BLITHE  —  Devourer of Worlds
Chapter I.XIII

“My family lives in that star system you first attacked, you know…”

Blithe looked at the Light Soldier who came to bring her a bowl of food. How they were going to feed her with her mask on, she had no idea.

The Light Soldier’s shoulders shook.

“They were planning to move into one of the galaxies inside the Light King’s supercluster after I finally got accepted into the Light Army. And now because of you, that's not going to be possible anymore. We can't be happy together anymore…” her lips trembled.

Blithe looked down. She remembered that time in that star cluster. She almost forgot that their plan was almost a success had it not been for that incident.

Blithe wanted to tell her that they evacuated everyone there, but she wasn’t so sure about what happened after that anymore. It was like her mind was blocking out that day.

The Light Soldier smashed the bowl she was holding in front of Blithe. She flinched as some shards cutting into her feet.

“I hope you die in the worst way possible,” the soldier left in anger with her parting words dripping with malice.

Blithe simply closed her eyes It hurt to have those words spoken to her but in the end, she didn’t mind. The pain she has caused all these years has started to go back to her.

She can’t help but think that she deserved all this.

 — 

The ride to the heart to Light King’s supercluster, was excruciating and humiliating. The Light Soldiers gave her glares and sneers, and bad-mouthed her while in front of her. She couldn’t even eat the bowls of food the Light Soldiers were bringing to her.

The General checked on her from time to time but all she did was gave her a condescending look.

She wanted to cry. But the thought of having to endure this in place of the Dark Matter that wanted to be free, eased her heart somewhat.

For days, this went on and on until finally, they arrived.

The ship opened and a flood of light blinded her after sitting for so long inside dim lights.

“Let's move,” the soldier tugged at the chains on her wrist. She followed closely but she was tugged at the back through the chain connected to her neck.

“Keep up in our pace,” the soldier from behind sneered. And she did what she was told.

The General walked in front of them, issuing orders to the soldiers to keep the citizens away from them.

Her eyes looked among the crowd as she walked. Most of them spouted curses at her, angrily pointed at her and occasionally threw things at her.

She didn’t mind.

It was what she deserved.

The only thing that made peace in her heart that she was the only one who was going through this… and things were finally going to end.

 — 

The guards shoved Blithe to her cell.

Stumbling on the ground, she instinctively tried to stand up. But the soldiers immediately pinned her to sit down and chained her once more to the cell.

“Don't bother trying to escape. Those cuffs and collar are made to counter gravity and the setting for yours is cranked up ten-fold,” the soldier said as she closed the cell.

“Enjoy your stay here until you're executed,” the other soldier looked at her through the bars.

She closed her eyes and scratched her neck. At least the chain on her neck and her mask was gone.

Her eyes went to her legs and saw the scabs on her legs from the shattered bowl from before.

“That’s going to leave scars…” she chuckled wryly to herself. “Not that it will matter.”

She leaned back and closed her eyes. The silence gave her some peace. Until someone from outside entered the prison and talked.

“Urgh, I don't wanna guard this cell! Why do we have to get this babysitting duty! We don’t deserve this kind of work! And of all criminals too!” one guard complained.

“I know, right?” the other agreed with an exasperated voice, but then a cheer from his voice came afterwards as if he just thought of a brilliant plan. “Hey, you know who could take the shift for us? That guy, hehehe...”

“Oh yeah, hold on, I’ll call for him right now! Who knows, his bad luck might rub off of her and she’ll be executed earlier than expected!”

Blithe could hear their footsteps scurry away.

“Bad luck?” she thought. “I was already born with the worst luck. Adding on to that won’t change anything.”

She closed her eyes for a few minutes, until he heard the door outside open again.

“But I wasn't directly assigned to this! O-Our superior will search for me!” a anxious voice came in.

“Oh, shut up, you jinx! As if our superior ever cared about you! Now go be a good little bird and guard this cell! Got that!”

Before the anxious voice could protest any further, the door was closed, with a trail of laughter fading away from outside.

“Tsk… Acting all superior… How did they even become Light Soldiers, huh?” the boy vented out all his frustrations that he couldn’t voice out.

Blithe expected him to vent his anger on her too but to her surprise, the hours ahead were silent, with the only noise was him coughing and the occasional hums.

CLINK.

Blithe flinched at the sound. The sound reminded her all too well of him.

But she knew it wasn’t him. It was probably just something that the guard outside bumped into his armor.

She sighed and before she knew it, tears were already forming in her eyes. She sniffed.

“Ah, I-I’m sorry, was I too loud?”

Blithe’s tears stopped. “Are you talking to me?”

“Ah… Sorry… I-I was just trying to fix my armor...And then my spear fell on my arm… I caught it, though, so… Sorry, I’ll shut up now,” he answered.

For the first time in a while, someone talked to her normally. Before she can stop it, she chuckled softly — the first time in a while she ever did.

“W-What is it? Is there something wrong?” the guard asked.

Blither shook her head, even though the guard couldn’t see her.

“Nothing… It’s just… Someone’s talking to me like I’m a normal person… Feels weird after all this time,” she said.

There was a brief silence.

“I… I don’t know what to say to that…” the boy nervously answered.

Blithe smiled. “Don’t you know who I am? I’m Blithe, Devourer of Worlds, daughter of the Dark Emperor, daughter of a bastard, cold-blooded murderer of Luminars, darkness incarnate , witch of the dark— you know the gist.”

She mustered up all the things she has heard of from everyone around her these past few days.

The boy was silent.

“I know who you are…” he said. “You don’t sound like that right now, though.”

Blithe closed her eyes. “What do I sound like?”

“You… You sound like me back then…”

Blithe opened her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows, confused at what she just heard. “Huh?”

“You sound defeated… Like you’re going to give up on life…”

“Ah,” Blithe nodded. That was what he meant. She sighed.

“Well, that’s because I am,” she said, figuring she might as well tell someone what she was thinking. “I guess deep down, this was always my end goal…”

“I…” the boy stopped, not expecting her to admit it. “I’ve been curious…”

Blithe looked towards the door, her chains rattling at her movement.

“These past few days, I’ve been keeping up with the news of your attacks. How come as time went on, there were fewer and fewer casualties until there were none at the star systems you went to?”

Blithe looked surprised. “Huh?”

“I tried bringing it up to my superiors, but they were more focused on capturing you rather than the survivors mysteriously appearing on different parts of the Light territory,” he continued.

Now she was definitely more surprised. To think someone noticed.

“I…” Blithe looked down.

“I-I talked to some of them because I wanted to get to the bottom of it…” he started.

Blithe, unbeknownst to her, unconsciously leaned forward.

“Some said, Dark Matter pushed them into the black portals with urgency before they were spotted. Others said a woman dressed in black held their hand and guided them towards those portals. They said that she was frightening, but when she looked at them, she held a gentle yet sad smile,” he recalled what they said to him.

“They said if it weren’t for them, they would’ve died and that they were a blessing from the heavens.”

Blithe’s mouth was agape. Tears started forming in the corner of her eyes until she was sobbing uncontrollably.

“Ah! H-Hey! Are you-!” he stood up to check on her through the bars but stopped once he saw what she looked like.

“A blessing… Hahaha! It’s the first time I’ve ever been called that!” she alternated between crying and laughing.

“So… You really did that, huh? And your people…” the boy said.

“I did my best…! I did my best to save what I can… And it worked! I was able to save lives! Even though they told me my purpose was always to destroy, to be a blight… I was still able to be of help to others…!” Blithe smiled, finding comfort in what she just heard.

It was only now that it was hitting her, the realization that her power wasn’t only for destruction. For the first time in her life, she was grateful to have her power.

The guard let her have her emotions out without interrupting her.

He thought to himself.

“And she’s going to be executed… Because of me...”