Disclaimer: I do not own Saijaku no Bahamut series.
A Fallen Star From The Sky
Part 1
The whole sky of her world had been filled with tales of divine shooting stars.
It always carried an illuminate shade of purple. At night, it became deeper in color. People in her village named it orchid if she recalled it right. From a long time ago and even now, they often found the stars moving, changing directions as if they truly had a will of their own.
The villages and everyone in the Kingdom all worshipped the stars. When night came and before she went to bed, she would always offer her prays to the sky. It was a tradition passing from the ancient time.
She was doing it now. Though, her arms felt heavier to hold together as a chain weighting both of the wrists. Her heart sunk in sadness as the mark of a slave imprinted on the back of her neck. Her mind filled with nervous and worried thoughts. Her peace was robbed when the armies of the Tyrant Emperor oppressed his people across the Kingdom. The village she used to live located at a certain part of land enriched with plentiful of mineral resources.
Mel was just a farmer girl in a family who owned a moderate ranch. When the group of soldiers arrived at the village, everything changed for the worst. Soils and walls didn't splatter with red but there were screaming, fields burned, people were all driven out of their houses by violence. Every single one of them were forced to live a new life of heavy labors.
That was how she became a prisoner, a slave of the New Reign. Separated from her parents, the soldiers had moved Mel and many others to the new part of the mountain. They talked about a new order from the King, to open a new mine and process all the resources they can get.
"Hey! Keep in line!"
Commotion broke out. Some decided that they had enough and fought back. She was not among them, her strength had left her, fatigue built up too much after weeks of doing heavy lifting in the mine and she were never allowed to take a break. So she ran, heading straight away into the wood and didn't look back.
After running for quite sometime, Mel hid behind a tree. Her trembling hands grasped together, praying as a group of soldier was searching around the area.
"Look for them! They can't be far away!"
Their voices were coming near as the light torches moving back and forth behind the tree lines. Scanning around, she waited for the soldiers to pass then continued to drag herself through the broken branches and fallen leaves. She gritted her teeth, not dare to utter any sound by the scratches around her arms and leg. Mel followed the sound of water flowing in the distance.
A small river in the deep wood. She hurriedly went into the water, taking a good long sip to refresh her own exhausted spirit. Letting out a sigh in satisfaction, Mel turned to the purple night sky once more.
She recalled the conversation from before. The soldiers had spoke many things. But there was something else that caught her attention.
Recently, a shooting star just fell from the sky. It was out there, somewhere in the world. That had never happened before. The stars were always moving in the embrace of that whole sky she grew up watching.
If that was meant to be a change. If she continued to pray for all of these horrible events to stop.
Would that falling star grant her wish?
Rustle!
Mel startled when the bushes around her made noises. She turned to the source by reflex. If only she didn't waste time being here and keep running, she wouldn't have to witness a raging expression that shook her to the very core.
"There's one here!" The soldier who found her raised his voice.
Driven by fear, Mel hurriedly bolted back into the darkness between the trees. But it was too late, the entire forest couldn't no longer keep silent as her presence had been announced to all.
Part 2
Mel could barely catch a breath as she kept running in the dark shadow between the tree lines. Light from the torches followed her footsteps and the non-stop threatening voices chased away every little piece of strength she had left.
The young girl felt tears pouring from her eyes. The thought of giving up already haunted her mind. She didn't want to be captured. She wanted to survive, to live and come back to the peaceful life of her village.
In this moment, nothing could save her. Perhaps, just having faith in the stars alone was not enough.
Something stretched and snapped, like a tiny string being pulled back and struck the air.
"AHH!"
An arrow grazed her shoulder, Mel screamed in pain. Losing her footing, she helplessly fell down a slope.
The bushes and dried branches spared her no mercy, giving small scratches and drawing her fear until the girl's voice became hoarse.
Part 3
Suddenly, the falling stopped.
She ended up in a pair of arms carefully wrapped around her. When Mel opened her eyes, she saw the silver hair of that person. A young man'd caught her, the grey color of his eyes reflected her face with a hint of concern.
-[Warning! Violating Regulation! Violating Regulation! Intergalactic Article 42. Rule 15, any exchange with civilizations of an undeveloped planet is strictly prohibited!]-
Mel startled when a voice from elsewhere echoed. It spoke in a language she didn't recognize at all.
-I know. I know, Arshalia. But it can't be helped. It's not like we can ignore a commotion this big. It literally happened right next to where we landed.-
The silver haired young man spoke something while he didn't look at her. Mel believed he was replying to the previous voice. She noticed the strange bracelet on his wrist glittered multiple time whenever the echo of such a passive tone occurred. The gloves, the belt, the sword and the clothes he was wearing were things that Mel had never seen before in her life. They looked similar as a type of outfit, but it didn't seem to give him the appearance of someone from a royal family. The young man seemed...otherworldly, somehow. Was he a foreigner from a faraway land? Was the other voice belonged to what they would call a spiritual being?
-What's done is done. If there's any penalty for this, I'll just...Sigh. I'll just ask for Relie-san's help again. I can't believe I said that.-
He facepalmed himself. That action confused Mel a bit.
-[Preparing a message. Receiver, Relie Aingram. Confirmed.]-
-Wait Wait! Arshalia, we'll do that later. Right now we need to help this person. Can you translate the languages of this world?-
-[Vocabulary Unavailable.]-
-Eh!? The archive doesn't have their words!? Well, this is going to be difficult.-
"M-My name is Mel!" The young girl pointed at herself the moment he turned to her after the conversation. "Mel!"
-Mel? Hm. That's your name?-
"Mel!" She tried again, hoping the silver haired young man understand her meaning.
He smiled, setting her down and pointed at himself.
"Lux."
"Lux?" Mel repeated.
He nodded.
"Lux Arcadia XIII."
That was his name.
-Though, you can drop the XIII. No one will ever pay attention to that part of my name.-
Mel titled her head. She didn't understand the last part.
Her eyes went wide when their surroundings lit up. Light from the soldiers' torches lifted away the darkness, it shone on the two of them.
"There they are! I saw another one!"
No! They mistook him as a slave!
"Please! We must run! They think you are a slave like me!" Mel grabbed the young man by the shoulder, frantic.
There was confusion in his eyes, it filled Mel with worry. But that young man's puzzled emotion soon turned into a firm gleam of understanding. He grabbed her hand and they quickly ran back into the shadow of the forest.
The soldier standing above the cliff left out a roar and charged at them. The sword in his hand readied to swing. Mel continued to run with all her might, her hands guarding the back of her head. She realized the young man named Lux wasn't next to her anymore, he was right behind her. His pace decreased significantly, so much that he was about to enter the range of the aggressive soldier's weapon.
"Lux!" Mel outstretched her arm in the distance that seemed so hopeless to reach for the young man in time.
Weapon raised, the soldier struck. At that moment, Lux's heel spun. Mel saw the black sword by his waist left the scabbard and went through the pursuer in a blink of an eye. A quick draw.
The soldier's sword snapped into two, he broke it so easily. Then the black sword rotated in his grip. Holding it backwardly, he shoved the handle into the man's chin, knocking him unconscious. What happened surprised Mel. The silver haired young man was certainly someone with highly skilled combat.
He rushed back and grabbed her by the arm, the two continued to make their escape.
Part 4
Mel had no idea where they were. The others were still closed by, still hot on their trails. At this point, an entire squad had been chasing after them.
Soon, Mel found herself standing before a tall object. It was hidden by many branches and leaves. It had a pitch-black color, its shape resembled the form of a human. As Lux cleaned away the camouflage, a seat was visible. He jumped on the middle part of the object's body and extended a hand toward her.
"Mel!" He called her.
Then he also said something else. Mel didn't fully get it. But it wasn't something she needed to understand. Mel responded by accepting the gesture and he pulled her up. There was not enough space, Mel could afford to stand and lean on the back of his seat. Confused as she was but that was how Lux instructed her to do.
A board made of bright color suddenly appeared out of thin air, startling Mel. It didn't seem to have any effect on Lux and he immediately went through it. Strange symbols constantly faded in and out. This was something which Lux had been too familiar with.
-[Update. Cooldown Progress: 81%]-
The same voice echoed from his bracelet. Lux nodded to himself.
-That's fine, Arshalia. I'm prepared!-
"You two! Stop right there!"
The soldiers finally caught up. The confrontation was unavoidable. Some froze and stood back at the sight of the pitch-black humanoid figure beginning to move. Some didn't care about the phenomenon in front of their very eyes and continued to approach, capturing the fleeing slaves have always been a priority in their minds.
There was a bag underneath his seat, Lux quickly pulled out another strange item from it and aimed toward the charging men. Mel could not find the exact word to describe the shape that fit so neatly within his grip.
-Arshalia, switch to air bullet. Increase compression output to ninety percent. Non-lethal mode!-
-[Completed]-
Tick!
It made a distinct sound. Mel didn't know what happened until the next instance. One of the soldiers, who was about to reach them, blew back by an invisible force. A dent could be seen on his chest armor. Any tension in the atmosphere all wiped away by such a blood-curdling mystery. The squad all stood frozen in their tracks.
Lux seemed to take that chance and did something.
The wind raged. A loud noise caused not by animal but something inhumane was howling. Mel let out a scream in panic.
Closing her eyes, she clutched the seat tightly as everything shook.
Final Part
She could feel the cool breezes grazing her skin.
When Mel opened her eyes again, a broad purple sky filled with stars greeted her. They were floating in mid-air. No, they were flying!
"H-How is this possible? What is this?"
-You're safe now.-
He turned around and spoke to her with a faint smile. She couldn't get what he was saying but his expression was enough to provide her a sense of relief. At the moment, the girl had been a free person.
Lux then pointed at himself and the sky.
Mel widened her eyes. It finally got through. She finally understood a very small part of the foreigner who saved her. Without the need to understand his language, a simple action like that gave Mel an insight.
There was no mistaken it. Everything from his clothes, the equipment he used and this strange humanoid object that helped them fly. They were indeed out of this world.
The silver haired young man was an existence that came from the realm beyond the horizon.
"Thank you." Mel whispered, a little shaken by the height.
Her words didn't direct at just Lux alone, She also wanted to express her whole-hearted gratitude to the big sky before her as well.
The vast heaven of her world had always been filled with tales of divine shooting stars, the stars which she prayed to on every single night.
Mel's wish had been granted. She was saved by Lux, a Fallen Star from the sky.
/
Author's Note: This is a one-shot sequel of "A Thousand Year, In A Distant Future."
Overall, the premise here is Lux's descendant was taking a quick stop at an unregistered planet in the galaxy so that the Divine Drag-Ride Bahamut can take a moment to cool down from being overheating. However, the location he chose to rest happened to be the Kingdom ruled by a Tyrant Emperor. People on the planet worshipped the stars, thus Lux became a fallen star in their eyes. The idea came to me on a whim so everything might have been really rushed. Anyway, I'll just leave it here.
Thank you for reading. Take care!