CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE-COSMIC STRINGS.

It was late into the night, and the moon stood solidly in the middle of the sky, moving only when its observer did. It dazzled the path of the Cosmics with silvery grey light that they did not particularly need. Noise reached Uloma from every angle. It was fascinating to her that within the realm of the dead, a whole world exists designed to keep training Cosmics away.  

This was a world for Cosmics in full abilities and power. Even now, with their worlds threatened, Cosmics in training were still not allowed here. It never stopped them from sneaking in, like she was, but it also never stopped being jarring to their senses. The noise was overwhelming to the senses, and so was everything else. Cosmics don’t like rules; it takes a lot to keep a Cosmic away, and yet this part of the realm did it successfully most of the time. Cosmics in training only came to this part of the realm when it was necessary or on a bad dare. 

A lumbering Cosmic walked past Uloma. His insides were transparent. A glowing dark blue goop swirled around when he walked. A thundering lady with hair made of grass and leaves towered over Uloma. She gossiped and giggled with another female who resembled an antelope with two feet. Her ears stuck out, accompanied by huge antlers. Without warning, something zapped past Uloma, knocking her over. She stumbled and fell on her behind. 

“Hey, watch it.” 

A creature yelled at her. Their wings were bright green with spotted silver. 

“Sorry.” 

She called back and kicked herself for apologising. They should watch where they are going, zapping around in a silvery string of light. She glared in the general direction of the being, but they were already gone. 

“What are you doing?” 

A Cosmic that looked like a mobile hut asked her. They sounded like every word coming out of them was a slow whistle. Uloma covered her ears with her hands. She felt like her ears would bleed blood that she did not have. 

“Very rude.” 

The hut hissed and lumbered off. Uloma picked herself off the ground, already regretting her crazed decision to come here. She wanted to find her family’s palace. Maybe her mother would be there if she were not allowing herself to be summoned to her shrine. Why else was everyone there except for her? She could feel her furrowed forehead, but she could not help it. Rage and frustration sat on her like mountains on land. She had no idea what she wanted from her mother, maybe someone who was on her side. 

The market was busy at this time of night. Floating figures filled the market, haggling over prices, quarrelling, and laughing. She tried to navigate through spaces that were not filled with Cosmics. It was more difficult than she had anticipated; bodies twisted about, screeched, or screamed at each other. She wondered if anybody here spoke with a modulated tone. The beings floating overhead or barely above the ground shoved and tussled her, paying her very little attention as she tried to squeeze past them.  

When she finally made it through the market, she breathed in relief. Every one of those beings could see in the dark, but she couldn’t. She was thankful for the glowing street torches, like the crescent moon; they barely lit up the night, but sparse lighting was better than no light at all. Her feet carried her steadily now that there were not that many people blocking her path of travel. The air smelled electric, like an impending storm, rain, she thought, and increased her pace. The houses she passed were as strange as she had expected for this part of the realm, but she was not yet near where the palaces were. 

Her feet crunching against the muddy paved road, she made a zip line for an alley. She had heard that this alley was one of the only places that allowed beings with limited powers like herself to use their ability to teleport—time to test that theory. 

Two orange houses swaying and bending to invisible wind marked her arrival in the alley. Like most alleys on this side of the realm, cosmic powers flowed in currents so strong even a human baby could borrow from them. Cosmic energies flowed in sharp, bright colours through the transparent walls that bordered and enclosed the alley. The tang of strong cosmic power stung her nostrils and pulled at her feet. It wanted to own her, to let her drown in it. 

“You are not very smart, are you?” 

The familiar bored voice pulled her out of her trance. 

“Borrowing powers from the cosmos is a sure way to get yourself into debts you could never pay back.” 

Uloma’s vision blurred and refocused. It had been so intensely sharp a second ago that she had seen the shapes and colours of the powers of the realm of Death. She felt a numbing pain in her chest and stomach from the fall, from all the highs of having that power flow through her. Her mouth tasted salty and bitter at the same time, and she glared even harder at the annoying boy. 

“Ah, we are back to not talking to me. I can take glaring. You're cute when you glare. You realise that the reason Cosmics in training cannot come this way is not because they are being denied. You are not yet able to conduct and process this much power.” 

He was grinning as he strolled towards where she stood, his long legs making the short walk more interesting than it was necessary. She told herself the reason she was not moving or talking back was that she did not want to. But truthfully, she could not. She felt herself being pulled into the current that still surrounded her. 

“Let's get you out of here.” 

She could have sold her spleen if she had it, for the chance to wipe the aggravating smirk off his face as he took her hand and chanted into her limp palm. He muttered prayers to the heavens and, in the name of heaven. Whispering promises she could barely make out. She felt the current release her at the same time he pulled her into oblivion. 

They materialised in the main hall of the academy. Silence filled the hall like an echo long lost. The hall had never known silence and quiet this steep. This hall was always filled with students milling around. Banners hung from the wavy ceiling, each banner a symbol of an Emenike; they flapped aimlessly as if they too felt the loss of milling, loitering students. Uloma spun around on her heels. The eeriness of her surroundings hung over her, and it felt strange being here again after the fire. The academy, of course, recovered. There was not even a singe or a wisp of smoke. The long spiral stairway that led to the observatory stood firmly, as it always did, in the middle of the hall, providing a break in the direct path to the Hall of Sounds and Music. Moonlight poured through the tall windows, arched to imitate the signs of Emenikes. Orlus, carved from stone, sat on the ledges of the windows, both on the inside and outside, their bulging, hateful eyes glaring permanently at anyone looking up at them. 

Uloma could not help but be seized with fierce love and protectiveness towards this school. This had been her home for as long as she could remember. This school was home to every Cosmic who has trained here. It has existed forever, and now it is empty. The hall would fill up again, she was sure of it. The Realm of Death recovers, but would she ever return to it as a student? This thought tugged at her heart, raising another pressing thought: what if she never returned to the academy? So many Cosmics in training were volunteering to face these things. Things they had never prepared for. Would any of them lose their death? 

Her eyes darted across the hall, fear gripping her so wholly that she felt her lungs constrict. Her eyes met Eligwe’s, where he was sitting at the bottom of the stairs, his head leaning against the mahogany banister. The unreadable expression in his brown eyes made her feel even worse. He was doing this for her, she thought. He wanted her to mourn here. He knew she needed this. She needed to process her feelings. And he was giving her the space and privacy to do it. 

“Why are you being nice? Why are you helping me?” 

He cocked his head at her, as if he had not expected the question, and she saw and felt his gaze darken. 

“I was rash when we faced those things. I could make excuses and say that the pressure got to me, but you were also under a lot of pressure.” 

He pulled himself off the stairs with an ease that made him appear lethal somehow. She had never seen this side of him. It was dark and heavy, and yet when he walked in the stroll of his, he looked weightless; he could blend into the very darkness around them, she thought with conviction. 

“I see the fear you, Cosmics, try to hide. You are all squirming under so much apprehension, and for a realm that chases after danger for the fun of it, this fear is new for you all.” 

He reached her in four steps, covering a distance that should have taken the average being a trot to cover in just four steps. He was right, she thought, gazing into his unreadable eyes. Cosmics were not familiar with fear or caution. This was new. Ekama had wanted to fight when her very instinct begged her to run. Ekama has never run from anything. They were facing something that went against their very nature. 

“You are not scared.” 

It was a statement. He looked feral, dark. It did not make any sense. He was a Heavenly. Heavenlies are golden beings that shun by being inherently perfect. 

“I am here to protect you. You know that by now. Your mother knows what I am, and yet seeing you in danger raises my concern.” 

“Concern? Just concerns, the academy burned.” 

She heard the accusation in her voice. He was not the one who set the school on fire, and yet this was the one time she truly hated his coolness. She wanted her anger to feel directed, and he was here. 

“You should worry, like the rest of us. Those things will come for your realm as well.” 

“Is that a prediction?” 

The corner of his lips lifted in an ironic smile. She shook her head. Why had she said that? He was here to help her; he had helped save them. 

“Thank you for earlier. I will go now.” 

He pulled her back before she could take two steps. 

“You are hurting. You went to the main realm in search of answers. You were looking for your mother.” 

How did he know? She looked incredulously at him, but he shook his head in answer. 

“I followed you.” 

Uloma pulled her hands away from his grip, unsure what to make of his confession or how to feel about it. 

“You had so much anger, I was certain you would do something stupid.” 

He told her. 

“And you were right, good for you.” 

He shook his head again. 

“I am not the enemy here.” 

When he reached for her hand again, she felt a shock of darkness pour through her from him. She shivered and pulled away. 

“What did you do?” 

Her voice carried the tinge of shock still travelling through her body. Eligwe took a step away from her and lowered his eyes. 

“You Cosmics never think of the realms outside of yours, do you?” 

He asked her. What an unfair question, she thought, offended, bristling. She looked him up and down. 

“We are going to war against those things for the other realms.” 

“Do you think you still would have gone if it had not affected you directly?” 

She wanted to yell yes, but found herself shutting her mouth, because she wasn’t sure what the answer truly was. Would they? But their realms were all the same. They were all self-serving; it was not specific to the realm of Death. No one else was fighting this war with them, and she told him as much. 

“I am here, and so is Ogba. His realm is offering to train you, even though it would make them a target. The Heavens are offering you a quick shortcut through one of our portals, even after they heard of your recent attack. They should worry about their safety, and yet they offer their assistance. We are trying to help.” 

She tried for an answer, but he raised his palm to stop her. He looked to her like he was barely containing something wild inside. 

“Uloma that night...” 

He paused, running his hand over his neck in a continuous self-soothing motion. She saw how much he was trying to hold himself together. 

“I saw you freeze, and all I could think was how selfish you and your teachers were. They had not equipped you, and you had not learned. But my frustration was wrong, and I am sorry, but Uloma, you push me so much.” 

He said the last part with a strained smile and collapsed into her. She barely caught him before he fully sagged into her arms. Panic shot through all her defences. She shook him. His weight against her threatened to topple her. His towering frame made it difficult to hold on to him. 

“Eligwe.” 

She muttered sharply, and he groaned, breathing faintly. 

“Eligwe.” 

The urgency in her voice, layered over her panic, sent her beating heart on overdrive. He was right, and she knew nothing about Heavenlies. She had never bothered to learn about them. She had no idea what was wrong with him, but she had to find help. Emenike would know what to do. She hoisted him, dragging him up from under his armpit, her knees buckled, and she could not move with him. She did not want to leave him alone here. He groaned again, and her indecision spiked even further. 

“You push me, I want to break all the rules for you.” 

His words were slurred, but he was at least awake. Uloma felt her heart leap for joy. 

“Eligwe,” she whispered, and pulled him down to the floor with her. She let his body flop first to the floor, holding him all the while so that his head was safe when the rest of his body hit the smooth wood floor. When she was sitting as comfortably as she could, she let go of his armpit and brought his head to rest against her chest, cradling him. It was not lost on her that she had been in a similar position with him on the night of their first kiss, but she was too worried to dwell on it. 

“Are you okay?” 

In her head, she reached out to Emenike. 

“He conducted Cosmic flow. What a foolish thing to have done.” 

Emenike said, hurrying towards them. She had never felt more grateful to see an Emenike, even though it was Emenike of Cosmic Studies. He looked at her with narrowed eyes. 

“Any idea why a Heavenly would be foolish enough to do such a thing?” 

She shook her head as he lifted Eligwe from her with a flick of his wrist. She wanted to hold on to him until she was certain that he was fine, but she was not insane enough to argue with this Emenike. He looked at her expectantly, not paying attention to poor Eligwe, who was held suspended in the air. She shook her head in denial. How should she know? 

“So, it had nothing to do with him saving you from being food to the Cosmo.” 

It had not occurred to her that the cosmic strings capable of unravelling a Cosmic in training into itself could also harm a Heavenly, even one as powerful as Eligwe. He was outside of his comfort zone here. 

“He put his life on the line for you, and from what I heard him tell you, he will always step in front of danger if it means he is keeping you safe.” 

Uloma felt her heart sink. She watched the beautiful form of the boy tasked with her safety, float limply above her, and wondered if he had been trying to tell her that he was doing it because he wanted to, and not because he was tasked with her safety. Was that why he talked about the other realms and how they were putting themselves in danger to help? Something tugged at her consciousness, and she recognised it as her heart wanting this to be more than that for him.  

“Wait, how did you know what he told me?” 

Her head snapped up in the direction of Emenike. He frowned, furrowing his brows. 

“The academy told me. Ever since you awakened them, it has been incessant gossip and chatter with them.” 

Emenike said, his frown deepening, he eyed the hallway as if he could see more than was visible to Uloma. 

“Now come on. Let's wake him up.”