"I've found something interesting," Astral said and came back to bed. He had been rummaging through the books I had brought back to our room, but the book he was holding wasn't one of mine. And it had that stupid star on it. It was the one the man in the dumb robe had given me. Why had he even kept it? I was sourly disappointed because I had been admiring his naked body as he crouched down in front of the pile of books.

"Look," he said and pointed at a page with an illustration. It was a person surrounded by stars, holding one in their hand. "This is the origin story of how the star-children are made. A powerful mage plucks the stars out of the sky and fuses it with a soul of a chosen one. Meaning, you're a chosen one according to them."

I rolled my eyes and finished a leaf on my sketch.

"Maybe we could go to the temple here in town and get more information."

"I don't wanna set foot in another temple."

"Mars, there's talk of healing in here too. I don't want my visions to be like this for the rest of my life. If I can find anything in that temple, I want to go. And I would really like it if you came with me. I don't do well on my own, you know that."

"You'd insult them and get thrown out on ass and elbows."

"I would. But I'm much better at behaving when you're around. You know that."

"I know that," I muttered. "If it's for your visions, then alright. If they start any of that star-child shit, I'm going to walk out. Storm out. Very dramatically too."

"Only you could storm out as dramatically I'm sure," he murmured and kissed my cheek.

"You ruined naked-time," I sighed.

"Oh bother, I did."

We hadn't gotten dressed all day. Hadn't seen anyone all day either. Had only gotten out for some food at one point and gotten enough so we wouldn't have to leave.

"I didn't mean too, though." He sounded so cute when he put on that special begging voice. And he knew it made me all weak.

"You're so manipulative," I murmured and turned my head, receiving a kiss.

"Only when I want something from you," he chuckled and kissed me again.

I was creeped out by the temple before we even entered. Astral had his hand in mine, standing closely next to me, offering me some much needed support.

"I hate that you convinced me to do this," I said without taking my eyes off the temple. It had a big star made in marble hanging over the double doors.

"You'll love how I'll make it up to you though." I could hear the smirk in his voice.

I rolled my eyes and Astral tugged me after him inside the temple. There was a lot of smoke in there from incense and it felt like my throat was closing up. I coughed and loosened my scarf.

"Astral, this doesn't feel right."

"It'll be alright. Alright? It'll be fine. We can leave at any time."

I didn't feel so sure nor right. I wanted to leave and go back to the safety of the college even though it wasn't ours.

"Hello," someone said softly from the fog.

I rubbed my eyes having such a hard time seeing. It was too bright, and the smoke was making my eyes water.

"Let's go outside into the garden. Looks like the cleansing ritual is doing the opposite to your eyes."

Someone grabbed my other hand, leading me out of the temple again. I was grateful to breathe proper fresh air again.

"There, much better, isn't it?"

I nodded and rubbed my eyes again, taking my scarf off completely and pressed it to my eyes.

"He has sensitive eyes," I heard Astral say. He helped me sit down on something hard. Felt like rock.

"Lots do. Especially the blessed ones. It gets better with age though."

My vision cleared up after another good rubbing and I could finally see the person who had saved me from the smoke. It looked like a woman not much older than Astral and me. It was hard to tell though. Her eyes had the same colour as mine, but I could tell there were a lot more experience behind them. She wasn't our age. She was older.

"We're not here to talk about me," I said and scratched my throat.

Her gaze settled on my throat and her expression softened with sympathy. "Slit throat?" she asked.

"Sure," I muttered dismissively.

She lifted the heavy curtain of hair in front of her forehead, showing off a round splotch right in the middle. "Shot in the head."

"Sun and stars," Astral muttered under his breath.

I pulled down on my shirt, showing off the splotches on my collarbone. "Went through the ice on the lake during winter. Astral," I said and nodded towards Astral. "Pulled me out. Ripped a lot of skin."

"How many times have you died?"

"Four. House fire, poisoned berries, the lake and then the slit throat."

"Amateur. Sixteen." She snorted. "But I bet you didn't come here to compare battle-stories."

"No, actually, we came for me," Astral said and laced his fingers with mine. "I have The Sight. My visions are becoming worse. I get seizures, my body aches for days and I get fevers."

She frowned a little. "Sounds exhausting. How often do you have visions?"

"They're becoming more and more frequent."

"Are they clear or abstract?"

"Abstract most of the time."

She nodded a bit before she looked back at me and smiled. "I never told you my name. My name's Mercury."

"I'm Astral. And this is Mars."

"Why did you come to the temple? We don't really do anything with Seers."

Astral bit down on his lip before releasing it. "I... Read something about healing. In one of your books."

"It's spiritual healing. Not anything physical. We're not mages, you know."

"Magic isn't going to fix me. And now organised religion can't either?" Astral sighed very dramatically. "What's the damn point of believing in anything if it can't fix what's wrong with you? This is a damn scam." Astral rose to his feet. "Come on, Mars. This lot can't help us."

"We can't. But I might know someone who can," Mercury said. "It's not gonna be pleasant though. A mage who lives up the mountain. Named Venus. She might be able to help you. But..."

"But what?" Astral growled and threw his arms out to the sides.

"She's not a good person," Mercury said, looking very serious.

"Woopti-doo, no one fucking is, except for Mars, alright? How do I find her?"

"There's a path you can follow. Outside of the town. There's a big tree that's half-scorched right by it, leading off the main road. Wouldn't take more than half a day's walk." She rose from the stone bench that had been across from ours. "She'll be delighted to meet you, Mars. Maybe you too Astral. She certainly likes pretty things." Mercury gave us a two-finger salute and made her way back to the temple.

"What a fucking deviant," Astral muttered under his breath and grabbed my hand, leading me out of the garden. Thankfully, we didn't have to go through the temple and temporarily blind me.

I decided not to say anything. I didn't really know what to think and to be completely honest, I didn't think Astral would want to visit some mage on the mountain. Seemed entirely unrealistic.

As we walked back to the college, I kept glancing at him. A vein was on its way out of his throat. He was grounding his teeth together so hard I was a little afraid he was going to break them.

"Astral," I said softly and pulled him to me, kissing his cheek.

It was as if the tension evaporated, and he slowed down a little. He had been walking in this stiff and fast pace the entire time. He sighed deeply and forced a smile.

"If you wanna go visit the mage, I'll go with you. You know that, right?" I said softly.

"I don't know if I wanna go. If it's just another hoax... Mars, I was really hoping this would turn into something."

I stopped and he did too. I pulled him to me, hugging him close. "I'm sorry they got to you too."

"Fucking shit temples."

"We'll call it Temple of the Shits."

He snorted and pulled back, softly pressing his lips to mine. "Yeah, serves them right."

"It sure does."