Chapter 1

Starlight, star bright

First star I see tonight

I wish I may, I wish I might

Please bring me to the morning light

A yawn rushed from the small girl's lips as she sat upon the tiny barren hill. She had been watching the sky for a few hours now and almost forgot how tired she was. She huddled her legs against her body, shivering slightly in the cool night. Times like these she found herself lapsing into a trance-like state. She didn't understand why there was no one else around like her, or anyone for that matter. Yes, there were a few scarce, odd looking creatures around, but they did nothing except try to attack or run from her.

She tried to think back to the beginning, but everything was a blur of strange emotions and colors. She remembered comforting warmth all around her, but she could not place what it was. She just knew that one day she was jerked away and woke up here, a barren wasteland. Was this what she was meant for? She would watch some of the animals that stayed in small groups. Why did they have companions and she did not? Her head ached in confusion. She seemed to know some things automatically, while others, she had no clue. She knew she was supposed to have a purpose, but didn't know what. She knew how to fend for herself, but didn't know why. And she knew she would one day be beyond all this, but she didn't know when.

Her long hair seemed to always change colors as it grew. First it started gold, but then shifted to a fiery-red when it was past her shoulders. Even with the longer it grew; the colors always stayed the same. And she had a dress on that seemed to change with her. Where did that come from? Maybe she was flawed, she mused to herself, picking up a small rock and tossing it into the air. The rock seemed to hover there in midair for a moment causing the child to blink in disbelief. But the time it took her to realize what happened, the rock fell and smacked her on the head.

"Oww!" She hurried up and rubbed the spot where it had made its not-so-graceful landing. "Stupid rock," she mumbled to herself.

Wait a minute, she thought as she froze. How did she know what a rock was? Then again, she seemed to know a lot of things. The moment of confusion passed shortly and she simply shrugged the whole thing off. She most certainly had been seeing things earlier. She stretched, rising from the ground. Making her way to a more secluded area, not that there was much around to begin with, she leaned against a large brown colored boulder. Her eyes drifted heavily, but she would fight it, she didn't feel like resting at the moment. She didn't realize she had already lost the battle before it even began. Her body slid slowly to the ground and her mind wandered off into the depths of darkness known as sleep.

A few days later she was back to her old self again. The previous days events and pondering almost lost in the sea of her mind. She set out exploring the planet's surface. There had to be something here, she thought. The more she walked, she more she found nothing. The land almost seemed to stay the same with ever step as if she was walking in place. Sure there were some small animal life, but they weren't anything like her. So she kept on wandering.

Upon reaching another small hill she sat down to take a break. Her whole journey was beginning to seem rather hopeless. Was she destined to stay here forever? She let out a sigh; she should really try not to think so hard. Her problem wouldn't be solved that way. She was about to look up when a small creature landed on her head. Startled, she almost fell back as she attempted to shoo it away.

The creature made a buzzing sound and landed on her head once more. Okay, that was it. She wasn't a perch to be used at any time. With a swift movement she went to smack it away, but alas, the creature moved and she hit herself in the head and landed on her back.

"I really need to stop letting that happen." She sighed again and looked up.

The creature was still making that buzzing sound, which she guessed was from its wings. And to make things even worse, it was hovering right above her. It was dark violet in color and was only slightly bigger than her hand. Large yellow eyes shimmered out in contrast and blinked at her. Upon closer inspection one would realize the creature resembled a cat with large dragonfly-like wings.

"What… are you?" She spoke softly, not really expecting much of a response, but it never hurt to ask. The small animal just looked at her and buzzed again. "Well, so much for that idea."

The purple-creature then took its place on her head again, and curled up into a little ball. The girl threw her arms up. "I give up! Go on, lay there. See if I care." She heard a buzzing sound in return. "Glad you agree."

After a few moments she perked up. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. At least now she wasn't completely alone. She would have something, even if she didn't know what it was, to stay with her. But what if it just got up and left? She already had nothing on this planet. Would she be destined to lose this as well? As if sensing her distress the animal hopped down to her lap and stared up at her. It blinked very slowly, titling its head in various ways at her.

She smiled at it for a moment. "Would you like to stay with me?" It buzzed at her. "Okay!" She responded gleefully like she actually knew what it was saying. "Now, I need something to call you. Hmm…." She thought long and hard until it finally hit her. "Via! That's what I'll call you." The creature buzzed happily in response and was picked up by the girl. "Lets make a promise to always be together."

The events surrounding the days of childhood went on eventually fading away into the path of time. The girl grew and so did Via, though she(as far as the girl had determined) still remained relatively around the same size. She had about explored the whole planet over the years – a large portion of it anyway – and was still left in the dark, she had found nothing. No other life, no answers, not a thing. Slight feelings of rage burned deep inside surrounded by emotions of pain and fear. Her expression towards Via was the only thing keeping those thoughts from manifesting themselves.

Another day in the boring life of... She shook her head, knocking Via from where she had been resting, who buzzed angrily in response. Only in times like these, when she there was nothing to do except think, did she get plagued by more questions. She knew she had to have a name. Somewhere in the back of her mind she could almost think of it, yet the thought always escaped her when it was in reach of her grasp. A few times she considered just giving herself one, but then who would she have to tell it to? Via couldn't communicate the same way as her, and there was no one else on the planet (that she knew of). She let out a sigh, things like this made her life seem more hopeless.

Via took the opportunity to settle down on a rock, if she had the ability she probably would have let loose a few cusswords at that moment. Finally the girl made a decision; she would give herself a name, if only temporarily until she figured out what her real one was. "Via, what should I call myself?" She asked, knowing quite well the creature couldn't answer her.

Via opened an eyelid revealing a glowing yellow eye, she buzzed something, then went back to sleep.

"… You're a lot of help." The girl sighed and pulled her legs up to her chest. "I'll just come up with a name myself." She closed her eyes and tried to think; coming up with a name proved to be more difficult than she had thought. Via's name was easy because it just came to her. Why couldn't she come up with her own name? Was something blocking her from knowing who she was? If so, why? Why was she cursed in such a way?

Her head hurt again, but she would not let such things get the most of her. She would come up with something, even if it was stupid. Though, nothing she came up with would be stupid, she thought to herself. Then it finally hit her.

"I got it!" She exclaimed picking up Via, who just looked at her in irritation. "I'm going to call myself 'Gala.' What do you think?"

Via buzzed at her squirmed from her grasp and flew to another rock to lie back down.

"I guess I should never bother you when you are trying to sleep." Gala leaned her head on the palm of her hand. The name she picked would do for now. She didn't know why, but it just seemed right, partly right anyway. She looked up at the sky; the dull colors were beginning to go dark with the setting of the distant sun. Another day was coming to an end. Did she accomplish anything? Well, she could think of one thing, but even that seemed minimal.

Was her life even worth living? She had Via of course, but she wouldn't be there forever. No, no, no, her mind screamed back at her. Via would be there. She wouldn't be left alone again. No, she wouldn't allow herself to be alone.

The next day proved to be even more uneventful, and so did the day after that. Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months, and months turned into years. Eventually the time passed so quickly the events just blurred away into the passage of time. Via seemed to have a longer lifespan than the average animal on the planet, Gala soon noted and it was something she was thankful for. She was slowly growing out of her childhood and into a young woman. Perhaps not mentally per say, but physically, yes. Her home, or what she preferred to call home, was a rock base which held a medium-sized cave. The weather was rather calm lately, so she didn't really have to worry about the elements, but it served more as a place for her to go than anything else.

Via had picked up the odd custom of sleeping upside down, attached to the ceiling of the cave. Gala would often lay there and watch in amazement as she just…hung there. She figured Via had finally gotten tired of getting tangled in her hair, thus avoided her old sleeping spot. The girl was actually quite happy about that. Trying to pry a small, purple, creature from one's hair at all hours of the night was not an easy task or a pleasant one. Of course this did not mean she wasn't great full for Via to still even be there.

An eruption from outside nearly caused Gala to fall backwards as she scrambled to her feet, she grabbed a hold of the wall just to keep herself on her feet. Via fell from the ceiling and landed in a crumpled heap on the ground, unhurt, but still irritated non-the-less. The girl edged her way to the mouth of the cave to possibly get a glimpse of what was happening outside. She collapsed on the ground just inches from the exit. A burning sensation tore through her inner sole as she felt a strong heat seeming to emanate from her heart.

She forced herself to ignore the pain and made it outside. The planet was shaking tremendously with a force she never felt before. She grabbed her head and dropped down to her knees. Why was this happening? Why?!

A moment of calm settled in her mind as Via fluttered to her side. She looked at the small creature who was desperately trying to keep its balance in the shaking air. Was the planet just going to crumble out from under them? She couldn't be sure, but somehow she knew this wasn't meant to happen. She slowly gathered herself to her feet once more. The pain swirling inside threatened to tear apart her very inner being. She scooped up Via and ran back inside the cave then set her down on the floor.

The cat-bug was going to follow as Gala turned to leave. The girl looked back over her shoulder for a brief moment and motioned for Via to stay. "No, no, you can't come with me. I'll be back, don't worry. Wait for me, okay?"

Via buzzed in response, but sat back down obeying the girl's commands.

She ran out using almost all of her strength to force her feet to move with her body. Reaching the mouth of the cave once more she was almost blown back with the planet's disruptive movements which seemed to increase with every moment. She would not be shoved aside this time, not even by strength as great as this. She would find out what was causing this and put a stop to it before they were both killed.

She held up her arms, shielding herself from the blowing winds. Determination was the only thing keeping her alive at this moment. Her life had just been settling down, not perfect, but yet enough to sustain her, but it seemed every time something was going well, everything was taken away. A curse or a destiny, she didn't know. What she did realize, she would make this all stop, even at the greatest cost. She didn't care, not anymore.

Farther and farther she walked, pushing against the wall of dust until she could move no more. Her eyes glimmered with a fury no creature had ever seen before. I COMMAND YOU TO STOP! Did the words come from her mouth or her mind? She couldn't tell, she just wanted it to all be over with, so she could go back to Via and have everything be normal again. The pain seemed to fade away along with her consciousness. She fought to stay awake, but felt herself drifted away more and more. She dropped down the winds still bowing furiously around her. What was wrong with her?

She tried to stand up, but nothing happened. Darkness seemed to intake her body like a serpent swallowing its prey. She reached out to a light, but it was oh so far away, too far to reach, to far to hold on to. So she let herself fall into the depths. She could have sworn she heard something scream.