Chapter 38: From the stars
Clang, clang, clang.
The sound of the metal of Calitia's armor echoed through her ship with every step she took. The young commander was in a foul mood. The reason? She hadn't slept well for days. Every time she tried to sleep she had nightmares. Those blood-red eyes had stuck to her like a leech sucking her own blood.
"Good morning, captain."
One of her subordinates approached her with a smile. Unlike herself and some soldiers who stood guard, the others were just getting up.
"Do you have something important to report?" Calitia asked with an expression completely opposite to that of the soldier.
"N..no…"
"Then go to your post at once!"
"Right away!"
Shocked by Calitia's scream, the soldier ran out in a hurry. Some of the other soldiers stood silently watching her, but the moment Calitia turned her head towards them, they all ran away like the previous one. At the same time, she caught a glimpse of a blurry reflection of her on the metal wall. Her appearance looked more unkempt than she had thought.
'I am looking more and more like my uncle.'
Calitia rubbed her head and let out a dejected grunt.
'But what am I doing, I can't vent to my subordinates. They are good guys who have done nothing wrong. Besides, I don't know what I would do without them. I should apologize… Yes, I apologize…'
"I'll rather die!"
Inadvertently, she shouted what she was thinking and there is no doubt that some of the soldiers who were nearby heard it. For a moment Calitia was ashamed, but she immediately recovered herself and began to walk with her head held high with the others.
There were two words that could easily describe Calitia. The first was: proud. To begin with, she couldn't bear to have anyone looking down at her. She also did not like to show the slightest sign of weakness, not in front of her enemies, much less of her allies.
"Captain, your face looks horrible, you better rest. You lately have been too stressed. You can't be on guard at all hours, your body will not support it."
"I'm fine, do not worry."
However, all of her companions knew her more than enough to see through her facade.
"Right now there is nothing that needs your attention. The best thing you could do at the moment is take a bath and relax. Also, I don't think we're going to find anything weird right now."
"Uhm… fine."
"Don't worry, just leave it all to us and go get some rest, I'll make sure no one bothers you."
"Well, I'm counting on you."
Calitia turned and started to walk down the hall.
'Now that I think about it, I haven't taken a bath in days. Wait... Was this a subtle way of telling me that I stink?!'
Calitia turned abruptly and glared at the soldiers that were departing like someone who knows nothing. Calitia sniffed herself and let out a deep dejected sigh.
'The best thing is to take a deep bath and clean the armor.'
Calitia went straight to the bathroom. She filled the tub with hot water and began to remove her armor. Most of the soldiers wore normal clothing unless there was a problem. However, Calitia was not comfortable without her armor. Besides, both putting it on and taking it off was annoying; she had a hard time passing her wings.
Calitia untied her hair and threw herself into the water, trying to put her headaches aside, but her mind was still lost in that place. Even with her best effort, she couldn't stop thinking about that boy, and…
"Ah, it's true, there was a Silphen with that human... I almost forgot about her…"
The second perfect word to describe her would be: obsessive. When she became too centered on something, Calitia was capable of forgetting even the most important things. She was supposed to be chasing that Silphen, not the human.
Calitia let her body slide into the tub and dove up to her nose as she bemoaned her bad luck. Just the day she least wanted to find a Silphen she found one. She intended to spend a couple of days in that place, but she left right after that encounter.
'I completely forgot why I went there. Forgive me, mom, I swear I'll be back one day... Although I don't think it's worth doing.'
Calitia completely submerged herself into the water and began to let bubbles come out of the water as she thought about that Silphen.
'She was just a little girl and seemed harmless. Wait, wasn't the human more harmless? I am desperate to find a girl and a boy who has nothing to do with us. What have I become?'
Calita joined the army to protect the peace, so that no one would have to suffer because of an enemy attack. So that no one would live the same as she lived, but instead, she was traveling all over the place trying to kill a girl.
'The army was always like this? There hasn't been a battle in years. We have gone from advocates of peace to hunters. Simple hunting dogs that search every corner for their "enemies".'
Of course, Calitia couldn't stand the Silphen. Just seeing one made her blood begin to boil. Yet, objectively thinking, the children were just children. What fault does a newborn have for what his parents did? Was it fair to kill them all just for being the same? Calitia wanted to believe that yes, her experiences told her that, but something inside her did not think the same.
'I am only extending a personal vengeance, which should only affect a single Silphen, towards all of his kin... And that boy was human, not Silphen.'
Calitia stuck her head out of the water and stared at the ceiling. For her, the darkness was something that invaded everything, that destroyed everything and brought ruin wherever it appeared. If it disappeared from creation, everything would be better, she was sure about that.
'Then, what is this weird feeling?'
Her heart and beliefs were in conflict since the day she met those two, that strange human getting into something that did not concern him and that Silphen who threw herself in front of him to defend him.
'To defend him? She defended him from my attack. Until now, I hadn't taken it into account. I attacked ignoring the human, but she protected him… Doesn't that make me the bad there?'
"Ahhhh, we're supposed to be the good guys. What was I thinking to act like that? I was so upset by the appearance of that girl that I thought of nothing more than eliminating her at any cost" Calitia murmured dejectedly.
Regrets, that was probably why she couldn't get that boy out of her head. Calitia felt guilty that she had implicated that boy to the point where he seemed to be engulfed by... the darkness? Those blood-red eyes, added to the chills she felt when she stared into them, was something she had never felt before, but it certainly wasn't a good thing.
"Anyway, I can only do one thing… When I find him, I'll take care of him myself. It's the least I can do."
Calitia got out of the tub and began to dress. This time she didn't put on the armor and let her hair down. She looked at herself in the mirror, she had dark circles and her silver eyes looked very tired. Normally her eyes had a faint glow characteristic of her family, but even that disappeared.
"I'm really spoiling myself."
Calitia returned with the soldiers. Seeing her in normal clothes, everyone started laughing and joking.
"Hey, Captain, it looks good on you."
"Yes, you should wear normal clothes more often."
"Your beauty has increased a lot, you might even be the most beautiful woman in the world."
"Shut up the nonsense!" Calitia tried to stop them.
"Ah, but it's true."
"Yes, yes, there is no doubt, the captain is the best."
"I told you, enough is enough!" Calitia repeated.
"Don't get angry, it's a compliment. You should feel flattered."
Laughter echoed throughout the ship as Calitia chased one soldier after another trying to beat them silent. Their comments made her feel ashamed, but at the same time happy. She liked to see her subordinates happy. She had become her captain at just fourteen years old, but none of them complained about having someone so young as their superior. Six years had passed since then, and even after becoming a commander, they were still with her. Calitia couldn't help but think of them as her family.
'I wish there were no need for soldiers. I would like to see you all lead a peaceful life and not on this ship so far from home. Forgive me for dragging you everywhere with me.'
Calitia knew that everyone was worried about her and all they wanted was for her to relax and cheer up. Without a doubt, they were the best soldiers she had ever met.
The day ended faster than she thought. It was difficult to know when the day began or ended while traveling between worlds. Normally the flow of time was different in each of them, so it was necessary to keep good control of the time.
Calitia went to her room and looked through the window, through which only the vastness of space could be seen. On her planet the night did not exist, neither inside the ship, but outside everything was black, an infinite night.
'It is ironic that we, the lords of light, in all the ways we could choose to travel, chose to travel through infinite darkness.'
Calitia lay down and closed her eyes to plunge into her own darkness. Maybe tonight she would finally be able to rest…
***
A column of smoke rose from the trees of the dense jungle. A small fire had broken out in the middle of the place. Such a scene was frequently repeated there. Luckily, none of those small fires spread much.
'Another one has died, it is the fifth today.'
A certain "person" was watching the fire from the top of a tree. He couldn't help but watch the fire with mixed feelings. He was lonely and there was no one he could try to socialize with. His people did nothing but die, and the others only tried to kill him or worse. How long had it been like this? He had stopped counting after a thousand years. However, it was not simply that he could not try to relate to other people, but that he was somehow afraid to do so.
"Look there."
"What's that?"
"Who knows, just let's catch it."
A group of people with what didn't seem like good intentions had seen him. This was also something that was repeated from time to time. However, it was not very difficult to escape from them. Not caring much, he jumped off the branch and into the jungle.
"Do not let it escape!"
The group of three people started chasing him.
'Stay away!'
They got quite close to him at first, which made him worry a bit, but he soon lost sight of them. After all, none of them could keep up with him as he moved through the jungle.
'Really, the best thing is to stay away from me.'
After relaxing a bit from having lost them, he stood atop another branch. However, a strange sensation shook her body up and down.
'What was that?'
Something like a thin voice echoed through him. He had never noticed anything like it before. He felt as if something familiar and at the same time unknown was coming towards him. Something that made him feel melancholic…
"It's mine!"
Confused by that, he had stopped paying attention to his surroundings. His pursuers managed to find him, and because of this mistake, they threw a net at him and caught him.
"We finally have it!"
"But what is this?"
"Does it matter?"
"Probably not. It's nice, we sure can make a profit."
"Definitely."
'No, no, no, let me go!'
He scrambled inside the net, but before he could escape they put him inside an iron cage.
'Please... I don't want to hurt you…'
He begged that at least they did not harm him or, in the worst case, half of the jungle could disappear under fire.
***
"Captain, we found a trail!"
… or maybe not.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone