The collective steps up the hill were distressingly quiet apart from the crunching of dried up grass that would never be replanted.
Nobody spoke. The atmosphere around them was tense and choked the words down as they quietly followed along. The leader stopped atop the mound of dead soil, a lone decaying tree was struggling to stay together as a single red scarf distinguished it. The remaining ones formed a small semi circle around and looked up at it, unsure of its significance.
Skyler spoke first. “This is…a final resting place. Not for us, but for her.”
Below the tree was a collection of flowers, slowly decomposing and returning to the ground as the colors faded from their pedals and the stems rotted away. They marked an empty patch of dirt in which a small headstone was placed, engraved with the words of the lost.
“Who…is Celeste?” Echo chimed in as she finished reading.
“My…” Skyler paused, unsure of her words. “A predecessor. A previous creation. One our creator killed in a fit of emotion. The details are unknown to you all, but I was granted them on arrival. I’m here to answer questions you have.”
The group remained mostly silent. They looked to each other as if someone would ask something immediately—a burning question that everyone should be rushing to have answered. Instead, a simple mewl from below them was all that cut the silence.
“Yes, of course, you know too.” Skyler aimed her gaze lower to talk to Catley, who was sitting in the middle. “But you can’t really talk about it, so I’m the one stepping up.”
“I’m sorry, can you understand what she’s saying?” Primrose finally spoke up.
“Wha—no, no. I’m just guessing based on what I’d assume she’d perk up about.” Skyler sighed. “So, I’m here if you have questions.”
“Ok…” Echo mused, unsure. “So, who was she? Like…what was she like?”
Skyler’s lips curved into a small smile. “Perhaps it’s rose tinted glasses, but she was a lot better at this than I am. More cheerful and outgoing—a bit more rough around the edges, but overall a bit more fleshed out than all the rest of the creations. She soared above us all—sort of figuratively, I suppose. Not like it mattered to you all—she’s been gone longer than all of you have been around.”
Another meow.
“Right. Except you, I suppose.” She rolled her eyes. “Oldest one here and it’s a cat.”
“Does that mean there are other creations?” Primrose looked around herself, as if they weren’t alone.
“There were.” Skyler whispered. “They’re also gone, although not in a direct way as of Celeste. Our creator could will things in and out, but more powerful creations like Celeste and all of us have a sort of presence that needs a more tactile method of removing.”
“So…our creator killed them?” Echo spoke up pretty immediately.
There was a silence. Skyler’s face was unreadable, turning away slightly in an emotion mimicking shame. She was gritting her teeth. “I’m the last person who should be defending it, but…” She cleared her throat. “It wasn’t a black and white issue. And our creator regrets it more than enough already. It’s why we were made too.”
“That…does remind me.” Echo continued. “Where is she? Why didn’t she have this conversation with us like before?”
“Right…” Skyler once again took stock of herself, finding the right words. “She was…temporary. At least, that’s my guess. When she met with me, she left me in charge instead with her notes and responsibilities.” She turned her head and lowered her voice. “A bit rude if you ask me.”
“So…are you now our creator?” Primrose tilted her head with a sort of curiosity.
Skyler froze. “I–”
“Oh, I’m so sorry Miss!” Echo suddenly stood herself up straight, bowing her head in a curtsy as she held onto her dress. “I didn’t mean to be so casual in front of you.”
“No, no–” Skyler cut her off. “I’m not…exactly your creator. She wasn’t either. It’s not…easy to explain, but we can’t commune with her directly. Not like we can with each other, anyways. Its–”
The explanation was cut off by a ground shaking rumble that permeated the air around them. Not only did the world begin to tremble, but the very energy and beings of them started vibrating as the very foundation of the existence they were in began to tear. A splitting headache shot through each of them with the speed of a bullet, gone in a quick moment as the world began to return to normal. They all struggled to keep their balance, Echo fully collapsing onto the ground next to Catley as Primrose leaned forward onto Skyler for support. The four caught their breath as the rumbling disappeared as suddenly as it began.
“What was that?” Primrose held herself back up.
“It’s her.” Skyler whispered. “We all reside in a space distant but attached from her, a method in which only a one way connection exists. But the manifestation of that in our lives can be…well, that.”
Echo picked herself back up which everyone took a moment to cherish the stable ground they were now on. There was a sense of dread that was following the sudden shaking—the fear that it could come back any moment. It was a pause only broken apart by a dull gust of wind that did nothing but move the small red scarf hanging solemnly above them. Skyler was the next to speak again, turning away to hide her face as she clenched her fists.
“It’s here that I meant also to explain why we’re all here. Why we’ve been called to the Observatory at this time.”
The others leaned in.
“We’re here to change her destiny.”
Another pause. A weight fell upon everyone’s shoulders as the gravity of their task began to set in. The wind began to howl louder, rustling the dead grass and whistling past as they all waited for Skyler to talk again.
“She believes that she’s meant for a normal life. Part of her believes she’s deluded in trying to fight that notion and the other part of her is too tired to keep fighting. She’s abandoning dreams in favor of reality.” There was a small tear that fell down Skyler’s cheek, but she turned away before anyone else could mention it. She felt that pain—not as her creator, but as a part of her that beat in time with her own heart. Even she didn’t believe the words she was saying—not entirely. But she had something her creator didn’t. She was made from the very dreams she was made to prove.
Skyler spoke again. “We’re here to prove to her that those dreams can become reality. You’re all here to help achieve the impossible. Your roles might be big or small, but we all work to bear her burden until we can lift it up and off of her.”
Echo, Catley, and Primrose all watched as Skyler turned to them. She had tears streaking down her face as she wore a small smile. “We were all made in spite of fate we shouldn’t be able to change. And yet somehow, seeing you all here…I think we just might face it and do what she couldn’t.”
With an outstretched hand, Skyler invited them all forward.
“So let’s all do our best.”