20th November 2019

ISAAC

Manipulating Shay Williams is one of the easiest things I've done in my life.

For one thing, the girl's madly in love with me. Two, she did everything I told her to, and I didn't even have to move a muscle. Three, she never questioned my motives and raged those who warned her against me.

Of course, Shay was still under the delusion that I loved her. Any sane person would've wondered how an Enlightened like me could still retain such worldly desires.

The thing is, I don't love Shay.

I'd given up on my feelings for Shay Williams long ago, the day I'd become one of the Enlightened. At first, it was hard, days of sorrow and pain striking me repeatedly at the thought of losing her. I nearly couldn't reach the White Realm.

After heart-wrenching sacrifices and difficult rituals, I'd wiped away any remaining residue of my feelings for her, knowing that it was the only way I could survive.

The only way I could use every ounce of my power for good.

Today, I'd asked Shay to meet me at our secret cave. There was one last thing she had to do, not only because I wanted her to, but because fate was forcing it onto her life.

"Izzy!" Shay squealed as she entered the cave, her eyes shining with admiration as she neared me. I notice that she was wearing a figure-hugging dress, another frail attempt to think that would make me love her more.

As I said, she's delusional.

"Shay!" I told her, mimicking her level of excitement. It was essential to soften her a bit before I could demand things from her.

"I missed you," She cooed, wrapping her arms around my torso.

"I missed you too," I whispered gently, running my hand through her white-blonde hair. It was now longer, getting entangled in my fingers and creating a nuisance.

Argh, I hated things like these.

Like I'd predicted, Shay began to kiss me on the lips, then my jaw, and my neck. I knew that any guy would dream to be in my place, enjoying lowly pleasures such as these and thanking his lucky stars.

However, I'm not any guy. I'm an Enlightened, and I'm above things such as lust. Even with Shay's body pressed against mine, I don't feel a thing, and it's literally a chore to pretend like I did.

"You're amazing, Izzy," She grinned up at me, her fingers tracing patterns on my face.

"Not as amazing as you," I repeated like a parakeet, wondering when she'd want an actual conversation with me.

"Why were you so rude last time?" She gave me a playful frown. "You could've warned me about Noah in a nicer way."

"I'm sorry, sugarcakes," I kissed her again. "I  was worried that you might have already left for the Spirit Prison."

Shay nodded like she understood.

"Where is Noah anyway?" She asked after a while.

"He's in the Earthly Realm, and he's trying to reconnect with Renee," I replied. I wasn't in the mood to explain the Johannes drama, and Shay was dumb enough to not ask about it.

"Typical," Shay rolled her eyes. "As long as he hides from the ISA, things would be okay."

"The ISA is crumbling," I tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "All thanks to you and the Astrascends."

Shay blushed at the compliment.

"Really?" She questioned eagerly. "Are we that good?"

"More powerful than most things in the universe," I assured her. "They've almost fulfilled their destiny."

"You know, I thought Mike Durvont messed everything up," Shay sighed. "Yet, he only made it better than what we both could've done. These humans know what liberation really means, it's not just the absence of rules. It means that we get to be happy and carefree too."

"Yeah, that's true," I replied, nearly zoning out on her speech.

"Izzy, did you know that we had seven hundred recruits just yesterday? They're all prisoners from the ISA, and they want to ascend, hoping to use their new power for good."

Ah, those recruits. They were nothing but pure evil, reporting directly to Johannes's comrades and trying to possess humans. They had joined the Astrascends in an attempt to hide from the ISA, trying to blend in with the crowd and keeping their identity hidden.

Noah had narrowly thwarted their efforts and the LOLtube's murder attempt, but I knew that they would soon strike again.

"I wouldn't trust them if I were you," I told Shay carefully, knowing that I couldn't go around blurting everything that my Enlightened power spoke of.

"Why not?" Shay asked sharply. "It's my duty to help them out, isn't it?"

"Shay, I can only give you vague statements," I reminded. "My power doesn't allow me to share my knowledge with lower Spirits."

"So, what am I supposed to do?" She looked slightly worried.

"I hate saying this, but you don't have a choice," I cleared my throat. "You need to end the Astrascends."

"End?" Shay looked confused.

"Commence, destroy, annihilate," I shrugged. "Whatever word you like."

"What?!" She gaped at me. "How you say something so colossal in such a casual way?"

Right, I'd forgotten to put on my emotions for a moment.

My brows fell into a frown, and my mouth flattened in disappointment. Then I looked at her, trying to muster up all the dread in the world.

"I've been searching for another solution, but I'm not sure if it would work," I told her truthfully. "It has to be done, Shay, there's no other choice."

"I can't, Izzy," Shay blinked, her eyes glassy with tears. "I've spent so much time building them up, I can't just destroy them in an instant."

I tried to kiss her but she pulled away. It was the first time she'd done that.

"Does it not affect you?" She gaped at me in disbelief. "You created the Astrascends with me too! Sure, you haven't been around for a while, but doesn't it hurt, ending the greatest thing you've ever done?"

"I created it. And that's precisely why I'd rather destroy them than have someone else do it," I told her patiently.

"Is someone else going to end the Astrascends?" Shay asked carefully. I could notice that her face was pale, her eyes wide with fear.

"More like something else," I corrected, absentmindedly.

She stared at me in horror, and I smacked myself internally, knowing that I couldn't blabber out universal secrets like that.

"I'm going to fight it then, whatever it is!" Shay declared after a while, looking determined. "Nothing can destroy the Astrascends, not when we have so many Spirits with us!"

"You can't fight it-"

"It's Johannes and his comrades, isn't it?" She looked like an angered beast. "We can handle those fools, we are so much more powerful!"

"Shay!" I yelled, exasperated with trying to interrupt her. "You're such an idiot, you've got it all wrong!"

Her nostrils flared in annoyance.

"Did you just call me an idiot?" Her voice was low, teetering on the edge of danger.

"Yes, because that's what you've been acting like!" I told her, tired of pretending like I loved her.

"I don't believe it," She huffed. "I run the Astrascends, day and night, working all the time, and you sit here like some supreme Lord, calling me an idiot?" Shay spat out.

"Shay-"

"No Isaac, you listen. I'm sick and tired of pretending that everything you do is okay. For one thing, you don't even care about the Astrascends... In fact, you don't even care about me!" She hollered.

I didn't like the direction this was heading in.

"That's not true!" I protested. "I love you, Shay-"

"Did you ever come up to see me in the past three months? No hi, no how are you, Shay... You only called me up because it concerned Noah!"

"I came today-"

"For what? To make me destroy the one thing I love?" Shay growled. "And don't tell me you wanted to make out with me, because I could clearly tell you weren't into it. You never have been, ever since you joined the Enlightened!"

I stared at her before my mouth curled into a leering smile.

"So, you know," I glanced up slowly. "You've finally opened your eyes to see that I've been using you for the whole time."

"You've been using me?" Her mouth fell open, her aggressive attitude dying away instantly.

"Wasn't it obvious?" I scoffed.

"Izzy, you're lying, aren't you? This is some sort of a sick joke, isn't it?" Her voice broke, looking truly vulnerable.

What a pity.

"I'm not one with the jokes, Shay," I replied nonchalantly. "I'm the serious dude."

"But, y-you love me-"

"I can't love you, an Enlightened can't be in love," I told her, annoyed at the fact that I had to explain everything.

"You don't love me?" Her eyes were red and her palm rested on her chest. Almost as if her heart was aching at the thought.

Oh yeah, Shay's void of pain was structured around loving me.

See, now even I felt slightly resentful for breaking her like that.

"I don't love you anymore," I explained, my voice gentler than before. "It was a choice between you and survival, and obviously I chose survival."

She inhaled sharply, her hand clutching her chest. Tears flowed down her angular face, her lips pressing into a line as she tried to tolerate the pain. Her golden hair fell across her bare shoulders, cascading down her arms and swinging around her waist. Her legs were curled, her dress riding up as she coiled into a heap.

Her emerald green eyes stared at me, almost pleading with me to help her. It surprised me how didn't Shay hate me after all that I'd done to her. How was she here, staring at me with all the intensity in the world, something that was purely, truly love and admiration that she retained for me.

"Izzy," Her voice was weak. "Izzy, p-please help me..."

I swallowed, knowing that the events unfolding were completely unexpected.

"Okay," I said, barely audible. I kneeled next to her, placing a hand upon her head, and trying to remove the curse the ISA had placed upon her. Shay watched me for the whole duration, trembling in pain as I removed it.

There was something in the way she looked at me. I'd never felt anything like it in a long time.

My heart had never beat faster.

And that's when light exploded through my chest, a brief burst like a supernova, before plunging me through the depths of darkness and making me collapse next to her. On and on my head throbbed, only ending as Shay sat up, staring at me in disbelief.

My vision cleared, and Shay sat in front of me, looking completely unaffected. Her skin glowed brighter, her cheeks flushed and her lips redder than they'd ever been.

She looked like a regal queen, emanating waves of power.

I sat up, immediately noticing that my glow was dimmer than usual. Knowing that I would get an answer later, I stood up, dusting my pants and nodding at Shay.

"Goodbye, then," I told her.

She smiled at me, her face more beautiful by the simple action.

"Bye, Isaac," She said softly.

Strange. Did she not want to wrestle me to death?

Was it that easy for her to forgive me?

I headed out, wondering what had happened back in there. I closed my eyes, trying to focus on my Enlightened Power, desperately seeking an explanation for this absurdity.

My mind remained blank.

I tried again, closing my eyes and praying for an answer. It never came, like a light bulb had died within me like there was no electricity left.

I stopped walking.

My chest had glowed in the cave, and a minute later, Shay was up and alright, looking like she wasn't dying a minute ago. The way her smile mocked me like she knew things I didn't.

Knew things I didn't.

I stiffened, as the puzzle pieces fell into place. There was only one logical explanation, one that I dreaded saying out aloud.

I'd lost my Enlightened power to Shay Williams.

*****

Good news: I didn't lose all my power. I'd lost only half of it.

Anger burst through my veins when I thought about how undeserving Shay was to something as holy as that. I clawed at my head, wondering why I'd lost my power, and if there was any way I could yank it out of her.

Shay had shut me out completely. She didn't answer in person, or telepathically. Like a sneaky thief, she'd disappeared out of sight, and my weakened power failed to find out where she was.

I'd even showed up at the Astrascends, and Mike informed me that he hadn't seen her in days.

Mike also blamed me for her disappearance, telling me that he would destroy me if anything drastic had happened to her.

I bit back my retorts, hating the fact that I had to be threatened by idiots like him.

I walked out of the Astrascend headquarters, into the icy cliffs of the Before Realm, instantly calmed by the pure whiteness of everything. Something was soothing about the monotone landscape, it had a way of stilling the emotions inside you.

Like a long lost song.

I stopped walking, noticing that someone was actually singing in this place, a female voice so high and clear it gave me goosebumps. Almost entranced, I followed it, wondering who it could be.

It was only when she turned did I recognise who it was.

Her midnight hair fell into tight curls, her coffee brown skin standing out against the landscape. Her honeyed eyes filled with recognition as they fell on me, her mouth curving into a grin.

"Isaac Whitford! I'm so glad to see you! You're the perfect person to help me find Noah!"

I stared at her in shock.

"But, what are you doing here, Melody Davies?"

*****

~End of Part 1~

*****