Chapter 285: Chapter 285
The journey began in silence, but it was not the silence of fear; it was one of peace.
The ship glided through the star-strewn darkness like a shadow among shadows, the hum of its engines steady and soothing. Inside, the atmosphere was almost gentle. Aerish had fallen asleep in Liora’s arms, her small chest rising and falling, bunny still clutched tight in her hands.
Xu Kai sat near them, speaking softly with Shen and Irel, though his gaze often strayed back to the two people who mattered most.
Liora rested her cheek against her daughter’s hair, breathing in the faint scent of milk and lavender, and for a moment she thought perhaps this journey would truly be safe. Perhaps, for once, the universe would grant them peace.
But the universe had other plans.
It happened too quickly for anyone to react.
At first, it was a flicker. A small shudder that ran through the ship’s walls—so subtle that Liora thought she had imagined it. Then the alarms screamed to life, their shrill wail piercing the air. Lights shifted to red, bathing the interior in a bloody glow. The floor vibrated beneath them, rattling like the bones of a great beast trying to break free.
Xu Kai was already moving, his hands flying across the console. "Shields..." he barked, but before the word could leave his lips fully, the world erupted.
A deafening roar. A flash so bright it swallowed the stars.
The blast tore through the fleet like fire ripping through dry parchment. One after another, Xu Kai’s men’s ships exploded into brilliant, deadly bursts of light, swallowed whole by the unseen force.
Even the warship they rode—the one built to withstand armies, the one Xu Kai had trusted more than anything—cracked like thin glass under the weight of that impossible power.
A sudden, enormous jolt flung them all sideways. Liora fell hard against the bulkhead, Aerish slipping from her arms in the chaos. The lights went dead for a breathless instant, and in that silence, all Liora could hear was her daughter’s small, frightened voice—
She lunged forward. "Aerish!"
But the floor was cracking open. The vacuum of space clawed at them through a widening breach in the hull. The safety system kicked in at the last possible moment—transparent capsules shot out from the ceiling, encasing Xu Kai, Shen, Irel... and Liora, just as she reached for her child.
But Aerish was just inches too far.
Liora saw her daughter reaching out, tears in her wide eyes, as she and the bunny were swept toward the breach and then gone, pulled out into the cold, merciless dark.
"AERISH!!" Liora’s scream tore through the capsule just before her body locked into stasis. Her hand still reached out as the protective shell hardened around her, sealing her away from death but also sealing her away from her baby.
The rest of Xu Kai’s flagship cracked apart behind them, fire and steel unraveling into the stars.
The explosion swallowed everything.
The floating capsules drifted through the debris like glass seeds in a burning garden. They were the only survivors. All others—Xu Kai’s guard fleet, the warships, and the crew—were ash and metal now, scattered across the black void of space.
Inside her capsule, Liora had no more words left.
She didn’t feel the drift. She didn’t see the sparks of the dying ships or the glowing debris that floated past her.
All she could hear was Aerish’s voice calling her. All she could feel was the tiny body slipping from her grasp.
And all she could think—the only thought that remained before darkness took her—was
"I should have never left home..."
The pain was more than her body could bear. Her mind, her heart—shattered in the span of a second.
Then everything faded in darkness, and silence returned once more.
The world had already turned into fire and ruin, but nothing compared to the moment Xu Kai saw them pulled away from him.
Through the shattered glow of the wreckage, his eyes locked onto two fragile capsules spinning into the void, one carrying Liora, the other their daughter. For a heartbeat that stretched into eternity, he saw her—his Liora—her hands splayed against the barrier, her face twisted in terror as she screamed their daughter’s name.
And Aerish... his little star... Tiny hands reaching back, tears shining like jewels in the dark as her small body drifted farther and farther until the distance between them became unbearable.
Xu Kai’s chest seized, a violent ache tearing through his ribs. It felt as if someone had driven a blade straight into his heart and twisted it. His entire being strained forward, every instinct raging against the fact that he could do nothing.
His capsule held him fast, a prison of safety that mocked him with its strength. His fists slammed against the transparent barrier until his knuckles split, blood smearing across the smooth surface. "Liora!" he roared, his voice raw, breaking in the silence of space. "Aerish!"
The sound died unheard, swallowed by the black sea around him.
His vision blurred—not from tears alone, but from the fury burning behind them. This wasn’t chance. No natural blast could tear through his fleet, through his warship, or through him. He had built his ships to withstand armies, to face empires—and yet in a single moment, they had been undone. His men, his fleet, his years of preparation—all reduced to nothing but glowing debris scattered across the stars.
And worse—his family.
The image of Aerish’s tiny body trembling in fear branded itself into his mind. The sight of Liora, her scream locked forever against the barrier of her capsule, pierced him deeper than any weapon ever could.
He was a commander. He was a strategist. He had always been calm and composed, the man who planned ten moves ahead. But now... now he felt nothing but the hollow, tearing wound of loss and the choking helplessness that came with it. His breathing came ragged, his pulse hammering in his throat. For the first time in years, Xu Kai felt powerless.
Shen’s voice crackled faintly in his earpiece, steady despite the chaos. "Commander, hold on. The capsules are intact. We’ll track them. We’ll get them back."
"We’ve already sent out the rescue signal."