《Finding Stardust》Chapter 24 - He Could Not Help Everyone
Advertisement
Emma looked at Haoran with a look of astonishment.
"Why would you do that? I don't understand," Emma said. Haoran only smiled and pinched Emma's nose.
"It's okay if you don't understand," Haoran said. He retrieved his cellphone from Emma's hand and put it back in his pocket. "Don't forget, this afternoon, we'll go see Mr. Neville."
Emma nodded. She tried not to think about Haoran's words, which she thought was unusual. The girl returned to her lunch and, before long, she finished the sandwich and fruits in her lunch bag.
After she finished eating, Emma laid down on the grass. Her stomach was too full to immediately do something serious. She noticed many other students too had also taken advantage of the soft, thick grass they were sitting on to lie down and relax.
"We still have 15 minutes, right?" she asked, turning to Haoran. Haoran nodded, still enjoying his sandwich slowly. Emma took a deep breath and then pulled out the black sunglasses from her shirt pocket and wore them.
This way, she could see the blue sky directly. The sun didn't feel hot, but the glare still made Emma's eyes uncomfortable. Her sunglasses weren't the polarized type. She didn't think of buying more expensive but decent sunglasses.
In the corner of her eye, Emma caught a line of moving white clouds heading to block the sun.
'Ah, if only the clouds can get here faster, everything will be more comfortable,' she thought.
'At this rate, the clouds will get there in half an hour. Useless. We'll be already inside the palace by then,' the girl said to herself. She turned her face to the left and stared at the clouds. She casually raised her hand with the intention of 'pulling' the clouds to move faster toward her.
"Ahh! My hat!" Bianca shrieked suddenly. She stood up and chased her summer hat, which hovered lightly to the west. She managed to catch it in time before it plunged into the fountain.
Some leaves also flew from east to west as the wind blew a little strongly. A minute later, the clouds that were to their east were now floating above the heads of the students. They were nicely blocking the blinding sun from Emma's view.
'Wait a minute... What? Did I just control the wind?' Emma asked herself. She took off her sunglasses and sat up while looking up with an astonished face.
Advertisement
Earlier, she idly 'called' the clouds to approach her. She didn't understand how she did it, without thinking at all. But at that time, she just didn't like the glare and wanted to cover the sun temporarily.
'Uff... Emma, how many times do you have to remind yourself. Don't use your power casually,' she scolded herself inwardly.
Her chest felt a little tight. Emma grabbed a bottle of water to drink and felt a little relieved. She should have known whenever she used her power, her energy would be drained, and she'd feel tired. Luckily, she didn't get injured and lost her memory like what had happened two nights ago at the Eiffel Tower.
She drank for the second time, and suddenly, a flash of memory appeared before her.
Ah, that's right. Usually, whenever she used her power, some flash of memory would appear. She's slowly getting her memory back this way.
Emma watched as Arreya fetched water from a running spring by cupping her hands and gave it to her husband, who was sitting while leaning on a large tree.
"Drink up," said the beautiful woman in a melodious voice. "I didn't expect you'd exert all your power to give life to this valley. Now you're hurt."
Kaoshin gulped the water and closed his eyes. His face looked in pain, but as usual, he's calm.
When Kaoshin opened his eyes, the man instead smiled and shook his head. "If I could do it many times, I would. I can't bear to see so many starving people in this area. Did you see how much they're suffering? Surely you still remember the faces of those poor little children? Many of them are the same age as Emma, but they've never tasted proper food all their life."
"I do remember that."
"This planet needs at least one hundred herbomancers to give life to all its arid regions," commented Kaoshin.
Arreya chuckled when she heard that. "We don't even have one hundred herbomancers in Akkadia, and you're also one of the strongest herbomancers I know. This planet is lucky that you and I are stranded here."
"I wonder why this planet's condition is so terrible? When we're at the moon, we saw how it had a lot of water, but still, the areas that needed water didn't actually have it," Kaoshin murmured in puzzlement.
Advertisement
"Their seawater is salty; it's not suitable for daily consumption or growing food. It's also their own fault that they now have such severe global warming." Arreya shrugged. "Too bad."
Arreya leaned over to Kaoshin and put her hand on his forehead with great affection. "You're burning up."
Her voice sounded really worried.
Kaoshin pulled his wife's hand down from his forehead and squeezed it gently. "I'm alright."
"You always say that even when you were heavily injured in a battle. I can never believe your words if you always say you're okay," Arreya's brows furrowed. "If only I had the ability to heal, it would be better. There's no point in having five types of power at once if there's nothing you can use to heal the person you love."
Kaoshin smiled at his wife's complaint. "You know, Leon had told me countless times that he's jealous of Princess Arreya's amazing powers. He said that he's willing to exchange his healing power with yours any day. So, the grass is always greener on the other side."
Arreya looked at her husband with a pair of twitched eyebrows. Finally, she could only purse her lips and murmured. "Jeez, Leon..."
"You still don't like him," commented Kaoshin.
"I know he's your best friend, but I can't force myself to like him because of what happened at that time," said Arreya.
"He has apologized," said Kaoshin patiently.
"And I've forgiven him. But I can't forget what he did."
"All right, it's fine. After all, we won't ever see him again. There's no need to talk about Leon or anyone from Akkadia," Kaoshin said gently and closed his eyes again. He seemed to be in so much pain, but he hid it well from his wife.
Arreya nodded and finally smiled a little. She agreed with her husband not to talk about the past anymore. After all, they were now in a new place and living their own lives. No one else was important to Arreya except her husband and daughter.
Little Emma really liked seeing the interaction between her father and mother. The little girl rested her head on her mother's lap while looking at her father, whose eyes were still closed.
"Mother, if Father could grow plants to feed so many starving people in this valley, why didn't he do it for all the arid regions we passed?" the little girl asked suddenly.
Arreya brushed her daughter's hair and smiled slightly. "He can't, Emma. Your father could die if he did that. We're not gods who have unlimited power. Every energy we spend will drain our soul. Your father has such a kind heart. He can't bear to see the villagers who helped us yesterday suffer. They've never tasted decent food all their lives. But he sadly could not help everyone."
Little Emma rounded her eyes.
"I'll help Father to help them!" the little girl said in determination. Little Emma raised her hand and showed Arreya her palm holding a small seed. From Emma's tiny palm, a faint green light radiated and slowly, the seed budded. Starting from the leaves, then the small stems, and roots...
"Emma, don't!" Arreya exclaimed. She restrained and pulled her daughter's hand so Emma would stop using her power. "You're still too young. I don't want you to get hurt."
"Hey, you're looking pale again." Haoran's worried voice broke Emma's reverie. "Do you want to rest? Our friends and teachers have started walking into the palace."
Emma shook her head. "No, I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Haoran asked again.
"I'm sure." Emma held out her hand, asking Haoran to help her up. Haoran pulled her up before picking up their lunch bags and threw them in the trash.
"Let's follow them," Haoran said. The girl nodded.
While walking toward the palace, Emma glanced at the sun, which was still covered in clouds. Her mother had mentioned she had five types of powers. Emma wanted to know what powers did her mother have and if she had inherited them all.
Later, she would have to find time to check her powers in secret. But in the meantime, she needed to pay attention on their visit to the Versailles and take the painting from Mr. Neville. And finally... tell Haoran about her parents.
She decided she could trust Haoran.
Advertisement
- In Serial135 Chapters
Immovable Mage
What do you call a mage incapable of casting spells? In this story, we usually call him Terry. When the boy is accepted into Arcana Academy, his talent in the pillars of mana foundation awes everyone. All the bigger is the eventual disappointment when Terry turns out to be an utter failure at spellwork. Diagnosis? Major aspect impairment. No cure. Ever. Faced with expulsion, Terry is blessed with the unexpected kindness of others. Terry loses his spot in the Academy but in exchange, he finds a home with a family. Terry starts to train as a pure mana cultivator but never stops looking for his own path as a mage – day after day, season after season, always searching for compatible spellwork… Until finally, Terry’s perseverance earns him a single spell – the only spell he will ever be able to cast. Disclaimers: Chapter Frequency: I aim for one chapter a week. Chapter Length: I try to keep chapters between 3000 and 6000 words. Binge Preference: I plan for 30 chapters per arc. If you want to binge a complete arc, then that is the number to wait for. I will also add a line to chapters indicating the beginning and end of an arc. Advanced Access: I have created a patreon page with early access to four chapters for patrons. What to Expect: Progression fantasy with a western fantasy setting and with eastern fantasy elements. A main character that is forced to explore a very narrow path of magic due to a permanent condition. A main character that is a part of a larger cast. A main character that is growing but won't become the strongest around anytime soon. A story following a single main character but with introduction or theme setting scenes without the main character. What Not to Expect: Edgy grimdark characters – I will never write a sexual violence scene or gory descriptions of torture. I hate reading it and I would hate writing it even more. Romance – romantic relationships will never be the focus of the story and only appear in the background. The main character is preoccupied with other stuff. Other forms of relationships (family, friends, companions) play a bigger role. Cover: The cover art was commisioned from redditor Linh-Nguyen87. The font is alita brush by Inovatype Typefoundry. Overview: 001–030 Arc 1, Cultivating Perseverance: complete. 031–060 Arc 2, Undying Defiance: complete. 061–090 Arc 3, Unyielding Fury: scheduled for publishing. 091–120 Arc 4, Savage Hope: scheduled for publishing. 121–150 Arc 5, Self-Made Fate: first draft in progress. 151–180 Arc 6, Heretic Style: sketching in progress. Further Arcs are still in the sketching and idea collection phase.
8 227 - In Serial12 Chapters
In this life, I will live peacefully
One morning I woke up in an unfamiliar body. How did I end up as some swordsman noble lady? Excellent question; I have no idea. But now that i have money, power and a stable job as the duchess of a nice piece of land, I sure as heck am not going to get back. What's that? Mercenaries are creating monsters with alchemy to insure their jobs won't disappear? The prince of a neighboring kingdom has sent me five marriage proposals this month alone? The Church which I am supposed to represent is running a propaganda campaign against demi-humans? Well, the least I can do is to fix things around my fief. Oh, and just in case anyone decided to go against me, I'll form an alliance with the crafter's guild, and start working on some semblance of modern artillery. Stay tuned, this story is getting re-written. Cover by HWPerfidy
8 151 - In Serial9 Chapters
CodeName: Impact
The Western Roman Empire, has against all odds, survived until the year 1504. The effects on the world are widespread till even this day. Europe is forever changed, the rising nations from the ashes of the western empire hold true to Roman ideals. Latin remains the shared language across western Europe and the notion of nation-building maintains firm till after the Era of colonialism. Fast forward to the year 2048 and our world has changed beyond recognition. Once under the control of the Imperial Federation, a grand super-state of a size never seen before, the British Isles were ripped from their grasp in the year 2025 to an unknown invader calling themself the First Knight and the future conqueror of Earth. Yet, the so-called "future conqueror of Earth" made no moves of aggression towards the outside world. But instead closed its borders and entered into an era of seclusion. 23 years later and the Authority has begun to stir, the generation of Roman-Britons once loyal to the Federation are slowly matching to their graves. And as rebellion dwindles, the war machine arises in its place as millions of soldiers roar our maxim. "All is Beneath the Authority! And All shall stay Beneath!" The world may not fear our future conqueror of Earth, but they shall soon. For it is fear and fear alone that enables our rule. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Currently under rewrite/rework. Please hold
8 150 - In Serial16 Chapters
You Only Smol Twice: A Smol Detective Story
This is a fanfic set in the universe of They Are Smol, a delightful series of stories by TinyPrancingHorse which you should totally go and read. It’s the third in my own series about a human investigator in a galaxy full of aliens who are much bigger and stronger than any human. Obviously, there are plenty of spoilers for the previous two stories in here so consider yourself warned. After many successful investigations, Oscar Williams has his loyalty to his adopted alien family sorely tested. What appears to be a simple theft turns out to be anything but, and to capture the perpetrators Oscar might just have to betray his own species… Formal Disclaimer: I do not take credit for the original setting, this story is set in an alternate version of the 'They are Smol' universe, written by the one, the only TinyPrancingHorse TPH takes many forms and is known by many names. He is like Nyarlathotep, only smaller and cuter and more prancey. TPH also has a website should you require more Smol Shenanigans in your life. Which you do, so get over there and read it. The cover art for this is courtesy of Firebane.
8 189 - In Serial15 Chapters
Slenderman X Female reader
Ok so this story contains depression, abuse, and Suicide. If this triggers you don't read. It will contain violence as well. Other then that the title says it all. Enjoy~ 😉
8 165 - In Serial34 Chapters
Unknown || Ziam
It was unexpected. No one expected it at all, especially Zayn, life sure is full of surprises. The unexpected surprise is, Zayn ends up falling in love with his sexy stalker.
8 174

