Page 18 of The Stars

Dante followed the leader through a series of halls that opened up into a large, open-air dining area. The space was bordered by columns, and beyond them, the view took his breath away. Stretching far into the distance was the shimmering expanse of the sea. The water was impossibly blue, sparkling under the fading light of the setting sun. It was beautiful, almost surreal, like something out of a dream.

He’d always wanted to visit this region. Somehow, coming back in time and seeing it undisturbed by the chaos of the future was even more rewarding.

Then again, he was probably delirious and really just passed out on the hot sand somewhere, dreaming all of this up.

The dinner itself was simple but filling. Fresh fish, olives, bread, and honeyed figs were laid before him. Despite the strange circumstances, Dante found himself eating hungrily, his body finally catching up with the exhaustion of the day. The village leader watched him in silence, occasionally offering a nod but saying little.

When the meal was over, Dante was escorted to a private chamber, high up in the sanctuary. The room was modest but comfortable, with a large bed draped in linen and an open balcony that overlooked the sea. The night breeze drifted in, carrying the scent of salt water and olive trees.

The attendants bowed, then turned and left him alone.

He stood at the edge of the balcony, gazing out at the stars that were beginning to pierce the darkening sky. In the distance on the left, Mount Olympus loomed, ever-present and ominous, like a silent guardian watching over this ancient world. To the right, far below him, was the Aegean Sea.

What was he supposed to do now? He had no map, no plan, and no real understanding of why he was here. The people thought he was Epimetheus, a god from legend, but he was just a man—a man thrust into the past with no idea of what was coming next.

Brea’s words haunted him still. “You are the next step in saving this world.”

But how? What role did he play in this ancient place, and what fate awaited him?

Dante closed his eyes. His head felt dull and yet was spinning with questions. As the moon rose high in the sky, he wondered if Amy had been sent somewhere as well and if their paths would cross again.

Never in a million years had he imagined his life would take a turn like this. He’d always hoped that Amy would come back into his life. Dreamed of it. He knew that she’d gone down several dark paths since leaving town.

Still, he’d hoped that she’d grow tired of wandering around and dating losers and eventually come home. He had no idea it would mean that he’d end up in a place like this, waiting for her to join him in this primitive paradise.

Watching the last rays of sunlight disappear to the west, he was about to turn towards the massive bed and try to get some rest when he saw a strange purple light coming from the water far below him.

His first thought was that it was a boat, a ship heading in from a long voyage. Then it dawned on him that, while there must be boats in this time, none would have a purple light shining so brightly. Oddly enough, it was heading directly towards him.

Dante froze, his heart pounding in his chest. He gripped the stone edge of the balcony to steady himself. His eyes widened as the purple light hovered just above the water’s surface, slowly rising like some kind of ethereal mist. The air around him changed—warmer, electric, like the charge before a storm.

His instincts screamed at him to back away, but his feet remained rooted to the spot. The light moved closer, impossibly graceful, shimmering in the deep hues of twilight. As it ascended higher, the details within the glowing mist started to take form—a figure cloaked in flowing light, delicate and otherworldly.

“Hello, brother,” the soft, oddly familiar voice echoed in his mind, not through the air but directly in his thoughts. His stomach twisted as the realization set in—this was no hallucination. He wasn’t imagining it. The voice belonged to Hope, his sister.

But how? How could she be here?

The figure grew clearer, the purple mist dissipating to reveal her. Her features were as he remembered, but sharper, more refined, as if shaped by something greater than time. She floated just beyond the balcony’s railing, her long, dark hair swirling around her in a haze of violet light. Her eyes, once warm and comforting, now glowed with a strange luminescence, a reflection of the power coursing through her.

“Hope?” Dante whispered, his voice strained. “What in the hell?” She was supposed to be at a dance school in New York. The last time he’d seen her, she’d just gotten the lead in a holiday production.

The familiarity of her face contrasted so violently with the sheer impossibility of the situation that it left him disoriented. She looked like his sister but not entirely. She was something else, something more.

Long flowing purple fabric swirled around her like clouds and mist as she hovered hundreds of feet above the ground. Her eyes were impossibly violet in color. Her long dark hair flowed in perfect ringlets around her face.

She was the spitting image of how their mother had once looked, long before the cancer had taken her years before he’d graduated high school.

“You’ve finally come home,” Hope repeated, her voice filled with both sorrow and something he couldn’t quite place. Relief? Expectation?

Home? What did she mean by that? He wasn’t home—he was in ancient Greece, thrust into the past by forces he couldn’t understand. The same forces, it seemed, that had taken Hope and turned her into... this.

The wind stirred around them, carrying with it the scent of the sea. His mind raced with questions, memories flooding back.

“How are you here?” he demanded, his voice stronger now, though his pulse was hammering in his ears with fear and confusion.

Hope tilted her head slightly, her expression soft but distant, as if the answers she carried were too heavy for words. “I’ve always been here, waiting for you. Waiting for this moment.”

His chest tightened as he stepped closer to the railing. “What are you talking about? Waiting for what?”