Chapter 17: THE NAME BURIED IN STARS
The stars inside the alien’s armor ignited.
For a moment the battlefield seemed to hold its breath.
Wind stopped.
Smoke froze in the air like scattered brushstrokes across an invisible canvas.
Kenji Takeda felt the hairs on his arms rise.
He had been in combat before—real combat, not simulations.
But the presence standing before them was something entirely different.
This was not a soldier.
This was not even a weapon.
This was a force of nature wearing a body.
The alien studied Tharion with eyes that held the cold patience of deep space.
“You truly do not remember,” it said quietly.
Tharion remained still.
Calm.
Observant.
He noticed small things most would miss.
The subtle curvature of the alien’s armor.
The strange energy pulsing beneath its surface like a living constellation.
And most importantly—
The hesitation in its voice.
“Should I?” Tharion asked.
The alien’s expression hardened slightly.
“Yes.”
A faint tremor rolled across the ground as power gathered in its palm.
“You should remember the day the Aurelion Clans burned.”
The name meant nothing to Tharion.
But something inside his mind reacted violently.
A flash of light exploded behind his eyes.
For a fraction of a second—
He saw it.
A battlefield spanning an entire star system.
Thousands of ships.
Planets cracking open like eggshells beneath impossible forces.
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And at the center of it all…
A figure surrounded by collapsing suns.
The vision vanished instantly.
Tharion inhaled slowly.
“That was me?” he asked.
The alien tilted its head.
“You truly are ignorant.”
Its voice was no longer amused.
It was cold now.
“Your war erased my people from history.”
Kenji swallowed.
This conversation had escalated from strange to catastrophic in less than a minute.
He whispered to the remaining soldiers.
“Back away slowly.”
They didn’t argue.
Meanwhile, the alien extended its arm.
Energy gathered around its hand like a miniature galaxy being born.
“My name is Arixael of the Last Aurelion.”
The air around her distorted violently.
“And I have crossed half the galaxy to end you.”
The ground beneath their feet shattered.
Not from impact.
From pressure.
Reality itself seemed to bend as Arixael released the energy in her hand.
A beam of light tore forward.
The sky split open.
Tharion moved.
Except… moved wasn’t the right word.
One moment he stood in front of Kenji.
The next—
He was gone.
The beam carved through the horizon, slicing a distant mountain range clean in half.
Silence fell again.
Arixael frowned slightly.
Behind her, a voice spoke calmly.
“That was excessive.”
Arixael spun.
Tharion stood there, hands in his pockets, studying her like a scientist observing an unusual phenomenon.
“You missed.”
The alien’s eyes narrowed.
“No,” she replied quietly.
“I was measuring you.”
Before the last word finished leaving her mouth—
She vanished.
A sonic crack split the atmosphere.
Kenji blinked.
The two figures had already disappeared.
Then the sky detonated.
A shockwave burst through the clouds as two invisible forces collided high above the battlefield.
Thunder echoed across the entire region.
A second later, both figures reappeared several kilometers away, hovering in the air.
Arixael’s voice drifted downward.
“You are weaker.”
Tharion tilted his head slightly.
“Possibly.”
The alien’s gaze sharpened.
“In our last war you shattered moons with your bare hands.”
She pointed toward him.
“Now you struggle to keep pace.”
Tharion considered that for a moment.
Then he smiled faintly.
“That suggests two possibilities.”
Arixael remained silent.
“Either I have become weaker,” he said thoughtfully.
“Or…”
The air around him twisted slightly.
“…I am still waking up.”
For the first time since arriving—
Arixael hesitated.
It lasted less than a second.
But Tharion noticed.
Then he disappeared again.
This time Arixael barely raised her arm before his fist struck her guard.
The collision sounded like two planets crashing together.
The shockwave ripped through the upper atmosphere.
Fragments of ice clouds scattered across the sky like shattered glass.
Below, Kenji could only stare upward.
“…Are they fighting in orbit?” one soldier asked.
Kenji shook his head slowly.
“No.”
Another explosion thundered overhead.
“They’re just getting started.”
High above the clouds, Arixael skidded backward through the air, stabilizing herself with a controlled burst of energy.
She studied Tharion again.
“You are adapting.”
Tharion flexed his fingers slightly.
“Old habits return quickly.”
For a moment neither attacked.
Then Arixael spoke again.
“There is something I do not understand.”
Tharion raised an eyebrow.
“You destroyed my civilization.”
Her voice was quieter now.
“But when I look at you…”
She paused.
“…I do not see a monster.”
Tharion looked toward the stars.
“Perhaps you’re looking at the wrong version of me.”
Arixael’s expression hardened.
“Or perhaps you are lying to yourself.”
Her armor flared with violent light.
The stars beneath its surface began spinning faster.
“Let us see what remains of the being who ended my people.”
She raised both hands.
Energy spiraled outward like a newborn galaxy.
The temperature of the air dropped instantly.
Tharion felt it too.
The shift in pressure.
The gravity bending slightly toward her power.
He exhaled slowly.
“Well,” he murmured.
“That seems inconvenient.”
And then—
The sky darkened.
Not with clouds.
But with something far larger.
Both fighters froze.
Even Arixael’s energy faltered.
Because something enormous had just appeared beyond the atmosphere.
Something ancient.
Something watching them.
And when it spoke—
The voice echoed inside their minds.
“Tharion.”
A pause.
A cold, ancient pause.
“You were not meant to awaken so soon.”
