Dara finished the last bit on the glass figure in front of her. This one was a scholar, standing, holding a book up to the sun. She’d managed to take some of the colored glass from a bottle and used it to run little highlights of green and blue through the figure, highlights that caught the sunlight and sent it back to the viewer in a spray of color.

“There.” Dara nodded and stretched. “I think I’m getting better at this.”

“That’s pretty good,” Millie said. “But don’t exhaust yourself. Remember what is coming. School. And your boyfriend.”

“He’s not—“ Dara sighed. “He is not my boyfriend or my consort.” Glancing at Millie, Dara knew that last word had been a mistake.

“Consort, eh? Already thinking of that kind of relationship!” Millie shook her head. “C’mon, Kid, an old lady’s gotta find her fun somewhere.”

“I just wish…” Dara shook her head. “Maybe I should be working harder.”

“We are working hard. It just takes time to get the stuff you need for your compass.”

Dara nodded. Harder than I thought. Platinum jewelry wasn’t easy to find, and refining the platinum was harder than refining gold or silver. Even now, she didn’t have a lot of it, and then she was going to have to ritually purify it, and then hopefully reform it, and the more she worked on the idea, the more difficult it sounded because she’d never made a compass like this by herself and—

“Hey, I know that look. No hopelessness in the backyard.”

“Yes, Millie.” Dara tried to keep from smiling, but failed. Millie was right. There was no reason to start assuming she’d fail before she’d even really started.

“But school’s going to be good for you. I heard you talk about the library, and yeah, meeting people is always a plus.”

“I always managed to get along by myself,” Dara said.

“Did you like it?”

Dara didn’t have an answer.

“It’s one thing to focus on work, but Dara, there’s more to the world than work. You gotta know people and understand why you work.”

“And when I leave?” If I leave, a traitorous thought whispered.

“Then you get some kick-ass memories of the time you partied the night away. And hell, nobody ever did this before, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then maybe you’ll be the one to figure out how to go back and forth in our worlds. Just let me know first, because then you’d have to pay the out-of-state tuition.”

“Really. I create something unheard of that would change two worlds’ destinies, and that’s all you are worried about?”

“Well, unless two worlds are gonna pay the tuition, yeah.”

Dara rolled her eyes. “Fine, let’s let this item cool down and then we can deliver it to Sheila.”

“Gotcha. She’s already sold everything else we gave to her, so she should be happy to see this. And we’ll be happy to see the money, so everyone is happy.”

“Yes,” Dara said. She got up, dusted herself off and joined Millie as they walked into the back of the house. “Millie?”

“Yeah?”

“About last night and, um… a nemesis. How did they turn out, in comics, I mean, not in real life?”

“Oh, usually after the reveal and the first battle, they go one of three ways. First, they become your ongoing enemy, coming up with increasingly over the top ways to kill you.”

“I don’t like that.”

“Secondly, they become a morally vague shadow to your heroism, trying to tempt you down the dark path while both opposing and aiding you.”

“Eugh.”

“And lastly…” Millie glanced at Dara. “They become a torrid love interest, with the fans wondering whether this will be the issue where you admit your love or the one where you finally kill each other.”

“Millie?”

“Yeah?”

“I hate all of those outcomes.”

“Well, don’t get a nemesis, then.” Millie grinned. “Let’s get something to eat.”

Dara stared at Millie. “Eat, after everything you said?”

“Why not?” Millie said. “Unless you want to sit here and wonder when your nemesis is going to appear?”

“I’m not getting—fine. Let’s go eat.”

“Great! Time for me to show you the wonders of macaroni and cheese!”

The door-hinges groaned as Jason pushed them open, years of neglect making themselves apparent. Once, the brass fittings had gleamed, had been polished every day. Once, the polished stone of the building had caught the light of the setting sun, turning the building’s stone fiery red. Once, the temple had been bustling, full of those seeking enlightenment.

At least that was what his mother had told him. She’d been a child in those long-ago days when the Starlight Shard had come to them.

“Miracles, Son, Miracles,” she’d said. The lame healed, and those who disbelieved, who had tried to drive them away, punished by specters and ill luck.

For the Starlight Shard had conferred the power to speak to the spirits of air, water, earth, and fire to the worthy who held it.

But that had been long ago. Now the building was dingy, the upper floors sealed off, the windows mostly broken out by vandals, with wood and even cardboard blocking out the wind and rain.

Jason dodged the hole in the floor as he headed to the apartment where he’d grown up. Now the streets outside were full of the lost and poor, and the Temple was but a shabby remnant of the glory days when the rich and powerful came to speak to the prophet.

Soon enough, he knew, the Temple would be demolished by the unbelievers, those who mocked the old stories.

“Show me the magic!” The children at the school he’d gone to, the bums on the street outside, even the city officials. That was their mocking refrain. “Show us the magic!”

But he couldn’t, for they had proven unworthy of the magic. His mother had, in their last conversation before she’d died, told him how one day the Starlight Shard had dimmed for the last time, and then no more miracles came. The church had become too comfortable with the world, too willing to simply take the money of the temple and live in luxury.

And so the blessing had been withdrawn.

The first of the congregation to leave had been the hypocrites. The ones who remained only for power and wealth, leaving only the faithful. But they had dwindled, leaving to find work as the Great Depression continued, sending back money…but the letters stopped coming. Then only the core faithful had been left, but with the withdrawal of the Starlight Shard’s blessings, they’d slowly passed from illness, old age, or simple despair, leaving Mother as the last person who had seen the holy light of the Shard.

And now he was the last. And when he died, the city would move in and tear down this building, perhaps erecting another shopping mall or movie theater. The brief touch of the divine would be erased as if it had never been.

Jason paused by the sanctuary and donned his vestments. Once glorious, they were now threadbare and dull. He didn’t even dare wash them that much anymore, for fear they would fall apart. But it was blasphemy to enter the sanctuary attired as a common laborer.

He opened the doors to the sanctuary. As usual, Jason would spend time meditating here, hoping that the dull shard would grace him with—

Jason stopped and stared. There was a light in the sanctuary. It couldn’t have come from the few grimy windows left behind. It couldn’t have come from the long-burned out lights in the chandeliers.

It came… Jason flew forward, his vestments flapping around his body. The light, the pure, perfect light, was coming from the Starlight Shard! Trembling, he approached it. The Shard itself was too holy for merely human hands to touch, so it had been set into a crystal, and the crystal itself placed into a pendant, so the worthy could wear it and wield its holy powers.

For a moment, Jason’s courage nearly failed him. Put it on? Touch the Starlight Shard?

Then he steeled himself. He was the last. He was the one who had remained faithful through decades of poverty and mockery.

Jason reached out and took the pendant, the light of the Shard nearly blinding him with its glory. It had never been as bright as this. The old books spoke of a soft glow, but nothing like this.

It came to me. My faith has been rewarded! Jason put it around him and felt his limbs grow strong, the aches and pains of old age ending as he turned and looked out over the decrepit sanctuary, the empty pews mocking him.

But no more.

“For the Church has been redeemed and has found its shepherd!” he shouted. He would rebuild it. He would purify the city of the depraved and defiant.

And he would never be unworthy of the Starlight Shard. And with that, the gem flared up, the light playing over Jason as he prepared the first steps in his holy crusade.

End