Chapter 1

The Mighty Star Seeker

“A little more and… perfect,”

I said while adjusting my new telescope. Or, as I called it, the Star Seeker. Taking a few steps back and with eyes as bright as the moon, I’d like to believe, I beamed my excitement at my much larger inhuman friend who didn’t feel the same about me as I did her. Her gaze was cold enough to make most people melt away and not in a good way. She told me stories about how humans, or as she likes to call them, meat bags, would drop dead on the battlefield just by looking at them, an appropriate reaction when facing the beastly Queen, once upon a time. My smile remained until Alais, the former Orc Queen, conceded. During her reign, she was known far and wide for eating young humans. Yet here she was, being encouraged to look at the stars through a telescope. Alais found purchase in the cool grass before leaning in to press her eye to the Star Seeker.

“A shooting star? Do you expect me to make a wish?”

She asked in a rough mocking tone as she pulled away.

“You see, Alais, that shooting star? Well, I don’t think it’s just any shooting star. Every two hours or so, there’s a small streak of light across the sky. Given the circumference of the world, it would only stand to reason that it’s the same shooting star every time. I call it… The Forever Star.”

“And this concerns me how?” She grumbled.

Irritated to be awake in the middle of the night.

“You’re witnessing a discovery of a lifetime, Alais. And soon, I’ll be the first to….”

My words trailed off as she finally stood and walked away.

“A-Alais, a moment longer, please?”

I began to follow, stopping to look back at my mighty moon-bathed Star Seeker.

“Just a hand with moving it inside if you would… Alais?… What if it rains?!”

Morning soon came, and with it rain. My Star Seeker still sat where we left it.

“Your Highness?”

I turned to see Elyon standing in the doorway. A tall brown elven woman with a cold gaze that almost rivaled that of Alais. Like the rest of the elven folk, Elyon fell into a subservient role after the war, five hundred years ago. But unlike the Orc’s, the elven people were treated much better. Not as equals to humans but enough that they didn’t have the same laws on punishment. Elyon earned the title Nursery Maid sometime after the “Savage War,” as they call it; They, as in the victors. I sometimes think about what life would’ve been like if I were born during such a war.

“Breakfast is ready,” She said with a voice noticeably much softer than Alais’s.

Her long stride quickly yet gracefully brought her to tower behind him, sharing the view outside the window.

“You left such a thing in the rain?” She asked.

My gaze went out the window with pain in my eyes.

“It’s not the telescope that concerns me, Elyon. What has kept me up at night… was the fact Alais has no place for a night of proper rest. I’m thankful for the roof over my head… and yet… I must bear witness to one that does not.”

“Should a fly allow a spider to sleep in its home?”

“I don’t understand.”

“That’s because you’re still a child. Alais has lived outside these walls for many generations. Punishment for her war crimes. But after your birth, the eldest Queen wanted to humiliate Alais even further by making her your pet.”

“I don’t see her as such; She’s my friend.”

“Alais has eaten many human children during and before the war.”

“Surely that’s a lie. I’m still here after all.”

“It’s true…”

“It’s not.”

I said, turning to face up at her with a glare. She stared back for a moment, not wishing to repeat such a childish back and forward. My eyes softened, finally realizing the look I was giving her.

“Apologies… Believing such a thing would mean… my friend is a monster.”

“Monsters are usually in the last place one would think to look.”

“Then I shall never look in her direction. I’ll go blind if I must.”

Spinning around to face her, I smiled.

“I’m going to build her a cabin.”

I paused, staring up into her cold yet soft gaze. To most, she always kept the same look on her face. As if she heard someone tell a bad joke and kept repeating it. Over the years, I’ve learned to understand Elyon as if to read her mind. And one thing she did not enjoy was repeating herself.

“Uh um… After breakfast, of course.”

I gave her a playful smile. She turned and made her way out of the room with an eager prince behind her.