Chapter 2: Wishing Upon And Below A Falling Star

"Look, Meera! It's a falling star! Make a wish!"

"Then… then I wish that you and I could finally have a child, Emmett."

"My dear. Can you, for once, actually wish for something that could be achieved? I am already 70 and 5, and you 60 and 9."

"...But we have just intertwined the physical manifestations of our love just last night."

"My sword, willing though it may be, no longer draws blood."

Somewhere deep in a forest, in a small hamlet of less than a dozen houses, there was an old couple sitting outside their hut, looking at the dark but glittering sky. Their eyes, reflecting the falling star that was leaving a bright streak above.

"Come, my dear. Let us go to sleep," the husband, Emmett, already had no space on his face without a wrinkle. And her wife, Meera, was the same; their hair, completely white and coarse, "All the other villagers have already met with the lady of dreams."

"You rest, my love," Meera's weak voice trembled as her eyes remained staring at the falling star, "I wish to see the end of this falling star, for it might be the last our eyes would see."

"Hm," Emmett just nodded as he started turning around; his old bones, creaking as he headed inside their small but very lovely hut. Meera watched her husband for a bit, before once again watching the falling star above her.

"I wish that my beloved and I could finally have a child," Meera whispered; her eyes, glimmering stronger by the second…literally.

"...Oh?" Meera could not help but slowly lift herself up with her cane as the falling star seemed to be getting larger and larger; the light it produced, drowning everything around her as it directly passed just above their humble hamlet. Meera could really only squint her eyes as the heat coming from the falling star touched her face, just enough that she felt a certain… comfortable warmth. She then turned toward the direction where the meteor was heading,

"Dragonia City…" She whispered weakly, "...That is going to end a lot of lives."

Meera's cane started trembling as she watched as the meteor continued to descend, threatening to hit a city with a considerable population. Meera then looked into her hut's window, and as she saw Emmett already fast asleep…

…she suddenly leaped into the air.

The wooden floor beneath her feet shattered without any resistance, along with the ground on which their hut was resting.

And now, within just a moment, Meera was already gliding just below the meteor; the heat coming from it, now turning her clothes that were as old as her turn into embers.

She then grabbed her cane with both hands, before pulling on it and revealing the sword hiding within.

The sword was thin, and yet it seemingly reflected the world around it.

"Shattering Thorn…" Meera breathed in as she pointed the sword at the meteor above her, "...Of the Dancing Blossom."

And with those words escaping her dried lips, the sword in her hand blurred; blades of light, slicing the very air itself and started to wrap across the falling star.

"Kh…!!!" Meera started coughing vehemently, but as the thunder in her lungs continued to rage, the fire that surrounded the meteor was suddenly extinguished. And very slowly, pieces of it started separating from each other.

"I… did what I could," Meera whispered to herself as she was about to return her sword to its sheath. She was about to let herself fall, but something suddenly caught her eyes that made her immediately stop breathing there and then.

She blinked a couple of times as she thought she might be hallucinating due to her old age, but there was something else falling with the meteor which seemed to resemble the silhouette of…

…an infant.

"...What?" Meera squinted her eyes for a few seconds as the small silhouette grew closer and closer to her, and soon… her eyes instantly turned wide as she realized that it truly was a baby.

And without any hesitation, she quickly let go of her sword; just letting it drop without a care as she immediately stretched her hand toward the falling baby.

The baby seemed to have also seen her, as it also stretched its hand toward her.

"Oh…" And as their hands made contact with each other, a whisper sizzled in the air as her palms instantly burned — she did not seem to mind, however, as she even gently pulled the baby toward her bosom and embraced it tight; not letting the scalding heat bother her, because for her…

…it may as well be the most gentle warmth she had ever felt.

"My… my baby," Meera's voice trembled as a smile wrinkled her face. And then, with a breath, she spun in the air and kicked a chunk of the meteor she just sliced into pieces…

…letting herself fall and dive straight onto the ground below her,

"My… little morning star."

***

"Ugh…" Back in Meera's hut, Emmett was woken up by the sound of his old bones cracking. He very slowly sat up from the bed, letting the light of the morning sun hit his face,

"Still alive…" Emmett let out a short but stuttering sigh as he weakly stood up from the bed, yawning and scratching his scarce and patchy white beard, "...My love, it is time to meet another day in our fields of gray and so—Meera!?"

Emmett almost fell to his butt as he saw Meera on the bed; smoke, coming from her clothes as she seemed to be hugging a… little infant, perhaps not even a year of age.

"What in the fuck—" Emett instinctively shut his mouth so as to not wake up the baby. And after a few seconds, he then looked down at his pants and nodded to himself,

"Good work, my sword. It would seem there is still a warrior left in you."

And as his proud whispers traveled across the tiny hut, the baby slightly fidgeted within Meera's arms. Emmett excitedly gasped as he saw the baby very slowly opening its eyes and looking at him.

"Oh, are you looking at me?" Emmett breathed out, morning bless you, little one—"

And before Emmett could finish his words, the baby smiled at him and opened its mouth,

"What... in the fuck are you looking at, little one?" It said, repeating Emmett's words clumsily.

"M…Meera…

…wake up!"