A Wilderness Of Stars Novels & Stories

I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the deeper dark, the dashboard lights fading to black. The city was a distant glow now, barely visible beyond the rolling hills—tiny clusters of light like embers far away on the horizon, flickering faintly as if waving goodbye. Above us, the sky stretched wide and unapologetic, scattered with stars I’d forgotten existed in such abundance. Not the faint pinpricks you strained to see between skyscrapers, but real stars—thousands of them, sharp and bright and endless, clustered in constellations that seemed to pulse with ancient stories. The Milky Way smeared across the velvet black like spilled diamonds, a river of light that made me feel small in the best way

Tiny diamonds formed a ring of stars, cradling a silver crescent in the center. My breathing stopped. I had sketched that design when I was fifteen, in the corner of my old sketchbook. The day Ryan confessed to me, he had pointed at that drawing, his voice shaking. “Jane, one day when I have money, I’ll make this for you. “Stars always stay beside the moon. “Just like I’ll never break my promise to you.” Now he had finally made it. He just put it on someone else. On screen, Wendy touched the pendant at her collarbone and smiled shyly.

it cannot "Liquidate." "What happens when the 'Wilding' reaches the stars, Avery?" Maya asked, her fractal-skin glowing with a deep, volcanic red. "The stars start to 'Live,' Maya," Avery replied. "And we finally get to 'Sleep.'"

The violet sun had completely set, and the city was illuminated by millions of glowing, neon-green moss spores floating in the humid air. Thousands of feet below, hidden beneath the thick mist, the Savage Wilds chittered and roared. Mwajuma looked down into the dark. "I am not coming back," she whispered to the abyss. She pictured the burning remains of her village. She pictured the colonial mortars tearing through the thatched roofs. And finally, she pictured her twin brother, Mwanamalundi. Ressi. The boy who commanded the sky.

But when we finally broke through the crust and stood upon the surface of the East, the pain was forgotten in the face of the absolute desolation before us. ​The Whispering Wastes were not a desert of sand, but a sea of jagged purple glass. Great dunes of violet shards stretched out to a horizon that was perpetually bruised, a sky of deep indigo and sickly magenta. There was no wind, yet the dunes shifted and hissed, moving in patterns that felt deliberate. And above it all, the Black Star hung like a hole in the universe, drinking the light and the air and the hope from the world.

I ignored it and took the bottle away, walking over to a mound of moss in the center of the clearing where the moon was perfectly visible overhead like a great white smile in the sky. I settled down onto the moss. It was damp and cool beneath me, wetting my jeans slightly, but I didn’t care. I took a swig of the wine, tilted my head back and looked up at the sky. The stars were everywhere, more than I ever saw in the human lands—more than I even really saw in Evergreen, which was closer to the human lands, still somewhat affected by the light pollution of the cities. Here, far from human civilization, the stars were bright and endless. I let out a little huff of awe.

I wasn't really thinking it through when I started cooking, I just needed a distraction. I wiggle my hips as the music begins to change. My favorite words are coming up. “Bells will be ringing.. The sad, sad news... Oh, what a Christmas, to have the blues... My baby's gone... I have no friends... to wish me greetings, once again..” Damn, this song is literally me. I feel tears well in my eyes. I have no friends. After Wilder died, Katie and Lena reached out. They tried with me, but I shut them down. Now, my two best friends and I haven't talked in months. Wyatt was a friend and so much more, and now we are nothing. I've lost everyone because I pushed them away.

Maybe the public should've listened, though. Wild was living proof that things had gotten too out of hand. They slept in the car that night. Wild couldn't, not right away. It was his second time seeing the stars. His first time seeing the whole galaxy. He stared out the window at the midnight blue sky, colored with greens and purples and lighter shades of blue with little stars sprinkling the sky like sugar. the moon was big and full, bathing the trees and the blacktop of the reststop with its pale light. It was beautiful. It was much too beautiful for him to miss out on.

He knew that if he could see him, Sam would be gritting his teeth as he dragged his hand through his blonde hair. “Yeah, Sam.” Stolas asked, trying to fight back his grin. “They’re all here.” “Who?” Stolas asked, trying to fight back his laughter, his chest shaking. Annie looked up at him with a raised eyebrow as his flaccid cock slipped from her body. “The half-breed and the wolves.” “So why are you calling me?” “You don’t understand. We, we, I, I don’t even want to-” ” Relax, it’s not like you haven’t had an orgy before.”

He steadied me, making comforting sounds. “It will only hurt for a moment more,” he murmured. “Am I going blind?” “Open your eyes, there. Now tell me what you see.” I did so hesitantly. The Milky Way streamed through the night sky like the stairway to heaven and, out of nowhere, the Aurora Borealis began to dance across the firmament, ribbons of purple and green illuminating the night. The stars had intensified to the colors of flames. The moon was a silver mirror that captured the starlight and reflected brilliant shafts of light upon the woods. There were slumbering spirits in the tree trunks. Pale maidens danced in a ring at the center of the glade. Forms silhouetted against the sky