Hati Life's
Fourteen-year-old Hati has spent their whole life on the outside looking in—the half-fey child of a human father and a fairy mother, whispered about by villagers and never once invited to play. With both parents gone, all that's left of them are a worn dagger, a silver pendant set with a blue stone, and a loneliness that aches louder every night.
But on Hati's fourteenth birthday, at their mother's grave, the pendant awakens. A thread of light beckons into the Verdian Great Forest—
Hati life's - Star-devouring child, the mystery of mother's enemy
Two sets of footsteps pounded the ground, racing through the night forest.
To be precise, one was Hati's, and the other was the faint presence of a small body swaying on her shoulder.
"I can see it, Hati! The light of the Fairy Ring!"
Milfy's voice burst against her ear. Her broken wings fluttered in the wind, making a faint sound. Beneath the bandages wrapped around her entire body, wounds that hadn't yet healed should have been throbbing with pain—yet there wasn't a single cloud in her voice.
Hati looked ahead.
The massive trunk of the Central Tree towered into the sky, cutting through the night. A hundred and twenty meters tall. Light leaked in scattered dots from the windows carved all over the trunk—the homes of the fairies. At its base spread the central plaza—the Fairy Ring—and it was dyed a color it should never have been.
Red.
More than ten torches. Inside the ring of flickering flames, dark shadows moved.
"That's...!"
Hati's feet nearly stopped for an instant.
On the stone paving of the Fairy Ring, the village's guardians lay fallen. Five fairies—all of them. Their translucent wings were broken, blood flowed, and their small bodies lay sunken against the ground. At the center, a giant of a man in black leather armor was slowly swinging his arm down.
Thud.
A dull sound. The stone paving shattered. One of the guardians was sent flying and tumbled across the ground.
"Garg...!"
A low growl escaped Hati's throat.
That man. The monster who had sent Milfy flying. The scar covering his left eye. A massive frame a hundred and ninety-five centimeters tall. The two-handed axe—a bardiche—gripped in his right hand caught the torchlight and gleamed wetly.
"Hati."
On her shoulder, Milfy gripped Hati's hair. Her small hands were trembling. But her voice was steady.
"Your power is meant for protecting. I'll give you proper support. So—"
"—don't hold back."
"Yeah."
Hati clenched the pendant.
Her mother's keepsake. A blue stone. It was faintly warm against her chest.
"Let's go, Milfy."
"Right!"
Hati broke into a run.
Toward the Fairy Ring.
Into the heart of the battle.
* * *
"Well, well."
Garg noticed Hati. His cold gray right eye glinted in the torchlight. The scar over his left eye twisted every time he smiled.
"So the half-breed brat's still alive."
Garg's voice made the air of the plaza tremble. Low, heavy—like boulders dragging across the earth.
"Let's see this power of yours. This 'Star-Eater' power I've heard so much about."
Garg raised his bardiche. An eight-kilogram two-handed axe. Its blade drank in the torchlight, gleaming black.
"Milfy, stay back."
Hati set Milfy down on the ground. Dragging her broken wings, Milfy stood behind Hati.
"Spirits."
Milfy's small hands clasped before her chest. A faint light began spilling from her fingertips. Golden light. Element Weave—magic activated through a contract with spirits. Milfy was contracted with the wind spirit, Sylph.
"Spirit of wind, Sylph. Answer my voice. Grant that child the blessing of wind!"
The light enveloped Hati's body. A warm wind surged up from her feet. Her body felt just a little lighter.
"Thank you, Milfy."
Hati fixed her gaze on Garg.
"Come at me, brat."
Garg kicked off the ground.
His massive frame closed the distance in an instant. The bardiche came down from overhead. The sound of air being torn apart. The torch flames wavered all at once.
"Hati!"
Hati didn't move.
Still gripping the pendant at her chest.
(I have to protect them.)
(Milfy. Everyone. This village.)
(So—)
Light overflowed from Hati's body.
A pale light, like a galaxy.
The power of the Star-Eater.
The light formed a thin membrane around Hati and Milfy. A translucent wall of light, scattered with stardust.
CLANG!!!
The bardiche slammed into the barrier of light.
Sparks flew. The impact shook the ground. Radial cracks raced across the stone paving.
But.
The barrier of light did not break.
"What...?"
Garg's right eye went wide.
"You blocked my strike...?"
Hati stood straight inside the barrier of light. Her white pixie-cut hair floated softly in the glow. Her blue eyes had been dyed the color of a galaxy.
"I won't let you do as you please anymore."
Hati's voice was quiet. But it carried a strange strength that seemed to resonate to the depths of the earth.
"Your power's interesting."
Garg laughed. The scar twisted further.
"Then let's see how long you can keep blocking."
Garg swept the bardiche in a horizontal arc.
CLANG!
The barrier of light sparked and repelled it.
Garg didn't stop. Overhead strikes, thrusts, sweeping cuts. The eight-kilogram axe assailed Hati like a storm. With every blow, the stone paving shattered, the air was torn, and the torch flames screamed.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The barrier of light caught every single one.
But sweat was beading on Hati's forehead.
(So heavy...!)
With each strike, a crushing weight bore down on her body. The Star-Eater's power consumed mental energy. Every time she blocked one of Garg's attacks, she felt something being shaved away from deep inside her.
"Hati, now!"
Milfy's voice flew from behind her.
"Spirit of wind, Sylph. Bind that man's feet!"
Golden light coiled around Garg's feet. Wind swirled into a vortex, stopping his movement for just an instant.
"Tch—clever little pest!"
Garg kicked his leg free. The bindings of wind shredded apart.
But that instant was enough.
Hati stepped forward. She released the barrier of light and instead gathered light into her right hand. Galactic light wrapped around her fist.
"Haaaaah!"
Hati's fist drove into Garg's stomach.
Thud.
Garg's massive frame swayed—just barely.
"...That all you've got?"
Garg grinned.
"Your defense is impressive, but your offense is still lacking. You think a punch like that can bring me down?"
Garg's hand seized Hati by the collar.
"Gah—!"
Hati's body was lifted off the ground. Her throat constricted. She couldn't breathe.
"Hati!"
Milfy's scream sounded far away.
"Your power is interesting. That's exactly why I'll crush it here and now."
Garg slammed Hati into the ground.
CRASH.
Her back hit the stone paving. The impact shot through the core of her body. The taste of blood spread through her mouth.
"U... ugh..."
"Come on, get up. Child of the Star-Eater."
Garg hoisted the bardiche onto his shoulder.
"Why do you fight? Why risk your life for a bunch of fairies?"
Hati slowly pushed herself up. Her arms trembled. Her knees shook. Even so, she stood.
"What's wrong with selling fairy wings?"
Garg's voice echoed across the plaza.
"The weak get devoured—that's the law of the world. Fairies are weak. What's wrong with them being hunted by humans? What's wrong with their wings being plucked? If it turns a profit, what's the problem?"
Garg looked down at the fallen guardians.
"These ones were weak too. So they fell. That's all there is to it."
Hati's fists clenched tight.
Her nails dug into her palms. Blood dripped.
"You're wrong."
Hati's voice was shaking. With anger, with frustration, and then—
"You're wrong!"
Hati shouted.
"Just because someone's weak doesn't mean it's okay for them to be devoured! It's precisely because we're weak that we support each other! It's precisely because we're weak that we have things worth protecting!"
Hati's voice rang out across the Fairy Ring.
The torch flames wavered all at once.
"That's right!"
Milfy stood at Hati's side. Her broken wings trembled, but she looked straight up at Garg.
"We support each other precisely because we're weak! Though I doubt someone like you could ever understand what that means!"
Garg snorted.
"Pretty words. But can pretty words bring me down?"
Garg readied his bardiche.
"Show me, then. These things you want to protect."
At that moment.
The pendant at Hati's chest blazed with light.
The blue stone radiated a dazzling brilliance. Galactic light enveloped Hati's entire body. It was incomparable to the barrier from before. Light swirled, and stardust danced upward.
"What...!?"
Garg staggered back a step.
Power was pouring out of Hati's body. Warm. Hot. But it wasn't running wild. The controlled light followed Hati's will, gathering into her right arm.
(This is my power.)
(A power for protecting.)
Hati looked at Garg.
"That power of yours—"
Garg swung his bardiche up.
Hati moved too.
"UOOOOOOOH!!!"
Hati's right fist, clad in galactic light, slammed into Garg's bardiche.
KRAAAAANG!!!
A flash of light bleached the Fairy Ring white.
The tremendous sound of light and iron colliding. A shockwave raced across the ground, and every torch flame was blown out at once.
Darkness.
A moment of silence.
—Crack.
The sound of something fracturing.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
The sound grew louder.
And then.
SNAP!!
The bardiche shattered clean in two.
The upper half of the blade spun through the air and embedded itself in the stone paving. All that remained in Garg's hand was the handle.
"...Impossible."
Garg's right eye went wide. For the first time, shock crossed his face.
"You shattered my bardiche...?"
Hati stood with her fist still extended. The galactic light slowly faded. Strength drained from her entire body. She could barely stay on her feet.
But Hati smiled.
"This is my power. Because I have something to protect, I can become stronger."
Garg glared at Hati for a while.
Then, slowly, he dropped the broken handle of the bardiche to the ground.
"...Interesting. Truly interesting."
Garg's mouth twisted. An expression that could have been a smile or a scowl—impossible to tell.
"We're pulling out."
Garg turned his back.
"Oi, retreat. Leave the wounded fairies. We can't accomplish our objective here."
The Black Iron Fang scouts gathered behind Garg, torches in hand. A few of them kicked the fallen guardians as they headed toward the breach in the Mist Veil.
Hati watched their backs.
(Is it... over?)
Her strength gave out, and her knees nearly buckled.
That was when it happened.
Garg stopped.
Without turning around, he spoke.
"Child of the Star-Eater."
A chill ran down Hati's spine.
"Who do you think killed your mother?"
Hati's heart leaped.
"...What?"
"The answer lies in the Starfall Valley. Your mother was no ordinary fairy. The secret of that power sleeps in that valley as well."
Garg turned to look back. The scar over his left eye floated darkly in the dying torchlight.
"If you can make it there alive, that is. That valley will teach you that it isn't only the weak who get devoured."
Garg laughed.
And then, together with his scouts, he vanished into the darkness of the Mist Veil.
* * *
Morning came.
The village of Luminas was quiet.
Scars of the battle remained everywhere. Shattered stone paving. Broken branches. The burnt remnants of extinguished torches. Still, as the morning sun filtered through the leaves of the Central Tree, the village gradually regained its usual colors.
Fairies had gathered at the Fairy Ring.
The injured guardians were being treated by healers. There were no critically wounded. Garg's objective had been wing poaching, nothing more. The killing had been kept to a minimum.
Even so, the air in the village was tense.
"Hati."
The Elder Morgana stood before Hati.
Her small body measured eighteen centimeters. Her long silver hair caught the morning sun and glowed faintly. Her deep green eyes looked straight at Hati. The wings on her back trembled slightly.
"I witnessed your battle with my own eyes. You controlled the Star-Eater's power and drove Garg back. Well done."
Morgana's voice was gentle. But beneath it was a definite warmth.
"I officially recognize you as an apprentice guardian of the village."
Hati caught her breath.
(A guardian... apprentice.)
"Hati!"
Milfy bounced on Hati's shoulder. Her bandage-covered body sent her broken wings flapping.
"You did it! You're finally recognized!"
"...Yeah. But I'm still just an ap
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