The sun slowly shines over the city called Türheim, the capital of the country called Atelia. Unlike the other cities of Atelia, Türheim is an ancient city that saw the passage of centuries, a center of many historical events that defined the future of the country itself.
The sleeping city slowly woke up as the empty road was slowly filled with its inhabitants. Most of the people were decorating their modern Victorian era houses with colorful confetti and were cooking multiple delicious meals in preparation for the upcoming festival while some of them are heading for work.
Some of these people work at the castle beautifully sitting at the base of the mountain at the north of the city. The scars of the previous revolution that happened a year ago could still be seen on the castle walls. The new ruler planned to keep these scars in order to show his subjects how victorious they were with overthrowing the previous tyrannical ruler.
Inside this castle, Several maids can be seen performing their duty silently at the castle hallway by removing the dust off the statues, murals, and windows, keeping them all dust free and shiny.
The silence is soon broken as a laughing child who just finished taking a bath flies past them, naked. The child's name is Astraea Von Ernst Albert. He has very long white hair, pale skin, light blue eyes, and an appearance of an 8-year-old child. All that said, but in actuality, he's just a month old.
"Get back here, you!" Astraea's mother shouted as she held the bath towel ready.
Her mother's name is Georgia Von Ernst Albert, the sole princess of the country. She has long, beautiful blonde hair, crimson red eyes, and a pale white skin tone.
Astraea made a sharp turn to the left and immediately, accidentally bumped into someone.
"Ooft!" Astraea fell to the floor.
"Geez! Don't you fly around naked! You'll catch a lot of unwanted attention!" A woman dressed in a lab coat complained as she casually picked up the dazed Astraea.
Her name is Hellian Archival, head of the Science and Magic Research Center. Hellian has dark, navy blue shoulder-length hair, brown colored eyes, and pale white skin color. She's seen to always wear glasses.
Georgia has finally caught up with a more behaved Astraea in Hellian's arms.
"Come here, you…" Georgia approached them and began drying Astraea with a towel while still in Hellian's arms.
"You're having a hard time taking care of her, Georgia?" Hellian asked.
"Not really…" Georgia chuckled. "And refer to him as 'him'. Let's not confuse each other here…"
After Georgia dried Astraea off with a bath towel, she retrieved him from Hellian and carried him.
"Thank you for that, Hellian." Georgia smiled.
"Oh! G-good morning, princess!" One of the maids greeted Georgia as they walked past them.
"Hey, is that the etoille child?…", asked one of the maids, pointing at the child.
"Shush! They might hear you! You might get fired or even worse, get executed!" The other maid retorted to her and quickly pulled her companion away from the scene.
"Gosh, who's spreading those baseless rumors?" Hellian sighed.
Georgia fell silent as she hugged Astraea tightly.
"Mother?" Astraea curiously stared at Georgia.
"Don't worry about it. You did it because you wanted to save us all…" Hellian patted her on the back.
"Thank you..." Georgia smiled faintly.
"And as for you. Don't be a naughty child, Astraea!" Hellian playfully pinched the nose of Astraea. "And don't fly around, what if you get caught in an accident?"
"Yes auntie~"
"Don't call me auntie! Stop making me feel like I'm 30 years old or something!" Hellian complained as Astraea giggled in response.
"You cheeky little girl~" Hellian then targeted Astraea's cheeks. "I'm still a 20-year-old maiden!"
"He is a boy!" Georgia pouted.
"Nonsense! She is a girl and I'll never cease on that!" Hellian replied as the two just laughed at their little argument.
"How long has it been?" Hellian turned to Georgia.
"What do you mean?" Georgia furrowed an eyebrow in reply.
"Us seeing ourselves together like this. As if you aren't even a big deal to be wary of."
"Oh that's no issue to be of any worry. You've brought nothing but good tidings to me, and even recently, to my little angel here."
Astraea may have heard it, but he didn't seem to know who his mother was referring to, so he just smiled to both of their general directions.
"Well it's always important to look back and reminisce about the good times, especially when…"
Hellian suddenly held her tongue.
"Err, nevermind. You both have your hands full enough and I just remembered I have responsibilities to take care of."
"I appreciate the sentiment, but I'll be fine. I know we'll be fine." Georgia smiled dotingly.
After exchanging their goodbyes, they departing from each other's company. Only the mother and son headed for their dressing quarters. Georgia properly dressed Astraea for an upcoming… occasion. They head to the courtroom balcony located inside the west section of the castle keep; they stopped in front of the courtroom door, Georgia exercised a deep breath.
"Mother?" Astraea tugged Georgia's sleeve as he worriedly stared at her.
"Everything will be fine… I will protect you."
Georgia kissed Astraea on his left cheek and without further delay, they entered the courtroom. Both sides of the courtroom were filled with government officials and some higher-ranking officers from the army, air force, and navy while the front middle section was where the king sat alongside the judges.
"Ah! I am glad that you came! I was worried that you might run away!" An old bald man stood up and smirked at Georgia.
His name is Wienstein Swein, the Secretary of Defense. Just his tone alone would suggest that he hated anyone who he didn't consider "human".
"Shall we begin the trial?" He asked.
"My lord. As you see, your daughter committed a very serious crime..." He mentioned as she pointed a finger towards Georgia and Astraea. "She summoned a-a filthy creature disguised as a human. Are you letting her get away from her crimes against humanity just because she is your daughter?"
"She is a disgrace! Abusing her status to summon a filthy creature thinking she can get away from it!" Wienstein added.
"I did it to prevent the past events from ever repeating." Georgia replied to his boisterous remarks.
"Excuses! That's all you can do! Our soldiers can take care of any filthy creatures the enemy sends to us!" Wienstein slammed on the table with his palm.
"Our soldiers can't even hurt them! I saw it with my own eyes!" Georgia shouted. "Only an Apotheosis can hurt them! But even then, an Apotheosis still struggles with eliminating them by themselves."
"Nonsense! My soldiers today are capable of destroying them! They are much more powerful than before! I will do anything I can to save this country!" Wienstein continued to boast.
"All you do is sit in your office, drink wine and smoke cigar after cigar…" Georgia scoffed.
"...You disrespectful brat!" Wienstein fumed at her remark.
Both Wienstein and Georgia continued their heated argument as both sides murmured; the king pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
"Silence!" The king stood up momentarily and modulated his voice. "I will not have any more of your arguments!"
The king sat back in his chair.
The king's name is Helios Von Ernst Albert, Georgia's father. He became a king 30 years ago.
Unlike the previous king who was a tyrant ruler and a warmonger, King Helios was very kind, humble, and wise. While the opposition was at their lowest point, a rebellion erupted in the kingdom and Helios managed to overthrow the tyrant king and took rule of the throne.
"Mother… What is an Apotheosis?" Astraea asked.
"They are mortal beings who become omnipotent beings akin to a deity." Georgia calmly answered. "All I can say is that they are very powerful, immortal beings."
Sirens started blaring right at the moment the king was about to pass judgment.
"What's going on?!" Wienstein shouted.
"An invasion?!" A lot of officers immediately ran towards the door. But then, the door suddenly exploded, sending these people flying. A cloud of smoke and dust had formed around this area. None of them died from the blast but some were gravely injured.
"Protect the king!" Wienstein ordered his men.
A grotesque humanoid creature appeared out of the smoke. It had charred skin. Its body and left arm were disturbingly decorated with live eyeballs. Purple-looking saliva dribbled from its open, gaping mouth.
"F-f-filthy creature! You dare defile our country?!"
Wienstein ordered his men to fire upon the intruder but it didn't even flinch.
None of their firearms worked against the brutish creature. It let out an ear-screeching noise and proceeded to rush itself towards Astraea. Georgia quickly pulled Astraea out of harm's way. She carried him, ran towards the exit and left the building; the creature soon came bursting through the small door and followed them as it ran on all fours.
"Mother, what is that?" Astraea asked as he stared at the creature chasing at them.
"An... Eldritch." Georgia replied, getting herself and her child ready to make their escape.
Eldritch are mysterious creatures of unknown origin. Not much is known about them except for suddenly appearing and leaving nothing but death and destruction.
They ran out of the keep towards the inner bailey; two 10-meter-tall Machine Golems came out from a garage near them in order to protect them and the castle from the Eldritch. A Machine Golem was this civilization's term for a drivable robot or mecha. One of the machine golems stomped the Eldritch, seemingly killing it.
"You see?" Wienstein appeared alongside his soldiers. "Our weapons are more than enough to eradicate these filthy creatures you highly give so much credit to!" he added.
An ear screeching noise came out of the machine golem's leg as it exploded, some of the debris caught the soldiers and Wienstein.
The Eldritch got back onto its feet only momentarily dazed but seemingly unhurt. Upon catching a glance, it stared at Astraea and began running towards him again.
"I won't let you!" Georgia grabbed one of the soldier's battle rifles and began shooting at the Eldritch. "Run, Astraea! Run!"
"B-but!" Astraea stuttered.
"Just do what I told you to do!" Georgia fixed the bayonet of the rifle and charged towards it, but was ultimately interrupted by the creature with her having her a few feet mid-air held by her neck before being slammed back to the ground. She laid motionless and stared at the ceiling.
"Guh!" Georgia coughed up a bit of blood.
"R-run…" Georgia ordered Astraea to flee one last time before she passed out.
Despite wanting to object, tears flowed out of Astraea's eyes as he started to run towards the castle wall gates. Being clueless on where to hide, he escaped towards the crowded downtown, panic erupted within the crowd the moment they saw an Eldritch chasing down a crying child. While this went on, the Military Police made haste in numbers to immediately evacuate the civilians of the area towards a safer place. Astraea just kept running. The Eldritch didn't mind anything else. With their combined efforts, the downtown area was cleared of civilians in no time, and from there they began firing their weapons at the Eldritch, which blocked its path toward Astraea. Their resistance didn't do much other than annoy and gather brief attention of the Eldritch. It then released a poisonous purple fume to launch at these police forces. Just that and they were mowed down with agonizing aftereffects. The survivors were forced to retreat. The afflicted remained, unable to act or move from the pain it caused. With the path cleared, the monster continued its pursuit.
Astraea kept running and ended up in the central park, there were still some crowds there who were oblivious to the events that have already been occurring. Chaos followed as the Eldritch caught up to him, despite the diversion, and entered the park. With the Eldritch being constantly releasing toxic fumes, a lot of civilians who weren't able to move out of its reach got afflicted with its poisonous gasses and immediately got their skin burned. Astraea was petrified in horror as the people slowly succumbed to the poisonous gas. His fear and cluelessness eventually got him cornered.
"Stop…" Astraea pleaded as the Eldritch slowly walked towards him. "PLEASE STOP!"
Astraea suddenly emitted a blinding flash of light outward from within his body. This light had visibly hurt the Eldritch and made it screech in agony while simultaneously and instantaneously healing all of the people who were affected by the poisonous fumes. However, the dead do not stand back up.
A pair of swords made out of pure energy appeared out of Astraea's hands as his eyes glimmered. His energy was completely different from when he was running. He leapt toward the Eldritch's left side and severed its two legs and its left arm in one slashing sequence. The Eldritch fell to the ground as it reeled in pain and lost balance with its lost limbs. Astraea was about to finish off the Eldritch but he suddenly stopped.
"No... I-I can't do this…" Astraea's voice shook. "P-please… stop this."
The Eldritch took this naive moment as an opportunity and punched the boy in the stomach, sending him flying towards the food carts parked nearby. Its severed limbs instantly grew back and proceeded to leap towards Astraea. Upon reaching mid-range, a long tentacle launched itself out of its mouth and grabbed Astraea by the neck, choking him.
"G-guh!"
Astraea tried to break free from its grasp but was unable to. The Eldritch's tentacle pulls itself back into its hungry maw, reeling Astraea in to swallow. It was just about to finish swallowing him whole and closing its mouth on him… until a lance penetrated it from the back and puked out Astraea right back onto solid ground.
There came a woman with long blonde hair, glimmering yellow eyes, and a body clad in gold and white armor. She had her right hand holding a shield and a lance in the other. She kicked the Eldritch away from Astraea after retrieving that lance that she threw.
"Don't worry kid, I got this!" She said to Astraea as she helped him get back up onto his feet. "Are you okay? Any scratches, bruises, or wounds?"
"I-I'm fine…" Astraea stared at the mysterious woman.
"Good to hear! My name is Kyrlios!" Kyrlios gave Astraea a pat on the head. "Seems like you have an ability to heal people, can you heal the wounded for me?"
"I-I'll try!" Astraea answered.
"Good! Well then…" Kyrlios readied her lance and shield as the eldritch slowly stood up. "I still have to entertain our unwanted guest!"
Kyrlios then rushed towards the Eldritch as the crowd hiding from a relatively safe area began watching as the battle unfolds while Astraea tended to various wounded townspeople and brought them out of danger.
"Please! Help my daughter!" A woman came running towards Astraea, carrying a girl who was severely burnt by the poison fumes.
She seemed to have halted breathing and her heart faintly beated.
"W-what to do, what to do??" Astraea muttered to himself. "I don't know if I can heal this kind of wound…"
"Please, heal her!" The woman cried out to him.
Having no other reason to say no, Astraea's laid hands over the afflicted girl. The girl began to glow as she was slowly covered by a white aura. Her wounds suddenly disappeared and even gasped for air, forcing her awake.
"M-mama?" the girl slowly opens her eyes.
"Thank goodness! Thank you! Thank you very much!", interjected the woman, who was the mother of the girl he healed, tightly hugging her daughter as she cried in relief.
"It's over!" Kyrlios stabbed the Eldritch by its chest and completely killed it. It let out one primal scream before it fell to the ground, lifeless and slowly disintegrated into the wind.
The townsfolk mourned for the people who died from the attack while the others began assessing the damage done. Most of the damaged property were just chairs, tables, and food carts propped by the fleeing crowd. Still, the townsfolk were very much thankful for what the mysterious girl and Astraea have done.
"Astraea!" A healthy-looking Georgia shouted as she appeared from the crowds.
"Mother!" Astraea sprinted towards Georgia and hugged her tightly.
"Mother! I healed a lot of people! It made them very happy!" A smile grew on Astraea's face. "Are you okay?" Astraea worriedly scanned his mother, looking for any injuries she may have.
"Yes, I'm fine now. A mage from the castle healed me!" Georgia assured Astraea.
"So, this is the Etoille you summoned?" Kyrlios walks towards them.
"Thank you, miss Kyrlios!" Astraea thanked Kyrlios with a smile on his face. Kyrlios replied by patting Astraea in the head.
"That is enough!" Wienstein and a bunch of guards appeared out of nowhere. "Guards. Apprehend her."
Several guards rushed towards Georgia and one of them held her by the arms as Wienstein stood there, menacingly. Georgia stared at him and didn't try to resist.
"What's the meaning of this??" Kyrlios asked in distress.
"This matter means nothing to you, Miss Hero." Wienstein glared at Kyrlios. "Stay out of this."
"That is enough, Secretary of Defense!" The King interjected with his personal bodyguard's lines up in formation around him.
"Unhand my daughter." He ordered the guard that was apprehending Georgia. That guard immediately let go of Georgia and everyone in the vicinity knelt before the presence of their king.
"You may all stand. Kneeling at a place like this is unnecessary." He added.
"My lord! What are you doing here? The scene here is dangerous!" Wienstein walks toward the king.
The king abruptly raised his right hand and glared at this general, signaling him to cease his words. Wienstein was shut up and only bowed his head in defeat. The king then faced his daughter as he stood his ground.
"Georgia Von Ernst Albert, you know very well that summoning any sort of creature is a very serious crime, yes?" He asked.
"I know, father." Georgia, who still was kneeling, answered his father's question without any shade of regret.
"I was about to begrudgingly punish you for what you've done… but thanks to the crisis that just transpired, it has opened my eyes… and I doubt I'd be the only witness to it. You did it in order to give us a fighting chance against the threat of any Eldritch intervention. I hereby pardon you from the crimes you committed and give you full responsibility for the precious life that you brought to this world."
"But my lord!" Wienstein complained.
"My decision is final, and you should practice knowing who you are talking to." The king's tone of voice changed after answering Wienstein's insolence.
Upon realizing that he can add no further contribution to this discussion, he shut himself up for longer this time.
The crowd whispered and murmured with one another.
"The princess? A crime?"
"That kid is no ordinary kid?"
But, they all came to an agreement.
"I saw the kid glow up and its light healed me! I was sick but now, I feel alive!"
"The kid saved my daughter!"
"She(?) fought the monster! She isn't an evil person as people once expected them to be!"
Soon after, the crowd began singing praises of what he did. Wienstein clicked his tongue to his own dismay and left the scene. The king carried Astraea.
"You did well, my grandchild." The king spoke out to him as he patted Astraea on the head.
Astraea blushed and flustered. With no words to retort with, he just hugged the king, forcing a mighty chuckle out of him.
"Ah, that's right! Today is the day we celebrate our heroes! No Eldritch should ruin our spirits! Let the festivities officially commence!" The king told the crowd.
Everyone brought their tables and food out to the plaza and it followed various songs and dance performances while some ate and chatted happily in each others' company.
"... wow! What's going on?" Astraea asked.
"Today is Heroes Day!" the king gently put Astraea down. "It is the day where we celebrate the Heroes that gave us freedom and overthrew the wretched tyrant king of the past." He added.
"Cheers to Kyrlios and our fallen comrades! Their actions shall never be forgotten!" The king exclaimed with a toast of his drink.
When he drank the wine, everyone followed.
"Please, don't... it's embarrassing…"
Kyrlios face turned red.
Astraea's eyes glimmered at the sight of food being displayed in the streets. He stared at his mother waiting for her to sign him the permission to eat.
"Go ahead. Eat all you want! You deserve it, my little hero~"
Astraea's smiles widened and began stuffing a lot of food into his mouth before playing with the other kids while still munching on some food. Georgia stared at Astraea with such doting eyes and was distracted as to not even eat. After being approached from behind, the king firmly patted Georgia on the back. That surprised her but she showed no sign of that.
"Don't ever perform the summoning ritual again." The king casually ordered Georgia. "We got lucky this time."
"I won't." Georgia told the king. "The ritual was painful…"