What it Means to Be Born

~~~

Four months ago, in a secluded forest somewhere near the capital. Georgia, using a suspicious-looking book as a guide, instructed her maids and guards to draw a summoning circle in the ground with special chalk.

"Princess, are you sure this book is real?" One of the guards asked. "How come you have this kind of book? As far as I remember, any of the summoning tomes that have ever existed in this kingdom have all been reduced to ashes."

"One week ago, a mysterious girl clad in a black mantle appeared in my room. She had short black hair and was wearing an unfamiliar mask that covered only her eyes." Georgia stared at the circle being drawn as she spoke. "She once said to me: 'I believe this will help you save not only your world but the other world as well.' She then gave me this bluish-white crystal ball and this book."

Georgia showed them the book.

"To my surprise, it was a summoning tome."

"Milady, aren't you aware that performing a summoning ritual is a serious crime? Even if you are from a royal family, you'd more than likely still get punished heavily for this." The guard asked her.

"I… will do anything to save our world." Georgia declared her intentions and why she is willing to risk herself.

The moon slowly turned red as a predicted lunar eclipse slowly unfolded. The maids and the guards have just finished drawing the summoning circle.

"Lunar eclipse, check. Summoning circle, check. The last thing needed is a sacrifice…" Georgia announced.

Everyone went silent.

"The sacrifice must be the summoner who is a virgin maiden…" One of the maids murmured half-willingly.

Georgia pulled out a dagger and placed both the summoning tome and the bluish-white crystal in the middle of the summoning circle. Some of the maids and guards pleaded for her to stop.

"Whatever happens… don't interfere." Georgia responded with a warning for them all.

She didn't even look at them and only glued her gaze towards what she was doing. That act proved that she was dead-set on pulling this off despite the impending consequences.

She then cited the summoning ritual. Without any sort of hesitation, she stabbed herself in the stomach using the dagger she held. She held her mouth shut as the wound began bleeding. The pain from stabbing herself slowly sapped away her strength and eventually knelt down to the ground.

"Please… work…. " She murmured to herself as her consciousness slowly faded away while in a kneeling position.

The summoning circle glowed as the red moon turned white. The moon itself brightened in response and struck a beam of moonlight directly at the summoning circle. Georgia watched as the crystal slowly floated into the air and slowly engulfed her in a white flash of light.

~~~

Flashback to the present day, Georgia caresses Astraea's hair who was sleeping soundly in her room.

"I vaguely remembered what happened next." Georgia told Helian who was sitting beside her. "It's as if– I got transported into an unknown place. I was walking in shallow waters. Starlight brightened up the sky and reflected beautifully on those same waters. The stars up there were countless and almost hurt my eyes just by looking up."

"That place was littered with pillars. Then a human-like entity in a fetal position appeared in the sky. Its body is made out of space matter and starlight. It had very long hair. It opened its eyes and stared at me, it suddenly glowed very brightly and blinded me. Next thing I knew I was in my bed and was pregnant. I never expected that the summoning meant I had to give birth to what I summoned… but in of itself, I didn't mind it."

"Hmm…" Hellian began to think. "Maybe you got transported to the Pillars of Creation. According to legends, it is the only known birthplace of the Etoille. Nobody knows how it was created, where it is at present, or if it was real or just– well, a legend."

Hellian started searching in one of the books she brought with her.

"That entity you saw was an Etoille. According to this book, Etoille are said to be immortal and their body is made out of the particle called God Particle; it exists to have an unparalleled amount of power that can create life out of nothingness. A typical Etoille is born without any kind of free will; once they are born they will immediately find a void in the vastness of space, create a supernova, and from it, life will be born." She added.

"There aren't enough records about the Etoille and that's all that I manage to find." Hellian gave the book to Georgia.

"But…" Georgia stared at the sleeping Astraea. "What makes Astraea so different from those Etoille?" She wonders.

"I don't know.", answered Hellian. "I will try to look for more pieces of information about Etoille. Emphasis on 'try'."

"How about that crystal she gave me? Do you have any information about it?" Georgia asked.

"Nothing, but I will tell you when I've found some." Hellian answered.

"Oh. And I also forgot to tell you, I found some good information about the Eldritch in one of the books I read." Hellian refixed her glasses placement. "Eldritch creatures aren't entirely invincible, even us mere humans have the capability to kill them but the book never mentioned how."

"That's… not useful information at all." Georgia sighed.

"Yeah. It does seem like Etoille and Apotheosis are our best candidates for killing them." Hellian added.

"So what that mysterious girl said is true…" Georgia smiled.

"But, an Eldritch can kill an Etoille." Hellian fretted.

The two girls went silent.

"Don't go doing it again, you hear!" Hellian lectured Georgia.

"I won't!" Georgia promised. "It was painful, you know! The being pregnant and giving birth and not the stabbing myself part that is…" Georgia added.

"Oh…" Hellian nodded "Well setting that aside, what is wrong with that man? That Wienstein Swein, I mean." she added.

"For the longest time, he has been pretending to be loyal to my father but in actuality, he hates us, the current royal family, for overthrowing my Grandfather, the previous king." Georgia answered.

"If I recall correctly, he and several generals did a lot of war crimes in service to that tyrant." Hellian noted.

"He did but he used his subordinates as a scapegoat and bribed the judges." Georgia sighed.

"Why don't your father, the king, just execute him? That'll save us all a lot of trouble." Hellian asked.

"He doesn't want to execute him. He wanted to reform the whole government without shedding any blood. He made it clear that he doesn't want to start acting like the previous king." Georgia answered.

"I'm also a bit pissed that some of the generals just stayed quiet about the whole ordeal in the courtroom." Hellian pouted.

"A lot of them were afraid of Wienstein. Some are even allied with Wienstein." Georgia replied. "Remember that one general that went missing? Some said that general mocked Wienstein before he disappeared."

"Yikes– If execution is out of the question, then why doesn't the king just exile him?" Hellian asked again, seemingly not convinced with the first reason.

"He fears that if he exiled Wienstein, he will be able to cause another war by using another country to invade us. That tyrant king made a lot of enemies during his reign, after all." Georgia answered.

"Well, I better go and sleep now. Today was a wild day, a lot of things happened. Good night." Hellian left the room. Georgia kissed Astraea goodnight by his forehead and slept beside him.

The next morning came. Georgia and Astraea got up and left early in a car headed towards a small village called Mustela, located on the east side of Türheim.

"Wow!" Astraea stared outside the window of their moving car, admiring the beautiful view of the countryside beach.

"Mother, where are we going?" Astraea asked Georgia.

"We are visiting my grandparents from my mother's side." Georgia replied.

Georgia ordered the driver to stop at the beach for a bit. Upon hopping out of the car, Astraea hurriedly ran towards the beach. The beautiful scent of the ocean permeated the area as the morning breeze blew through his silky long white hair. He checked around the area and saw children making sandcastles. Hoping to copy them, he ended up making a badly made version, which utterly fell apart seconds after construction; giving up on starting over, he then headed to the shoreline as the cold water tingled his feet.

From a nearby area, a crowd suddenly started gathering at one spot. That attracted Astraea's attention so he walked towards it to see what was going on. Shuffling through the crowd, there he saw a man lying down the sandy shores of the beach while a girl with a medical cross seemed to have kissed him on the lips (that was how Astraea registered this), after compressing and pumping down his chest with her hands a few times in a cycle. Georgia too has caught up with Astraea and was able to see what the commotion was about. She kept her son in reach after seeing it.

"Mother, what is she doing to that man?" Astraea asked.

"Ah. She is giving him CPR…" Georgia answered.

"What's CPR?"

"Um…" Georgia began to think about how to explain it. The driver was about to explain what CPR is but Georgia stopped him.

"You do that to save a person's life when it is in danger." Georgia told Astraea.

"Saving a person's life… Okay then." Astraea nodded.

Not lingering for more time to process what they saw, they left and returned to the car. After a few more minutes, they finally arrived at Mustela village. At the entrance of the village, there are two 6-feet-tall rock statues of a ferret. They walked on foot from that point towards their destination. The villagers there thrived on fishing, and proof of that was a few locals doing the act while they passed by them. Some of the villagers quickly recognized them and waved at Georgia. She properly waved back at them in courtesy. At the end of the trail and the edge of a cliff, there's a tomb with multiple bouquets laid upon it.

"What is this place, mother?" Astraea asked.

"This is the memorial tomb where we remember those who died ten years ago from one Eldritch attack… A lot have died, including my grandparents. Even with the nation's combined military might of army, navy and air force, they couldn't even hurt it. Even with three Apotheoses, they struggled to bring the monster down. We lost a mass majority of our troops along with 2 Apotheoses from that battle. Kyrlios is the only Apotheosis who managed to survive but was greatly injured there. After it ended, I couldn't bear the same fate for our people, if we were to be at the mercy of the same adversaries… which I know will happen again. That is why... I gave birth to you. That is why... I... summoned you."

Hearing herself explain something to her premature child, she pitied herself… then pitied Astraea.

"I'm sorry…" Georgia hugged her son, reminiscing the memory and the one reason for his 'birth'. "You know, your mother was planning to use you as a tool to save my world against them…"

Tears started running down her cheeks, and her lips trembled, not knowing whether she was to force a smile or keep herself from frowning.

"I'm a horrible mother, aren't I?"

"You're not..." Astraea hugs her mother back. "If it's to protect mother and all that is dear to her, I'd do anything…" Astraea smiles at her mother. "Because I love my mother very much!"

"Thank you…" Georgia smiled and kissed Astraea on the forehead.

Georgia calmed herself down before they went off to walk around the area. Before they left the village, they did a bit of sightseeing and ate some of the local delicacies. They passed by a bookstore. One of the books caught Astraea's attention so he grabbed it and brought it up to his mother.

"Mother, can we buy this?" Astraea asked Georgia as he raised the book over his head.

"Anthology of Heroes, huh?" Georgia stared at the book.

"I want to be a hero that mother will love!" Astraea smiles.

Georgia couldn't help but smile at the sight of his thoughts. Nodding and patting him on the head, she purchased the book. It was already 2:30 in the afternoon when they left the village. After being picked up by their same driver, they headed back home.

The moment they entered downtown, a huge dark cloud formed up above the castle. Sirens started blaring and a huge portal opened up above the sky. Multiple massive tentacles stretched out of it and meanacingly floats in the portal. Panic surged through the scene as the civilians scattered and ran for their lives. Gunshot echoes through the whole capital as they tried to fend off the creature. Out of nowhere, an Eldritch appeared below the portal.

"GIVE. ME. THE. ETOILLE.", shouted the Eldritch as it menacingly floated through the portal.

Wienstein, the king, and Kyrlios were present in that disaster.

"As you can see, that Etoille is no savior! He will doom us all!" Wienstein complained to the king, but mostly to himself. "Aren't you supposed to save us all?! Go out there and destroy that filth!"

Wienstein tried to pull Astraea but Georgia swung a tight fist at him to give a solid punch to his face.

"Don't you dare touch my child!" Georgia glares at Wienstein.

"Why you!" Wienstein got himself right back up and was about to slap Georgia when suddenly the king shouted "Cease further tomfoolery! We have more important matters to deal with!".

"Georgia, take Astraea somewhere safe. Preferably, somewhere away from the capital." The king ordered Georgia.

"But my lord–" Wienstein weaseled in a complaint.

"Miss Kyrlios, please assist our army in the fight against the Eldritch." The king asked Kyrlios.

"I'm on it!" Kyrlios immediately left to assist the soldiers on defending the city.

"I want to help too!" Astraea told them.

"Don't be a fool! You're still a child! You've already put yourself in harm's way enough!" the king raised his voice at Astraea.

"Mother… Last night… I heard what you and auntie Hellian were talking about." Astraea looked away and looked upwards where all the threats were concentrated.

He then ran without anyone's consent.

"Wait, no!! Astraea!" Georgia shouted in sudden grief.

"I have decided, I will protect everyone!" Astraea whispered to himself. "I'm sorry mother, grandfather, but I won't be listening to you right now!"

There he stood, staring at the Eldritch without any fear holding him back. After gaining his resolve, he leaped towards the Eldritch.

"So, you have come…." the Eldritch told Astraea. "Now, follow me."

"My mother told me not to talk to strangers!" Astraea zoomed past the Eldritch's reach.

"Wait, what?!" The Eldritch turned around as he saw Astraea enter the portal. "NO!" The Eldritch swiftly followed behind him.

"What is he planning to do?!" Kyrlios rushed towards the portal without waiting for an answer to that.

Inside the portal, Astraea floated just at the intersection where the worlds were connected by the portal. After making it through, he looked around.

"Where… am I?" Astraea asked himself.

It was a dark and cold void inside the portal and it had a lot of boulder-sized debris floating around; the only light source he can see is from the portal along with that strange purple glimmer of light from a faraway location behind Astraea.

"I got you!" The Eldritch finally caught up to him and lightly grabbed him by the shoulders.

"N-no! Let go of me!" Astraea shouted as he tried to get away from the Eldritch.

"Stop it! Listen to me!" The Eldritch pleaded. "I'm doing this for your own good!"

"Why would I listen to you! You attacked our city!" Astraea shouted as he struggled to get out of the Eldritch's grasp.

"No, I never ordered those tentacles to attack, they were just floating there. We truly meant no harm." The Eldritch spoke calmly though still hadn't let him go.

"Oh. Then why didn't you say so?" Astraea asked.

"Do you think they will listen to us, an Eldritch?" The Eldritch stared at Astraea. "Will you be different and listen to us now?"

Astraea, who was still cautious, nodded. Just the moment he was about to speak, a lance pierced the Eldritch's abdomen. It was Kyrlios lance! Kyrlios pulled the Eldritch away and placed herself in between the two.

"Good heavens, I got here in time!" Kyrlios sighed.

"Wait! The Eldritch said that it meant no harm!" Astraea immediately alerted Kyrlios.

"And you're gonna believe him? An Eldritch?" Kyrlios shot a glare at Astraea as she retorted.

"Stay away, Apotheosis!" The Eldritch lunged towards Kyrlios, she blocked its attack with her shield and fought back while Astraea just floated there, confused.

"Is the Eldritch telling the truth…?" Astraea asked himself.

"Astraea! Head back to the castle! NOW!" Kyrlios shouted without breaking her gaze off her opponent and traded blows with the Eldritch.

Before he can even move, Astraea got pulled away by a tentacle from out of nowhere. Astraea was out of sight in just a blink.

"Nooo!" Kyrlios shouted in vain as she tried to chase Astraea but was prevented by the Eldritch.

"I won't let you!" The Eldritch shouted as it continued its attack.

"Out of my way!"

Kyrlios managed to land a killing blow against the Eldritch and killed it. Right before she went to follow where Astraea was taken, she was suddenly bombarded by an unknown assailant. As her vision was failing, she saw a glimpse of a large, monstrous figure floating away.

"Astr...aea…." Kylrios slowly lost consciousness due to the severe injuries she obtained from that attack; the last thing she saw was a different girl with long dark brown hair slowly floating towards her.

Astraea was completely caught by another Eldritch. More tentacles pile in to slowly slither around Astraea's body. A feminine laughter could be heard from a distance.

"My my~ What a cutie you are!" An Eldritch girl dressed in a frilly dress with long green 'hair' stepped into Astraea's field of vision. "I'm Cthoulou! Don't worry, I won't do anything bad to you! In fact, we're here to save you!"

The Cthoulou's hair was made up of tentacles. More than one from the same group was responsible for constricting Astraea. Cthoulou slowly removes her tentacle from gripping Astraea.

"Fu fu fu~ You're so cute~" Cthoulou started playfully kissing Astraea's cheeks. "You are my type~ Hey hey, wanna play with big sis for a bit?"

Cthoulou's tentacles slowly stripped his upper clothing off of him.

"W-what are you doing?!" Astraea asked as he squirmed to no avail.

A few more tentacles from her hair reacted to pin his head down to prevent it from bobbing around.

"Like i said, we're gonna play!~" The Eldritch girl made a devilish grin showcasing her fangs and giggling at him before puckering up her lips. "Now hoooold still~"

But before she could kiss Astraea, another figure smacked her on the head. The tentacles shot up in attention, and immediately dropped Astraea back to floating.

"Stop that, you horny squid…" A mysterious girl with short black hair wearing a mask that covered the upper half of her face appeared.

"Ouch! Hey! I'm not a squid! I'm an octopus!" Cthoulou stared at the mysterious girl. "I was about to get into the good part, sayuri!"

Astraea confusely stared at the two arguing, when another girl with long white hair appeared.

"Oh no! Why did you guys take him in that manner?!" The girl with white hair let out a sigh as she clutched onto her forehead.

"W-wait… we weren't supposed to do that?" Cthoulou tilted her head as she asked.

"Yes! We were supposed to protect his world from the others!" The white haired girl put both of her hands on her hips in dismay. "Why do the good kids always become the problematic ones?"

"...I didn't do anything…" Sayuri told the white haired girl.

"That's the problem! You didn't do anything! If you stop them from kidnapping him, we won't have this problem!" The white haired girl lectured the Sayuri.

From the looks of it, the white haired girl looked like an older sibling who was lecturing her younger siblings.

"That girl, I can feel it. She's just like me, an Etoille." Astraea thought to himself.

"W-who are you?" Astraea finally inserted himself into their argument.

All of them shut themselves up and faced him.

"Oh! I'm Cecilia!" The white-haird girl introduced herself. "I'm just like you, an Etoille."

"Why… did you take me away?"

"N-no, it wasn't my plan on taking you away." She panned her vision towards a certain tentacle-haired girl who caught him earlier, which was met with an immediate averted gaze from that guilty one.

She turned to face Astraea again, sighing.

"Like I said, my original plan was to protect your world." Cecilia explained.

"In our defense, we thought it was a good idea to just take him away and place him somewhere safe…" Cthoulou interjected.

"...There's no such thing as a safe place in this world of ours…" Sayuri whispered.

"I already told you my name but." Cthoulou cleared her throat. "My name is Cthoulou!" Cthoulou introduced herself again. "I'm a very cute Eldritch girl who doesnt hurt anyone!"

Cthoulou swirled around and did a cutesy idolish pose.

"You tried to do… non-consensual things to him…" Sayuri pointed at Cthoulou as Cecilia supported with an angry stare.

"I-I wasn't!" Cthoulou said, facing the floor.

"...I'm Sayuri…" Sayuri introduced herself, putting her right hand over her chest.

"What happened to Rei?" Cecilia asked Cthoulou.

"She was fighting that blonde Apotheosis. But it seems like she got her doll beaten." Cthoulou replied attentively.

"Can you tell me what's going on?" Astraea asked Cecilia.

Before she could even speak, they were attacked by another Eldritch. It's an Eldritch who looks like a very beautiful voluptuous woman who is riding an enormous mass that extrudes black tentacles, slime-dripping mouths, and short, writhing goat legs. Remains of small creatures are continually spat forth by the monstrosity.

"Tsk! They found us!" Sayuri clicked her tongue as she readied up her great sword.

"Ugh! It's that bitch!" Cthulou hissed at the Eldritch woman.

"Hoh. Are you still angry at me because I am more beautiful than you, you flat chested brat?" The newly-arrived Eldritch woman snickered.

With haste, Cthoulou rushed over to the side of her enemy. Astraea just floated right at the place he stayed, frozen in awe and fear.

"DIE, BITCH!"

Cthoulou launched her tentacles towards this Eldritch woman but was countered with tentacles not her own. Before she was caught by the attack, Cthoulou retreated and floated back to her group. The Eldritch woman then launched a volley of green bile towards them.

Cecilia casted a shield on every individual one on her group.

"Change of plans!" Cecilia calmly told everyone. "Astraea must meet him!"

"There's no other choice! Go now, Sayuri!" Cecilia told Sayuri. She pulls Astraea away as Cecilia and Cthulou tries to stop the Eldritch woman. Sayuri led Astraea for them to hide behind a sizable chunk of rock debris. Sayuri then began opening a portal.

"...Go…" Sayuri told Astraea.

"But…" Astraea worriedly looks at Sayuri.

"Don't worry about us, we will be fine…" Sayuri assured Astraea. Before he can enter the portal, the rock behind was obliterated with an explosion, the force of which sent the two flying towards the newly-opened portal. Astraea was flashed by the lights of the portal and soon slowly faded into darkness. The last thing he saw was a starry night sky and a beautiful full moon as his consciousness slowly faded away for longer this time.