Star Crossed In Time - Chapter 244

The woman was dressed in the most beautiful and sėxy outfit I’ve ever seen. It matched perfectly with the whole Arabian Nights theme. When she turns back to look at me, I feel like my brain stopped working.

Her long dark hair and chocolate-colored eyes matched her tanned skin perfectly. A sheer veil covers her face, only allowing me to see so much but I knew the woman had a beauty that could bring entire Realms to their knees.

She looks to my open mouth before looking back to my eyes with a frown. I snap my mouth shut and trip over my words as I say “You’re beautiful…” She looks slightly taken back before chuckling and saying “It’s an honor to be called beautiful by a beautiful woman herself.”

I almost slap myself to think straight, almost. I shake my head and say “I don’t know if I’ll be able to help but I’ll try my best.” The woman smiles at me kindly as she nods and says “My name is Shamo and I’m grateful for your help.”

I smile at her and say “Nice to meet you, Shamo. My name is Nova.” I pull at my dress to loosen it a bit. It was hot here… really hot. Seeing the move, Shamo turns and says “Follow me. Let’s get you something a little cooler to wear.”

I look at the beautiful two-piece she currently wears with shiny eyes. I feel like I’ve slipped into a magical world and any minute a  magical genie will pop out and grant me three wishes. I silently smile and shake my head as I follow Shamo.

She leads me into a beautiful room and pulls out some clothes identical to hers. I keep my face schooled but I’m squealing and doing a happy dance inside my head. She walks out to give me privacy and after getting changed, I walk out to find her waiting for me on the other side.

She looks me over and smiles with approval saying “It suits you. You wear it well.” I beam at her and say “Thank you” as I follow her again. She walks me out to a large courtyard and says “This use to be a beautiful courtyard filled with flowers and rare fruits. Now it’s… it’s just barren.”

I walk out into the courtyard, grateful for the large walls surrounding the whole thing and blocking out the brutal sand. I look around and notice there even used to be a pond. I walk over to the dried-up pond and place my hand down on the hot land.

I search for any signs of water but when I find nothing, I stand up with a frown. I look around the dead courtyard and notice it wasn’t just the plants that were dead… no one was here. Aside from Shamo and the two guards we passed earlier… I hadn’t seen anyone else!

I turn to Shamo and ask “Where is everyone?” She gives me a sad smile as she says “There are only about two hundred of us left. Most are out trying to find food and water at the moment.” I blink in surprise before saying “If you don’t mind me asking… what happened here?”

Shamo sighs and says “The plague of darkness came through and nearly wiped us all out before we could stop it. As you can see, no males can enter our Realm and because of that… the male Deities who came out to help the others… they couldn’t help us.”

“After all the deaths… everything started dying. We tried everything we could to stop it but nothing worked. Now we’re left with this…” She says with pain and sadness in her beautiful chocolate eyes. My heart hurts for her and everything these people lost to that horrible darkness.

My stomach chooses that moment to rumble in hunger making me blush. I sheepishly smile at her and apologize but she quickly laughs and says “Let’s go get something to eat before we start.” I smile at her with gratitude and follow her again.

She leaves me at a small table as she goes to get food but when she comes back, she has nothing but a bland-looking piece of hard bread and what looks like a jam of some kind. When she sees my questioning look she gives me a sad smile and says “Sorry, this is all we have. Normally we just eat the bread but because you’re our guest, I pulled out the good stuff.”

She winks at me with a warm smile and starts spreading the jam on the hard bread. I take the bread with a kind smile and take a bite. As I struggle to chew the hard bread, my eyes begin to water. This is what they ate!? I can bȧrėly chew it and it tastes like… like dirt.

When she sees my teary eyes, she does a quick double-take and asks “Are you okay? Did you hurt your teeth?” I almost laugh. I shake my head and lower the bread down onto the beautiful plate before saying “Thank you for sharing your food with me, even when you don’t have much.”

I lift my hand out to her and summon a large peach. The smell of the peach saturates the air around us as Shamo stares at it with large eyes. She looks back at me and asks “This… This is for me?” I smile at her and nod as I say “Don’t worry, I have more.”

Shamo’s beautiful eyes glimmer as she politely takes the peach. I summon another peach and begin eating it. Shamo looks like she’s torn. She looks like she doesn’t know whether to eat it or save it. I push the peach up to her lips and nod my head.

Shamo bites into the peach and mȯȧns. Her eyes tear up as she says “They taste better than I remember… Thank you.” She then focuses on the peach and completely forgets I’m even here. I eat my peach and pat my belly with a satisfied smile. I wonder why they didn’t just get food from other Realms?

After our little break, we move back to the courtyard. I go around touching everything as I try to find any signs of life but there’s nothing. I walk back to the pond and stop in the very middle. Shamo watches me silently as I look straight up to the red sky.

“Was the sun always this… intense?” I ask looking back to her. She nods her head yes so I nod as well and say “I don’t know if this will work but, it’s worth trying.” I reach into my space and bring out a handful of lake water.

I hold my hands over the dry, dead ground below me and say “Here goes nothing…” I open my hands and watch as the spirit water falls to the dead earth below. I stand in the same spot, watching as the water seeps into the dry, cracked ground.

I wait for a solid minute but when nothing happens, I turn to look at Shamo and asks “Do you have a bowl or a bucket?” She frowns at me and nods before quickly leaving. While she’s gone, I look back down to the ground with a frown.

Maybe it needs more because it’s so far gone? Hopefully, this works… even if she can’t help Bai Lei and I, I want to help her and her people. Suddenly, I feel a slight tremble under my feet. I watch the ground carefully but when nothing else happens, I sigh and sit down to wait.

I reach into my space and grab another handful. I splash it onto the ground and repeat it a few times when suddenly there’s a huge explosion! Water smacks me in the face before shooting up to the sky like an erupting volcano!

“Hahahaha!! It worked!” I say sopping wet from the water. When I hear something hit the ground, I turn to find Shamo looking at the water volcano with awe and disbelief. I throw my hands out and yell out “It worked, Shamo! Come feel the water!! It feels amazing!”

I watch her and giggle when she remains still in shock. I giggle again and throw my head back before spinning around a few times under the falling water. A colorful rainbow dances in the water shooting up in the air making it look magical.

I’m suddenly tackled as thin arms wrap around me in a large hug. Shamo cries tears of joy as she says “Thank you, Nova! Thank you!” I hug her back before taking her hand and pulling her closer to the water.

I spin her around as the two of us become soaked in the cool water. We laugh and splash each other as others soon start showing up. Before long, we nearly have everyone in the realm dancing and laughing in the water that continues to fall down all around us.