《Finding Stardust》Chapter 20 - Please, Don't Leave Me...
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By saying she had a headache, Emma hurriedly excused herself to her room, leaving Haoran in the elevator. The young man could only nod in agreement.
"Good night, Stardust," he said as he waved his hand toward her. Emma only turned her head once and nodded. She then entered her room. As soon as the door closed behind her, Emma took a deep breath.
Finally, she's alone. The clock showed that it's already 10 PM. The sun was setting in the west, and the night arrived. Emma watched the horizon on the balcony of her room and waited until it became completely dark. She would use her power to fly like the night before when she woke up on the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Emma hoped that when she flew, flashes of memories of her parents would come back. She really missed them. As she thought of her parents' faces, Emma suddenly remembered that she took a picture of their sketch with her cellphone. It had the images of her father and mother that was drawn by Mr. Neville.
Emma pulled her cellphone out of her bag. She stared at the picture with a deep longing in her eyes.
"Where are you, Father, Mother..." she whispered. Slowly, a few drops of tears fell on the screen of her cellphone, blurring the image. She wiped her tears as well as the phone's screen with the fabric of her dress.
She realized she's still wearing the elegant summer dress. Certainly, it wouldn't be practical for her to wear a dress when she's testing her power of flight. She then opened her suitcase and grabbed a pair of creme shorts, a white t-shirt, and a pair of sneakers.
After changing her outfit, she walked back to the balcony and saw the city outside had become completely dark. There were only small lights that adorned various buildings around the hotel. If she flew quickly, no one would notice her. She scanned the streets under the balconies of her room. Somehow, her vision became clearer, even under minimum lighting. Then, she checked her surroundings, left and right, to make sure there's no one on the balcony on either side.
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After making sure that no one would see her, Emma immediately closed her eyes, and naturally, her mind ordered herself to fly.
Not long after, her body slowly lifted and shot up into the sky toward the Eiffel Tower. According to her, this was one of the safest places to go because of its height.
However, on the way to the Eiffel Tower, her eyes caught sight of the roof over the beautiful Notre Dame cathedral. There was no lighting there, so Emma changed her mind.
'Notre Dame's roof could also be a good choice,' she thought, because at this hour the place was very quiet and no one would notice her presence. Emma finally decided to land on the roof-top of the Notre Dame church and try her powers there.
With graceful movements like a butterfly, she landed on the top of the church's roof. Emma was impressed with her own abilities. She didn't think she could control this power of flight easily.
The atmosphere was very dark and no one paid attention to the roof of the church. The girl sat on the roof-top and looked around.
"Ahh... Mother, Father... You can fly like me too, can't you? Did I get all of these abilities from you both?" Emma whispered to the wind as if her parents were there, next to her.
Suddenly, a flash of memories appeared before her. Emma was right in thinking that the flashes of memories of her parents would return if she used her powers.
She saw Arreya Stardust holding her husband's hand tightly with tears streaming down her cheeks. The beautiful woman, whose pair of topaz eyes always glowed in happiness, now looked devastated. Kaoshin tried to calm her down by squeezing her hand gently. But his hoarse, trembling voice couldn't hide his broken heart.
"This is for the best, Princess Arreya. If you don't lock her memory, Emma won't be able to live a normal life like an ordinary human child. She mustn't know who she is. It'll make her very sad. We must do this for her own good," the man coaxed his wife while trying hard to hold back his own tears.
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"Maybe they'll pardon Emma"—Arreya looked into her husband's eyes with a pleading look—"I'll beg forgiveness for Emma and sacrifice my life."
"The Crown Prince will not spare Emma, you know that, Princess." Kaoshin pulled Arreya to his chest, hugged her tight, and finally shed tears that he had been holding back for a long time. "I'll take all the blame. But you can't sacrifice yourself for Emma's life. They won't spare her. You know that."
"Can't we go back to the moon and use our capsule to escape to another planet? We can go far away from here." Arreya broke free from her husband's embrace. She was shocked to find tears flowing down on the man's cheeks. "General Kaoshin... are you... crying?"
"This is all my fault," the man said in a hoarse voice. "I shouldn't have persuaded you to run away the night before your wedding to the Crown Prince."
Arreya shook her head. "No... don't you dare take all the blame on your shoulders. IT WAS ME, who controlled everyone's mind so that they all fell into a deep sleep, so we could run away! I exerted all my power until I got injured and lost my memory for a long time. It's not your fault. I was the one who pushed you to elope with me, General Kaoshin Stardust!"
"Please, Princess, only you can lock Emma's memory and make her forget about us. They shouldn't know about her existence."
Kaoshin let go of his wife then crouched down before little Emma, who looked so confused.
"Father..." The little girl cried and tried to hug her father's neck. "Please, don't leave me..."
"I've never used my magic to lock a child's memory," Arreya said in a hoarse voice. "I'm not sure it'll work."
"Nevertheless, we must try it. The rest, we'll leave Emma to fate. She's a good child. I'm sure people will treat her with kindness." Kaoshin lifted the little Emma and brought her to his wife. "Please, Princess Arreya..."
Arreya finally gave in and obeyed her husband's request. She placed her right hand on the little Emma's forehead and Arreya closed her eyes.
Little Emma cried. She didn't know what her mother was doing, but she's scared and sad at her parents' devastated faces. She felt that her parents would leave her.
"Father! Mother! Please don't leave me!" cried Emma in a pitiful voice. She buried her face with her two hands and sobbed. The birds perching on the Notre Dame Cathedral's roof-top were startled to hear her voice and flew with a loud noise.
Emma cried so poignantly until her tears were dry, and she could no longer shed any more tears. She finally remembered what had happened thirteen years ago when her father and mother had left her in front of the orphanage. They kissed her and hugged her lovingly, then locked her memory and left her alone.
They left her to protect her.
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The Reborn Runesmith
We have all read stories about the reincarnated or portaled earthling going to the fantasy world and gaining a cheat and super abilities. This isn't one of those. The hero or villian here is just a smart guy who only gets to choose a few things like what he is and then given the ability to have mana. He doesn't even get to choose what kind of mana he gets it could be fire,water,air, etc. This world is different than ours. Gunpowder, medicines, and other things will probably not work or be availible. Who is to say that the beings of this new world will even have the same internal anatomy. These are all things our MC will have to discover. Just like our world you can be born with great genetics but if you are a lazy and undriven person nothing will come of it. This is my first attempt to write. There WILL be mistakes. I am a mathmatician not an english major so be prepared for questionable grammer and spellings. One of these days if I enjoy doing this I will get me an editor who did english instead of math and science.
8 91MeiQ: Lore of the Labyrinth
Omaros City lays near one of several Yggdrasil trees that are scattered around the world. Each tree holds an entire labyrinthine ecosystem within or beneath it, yet the mysteries of their origins and what lays in their depths are only ever unraveled by the most skilled and courageous of explorers. Exploration of Omaros' Yggdrasil labyrinth is still in its fledgling stages, drawing in many with the allure of fame and glory that has yet to be claimed. Enter the harbinger Dubhan—cheerful, determined, and not terribly skilled at thinking ahead—and warlock Allouet— intelligent and resourceful, but desperately in over his head. Together, the two of them have half an idea of what they're doing at best, but that's not going to stop them from aiming for the labyrinth's unknown depths. MeiQ is, at its core, a fanfiction inspired by the Etrian Odyssey franchise, alternatively known as Sekaiju no Meikyuu in Japan. Despite that, it is written with the intent to be enjoyable by those unfamiliar with the series as well. The characters and the city of Omaros are original, while the story draws upon lore and recurring concepts from the game series. However, Etrian Odyssey is known for its lore being sparse and open to speculation, so much of the details provided in this story are exactly that—a fan’s speculation and personal expansion of the lore. This story was also inspired by and written as part of HereBeTreasure's Fast Food Frontpage Competition, enjoy some simple dungeon exploration plot and whatever else pops up from this.
8 119The Electric Archipelago (WIP)
This is the first draft of my new cyberpunk novel, The Electric Archipelago. In the future humanity is imprisoned by massive corporations. Computers are directly connected to their brains, creating a nightmarish state of absolute control, every action is monitored and harshly judged. Perhaps worst of all, the victim's perception of reality itself is controlled. A system of social credit hangs over everyone's heads. If you want to survive you will need to pick a company and stay loyal to that brand. But it goes beyond that, because each corporation has been infiltrated and taken over by forces that are interested in more than just profit. John is a Skinwalker, a free man, a man who is immune to these restrictions. He goes where he wants and does what he wants, moving from one augmented reality to the next, always looking for the next score.
8 198Dispatches from the Inter-galactic
Dispatches From The Inter-Galactic is a series of loosely related satirical stories which take place in a galaxy full of various interstellar civilizations and numerous space faring species generally described as consentients. This series is set in a galaxy which take place in a similar but not entirely unlike the galaxy in which my series Up in Space takes place While there are numerous themes related to interstellar life, several of the stories directly relate to specific themes such as; The pan-galactic ramifications to the use of supersymetrical energy sources (often drained from intera-located alternate and pocket realities.) the use of which by most interstellar civilizations is steadily increasing the overall amount of Dark Matter. This is increasing the mass of the galaxy and results in the occasional rips in inter-dimensional space as well as an overall increase in supernova activity. It is also speeding up the approach of the galaxy in Andromeda, which is of concern to several long lived civilizations; The Morphoids, a race of shape-changing consentients who are capable of using the space lanes created by the use of supersymetrical sourced energy to spread throughout the galaxy. They are currently viewed as threat number one by many space-faring species; and Xeno and exo-sexuality, as many species try to figure out what sort of enjoyment they can have with many of the species they encounter in space (only some of which are carbon-based, or more rarely, humanoid in appearance). This also relates to the altering of species to make reproduction somewhat easier for those with rather complicated lifestyles. A major force in this area of pursuit is the galactic visiteering industry, which promotes the ‘uplifting’ of more primitive planet-bound near-consentients.
8 172SCION OF EVIL
Human beings since the dawn of civilization have always been the top of the food chain. With our wits and knowledge, we have dominated the Land, ruled the Sky, and roamed the Ocean, we are the only species that have dared to ventured into the space and explore the new horizon. Since time immemorial we humans have dominated the world around us with our technology. But what if one day all our technology becomes useless and monsters beyond and from our imagination comes alive. What if humanity suddenly is toppled from the top of the food chain. What if our myths and legend come alive into the reality one day? HOW WILL HUMAN SURVIVE THEN??? . . . . ' Among the trouble that humanity faced it also gained newfound powers and blessing in it. Follow the life of Our protagonist Rudra who will go through many hardships with his newfound powers in this era to kill slay his enemy take revenge and become the emperor extreme. I dont own the cover picture.. It was taken from the website below https://wallpaperplay.com/walls/full/5/a/0/190375.jpg or go to https://www.desktopbackground.org
8 195T.B.O.K.K.J.
The author is too lazy and hasn't written a summary. Proceed at your own risk. lol
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