BLITHE  —  Devourer of Worlds
Chapter I.III

Blithe stood at the ruins of the star cluster she just destroyed.

Burned down houses.

Destroyed buildings.

Lifeless bodies.

Screams of horror and terror.

A lump in her throat made it hard for her to breathe.

Several jobs ago, she told herself to push all these strange feelings down and it would eventually go back to the way things were.

It didn't.

It just made things worse.

She now dreamed of the star clusters she destroyed.

She now dreamed of the people who lost their lives because of her.

She now dreamed of the screams of the people running away from her.

She now dreamed of the baby that looked at her innocently, stretching their tiny arms out to her.

It was all etched onto her memory.

Blithe didn't know what was happening to her. It all overwhelmed her.

Busying herself, she walked around to distract herself from these new-found feelings.

—

It was night. The only thing that illuminated the now-destroyed place was fire.

“ARGH! IT'S SO HOOOOOT! CAN'T WE SPEED THINGS UP ALREADY!?” one henchman complained out loud.

“Tell me about it, I’m pretty sure everyone's already dead, so I don't get why we're still checking!” one replied in agreement.

“Tsk! It's probably that Nikos guy again who insisted on doing this. Urgh, he’s getting on my nerves,” another gritted their teeth.

Blithe walked around listening to their idle conversations. At one point, it crossed her mind that she never knew any of her henchmen's names. In fact, she never knew anyone’s name, including her father’s.

The only name she knew was hers.

She stopped and looked at the ground.

Disconnected.

She has never felt so disconnected from her surroundings in all of her life.

It was her first time realizing that every interaction she had was so superficial. But then again, what use was that to her if she was only supposed to obey her father's commands?

Her father's orders were the only things that mattered. It didn't matter if she never knew a single name in her life.

IT DIDN'T MATTER.

She kept repeating those thoughts in her head.

…

Blithe… Does that name mean something?

…

She shook her head, closing her eyes tightly.

This needs to stop.

Everyday, something new pops up in her mind — a step closer to her doubting what she does and what she really needs to do.

Then — CRUNCH.

She heard the sound of gravel being stepped on. She stopped her head mid-shake and opened her eyes.

Her gaze shifted towards the sound.

A broken cement wall.

A wall where she saw a foot peeking out. It hurriedly retreated once the owner of the foot realized that Blithe had noticed the sound.

Blithe walked towards it, the gravel crunching beneath her feet like a warning.

She stopped to look at the small hole on the wall that allowed her to see a little bit of what was behind it.

Purple-colored eyes looked at her with fear. It widened and disappeared in an attempt to hide herself more.

Blithe could hear a whimper.

A survivor.

Blithe raised her hand and a black hole started forming on her palm. The rocks from underneath started to levitate from the gravity and the wall started to shake.

“Stella…”

“Shhhh…”

The black hole in Blithe’s hand stopped getting bigger the moment she heard those quiet and trembling whispers.

Two survivors.

One calling out to the other, and one shushing the other shakily.

Two survivors.

Two children.

Blithe's lips trembled as she closed her hand to terminate the black hole she was creating.

She stood still for a while and blinked.

“Stella…” Blithe murmured, testing the name on her lips.

“Your Highness. Is there something wrong?”

A question followed by footsteps came from behind her together with the familiar sound of a necklace clashing into armor.

CLINK.

The henchman spoke behind her worryingly.

She took a deep breath, masked her emotion and turned her back from the broken wall.

“Nothing. There are no more survivors in this area,” she calmly walked past the henchman.

“I… see,” the henchman looked at the wall and heard whimpers. He swallowed and followed Blithe.

Blithe walked with her gaze forward, her face emotionless.

“Stella,” she thought.

“What a pretty name.”