His parents had found him as a baby in front of the labyrinth’s entrance during a clear and starry night.

  He was a mystery. He had appeared so suddenly and inexplicably that it puzzled even his parents. As the Sovereigns of the labyrinth, very little escaped their watchful gaze. The who and what mattered little to the senses of his mother and father, and the means they had available to them.

  Yet, he had shown up, crying in an ordinary basket and blanket without anyone the wiser. No amount of analysis and examination revealed anything despite the efforts and various means that his mother and father had at their disposal. Nor were the efforts of any of his brothers and sisters successful.

  There wasn’t even a note left on him. No message. No words. Just him.

  His family, including his parents and all his many brothers and sisters, often joked that he was one of the labyrinth’s great mysteries. In the end, everyone decided to let things be as they were. For things would surely be revealed over time.

  Thus, years had gone by, and he and his family were no closer to finding any answers than when he was a mere infant. But it wasn’t like he particularly cared about any of that.

  So what if his birth remained a mystery?

  It didn’t particularly bother him despite his curiosity about it. And sometimes, he had the strangest feeling that perhaps it was for the best that things remained unanswered. That perhaps it was better to let things remain a mystery…

  “Aster!” a melodious voice said from afar. “We’re heading back!”

  “Okay!” Aster replied happily as he waved back.

  “Don’t stay out too late,” the voice called. “You know how worried Mom and Dad get about you staying out in the forest so late at night.”

  “I’ll be fine Fia! Don’t worry about it!” Aster said as he waved them off.

  Fia flapped her arm-wings once and quickly closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. She grabbed his jacket with her very sharp five-fingered claws and pulled him close to her face.

  Up close, he could see all of her features even in the dimming light of the quickly setting sun. Her fair skin. Her green-yellow eyes matched the varying shades of green and yellow of her feathers and hair. In particular, her many razor-sharp teeth that could easily chomp through bone, which were gritting in annoyance at him right now.

  “Of course I’m worried, it’s because you’re not worried. Think a little more about your safety would you!?” Fia said as she shook him a bit. “Mom and Dad always say they’re fine with it. But you know how they are. They’ll always say they aren’t worried even when they are worried.”

  Aster could feel the heavy weight of her armor and clothing bear down on him, her feathers rubbing on his clothing and skin. It was oddly comforting. It was like he could feel how much his sister cared about him.

  “I can take care of myself. Besides, it’s not like I haven’t gotten into dangerous situations before as an adventurer,” Aster said.

  Fia opened her mouth, then closed it. Fia let go of her grip. She sighed. “Just take care of yourself alright!” She counted off the fingers of her razor-sharp claws. “And make sure to stay by all the pre-mapped routes. Don’t stray too far from the safe zones. The emergency caches. And—”

  Aster hugged her. “I’ll be fine sis. Don’t worry so much.”

  Fia blushed slightly at the sudden contact. “How can I not worry about my adorable little brother?!” she teased. She wrapped her arm-wings around him, the feathers of her arm-wings threatening to suffocate him as she continued to ruffle his dark hair playfully.

  She stared at him, his youthful, pale face a reminder to her of how he was just a child not so long ago. She stared into his blue eyes, which were like the shining blue stars in the night sky. “To me, you’ll always be my small childish brother whom I was flying on my back every which way.”

  He tore himself out of her grip. “There’s no way I’m going to miss the Triplet Moons tonight when they’re all going to be full moons. It’s so rare and—”

  “Hey Fia!” another voice said in the far distance. A small group watched them with some bemusement as they started to depart. “Are you going to stay the night with Aster in the forest or what?”

  “No. I’m coming Mechu!” Fia called back.

  “Just don’t do anything dangerous alright?” Fia ended.

  Aster nodded happily.

  Fia took off with great speed, waving to him as she departed, easily closing the distance between her and the quickly disappearing group in the far distance.

  Aster stretched his back as he watched them go. It had been a long day of work helping his family extract Arcanite from miles deep within the ground in this part of the forest using some of the amazing machinery his brothers and sisters had made. He couldn’t help but marvel at them as he passed by them.

  He started his walk through the temporary installation that his family had set up here. Places like these were concealed and camouflaged in the forest terrain and environment in such a natural way that anyone who didn’t know it was here would be hard pressed to realize it was here.

  But that didn’t mean it was safe.

  The Lethea Forest was one of the most dangerous places in the world. It stretched across the continent for thousands of miles and was scarcely inhabited despite the resources it possessed. The dangers were extreme, especially as one went deeper into the heart of the forest.

  As one of his big brothers had said to him in the past, to properly make a permanent location in the forest safe would be too resource-intensive and inefficient. And still may not work, given some of the creatures who inhabited the forest.

  But despite the dangers, it was home, and it was beautiful here.

  He arrived at a small lift attached to a great and tall tree that soared into the sky. He rode it up to a small lookout. Then climbed out of one of its windows to reach the top of the massive tree, navigating through branches and leaves big and small, making sure not to disturb or bother any of the wildlife.

  He reached a clearing in the trees where he could see the forest below and the sky above. Here, as high up as he was, he felt like he could touch the sky itself. He sat down on the massive branch he stood on, leaned back on his arms, and raised his head to the sky above. A cool breeze went by.

  He watched as the sun disappeared and set over the horizon, seeing twilight give way to the endless night sky filled with the brilliance of stars and the Triplet Moons that circled the world.

  He always got a strange feeling of comfort when looking at the stars, the moons, and the endlessness of the space above. Whenever the brilliance that radiated from the stars reached him, he always felt like his spirits were lifted, like an unknown weariness left his shoulders. Though he didn’t know why.

  But what he especially loved were the shooting stars that sometimes appeared in the night sky. As he watched silently, he saw several of them appear and disappear in bright silvery flashes of light, each one streaking across the night sky.

  Then, he saw it. One of those bright silver lights was descending from the night sky.

  It was beautiful. But it was coming too close as if…

  The light began to pick up speed and crashed in the distance, some miles away from him.

  His eyes widened. Was it some kind of meteor?

  Were meteors supposed to be like that?

  “Ow ow ow… Selenia you idiot,” the young woman muttered to herself.

  She looked over her broken leg as she rested on the ground. What was she going to do now?

  Jumping from her crashing vessel had sounded a lot better while she was in it as it crashed to the surface. She sighed. At least, her protective armor and clothing did the job well enough, all things considered. In retrospect, it was lucky enough that it was just her leg. It could have been much worse. She could have been splattered on the ground in a multitude of different pieces. But the many bumps, bruises, and scratches she had did not comfort her.

  She checked her clothing and armor. She just hoped they weren't too damaged from impact. At least the circlet her mom had given her seemed to be in decent shape.

  Still, what was she going to do? Where was she even? Nothing in the books she read gave her any idea where she was.

  She felt her heart begin to race. This wasn’t good. Most of what she had was on the vessel she had become separated from. If it still even existed. She wasn’t counting on it from the fiery crash that she had seen somewhere far off in the distance. All she had with her was what she had right now.

  And her attempts to start a fire with a couple of sticks via friction, as she had read in her books, ended in repeated failure. It was way harder than what the books had said.

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  It began to sink in that she was in a lot of trouble. She was injured. Lost. Alone. No food. No water. And as she mused on her situation, she felt a chill wash over her as if something was staring at her.

  She suddenly realized the danger of the wildlife was there too. Things lived in forests after all. Her books said that too.

  She turned her head slowly to where she had sensed something watching her. A shadowy crimson eye peered out of the darkness in the distance away from her. Then another. Then another. And another. And more kept popping up.

  It stepped out from the darkness into the moonlit night.

  The thing which looked vaguely like a bear revealed itself. It was far larger than a bear had to be. And she was sure that bears didn't have multiple sets of eyes, mouths with razor-sharp teeth, and limbs beyond their two pairs of legs. Or other wicked-looking appendages that looked like they could slice her up into a million pieces.

  She was pretty sure from her books that a bear wasn’t supposed to look like that.

  Her eyes widened in fright.

  Where was she!?

  She quickly pointed her hand at the creature in a panic, and an intense beam of silver light shot from her palm, burning the creature. Some kind of dark, pitch black ichor and fluid oozed out of the wounds.

  But although harmed, the creature was undeterred. It looked even angrier. That wasn’t good.

  She pointed her hand at it again, and another beam of silver light shot out from her, hitting the creature, only for it to be less effective than her previous strike.

  The creature moved forward to her in a slow, measured gait.

  What else did she have? It wasn’t like she had any weapons on her. Everything she had was for defensive use only, and it was damaged from the fall.

  She picked up a nearby rock and threw it at the creature.

  It bounced off harmlessly.

  Damn it!

  Selenia rose, trying to limp off with one leg. But she tripped and hit the ground. Then she realized that it wasn't just her leg. Her whole body was in a terrible state. Her body’s adrenaline was probably wearing off, she realized. It refused to move.

  Then a thought came to her.

  Was this it? Was she going to die here?

  She froze, paralyzed with fear as tears welled up in the corner of her eye. She hadn't read anything about this!

  The monstrous creature seemed to delight in her fear and terror as it approached.

  Then, as if in mockery of her prior efforts, the thing which resembled some kind of monstrous bear stopped, and a dark shimmering ball of energy began to form around what seemed to be its primary mouth. Its jaw extended and opened wide as it shot a beam of energy from itself towards her.

  She felt death coming her way.

  She shut her eyes as the beam was about to hit her.

  Aster had dashed to the site where he had seen the meteor crash down. Navigating the forest was easy for him. And as he grew closer, he could make out a faint silverish glow that grew brighter.

  He thought of his sister Fia and her words of warning. Well, it wasn’t like he needed to tell his brothers and sisters everything. He just wanted to see a meteor up close. One of those shooting stars that he always saw in the night sky up close. He was just going to get a quick look and then—

  Then, he saw her.

  She looked like royalty, clad in regal silver robes and armor, with a circlet of stars that sat atop her head. She had a faint silver, ethereal glow that radiated from her like the light of the moon on a clear and starry night. It matched her silver hair and eyes. With her pale skin, she looked like some kind of mythical fairy.

  Aster shook his head at the sight as he realized the situation the person in front of him was in. One of the forest creatures was there, about to kill her. Whoever this was, she wasn’t from around here. Or anywhere that he knew of.

  But no matter who she was, he wasn’t going to let anyone die in front of him today!

  Selenia heard a loud crash in front of her, the impact nearly deafening her.

  She opened her eyes slowly as she realized she hadn’t died. Her eyes widened as she saw someone in front of her, holding a large shield that covered both of them.

  The figure who appeared in front of her was wrapped in a cloak, his blue eyes a stand out against the dark backdrop of the night. He had slid back several feet due to the kinetic force of the annihilative beam, and his feet had dug deeply into the ground. His shield had diffused and scattered the beam around him in a cone that wreaked havoc around the surrounding area. Anything it touched had disappeared.

  His shield smoked and was a bit worse for wear, but he was thankful it had held up.

  “You alright?” the figure said as he glanced behind himself.

  Selenia could only nod in stunned silence.

  “We need to get out of here,” he replied. “Before this baby’s mother decides to come along looking for her child.”

  “T-that’s just a baby!?”

  “We don’t want to be around when its mother shows up.”

  Before Selenia could voice another word, her savior charged against the monstrous bear-like creature, which also charged him in turn, closing the distance at a speed that something that big had no right to.

  Her savior tossed his sheathed blade at the creature, distracting it for a second, as he collided with the creature shield first, the force sending shockwaves around them. With the creature stunned, he slipped underneath it in one motion, even as he smoothly dodged its paws and many deadly limbs.

  Then, as he was below it, he grabbed the creature and lifted it off the ground, throwing it into the air with a strained grunt.

  He jumped, thundering into the air. Before the creature could realize what was happening, he grabbed it again, turned it, and brought it down headfirst into the ground, causing it to tremble and shake from the impact.

  Her savior panted with the exertion as he backed away from the creature. “Okay, let's get out of here,” he said.

  Selenia saw and felt the ground move. The creature was recovering. It was time to leave. The noise was surely going to attract even more unwanted attention. And she really didn’t want to see what that creature’s mother looked like.

  “Isn't it going to follow us?” Selenia said.

  “Ya. But I'm pretty fast! Here,” her savior said as he tossed his cloak over her.

  She blushed at the gesture. “T-thanks.”

  “Well, you do look like a glowstick in the middle of the night. It’s a small miracle that nothing else has come here yet.”

  Selenia gripped the cloak as embarrassment shot through her. She idly noticed that the cloak covered the faint glow that radiated from her.

  He placed her on his back in one sudden motion.

  “H-Hey!” Selenia stammered.

  “Sorry, this is the fastest way I can think of getting us out of here,” he said. He looked at her. “Hang on tight.”

  “A-Alright,” she replied.

  “I mean, really tight okay?” he clarified.

  “I am.”

  “I mean, really really tight.”

  “I am holding on tight,” Selenia replied with a little annoyance.

  “Then here I go.”

  Selenia felt her heart leap out of her chest as her savior accelerated to high speed in an instant, so fast that the wind blew around them and the ground cracked below him. She felt dizzy when the world suddenly blurred around her. She lost track of time as she focused on holding on for dear life.

  As the world around her went left, right, up, and down, and every mix of it possible, she suddenly realized they had stopped moving. She wasn’t sure how many miles or how long it had been, but as her savior set her down on the ground near an unassuming cave entrance, she realized she was feeling woozy.

  Her savior breathed heavily as he felt a degree of calm and safety this close to the Labyrinth. “So,” her savior grinned at her. “Pretty fast right?”

  “Ya, really fast…” Selenia replied, holding her hands to her head as if that would help.

  “And who are you supposed to be again?”

  “I’mma nobody,” Selenia muttered as she shrank within herself, her feelings of sickness dissipating.

  “Like I’d believe that princess.”

  “I’m not a princess.”

  “Well, you sure look like one.”

  “Uhh… Well, I… uhh… Ok. I am a princess,” she replied weakly, unable to deal with that logic.

  “You don’t look like you're from around here,” he added.

  “Of course not. I’m from the uhh…” Selenia looked at the Triplet moons. They were round. Round like a…

  “I’m from the Melon Kingdom,” Selenia said suddenly.

  “Melon Kingdom? I’ve never heard of such a kingdom,” he coughed as he felt his lungs recover. “What continent is it from? It’s definitely not one from this continent."

  “From the… Melon Continent!”

  Aster just stared at her silently in disbelief.

  “You can believe me because I’m the uhh… Melon princess,” Selenia continued weakly.

  “Melon princess?”

  “Yes. A Melon princess!”

  “....You’re terrible at this,” he laughed.

  “No I’m not.” Selenia shook her head in protest. “I really am a Melon princess from the Melon Kingdom. From the… Melon continent…” She suddenly realized how ridiculous it sounded.

  “Alright. Alright,” he said. “Well, how about we just forget about it for now. I'm Aster!” He pointed a thumb at himself as he gave her a hand to help her up.

  “I’m Selenia,” she replied. “Thanks for saving me.”

  Selenia looked around as Aster helped her to her feet. There was nothing here. Except for the forest, a small clearing, and a wide cave entrance.

  “Where are we?” Selenia asked, taking in her surroundings.

  Selenia looked at Aster as he stilled, his eyes perking up slightly as he seemed to remember something.

  “Oh. Right. One thing you should know. My family. They’re… uhh… interesting. Just don’t run if you feel like running okay?” Aster said.

  Selenia gave him a confused look. “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “You’ll know it when you see them,” Aster replied.

  Then Selenia realized that something dark and dangerous had exited the unassuming cave entrance. A towering humanoid figure blocked the moonlight in front of her. It seemed to be wrapped in darkness and shadow. Its eyes were empty, sunken pits of darkness, with burning crimson light in their center. Many razor-sharp teeth glowered at her.

  Selenia felt an immense pressure bear down upon her.

  And the wings.

  This monstrous creature in front of her had so many wings. Arm-wings. Multiple pairs of wings on its back. Even a smaller pair of wings from its head to frame it like a crown.

  Selenia felt like her heart was going to explode. Like an immense darkness was about to swallow her up and eat her alive. Selenia fainted, foaming at the mouth, as Aster caught her before she could hit the floor.

  As Selenia felt her consciousness fade, she could feel the presence looming over herself and Aster.

  “H-Hey big sis Sera! I can explain.”

  “You better.”