Aria's POV

Turning my head, was the molecular form of a man with his hand outstretched to me. "You do not belong here. Among these creatures Come with me little star I will take you where you need to be." I wanted to go, and yet I didn't. It had chosen a male-sounding voice that was soothing, and comforting. His gravity pull was so strong, I almost feared being pulled into him. Every fiber of my being screamed at me to go, but I couldn't, I love Richard and can't leave him behind, so I must fight it with all the strength I had in me.

Instead of accepting the hand up, I just stood up, picking pieces of glass out of my skin. "Do you have a name?" I asked out of curiosity.

His hand dropped to his side and he spoke in a deep melodious voice. "We are of the stars, the universes, and galaxies. Of what use would we have for names?"

Nodding, I conceded that he had a point. "It is my wish to be able to speak to you as the individual creature you are. So then I will gift you with a name. I will call you, Xavier."

"Xavier it is then. Now we should go." I just ignored these last words

Seeing him as a creature only in a molecular form, it was odd... I don't remember ever being as such a brilliant white as he is...

"Before you became as I am, what were you?" I gazed up and studied his structure thoroughly. It was clear with floating specks of white. All specks of light revolving around one another, denser where needed, to show a near-human form.  I knew as I looked at him that his light should be hurting my eyes, but it didn't.

Reaching out, Xavier took my hand in his. "You should know... Tell me little star, how much do you remember before you caught in the pull of that supermassive black hole?" Now that I thought about it, I remembered some, but not much. It just never really seemed pertinent until now.

"Very little. I remember drifting for thousands of years, then getting caught up in the gravitational pull as the two black holes merged..." Frowning slightly, I chewed on my lip. A very human thing to do, but I didn't care at the moment.

He cocked his head to the side in curiosity. "We were two white dwarfs circling one another as stars tend to pull off of each other's gravity, we were both about to go supernova. I fell victim to the supermassive black hole first. You circled the center as I fell into the darkness of the shadow mists inside. Asteroid, space dust, it all covered me.

There we waited, changing from our inability to explode correctly due to too much gravity surrounding us. We had no choice but to turn that energy inward knocking our creation and destructive powers off-balance to survive.

In return, as the supermassive black hole inverted and it rewrote our newly formed mass of survival, the black holes in our chests. Where our contained supernova explosions ripped time and space apart.

We look different because I was protected from the heat and blast of the inversion by all the debris around me, so my form is still white. You, on the other hand, were not protected so your natural form is like a black mist." Removing my hand from his, I walked through the French doors and into the garden.

I needed to think but my mind was still frazzled over how much I couldn't remember.

Rose bushes, carnations, tulips, and even hyacinth bushes were growing in full bloom. Any other time I would have walked through this beautifully colorful garden and would smell the different scents, taking my time. Not today.

Making a beeline to the closest bench on the red flagstone walkway, I sat down as panic began to rise. I was putting two and two together and did not like the answer. Xavier sat down next to me remaining quiet, giving me time to soak it all in.

"I can't just up and go with you Xavier. It's complicated... Have you ever felt emotions?" I turned my head and looked at his shimmering features out of curiosity.

"No, I have not. And after seeing how these humans act and react with them, I'd rather not. We were not created to exist in that manner." He nodded his head once and turned to look straight ahead, at the grouping of Gardenias.

"I can feel the most incredibly beautiful emotion called: 'love'. It's like being on a rollercoaster of emotion. You would probably enjoy it very much. It can change one's life. Like my love for Richard has." I looked down at my hands very much saddened that Xavier has probably never known love before. Like I once was, before Richard.

Swiveling his head toward me, his back straightened and if I didn't know better, His features would have shown disgust. "Do you even hear yourself? We do NOT feel love, we do NOT enjoy, or feel any other emotion. Leave the emotions to those that were born with them." Standing up, he reached across to a bush of blooming silver roses and crushed one in his hand, then opened it to show me. "We are destructive and creative forces." I watched as the molecules of the rose disintegrated, floating in the air, then went straight into his chest. "No more of this 'human' talk. I have found you and it's time to complete The Merging, live or die, your choice. I'm still with plenty of core power to last at least another million years. But you, my dear, have nearly used your core power and reserves up. The proverbial clock is ticking..."

Furious, I stood up with my fingers balled into fists at my side. Walking around him to stare at his damned blank features, I spoke with a level lowered voice."I know full well what I am, I don't need you to tell me. Thank God, there is a man in this human world, that loves me for what I am, and who I am becoming." His hand shot out and grabbed me by the arm, so quickly, I spread out my molecules and drove my fist right into his blank face. We were as equals now in our natural forms. Then he sent me images through my molecules that were in his memory still, of what this 'Merging' entailed, and what could happen to us both. Pulling my fist away from his molecules, I felt my darkened form shudder with fear. My eyes met his blank face as my head lowered slightly in a scathing tone I put it all down to one word: 'NEVER...'"

The tone of his voice was dead. Utterly lifeless. "Then your precious humans will die."

Liar...

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Sorry, this chapter is short, I just kinda figured that with all the revelations in this chapter, you might need a break to think things over. Maybe?☺😟

Catch ya later!
Chloè ❤❤❤