PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

After completing her revenge, Kryzsha joined the Order faction and fought on many fronts, saving many worlds, until she eventually grew weary of the violence. Kryzsha returned to her homeworld and became its guardian in case of incursion or attack by the faction of chaos. Thousands of years have passed since then.

For better or worse, Myrilla had been a part of Kryzsha’s life since the day she was reborn, so she knew about the kind of life the dragoness had led after her revenge. However, the periods in which Myrilla and Kryzsha met were always brief, so the angel of love needed to learn how much Kryzsha knew about the Dark Genesis project.

When Myrilla questioned Kryzsha on the matter, the dragoness’s response was filled with hate and venom. “A project that should never have existed, to perpetuate a race that should never have existed. The source of the Oscuras race’s greatest sins and their eternal desire.”

Myrilla nodded with an uncharacteristically somber expression and added. “The place I sent Desmond to is one of the many failed testing grounds for said project.”

“How bad is it?” Kryzsha replied without questioning the angel’s motives for sending Desmond to a place like that.

Not wanting to lie about it, Myrilla answered in all honesty. “Second-degree dark corrosion of the entire planet. Mana, Arcana, and Aura degraded. All life on the planet suffers at least a degree of corruption. It has been considered a biohazard zone, so it was sealed and kept away from any possible interaction with other worlds. The purge of the entire planet has been mentioned on more than one occasion, but the council has not reached a consensus.”

“Why the hell would you send Desmond to a place like that?” Kryzsha asked in disbelief.

Myrilla sighed with exhaustion and answered. “I figured he would be the right person. Don’t worry; only two people can set foot in that world without suffering from the dark corrosion, and Desmond is one of them now.”

.....

Although Myrilla answered the question, it was clear that she refused to give away too much information about it, something that made Kryzsha very upset. However, the dragoness knew very well that Celestials never harmed the innocent, so she could only rely on her.

“Wait, how did you send him to a quarantined world?” Kryzsha commented when realizing that particular detail.

To Kryzsha’s surprise, Myrilla shrugged and gave a rather nonchalant response. “The association has been doing things behind the council’s back for a long time. There is nothing strange that they have access to a forbidden world.”

This time Kryzsha seemed genuinely surprised; she had never been too involved in faction management or politics, so she knew little about the hunter association. However, Kryzsha knew that one would have to be mad to go against the council. Even a neutral faction as large as the hunting association could not afford to face the potential consequences of such acts.

“You can’t be serious; going against the advice is asking for death. Even that crazy bitch Titania is smarter than that, and she alone is more than enough to crush half of all the military power the association has.” Kryzsha couldn’t help but scream, not wanting to believe that the association would be crazy enough to betray the order faction.

Myrilla shook her head and corrected the dragoness. “That is where you are wrong. For starters, as much as we find Titania’s methods extreme, she is and always will be a strong supporter of order. Titania is, at worst, overzealous, but she can’t be blamed given her race’s past, plus she has many allies within the Order faction. Furthermore, she can at least destroy 75% of the association’s military power on her own account. She is someone no one wants to mess with.”

Instead of being sympathetic, Kryzsha gave Myrilla a rather strange look, who seemed to know too much about the fairy queen. Sensing something through her special senses, Myrilla looked helplessly at the dragoness, lamenting how sensitive and jealous dragons could be.

Wanting to avoid misunderstanding, Myrilla clarified. “A friend of mine has had more than one misunderstanding with Titania. That’s why I know so much about it.” Sensing that Kryzsha’s doubts remain the same, Myrilla decided to change the subject. “In any case, the problem remains the same. The association has been playing too much with the council’s patience, and they are unhappy about it. Unfortunately, the association has supported the war effort against the chaos faction, giving up some of its neutrality. So, dealing with them hasn’t been easy without a proper pretext.”

“That’s why you sent Desmond to that world, to gather evidence that the association has been messing with remnants of the Dark Genesis project, the greatest taboo in the history of creation.” Kryzsha stated, interrupting Myrilla’s speech.

Contrary to what Kryzsha expected, Myrilla shook her head and corrected her. “That is not the case. The only reason I sent Desmond to that world is so he could rescue the only other person immune to that place’s dark corrosion. A victim of circumstance, she should never have suffered the fate she was subjected to. That’s all; I have no other intention. I’m too lazy to plan beyond that.”

The silence lasted for a full minute until Kryzsha asked a rather strange question. “Do you know what I hate the most about you, Celestials?”

Caught off guard, Myrilla didn’t know what to answer, but she didn’t have to, as Kryzsha answered her own question. “What I hate most about you is that you are the best liars in the universe. Always driven by good intentions, you can lie without fault, so no one ever suspects you.”

As if she didn’t see Kryzsha’s less than a discreet hint, Myrilla responded. “Are you insinuating that I lie?”

Ending the conversation, Kryzsha turned her back on Myrilla and prepared to receive her guests. As she headed out of the cave to meet Claire and the rest, Kryzsha looked back one last time and made a dismissive comment. “I didn’t think you were lying; I know you lie.”

Seeing Kryzsha leave, Myrilla breathed a sigh of relief and couldn’t help but mutter. “You dragons have too keen senses. Forgive me, Kryzsha, but I can’t tell you the truth; I’m afraid it might kill the seed before it germinates. I hate this, but I guess that’s what I get for playing Katya. She’s so much better at this whole planning thing and pulling the strings from behind.”

At the mention of the word threads, Myrilla remembered how she had started all this mess. Originally, Myrilla hadn’t intended to ask Desmond anything complicated in exchange for saving his life, but that changed the next second.

Katya had told Myrilla about how she had used Desmond to change Cecilia’s fate, thus preventing the birth of a Celestial and healing her injuries in the process. Myrilla was shocked when she heard how Katya had managed to circumvent the Celestials’ hands-off policy by simply leading someone else to do the job for her.

Upon meeting Desmond and remembering what she had heard from Katya, Myrilla couldn’t help but want to do the same: use the hunter to do what she couldn’t do for herself.

In fact, Myrilla went a step further and even used Claire and the rest of the girls to interfere with the affairs of this world, all to seek a one in ten billion chance.

In truth, Myrilla was sure that Desmond could do his part of the job. The angel of love was by far one of the people she understood the most about the hearts of others, so she could say without fear of being wrong that Desmond had what he needed.

On the side of Claire and the girls, things were somewhat different. Their role was not related to failure or success but to the process and emotions. Myrilla had brought them in as additional characters for a big play that was going to take place very soon. Myrilla hoped the girls could put on a bit of their part, at least enough to move the self-proclaimed goddess of the mountain.

Since Kryzsha could not find solace on her own, Myrilla hoped she would find inspiration in others. It was time for Kryzsha’s thousand years of mourning to end.

As for what would happen next? Myrilla was basically betting that the most unlikely of scenarios would happen, but she’d be fine even if it didn’t. For starters, Myrilla wasn’t naive enough not to realize that she had been and was still being used by Katya. So, the angel of love might as well sit back and watch the archangel of balance’s plans progress if her own plans fail.

Remembering what Kryzsha said, Myrilla was now almost certain of Katya’s true goal, and she was fine with it. Which was why she could act so nonchalant. Deep down, though, Myrilla knew someone was about to be miserable. “The Dark Genesis project, an aberration that should never have happened; I understand why Katya wants to cut off the hands of everyone who dares to touch such a dangerous thing.”