Octave of Stars Official Theme Song:
Welcome to the cereal serial version of Octave of Stars! Episodes will release every Monday and Thursday. If you’re finding this story for the first time, be sure to start at Episode 01 for maximum comprehension, or check out The Index for all available Episodes.
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"Oh, you are so gonna get it now," Azalea said, holding the card up by itself, the rest of her cards in her other hand. She slapped down the piece of paper, smirking. "Barbarian Invasion. Your opponent discards his hand and draws three cards."
"Ouch, harsh." Ash shook his head in dismay. "I discard, Clerical Exception, two Ball of Fire, Knave of Hearts, Sancho Panza, St. George's Dragon, and… Ascended Excalibur."
Azalea shifted in her seat, still wearing her pink and brown dress from church, and feeling a wave of relief. He might have won the game with those. "That's for vanquishing my fully promoted Green Knight. You're welcome."
The two combatants were sitting at the table in the safehouse kitchen, the play mat between them, paper knights dueling it out for enough treasures to solidify their imaginary kingdoms and claim the Grail as their prize. Five sets of dirty dishes were soaking in the sink, awaiting the debate of who would clean them. Ash claimed an exemption, as he had pieced together dried pasta, a can of tomato sauce, cheddar cheese and pork chops into a meal that had earned glowing reviews from all the residents.
Gayle was out on the porch smoking, Lumina was in the sitting room resting, while Douglas was up to something in the basement. After all the danger and excitement of the last few days, they actually had some time to just sit and relax.
Ash didn't feel as relaxed as he drew three cards. Don Quixote, which wouldn't be nearly as good without the Sancho he just had to send to the tomb. Fury's Forge, he could search his deck for an equipment card on his turn. Also, a Valor Virtue card. He did his best to hide his relief, as his active Ponce De Leon needed one more for Fountain of Vengeance. One hundred and fifty damage to your opponent, plus heal thirty damage to yourself. He studied the cards carefully, planning his counterattack while Azalea pondered her next move.
The artwork had always been intricate, some cards rendered in a style that made them look like medieval paintings, others like realistic photos. The Fury's Forge card had a burly smith pounding away at his anvil, but Ash noticed he held the glowing metal with his bare hands. Also, he wore a red sash around his waist and a crimson leather vest. He flipped to the Don Quixote card, a bewildered old fellow on a horse charging down a windmill. In the corner of the card, he could see a green-robed sorcerer floating in the air and issuing forth the winds which animated the tilting giant.
"Hey, can I see your tomb pile for a second?"
Azalea set her hand face down, a wry expression on her face. "Trying to cheat?"
"No, it's public information, read the rules."
"Whatever, I'm gonna win anyway."
"Good positive self-talk, I like that," he countered. He thumbed through the stack of cards she handed him, searching for a specific one she had used earlier. Radiant Veil, a wizard spell that boosted Wisdom attacks. The art depicted a young sorceress, who despite her youth had long white hair, and wore a bleached tunic. She stood in front of a mirror that reflected a brown-haired knight instead of the room around her. Three out of eight, not bad.
He set the card down face up to the side of the mat. "What's a good card that has water or the ocean?"
Azalea was amused. "Are we done playing? 'Cause you can just say you resign, you know."
"No, I just wanna see something."
She searched through her four-card portfolio from her backpack and found Bubble of Sadness, another spell that showed a torrent of water crashing down on an armored knight, but the source of the flow was from a sphere of water around the blue-clad mage's hands. Spurred by this, Ash kept searching.
Summon Golem detailed the construction of a man-shaped pile of clay and stone, with Hebrew letters on its forehead. The wizened rabbi supervising wore a yellow tallit shawl draped over his shoulders, a mustard-colored kippa on his head, and wasn't using his own hands for the building, but claw-like hands of dirt.
Gilgamesh the Warrior wielded a curved silver sword, two more strapped to his back, and appeared to be checking the keenness of his blade by rubbing his thumb against it.
Azalea's copy of Mordred wasn't from the latest set and didn't have Dark in its name, but its scene was nonetheless gloomy and funereal. The sorcerer was demonstrating his power by surrounding himself with murky copies of himself with blurry outlines.
Then came the card Ash was most curious about. Miraculous Bounty, a valuable healing spell. He hadn't picked Maple Dryad or Green Man or any of those forest-themed cards because they always had brown color schemes. He wanted something more accurate to Azalea's actual power. Azalea found one in her deck; knowing she had them was no advantage, as they were a staple of every competitive player. When she handed it to him, though, he was disappointed. It showed a red-haired woman in a green dress next to a whitewashed cart full of fresh vegetables. She didn't appear to be doing anything, just standing there. She could have pulled them out of the fields herself.
"Oh oh, hang on," Azalea said. "I have a variant card of it, I don't play with it, because obviously. And it's one of my favorites, you'll see why." She set the portfolio down on the table, leaving the valuable card in its protective slot. The artwork took up the entire face of the card, the description and details superimposed over it. It showed a young woman with dark skin in brown hunting leathers, vegetables spilling out of her hands. "I used to always pretend it was me whenever I looked at it," she said, smiling fondly.
Ash laid out seven of the cards he had found on the table, beside the last which was still in its portfolio. He didn't mind this meant Azalea now knew the contents of his hand.
Gayle had come back in and was watching this little expedition curiously while sipping her coffee, having changed her clothes back into her more durable jeans and western shirt. Now she stood closer to get a better look. "Well, I'll be," she said. "That looks real familiar."
"Wow, it's like… us," Azalea said, peering around Ash's other shoulder.
"Yeah," Ash said.
Azalea shifted her posture. "Lumina says Stars have been around since literally forever, so it makes sense they would show up in other places."
"I wonder," Ash said, "if the creators of the game know. If some of them are also like us, or like Douglas, involved somehow."
"Hard to say," Gayle said. "Truth is everywhere, I'd reckon."
"At the very least," Azalea reasoned, "it shows us that we're not alone in the world."
"You're never alone, hon, no matter where you go."
The girl smiled. "Thanks Gayle." Her determination returned. "Hey, I still need to win this game, but I wanna take a picture of this. Lemme go find my phone."
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Lumina was sitting comfortably in the rocking chair, the one dear Douglas had bought just for her, and that Ash had put by the largest window so she could watch the rain. She could hear Gayle, Azalea, and Ash talking happily in the other room, and for that she was grateful. She was also grateful the rain hadn't aggravated her rheumatism as much as it usually did, so she could just relax for a change.
Or at least, relax physically. Her mind was still running as quickly as ever, going through all the possibilities and outcomes of what could happen next. While they had been unsuccessful in liberating Cascadia thus far, they had been slowly narrowing down the places where she could potentially be held. That would make things somewhat easier, but still difficult. Not to mention the toll it had to be taking on all of them. Poor Ash, who just wanted to live in peace with dear Cascadia; Gayle, who was striving to atone for her past; and little Azalea, who daily balanced between being a child and being an adult.
And what could be said of herself? How much time had she taken for her own needs lately? Even before Cascadia's capture, she had been feeling weary, worn down by the constant demands of supporting the girls' excursions, plumbing ancient wisdom for ways to stop Frost, and giving advice to other community leaders for their own nascent groups. She certainly wasn't getting any younger, and the demands on her time became more over the years, not less.
She greatly wanted to just unwind with a book and a cup of tea like she used to, maybe call up some of her old friends and reminisce. But for right now, her only recourse was the same thing she had been advising the others to do this entire time. Trust in God's will, even if it was strange or difficult. No one wanted Cascadia to be abducted, that was certain, but it had brought Ash into their group at last, letting him become closer to Gayle and fast friends with Azalea. What other good would this situation bring, she wondered about.
Apparently, the others had finished their little game, as Lumina heard chairs scraping and a disappointed exclamation from Azalea. Then came the distinctive sound of Gayle lightly hopping up the stairs to her temporary room, and two more younger voices coming her way.
"I just can't believe it," Azalea was saying. "I never thought you could use that card that way. But it makes so much sense when you think about it!"
Ash chuckled. "Yeah, it's one of those things where the effect doesn't say you can't do it, so you have to assume you can."
Lumina listened to them settle down on the couches behind her, next to the television, which remained off. "Thanks for doing this with me," Ash said. "I missed it yesterday, it was kind of a busy night."
"No kidding," Azalea said, unzipping a small leather pouch and removing a tangle of string and beads. She carefully unwound her rosary; each bead was made from wood, and not with a polished finish, but small sections of twig that had been drilled through and tied together. To Ash, the connecting Our Father beads looked like small dried berries, and he smiled knowing that was likely exactly what they were.
"So…" Ash said, thinking while he straightened out his own cord rosary, "it's Sunday, so we should do the Joyful Mysteries."
Azalea smirked. "Actually, how about we do the new Mysteries of Light?"
"How come? Those are on Thursday, right?"
"Because of this." She raised her voice above conversational tone. "The first Lumin-ous Mystery!"
The lady in the chair by the window stirred. "Yes dear, what is it?"
Azalea was smirking wildly now. "Don't worry, Lumina, we just wanted to remind you how much we love you."
She smiled. "I see. Well, thank you dear."
Ash shook his head, amused. "Alright, let's do that then. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit…"
The good that Lumina was just pondering was right behind her, two young people who could share their faith and draw closer to the Lord. Her eyelids felt heavy, she might have nodded off for a moment. She gazed up at the grey sky, the vast expanse of slate over the front yard that brought life to the grass and flowers around them. And then, just for a moment, if she had blinked again she might have missed it, the sky flashed an odd shade of blue.
The gravity of what Lumina saw hit her at once. To a casual observer, who had been watching outside at the same time, it would have been nothing more than a temporary distortion, maybe they had rubbed their eyes too hard or had been watching too much television. But to Lumina, with her eyesight that was beyond excellent, she had seen it for what it was. And she knew exactly what it meant, despite praying it was not so.
Ash cleared his throat. "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name…"
Lumina joined in the prayer.
Octave of Stars is currently airing on Substack for free, with two of the 45 total posts per week. It’ll be fully released at the end of April 2024. If you don’t want to wait that long, you can get the entire story right now, in either Ebook or paperback. Every purchase supports the ZMT Books mission of family-friendly entertainment.
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