PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

“You’re almost here, just a couple more rooms to the right.”

Following the instructions, the fairy finally managed to reach the throne room. Kyuru couldn’t wait to complain about how long the trip inside the castle had been, but no words managed to escape her lips.

Titania looked almost identical to her puppet. It was seen that the queen of the fairies did not adorn her appearance or anything like that. If any difference had to be mentioned, it would be size and charm.

Speaking of charm, Titania was beautiful; there was no doubt about that, but the real Titania had an appeal that transcended her physical beauty.

Titania not only possessed an incredible bodily beauty, her presence, and her spirit did nothing but multiply her charm to infinity. Although Kyuru could be said to be more or less immune to Titania’s charm, she was still a bit jealous of the fairy queen.

Kyuru even remembered a rumor that there was a man, centuries ago, who was in the presence of the real Titania. It is said that just one look at her beauty was enough to break the man’s soul, killing him on the spot.

However, it was not Titania’s beauty that kept the fairy silent; it was her size. Titania was almost thirty meters tall; for a tiny fairy as Kyuru, the queen of the fairies seemed to be the same height as a hill.

“I had almost forgotten that you have never seen me this close. Don’t worry about the size; this is the shape I’m most used to.”

.....

Those were Titania’s words as she stepped down from her black steel throne. As she descended, Titania’s form shrank until she reached the height of an average human woman.

“I assume the human form is fine for you.”

Kyuru just nodded absently. Titania didn’t look too different physically from her puppet. Still, Kyuru could tell the difference from her now that he was in front of her.

Though connected to Titania’s mind, Kyuru never felt any emotion coming from her puppets. Titania was a whole other story; she was like an entire galaxy of emotions.

This was the first time in Kyuru’s life that her empathic abilities gave her no clue about the person in front of her. It was to be expected. Titania lived connected to hundreds of thousands of puppets. The amount of information and emotions she processes was not on a scale that could be understood by Kyuru in her current state.

In the past, Kyuru was too ignorant to know how powerful Titania was, which hadn’t changed much. However, one glimpse of Titania’s spiritual essence was enough to tell Kyuru how naive and pathetic she was compared to the queen of the fairies.

Titania knew what was going through her daughter’s mind. She also understood that anything she said would not change anything, so she wisely chose to change the subject.

“You have chosen a good man.”

The sudden mention of Desmond, coupled with a compliment, was enough to snap Kyuru out of her daze. This time Kyuru didn’t show her usual proud and vain attitude. And instead, she just nodded gratefully.

Seeing her daughter’s respectful attitude, Titania was somewhat surprised in her heart, as it seemed that Kyuru had matured a bit. Since things seemed to be going well, Titania took the opportunity to offer an apology and educate her daughter a bit in the process.

“I’m sorry I treated Desmond like this, but you must understand me. I was afraid someone might take advantage of my daughter.”

Kyuru replied forcefully. “Desmond isn’t like that.”

Titania nodded softly, her gaze set high up in the room. “Now I know. I hope you understand I didn’t do it out of malice towards him. I know you are young, but you should know enough about the fairy’s past to understand my actions.”

Kyuru didn’t reply; she was very clear about Titania’s fears. What the fairies suffered for millions of years was the endless hunt. The luckier fairies were killed and refined into powerful artifacts, and the less fortunate were forced into eternal slavery. So many fairies died to feed others’ thirst for power. So many were corrupted and ultimately driven mad by being forced to merge with those who enslaved them.

Even the Celestials, one of the four great races famous for their neutrality and worship of order, were forced to intervene by giving shelter to the fairies in their way.

Not even the Celestials could stop the extinction of the fairies, not without breaking their sacred neutrality. Fairies were elemental creatures with virtually unlimited potential, whose power could be easily plundered; the temptation they attracted was not small.

Although members of the Natura race, another of the four great races, the fairies could not escape the hunt, not until the arrival of Titania.

No one knew Titania’s home planet nor much about her past. All that was known was that she appeared one day, the most powerful and beautiful fairy ever seen.

Titania’s appearance attracted many covetous and lustful glances. On that day, she shed enough blood to drown entire worlds in this. As an invincible war goddess, Titania traversed the cosmos rescuing the enslaved fairies, gaining many allies and enemies along the way.

At some point, there was an alliance to destroy Titania. Still, it is said that just Titania and two of her companions were enough to completely annihilate the coalition. After that battle, the world of Avalis was created, and Titania officially became queen of the fairies.

Kyuru knew all this because she was once very curious about the origin of this world and asked Titania. Now, years later, looking at the nostalgic way Titania looked at the star mural on the ceiling, Kyuru felt that the story was more complicated.

“Tell me, dear, have you ever wondered what Avalis was created from? Or did you want to know why I’m the only fairy you know without wings?”

Without waiting for Kyuru’s response, Titania used her delicate hands to push back the hair that covered her back, revealing her bare back to her daughter. Seeing the two hideous scars on Titania’s back, which match where her wings should be, Kyuru wouldn’t have been able to answer even if she wanted to.

“I think I once told you the story of the alliance that was formed to destroy me. I guess it’s time to tell you a little more about it. Back then, my power and boldness had earned me many enemies. Beings that were not happy to see that someone became the shield of the fairies. They came to my doors with an army behind them, and for the first time, I feared for my life. In my time of need, a powerful Celestial friend came to the rescue, accompanied by a dragon, who had been my suitor for years. The battle was brutal, the Celestial and I barely managed to keep our lives, but our friend, the dragon, fell in combat.”

Having come this far, Titania’s voice had a strong tinge of melancholy. Titania’s vast cosmos of emotions took on a strong sense of loss. It was the only time Kyuru could get a solid read on her.

Kyuru couldn’t help but ask. “Did you love him?”

Titania shook her head gently. “I’m afraid not. Maybe that’s why I still can’t forgive myself for his death. He died for a reckless and ungrateful woman who could never love him back. I believed that deep down, he always knew. My only wish in this life has been and will be to be the guardian of the fairies. Fairies are everything I’ve ever loved and the only love I’ve ever needed. Being called mother by you, my daughters, bring me happiness.”

Titania’s emotions and words were conflicting; she sincerely felt bad for the death of that man who loved her. However, she still found herself unable to feel that kind of love towards the opposite sex. One thing was sure, being called mother was what Titania loved most in the world, and Kyuru could feel it.

Looking at this woman carrying the fate of an entire race on her shoulders, Kyuru could only say a word with a trembling voice. “Mother.”

Titania smiled warmly, sweeping away all the gloom from the room in one breath. “Thank you, my daughter, but the past is in the past. Ultimately, I fulfilled that man’s dying wish and forged Avalis from his body. Now he can accompany me for the rest of eternity. Although I didn’t love him, he was still my friend; sometimes, when I see the beautiful world that was born from him, I feel that his sacrifice was not entirely in vain. After his death, I realized that war was not the way, that senseless bloodshed would not achieve what I sought. That was why after creating this world, I ripped off my own wings and forged the sky above Avalis, thus isolating this world from the rest; only then would this kingdom of mine be safe.”

Titania’s words were like an electric shock to Kyuru. Avalis was created from the corpse of a dragon; that was amazing enough, but what happened next horrified Kyuru.

Regardless of the difference in power and status, fairies had one thing in common: the pair of wings on their back. Like other things, fairies had an instinctive notion about their wings.

To put it in human words, for a fairy to have her wings ripped off is worse than being raped and humiliated a dozen times. The wings of a fairy were sacred; these were part of them in a physical sense and spiritual sense. That was why a fairy’s wings always glowed when they used mana.

However, Titania, the woman the fairies treated as their guardian, goddess of war, and mother, had ripped off her wings. Then she used her wings as material to create the barrier that kept Avalis safe. Words could never even begin to describe what Kyuru felt at that moment.