Asteria

Zale emerged from the water, screaming in shock at the searing pain igniting his pale skin, which almost sparkled in the moonlight. Tears filled his grey eyes as he fought the pain and willed himself to keep going, finally falling to his knees and crawling to the sand. Laying on his back, his long silver hair settled in waves around his head as he gasped for air. Only a sliver of a breath entered his lungs as they slowly constricted, the agony increasing with every attempt to inhale. Still, Zale had a small smile etched onto his face as he gazed up at the stars. Though this was the worst pain he had ever felt, being here was the happiest he had ever been. Because he could see Her.

He had never met Her, but She was there. When he slept, She was in his dreams. When he awoke, he stayed in his room, waiting until he could go back to sleep and see Her again. He couldn’t remember exactly when this had all started, but it felt as though he had known her forever. Zale’s father told him he was foolish, that he was acting deranged. He screamed at Zale to wake up, that he could not leave the sea and reach his desire without death. His amber eyes were ablaze as he told him to stop acting so fanatical, to be a normal member of the family. As God of the Sea, he could not have such a useless son – with weak powers and a weak mind. But Zale was not fazed. His room was dark, little candles scattered around and tiny lightbulbs placed onto the ceiling. He wrote poems for Her – long, adoring lines imaging Her face, Her hair, Her hands. When he couldn’t sleep, he stared at his ceiling covered in tiny lights, wishing he could see Her in real life. His father hosted balls, women looking resplendent in dresses of rich materials, necks adorned with glittering jewels. Zale would watch the silk, satin and lace swish around the room as they danced, his only thought being whether She wore beautiful dresses like these. As rumours spread among the kingdom of his infatuation, the women attempted to appeal to his desires. They began to wear dark, ink-coloured dresses, scattered in little silver jewels. But to no avail – Zale never gave them a second glance. None of them compared to Her. He would sneakily return to his room, the music echoing far away, shutting out the world.

As the years passed, Zale’s mind grew darker and darker. He barely ate, barely spoke, barely moved. All he wanted was to be able to go see Her. But his father forbade him to leave the castle. He had given up on Zale, confining him to his room and concealing him from the rest of the kingdom. Zale’s heart filled with resentment, imprisoned from his own fate.

Finally, his mind grew so dark and so wrathful that he could no longer stand to be with himself. Without Her, he could not endure living. Without Her, he was an aimless being, merely existing until She visited his dreams. He had to be with Her, or not be at all. One evening, his father entered his bedroom, his face expressionless as he informed Zale that he had chosen a wife for him. He stated that her name was Nova, a type of star that suddenly becomes extraordinarily bright. Zale stood up and stared at his father vacantly, appearing almost lifeless though his heart almost ripped through his chest. Then, the pain of intertwined fury and craving that had settled in his chest for years filled his whole body and he dropped to his knees. Years of bottled-up emotion flooded out of his chest in the form of a gut-wrenching scream, which bounced off the cobbled grey stone walls and resonated through the cold, empty palace. He blindly stumbled around the room, snatching the nearest object and throwing it as hard as he could, his eyes blurry from the tears that filled them. The object hit the window and as it did so, water crashed through the room. The poems that had been so carefully written, so full of warmth and adoration, were violently ripped from the walls and ruined so rapidly that Zale froze. He was overcome with a sense of defeat as he turned around and stared his father in the eyes, ire pouring from his. Still maintaining eye contact, he walked backwards towards the window. Spinning around, he pushed himself up onto the window and pulled himself out, turning around one last time. A slight smirk appeared in the corner of his mouth and he let out a dark chuckle as his father’s eyes widened with alarm. He tried to whisper a warning, but no sound emerged from his throat. Fear filled his throat as he watched his son willingly escape into the cold arms of his demise. Then, Zale was gone.

Every emotion Zale had ever felt powered his muscles as he swam upwards, his mind filled with only one thought. He closed his eyes as he pushed the water and felt it resist against his fingers, knowing that this would be the last time. Eventually, the water surrendered, letting Zale gracefully glide through it. It sensed that nothing could stop him, every particle that had previously slowed him down now aiding his escape. Her light guided his way and as it got brighter, and he reached the top, the only emotion left was pure elation. After all these years, he would finally see Her, meet Her, be with Her. As he lay in the sand, slowly dying, Zale gazed up adoringly at the Asteria constellation - his heart finally content. She was all he had ever cared about, Her stars gently glowing in the coal-coloured sky. The pain slowly ebbed away, as his consciousness followed. And as his mind drifted into a permanent slumber, he whispered “I love you.”