The First Star of Twilight

by Arcanum -Phantasy


Prologue

She had to escape.
It was too much.
The stares.
The jealousy.
It was too much.
There was no escape.
It was too much!
Can't get out.
IT WAS TOO MUCH!!!
"STOP IT!" Twilight screamed, her eyes flying open.
She laid panting in her bed, sweat soaking through her pajamas into her sheets. Slowly, her breathing leveled out, her familiar surroundings settling her nerves. Another night terror, just one of many she's had since she she was enrolled at Crystal Prep Academy. Every night it was the same. The same dream. The same pleas for peace.
Slowly, her hand drifted to what hung around her throat, her lips pulling up into a small smile. Bound by a strong silver chain and secured to a steel mount, a black crystal shard glinted in her gentle grip. While exploring the destroyed remains of Canter Creek Bridge, she found the shard laying less than a foot from the wreckage. A massive spike of unknown energy was detected in the area around the same time it had collapsed. While only fragments of that energy was still present in the area, a large concentration of it seemed to be coming from the gem.
Naturally, she tried to study it, but nothing she did seemed to be able to access the gem's secrets. She tried various methods of energy extraction, but none of her machines could do more than detect its presence. Trying to take samples of it were equally fruitless, as nothing she did could even scratch its surface. She even left it out to be run over by her mother's SUV, an act that not only failed, but she was ashamed to admit came from a place of spiteful frustration.
In spite of all of that or maybe because of it, she found herself drawn to the gem. She couldn't explain why, but it felt as if it was calling out to her at times. She knew that such things were preposterous, but she just couldn't shake those feelings. Eventually, her compulsions led her to having it made into a pendant, reasoning such an action away by saying that it was an easier way to keep track of it.
As her fingers slid across its surface, she felt her worry fade away. Little by little, her eyes started to droop, the terror that brought her to the waking world bleeding out of her with each light caress. It wasn't long before she was once again drifting along in the land of dreams, her hands falling away from her pendant as soft snoring filled the room. For a long while, that was all that was heard in the room. Then, a soft whimpering took its place as a look of discomfort formed on Twilight's face. Her breathing hitched, her arms flailing with each toss and turn. Fear and stress filled her in a steady stream.
"Enough," a cold female voice hissed.
Twilight froze, her still sleeping body trapped mid-flail and gasping. The gem let out a dark violet glow as shadowy black tendrils slowly crept out of it. The vines slithered all across Twilight's body like dark serpents, the young girl completely oblivious in her dreams. Once she was completely caught in their coils, the vines stopped growing and remained still. All the while, Twilight continued her restless sleep, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes. Then, the vines took on a faint violet shade and the girl's condition slowly started to change. The pain in Twilight's expression slowly melted away, her breathing mellowed out, and all of the tension in her body evaporated. In time, the girl's panic had been drained away and the vines let her lay limp in her bed. Slowly and just as silently as they had come, the vines pulled themselves back into the crystal.
At its heart stood a young girl, barely even a year older than the girl that held her prison. Her skin was a grayed white that perfectly complimented her jet black dress. Said dress emphasized her lithe, almost faery-like build, the tattered train that went only as far as her knees and ripped taters where her sleeves should have been implying age. Gray leaf and flower petal designs covered it in small random clusters. Her hair was just as black as her dress, wavy, and only reached her exposed shoulders. Her most striking feature was her eyes. Pitch black pools of darkness with slitted gold pupils that seemed to bore into the souls of all unfortunate enough to be caught in their gaze.
Said eyes were locked in a tight glare as she stared at one of the walls of her crystal prison. On it, she could see the now peacefully sleeping face of the human that found her. Her jaw clenched tightly at the sight, a burning rage flooding her like molten lava the longer she stared. Stiffly, she held up a hand as if she were presenting something to someone. Seconds later, a black vine slithered out of her shadow and placed a cluster of violet grapes into it. She viciously tore into it, her eyes never leaving the wall as the summoned vine returned to her shadow. Her rage spiked even further when she took note of how great her meal tasted, of how full it made her feel. She screamed in frustration as she slammed a fist into the wall, the blow shaking her prison, but did nothing else to it.
With her belly filled, images of the people that ripened the fruit flashed through her head. Students, teachers, even random people on the street. Anyone and everyone that made the human feel helpless and weak. All of it further fueled her rage. She had spent days seeing the girl fall victim to these people almost constantly, her heart and mind hanging on by the tiniest of threads. It kept her fed, helped her grow strong, and made her sick to her stomach in more ways than one.
"ENOUGH!!!" she screamed, shaking the walls of her prison.
She slammed her fists against her prison, dark energy leaking out of her like black fire.
"Listen up human!" she growled. "I will get out of here one day and when I do, things are going to change! One way or another, they will change."