continued to do her work, she looked at Cyrus whom still was staring at her, not as a victim, but more as an observer who truly couldn’t care less about her well being. Knowing her magic will still take some time, she relaxed a little and began to tell her tale.

She couldn’t look away from them. Those eyes seething with rage as the creature loomed her.

Her breathing quickly began to increase in pace as the seconds went on. Then, it dived toward her, roaring with power and all she did was scream for her life. But, at the last second, instinct shot through her brain and she cast the strongest shield she could think of.

It worked but the creature was not pleased. Those red eyes and that gaping crimson mouth was pressed against the shield as Starlight put every ounce of her being into retaining the spell for as long as she could. Darkness surrounded the two as the creature slammed its head into the shield, causing it to crack.

Starlight braced herself for another blow against her shield, slamming her eyes shut. But nothing came.

As she opened her eyes, she couldn’t believe what she was looking at. She was in another dimension and it was nothing like she had ever seen before. Everywhere that there was land was all disconnected and hanging from the air in different angles. Water streams stretched far between separate platforms and the sky, what she assumed to be it, was swirling in streams of dark blues endlessly.

“Where in the world am I...?” Starlight asked aloud as she observed it all from inside her shield. Then, like a pin drop, she froze as she realised one thing. Where was the creature?

Doing her best to keep it together, she scanned everywhere frantically, every second she didn’t see it made her more afraid.

Her heart dropped as the sound of a raging roar came from behind her. She only saw its face for a split second as it collided into Starlight’s shield with fury. The impact sent her soaring helplessly across the atmosphere and it wasn’t until she felt the shield collide into a solid chunk of earth that left her winded, gasping for air.

“Celestia on high...” Starlight winced, through pained breaths, “That hurt.”

Starlight was in precarious position, the shield was wedged in the platform she crashed into and left her dangling in the atmosphere, if the laws of space applied in this dimension; she would have been plummeting to the ground.

Starlight looked around and saw that various platforms were a fair distance below, some had trees, another had a stream of water crashing endlessly into it, like a waterfall but there was another that caught her eye, beyond them.

At the sound of another furious roar, directed at her, Starlight looked at the creature and jaw dropped at the sight of it.

Thought its body was still shrouded by darkness, she could make out its shape. It was a snake like body that dwarfed her in size, easily. From what she assumed to be its front, she saw a pattern of red lines glowing over its body. Connected to what appeared to be its upper body with two sets of three long black streams like limbs with red spikes on the end. Starlight came to one conclusion about this creature that made even more afraid with a long gulp, ‘It’s a dragon...’

The black dragon opened its maw and reared its head back slightly. Starlight began to sweat at the sight of the dragons actions, as sphere of blue was forming at the tip of the dragon’s mouth. She looked at her attacker and then the area below and then back to the dragon. She only had one chance...

The dragon allowed the sphere gather more energy for a few more moments before it thrust its head forward and launched the ball, at break neck speed, directly at its target.

But, just at it came into contact; the dragon was forced to use its stream like wings to shield its eyes as a blinding light erupted from the blast.

Moments passed before the light dissipated and the dragon allowed itself to look at its handiwork. Only to be left stunned by the sight before it.

Where did the perpetrator go? The dragon flew in closer to where they were to inspect the crash area only to find that there were no impact marks of where the attack would have left and there was no body.

Somehow, the criminal had managed to counter the attack and escape.

The dragon looked below and saw that there were several places that the criminal could have escaped to. Not wasting any time, it dived down to investigate.

It searched all of them, thoroughly. The dragon searched the water, but she wasn’t there. It searched the undersides, but she wasn’t there. It searched all of the crevices the dragon assumed she could escape into, but couldn’t find a hair.

The dragon moved itself away from the platforms, its blood boiling with anger as it growled deeply until it reared its head back and released a world shaking roar of pure rage that seemed to last for a long time.

Eventually, the dragon calmed itself and then flew away in a random direction, knowing that eventually, she would show herself.

Far in the distance, watching from the shadows, Cyrus couldn’t help but smirk as he looked toward the place she had escaped too.

Not long after, Starlight released her spell and became visible once more. She inhaled a lungful before sighing in relief. Though she had managed to escape into the crevice, she barely had any strength to protect herself from the cracks and pointed edges she rolled down.

She winced as she felt her cuts bleed out. She felt relieved at how lucky she was but cursed herself for not thinking fast enough until she decided to rest and pray that the dragon wouldn’t find her before she thought of a plan to escape.

“And I have been here ever since...” Starlight finished with a defeated sigh.

Cyrus did nothing but stroke his chin with his left hand as he listened to the tale.

“You should have just let him capture you.” Cyrus stated.

Starlight scoffed, “What, and let him kill me?”

“Giratina doesn’t kill.” Cyrus replied bluntly.

“How would you know that?” Starlight demanded of him.

“Because, I’m still here, or have you forgotten?” Cyrus asked rhetorically and flatly.

He was right. He was still alive and as she realised it, Starlight groaned.

“You understand now, don’t you?” Cyrus asked rhetorically, again, before going on to make his point clear, “By retaliating, Giratina will see you as even more of a threat and unless he is somehow convinced otherwise, you are, in his eyes, a prime threat that must be dealt with.”

“How in the hay am I meant to convince that dragon to not kill me... Before he blows me to bits!?!” Starlight cried out to Cyrus, who simply replied with an apathetic shrug, to which Starlight simply groaned.

Then, something caught Cyrus’s attention as he looked up.

“Strange...” Cyrus mumbled.

“What now...?” Starlight complained.

“I half expected Giratina to be searching for you right now, but for some reason; his attention is divided. And, I know for a fact he doesn’t care where I am and only comes to me when I seek him out.” Cyrus said as he stared at the exit.

Starlight realised the truth in his words as she too looked up.

“Did someone follow you, per chance? Cyrus asked.

Starlight heard the question but didn’t want to admit the answer but only one question plagued her mind at that moment; ‘She wouldn’t.... Would she?’

At that time, Giratina halted in midair as he silently observed an array of platforms far from where he was, floating in the atmosphere.

Then, when he saw what he was looking for, he reared his head back and unleashed a deafening roar.

He had found the intruder...

And she was looking right back at him...