Chapter 236: Star-Eater
It began on a night that seemed ordinary. The Eternal Tree shimmered above, its branches glowing with silver luminescence, wrapping the heavens in peace. Evernight sat beside the cradle, humming softly as Celestara drifted in and out of slumber.
But then, the baby stirred. Her tiny horns glowed faintly, one pale like a fragment of heaven, the other dark as if it carried abyssal memory.
"Waaa.." She let out a cry, a sound innocent and small. Yet the world shuddered in response.
The balcony cracked. The stars above flared and dimmed as though they, too, had been commanded. The cradle lifted into the air, wrapped in spirals of chaotic light and shadow.
Evernight gasped, rushing forward. "Igaris! Something is wrong!"
Igaris was already there, his form materializing beside the cradle in less than a heartbeat. His blue eyes glowed brightly as he watched his daughter, his face calm but sharp with recognition.
"She is awakening." His tone carried neither fear nor hesitation, but awe. "Her bloodline is stirring. Angelic and demonic, spirit and godhood. She is my daughter. This is her nature."
Celestara’s tiny fists waved clumsily, and with each motion the air ripped apart in folds. Entire constellations flickered across the sky, as if dragged closer by her will.
Evernight covered her mouth with trembling fingers. "This... this is too much. She is only an infant. Her body cannot bear such strain!" She reached to steady the cradle, but the energies threw her back with a gentle force, as if even her touch could not contain the outpour.
At that moment, Celestara giggled. Just a baby’s giggle. Yet mountains far away cracked, oceans rose into the sky, and winds howled as though summoned to dance for her amusement.
Evernight cried out in panic. "Igaris! Do something! She will tear the world apart!"
But Igaris did not panic. Instead, he stepped forward calmly, his aura spreading like a blanket. He reached into the storm of light and shadow that wrapped his daughter, his hand steady, his gaze unwavering.
Celestara looked at him, her golden-silver eyes sparkling with wild innocence. The chaos slowed, just slightly.
"Do you see, Evernight?" His voice was quiet but proud. "She is not destroying, she is calling to them. The cosmos bends because it hears her voice. She does not need restraint. She needs guidance."
Evernight’s eyes watered, torn between fear and love. "But what if it crushes her? What if she breaks under her own power?"
Igaris touched his daughter’s tiny hand, and immediately the vast energies folded inward, flowing back into her small body like rivers returning to their source. The cradle lowered gently back to the ground, its light fading. Celestara cooed, curling her fingers around his larger hand.
He smiled faintly, softer than Evernight had ever seen. "She will not break. Not while I stand by her. She is born of us. She is born of destiny. If her laughter can shake the world, then I will shake the universe to keep her safe."
Evernight pressed a hand to her chest, her breath slowing. "You speak so easily. But you did not see the oceans rise, the sky tear apart. If this continues..."
Igaris turned to her, his gaze steady. "If this continues, then our daughter will simply grow into what she was meant to be. Not destruction, but creation. Not chaos, but eternity. She will surpass gods before she learns to walk. And I will be proud."
Celestara yawned, curling against the blanket as though nothing had happened, her horns faintly glowing once more.
Evernight approached slowly, kneeling beside the cradle again. She looked at the child, then at Igaris, her voice trembling. "You are both too much for me. I fear and love you in the same breath."
Igaris leaned down, kissing her temple gently. "Do not fear. She is ours. She is not a curse, but a miracle."
---
The night was quiet, save for the soft laughter of the infant in Evernight’s arms. Celestara’s tiny horns glowed faintly, her golden eyes like two drops of dawn reflecting the Eternal Tree’s light. Every sound she made carried a strange resonance, as though the universe itself leaned closer to listen.
Shirley leaned near, tickling her cheeks. "She likes the starlight tonight. Look at her... reaching for them as if she could pluck them herself."
Diva laughed softly, brushing her silver hair aside. "She has her father’s greed then. Wanting the impossible."
Igaris stood silent at the balcony, arms folded across his chest. His blue eyes narrowed, following the stars. Something about their arrangement was wrong. Too many dimmed at once. Whole constellations flickered like candle flames ready to die.
Evernight sensed the stiffness in his aura. "What is it, Igaris?"
He turned slowly, his black cloak stirring. "Her laughter does not only reach us. Something far beyond this sky has heard it."
As if to confirm, Celestara giggled again. The air shuddered. The Eternal Tree groaned, its leaves trembling in alarm. A vibration rippled through the heavens.
Ren Wen appeared kneeling at the threshold, his eyes grim. "My Lord... reports from the outer observatories. Stars are vanishing. Whole systems devoured in silence."
Dragon General Serynthia stepped forward, her draconic scales gleaming in the pale moon. "A presence older than us all has awakened. The heavens call it the Star-Eater."
The wives exchanged anxious glances. Even Malthius, the Undead General who knew no fear, lowered his gaze in grave recognition.
Shirley whispered, clutching her sister’s hand. "It is coming... for her, isn’t it?"
Celestara laughed again, reaching her hand skyward as though beckoning. The space above the palace rippled like a veil, and within it, for a heartbeat, an eye of endless void stared back.
Evernight clutched her daughter tighter. "No. I will not let them take her. I will fight the stars themselves if I must!"
But Igaris raised a hand. His gaze was steady, his voice deep. "This is not an enemy you fight with swords. The Star-Eater is not alive, not dead, not even truly a being. It is hunger given form. It moves where light calls it, devouring suns to silence what shines too brightly."
He turned to his daughter, whose small hands curled happily against her mother’s chest, unaware of the dread she invoked. His expression softened. "And now... it has heard her."
Silence thickened like oil.
Diva stepped forward, her voice tight with worry. "Then what do we do, Igaris? Hide her? Bury her light?"
Igaris shook his head. His golden eyes gleamed with cold defiance. "No. She will not be hidden. She is my daughter. If the Star-Eater wants her, then it will have to come through me."
The balcony shook as if the heavens themselves agreed or trembled at his oath. Celestara cooed, reaching out toward her father. He bent down, letting her grasp his finger with her tiny hand. For that touch alone, he would rip apart galaxies.
"Let it come. I will not allow anything to devour what is mine." Igaris said, his voice like a decree to the universe itself.
The generals bowed low, fire blazing in their eyes.
"We will stand with you, Overlord," Jian Longchen declared, his sword humming.
Yet Igaris’s gaze remained locked on his daughter. His words, though soft, carried deeper than any command.
"You wished for stars, Celestara. If they dare approach, your father will pluck them one by one and lay them at your feet."
Evernight exhaled, torn between awe and fear. "You... will really go that far for her."
"I will go further," Igaris replied, his blue eyes burning as he lifted his gaze back to the trembling night sky. "For her, I will teach even the void to fear."
The time had come.
"RUMBLE!"
The heavens broke.
A low vibration, deeper than sound, deeper than thought, spread through the firmament. One by one, stars winked out.
Not extinguished. Not collapsed. Devoured.
Entire clusters of light were pulled into a darkness so absolute it erased memory itself. Where once the Great Spiral Galaxy glimmered in ten thousand colors, now only a hollow void remained, growing larger with every breath.
The Star-Eater had come.
It was not shape, nor shadow, nor beast. It was hunger without form, a wound in creation. Galaxies bent toward it like rivers dragged into an abyss. Suns screamed in silence as they unraveled into threads of light and vanished forever.
Upon the balcony of the Eternal Palace, Igaris gazed upward. The golden light of his eyes reflected the void swallowing the cosmos. His cloak stirred, but his body remained still, like a black mountain standing against a storm that sought to erase existence itself.
Behind him, Celestara giggled, unaware. Her horns glowed faintly, her tiny hand reaching skyward as though beckoning the abyss itself.
Evernight clutched her daughter tightly. "Igaris... it is really coming for her."
"I know," he replied, his voice heavy as steel.
Diva stepped forward, her face pale. "That... thing has no body, no blood, no soul. It is hunger made into a will. How can you fight what does not live?"
Igaris lifted his hand. The Architect’s Eyes ignited, spirals of truth and destruction opening within his gaze. "You do not fight it as one fights an enemy. You conquer it as one conquers a law. And I will."
The generals knelt behind him. Malthius raised his undead blade, shadows writhing. Jian Longchen’s sword keened like a beast starved for battle. Serynthia unfurled her colossal wings, their scales glowing with dragon fire. Yet even they trembled beneath the immensity before them. The Star-Eater did not approach like an army or even a god. It approached like destiny, inevitable and final.
And then it struck.
"RUMBLE!"
The sky above Orca split open. Not with thunder. Not with fire. With silence. The light of a thousand constellations bent inward, pulled into the wound. The Eternal Tree wailed, its roots shuddering as though even its ancient essence feared being unmade.
Igaris stepped forward into the air. The world bent beneath his feet, folding, collapsing, reforming as he willed. He ascended higher and higher, until the Eternal Tree was a mere flicker below, until he stood at the edge of the heavens. His golden eyes met the abyss.