Skyfall - Twin Stars

Cleo was wide awake in her bedroom. The soft moonlight illuminated the room, entering through the window panes, and the peaceful sound of the waves from the ocean that bathed Citremery. Everything was far from calm, thought, and her thoughts ran amok. 

'I think I have a headache.'

Gods, what would it be of them all? 

Skyfall was disruptive enough when its origins were mysterious. Cracks in the sky are already too much for the common pouflon to think about - and, Cleo would imagine, it'd probably be too much for the Woolynes as well. Vanquishing deformed creatures created by the Corruption, tending to an illness never seen before, watching the sky of two worlds collapse amongst themselves while swarms of contaminated pippets soared the sky with their incessant buzzing - it all seemed like a crazy nightmare that most pouflons would do anything to wake up from. When would it end, she pondered. 

The vision of the Rift and its barren lands still plagued her memories too vividly, even when she was outside of it. It spoke of something more, of course - one would have to be a fool to not observe that the appearance of that dreadful place was all but accidental or spontaneous: something - or someone - had caused it to be that way. An ancient war had taken place, perhaps. Had that place been forgotten by the citizens all around Bellacoste, and forsaken by time itself, and now both Andras and Bellacoste were paying the price? 

What did The Nothing want? Did it have an intelligent, sentient objective, or was it all about consumption without further meaning, feeding on the fear of anylon that was unlucky to be caught by it? It was all too much - too many questions with too little answers to speak for. The thing about fighting an enemy, regardless of what or who it was, is knowing about them. What threats did it pose? (The answer to this one was getting clearer by the day, it seemed, and it was the destruction of whoever tried to fight it). What were its weaknesses? (Everyone was fighting it relentlessly, but not fast enough.) How would it end like? (She dreaded that the answer would come sooner than later, with all the defenses The Nothing was putting up). 

The more everylon seemed to find out about Skyfall, the less it answered. Cleo just wished it to be over already. 

She needed to find out more about it. 

"Cleo? Is that you?" Her father's groggy voice inquired from under the doorframe of the kitchen, illuminated solely by . She stood with a hoof already outside of the house, and stopped right in her tracks - Cleo had tried to be quiet about going out, but the houses cranky doors didn't want to cooperate. 

"Yes, pa. I was just going for a walk... C-Couldn't sleep, you see?" She nervously answered, trying to conceal the small bag thrown over her shoulders that packed a few flowers for the trip. 

"Don't lie to me, young lady, I've known you for almost 20 years." Her father scolded, stomping his hoof lightly on the ground. 

"I... I need to go out, pa. I can't just stand here and do nothing. Skyfall doesn't show any signs of stopping soon, even if the mages and knights are doing their best to slow it down. I'm going into the Rift again." At that, she could see how her father's eyes glinted under the cool light of the moon. He's worried, she thought. 

"You're going to get yourself killed, one of these days... You're just like your dad, always wanting to travel around." He huffed. His eyes filled with tears that Cleo could see even from across the room. 

"Pa..." She approached him, closing the door behind her and sighed. They bumped their heads together, and he looked at her on the verge of crying. 

"I'll be alright. I just want to help fix it, you know?" She softly whispered, still holding her head against her father's. "Besides, I've already been cleansed some time ago. It'll be fine."

"I know. It's just..." He stopped speaking, and sighed. Her father stayed silent for a few moments, then resolutely raised his head. 

"Go, dearie. Do what you need to do." 

Cleo stepped back and looked at her father with endearment. "Thank you, pa. I'll make you proud, you know?" 

"You already do, darling." He smiled, and watched her part with worry in his heart. 

When Cleo arrived at the Rift, the moon was already going down into the horizon. From a distance, there seemed to be a bunch of Pouflons gathered around the twins. She relutanctly approached the group. 

"We're not sure what caused this ourselves, as we've already explained. We're almost as lost as you, see." Up closer, she could observe Jishui as he frantically tried to explain to angry and scared looking pouflons all around him. Besides him, Tejat looked resigned, albeit a little mad at something. 

"Interestelar travelers should know more about this than you seem to know!" An angry pouflon exclaimed, and a few others joined in support. 

Interestelar travelers? What the hell was happening there? 

Cleo turned her head to look around for anylon that didn't look like they were stricken with shock. In the middle of the multitude of angry poufs, she recognized a familiar set of horns, and made her way through the crowd. 

"Tulipa?" She asked, a little closer now. The pink pouflon turned her eyes away from Jishui to look at her. 

"Cleo! What a surprise to meet you here!" She smiled softly, but one could easily see the worried expression in her face. "Things are looking dire, darling. Did you just arrive?" Tulipa quickly bumped her wrist with Cleo. 

"Yes, yes. I wanted to help, so I came into the Rift again. But why's a bunch of poufs screaming their heads' off at Jishui and Tejat?" She inquired. 

"Come. Let's talk somewhere calmer." Tulipa headed them a few meters away from the commotion. They sat down at the dry, grey earth of the Bridge. The air was tense with something. Cleo looked at her in spectation. They stayed a few moments just staring - Tulipa at the cracked ground, and Cleo at Tulipa. 

"The twins are actually stars, for a start." Tulipa started, suddenly. 

"Stars? Like, the astronomical, incandescent bodies? How does that work?" She questioned, a little baffled. The other pouf shrugged. 

"Beats me, honestly. They just told everylon that they're traveling stars, and that something trapped them here in the Bridge as they were trying to go somewhere else." She went on explaining. 

"I... I need to know more from them. Lets go back." Cleo felt a little dizzy from the atmosphere and from the news as well. Suddenly, fearlessly going back into the Rift hadn't seemed like the best of ideas. Both her and Tulipa walked back to the twins, the former's step a little wobbly. Tejat was discussing something with Jishui, and the crowd around them seemed a little calmer. She turned, dryly staring at the pouflons around her. Jishui turned to stare at the crowd as well. 

"Something interfered with our traveling, that's what I'm trying to say." He looked at his sides, tense. "Others have been notified of this already, and we all know news like this one travel fast." He made a somber pause. Tejat rolled her eyes, and muttered something under her breath. "Whatever brought us here is probably what's causing all of this confusion." 

Gasps echoed around the crowd. Pouflons discussed amongst themselves. This time, Cleo managed to catch something Tejat had said. 

"We should never have gotten involved with these mortals." She grumbled. "Now we're stuck here with The Nothing at our doorsteps."

They needed to find the culprit of all this mess, and not a second too late. Maybe they could still solve the chaos that was Skyfall, putting an end to it once and for all.   

She just hoped there was enough time.