I was in the night sky.
I said, “What the fuck is this shit?”
From off to my left, a voice said, “That’s probably the first time I’ve heard a constellation curse.”
I looked over.
The star dragon stood there, watching me.
“You,” I said, narrowing my eyes. Or rather, I think I did. It was hard to tell what I was doing. I didn’t even know if I had eyelids.
“Hullo, Sam.”
“You.”
“So you’ve said.”
“Am I dead?”
He snorted. It shot little comets across the sky. “Not hardly.”
“Oh. Did you drug me? Is that what’s going on? You drugged me so I’m tripping balls again and are now about to have your way with me? Dude, that is so fucked-up. What is wrong with you dragons? I do not consent for you to touch my body.”
He sighed. “And you’re the chosen one. Wonderful.”
“Can we not call me that? Or say anything about destiny? I feel like it’s creating an aura of expectation that I may not live up to.”
“Oh, I’m aware.”
“You’re mocking me, aren’t you.”
“Possibly.”
“But—but, you’re a god.”
He cocked his starry head at me. “And you don’t think gods can have a sense of humor? Of course we do. We made you, after all.”
“Hey! That’s not very nice! Stars aren’t supposed to be dicks!”
“I would have thought you believed the opposite,” he said quietly. “Most of the wishes you’ve made upon us didn’t come true.”
“Well, yeah. But they aren’t supposed to.”
“How do you figure that, Sam?”
I shrugged. “It’s not how wishing works. If we got everything we ever wished for, we wouldn’t have the capacity to be thankful for all the things we’d already been given. I’ve got so much already. I don’t ever want to lose sight of why it’s important.”
“And you wonder why you were chosen,” the star dragon said. “You wonder why, out of everyone, the light has shined down upon you. Sam, it was you because it could only be you. You were always meant to be strong and brave. You were always meant to have power unlike anyone else. But it was always up in the air what direction you would go with it. You could have chosen a path that led to the dark. But instead your heart was lightning-struck, and it split and spilled its light upon those around you. You were chosen, Sam, because there was no one else it could have been.”
“I still don’t know if I’m good enough,” I admitted. “And I don’t know what will happen if I am.”
“What do you mean?”
And I finally said the one thing that’d been weighing on me the most since I’d found out the truth. “It’s either me or Myrin, right? There’s no middle ground.”
David’s Dragon said, “Yes, Sam. That’s correct. There is no middle ground.”
“He won’t turn back?”
“Would you turn to the dark?”
“No. Never.”
“You seem sure about that.”
“I am.”
“Because of the path you’ve chosen.”
“Yes.”
“Myrin is the same way,” the star dragon said. “He has chosen his path. Yes, Sam. There is no middle ground.”
“And if I win? If I beat him? What will they think of me?” My voice was small.
“Morgan and Randall.”
I looked away.
The star dragon chuckled. “How you could think they would love you any less, I will never understand. Your heart is an astonishing thing, Sam of Wilds. I’ve never heard one beat quite like it. They will love you as they always have. They have made their choices. They have chosen their paths, like you have. There might be regret, but not the way you think. It was always going to end this way.”
“Why?” I asked, suddenly angry. “Why, if you knew about this, if the gods knew this was inevitable, why would you stand by and do nothing? Why would you let this happen? Why wouldn’t you stop it?” I knew I was probably foolish, yelling at a god while made of stars in some fucked-up hallucination, but I had no fucks left to give. Turning into a constellation after having a heart to heart with a snake dragon could do that to you.
“Because we do not interfere,” the star dragon said.
“Bullshit. You interfere all the time. You interfered with Vadoma. With Zero. With Kevin, and with me right now.”
The star dragon looked chagrined. “I still have secrets.”
“Do you know how this will end?”
The briefest of hesitations. “It could go either way.”
“Fuck you sideways, you vague asshole.”
“I like you,” the star dragon said. “I always have.”
“Are you telling him the same thing? Playing both sides?”
“No. Can I tell you something I’ve never told anyone?”
“Can I say no?”
“You can do anything you want.”
I sighed. “Fine. Tell me.”
“I hope it’s you,” he said. “I hope it’s you who overcomes. I’m not supposed to choose sides, but I would choose you, Sam. I have seen you, more than you could possibly know. The life you’ve led. The decisions you’ve made. It hurts me, sometimes, knowing what I do. And because of that, I offer you this: the road to triumph is littered with sorrow. It is the way of things. For there to be success, sacrifices have to be made.”
I went cold, remembering Ryan upon a slab, eyes closed, sword clasped against his chest. “What do you mean?”
“A warning. All of you will not survive until the end. There will be loss, Sam. And it will burn like nothing has ever burned before. You must remember to keep to the light, even when the dark begins to curl around your feet.”
“She showed me,” I said hoarsely. “Vadoma. About Ryan. I won’t let it happen. I won’t let anyone take him from me.”
“Open your eyes, Sam,” the star dragon said.
“They are open.”
“Sam! Open your eyes!”
“What the hell are you talking about. I’m right here—”
The stars exploded.
VOICES ABOVE me.
“Move, you dippy little cunts! You obviously don’t know how to wake an unconscious Sam. You have to slap the shit out of him. And there is no one who does a better bitch-slap than a unicorn. This is proven science.”
“I didn’t do it!” another voice cried. “Or if I did, I didn’t mean it! One moment we were talking, and then there was magic and lights and decisions. I don’t even know!”
“You are not going to slap him. Do you know how hard your hooves are? I’m not going to let you hurt him.”
“I know how hard his hooves are, ba-zing.”
“Kevin, now is not the time to discuss the firmness of my hooves, you disgusting cretin. And now that I think about it, you don’t get to talk about my hardness ever again.”
“Oh, like that’s a hardship. Ha. Get it? Hardship.”
“Is this always how it is with all of you?” yet another voice asked, this one heavily accented.
“No. Wait. Yes. Mostly. Sometimes, I smash things.”
“Oh my gods, you guys are so loud,” I groaned. “I can’t even pass out, have visions, and then wake up in peace. Sweet fucking molasses.”