Finding Stardust

“General Kaoshin Stardust ... !!!” The girl’s voice was filled with longing and forlorn. “I miss you so much....!!”

As usual, there was no response. Only she could hear her own voice.

With just one jump, she flung herself down from the top of the tower and landed gracefully on her two feet. The horizon was full of stars, planets, and nebulae, emitting soft light from a distance.

The girl continued running with light steps and finally climbed up a large rock that stood tall since time immemorial.

All of a sudden, she became rooted in her spot, charmed by a blue planet, covered by white clouds, the size of a marble that stood solemnly among the stars.

The girl cupped her face and finally sobbed softly. “General Stardust, why haven’t you come home yet...?”

She continued sobbing atop the rock for a long time. The girl had very long hair, flowing beautifully down to her ankles. Its color was platinum with some shades of light blue.

Humans on earth would call her fairy just by her looks. Her face was stunningly beautiful with a small nose and a pair of big round eyes that were light blue in color. She was wearing a simple long white dress that also reached down to her ankles.

After a long pensive sigh, she finally made an important decision. She turned to the tower she had left and commanded the AI ​​computer controlling all systems in the tower building to open the red dome.

“But ... Princess Arreya, General Stardust ordered me to keep you here. I cannot do what you want.”

Ignoring the computer’s protest, the girl entered some command and forced the system to carry out her instructions.

“Hurry and do as I say, AWA! You must obey because I have unlocked the code!”

“Alright, Princess.”

There was a great shaking as if the building was about to collapse. From the underground next to the tower, a giant red dome suddenly appeared. It immediately opened, showing a small ship parked on the hangar inside the dome.

“I will go to earth to look for General Stardust. If within two years, I did not return, you must destroy yourself.”

“Princess Arreya!”

“What now?”

“Please be careful.”

Arreya looked down then turned her head and smiled faintly. She slowly walked towards the ship and jumped inside. Ten minutes later, a dazzling light enveloped the ship as it flew towards the night sky.

For a moment, the ship looked like one of the stars brightly adorning the horizon. Arreya plopped down on a chair and then pressed the red button on the ship’s control board.

“Switch to automatic control. Destination, Planet Earth.”

Arreya had long wanted to make this decision. She wanted to come down to earth and look for Kaoshin Stardust, but she had always hesitated before. As far as she knew, the earth was a large planet with quite an advanced civilization. She was scared of venturing there alone to look for Kaoshin.

A long time ago, when their capsule was about to land on earth, from the satellites scattered around the planet came fierce attacks. Their capsule was damaged and they were forced to make an emergency landing on the moon, this lonely little planet.

She could not remember how long they had been there. What was clear was that the tower where they live now was built by all the robots that they had brought in the capsule. It was equipped with life support systems. But the process must have taken a long time, right?

Their vessel was a large cargo capsule that had everything needed to start a new life on a new planet. Arreya couldn’t remember why she was in a cargo capsule with Kaoshin. The last thing in her mind was the party, on the night before her wedding, where people congratulated her on marrying the crown prince.

Her mind flew to the distant past… recalling the details she could still retrieve from the back of her mind...

Actually, before she knew it, she was already in the arms of the panicking Kaoshin Stardust who had ordered the system to land their capsule on the nearest planet. Their capsule shook violently because it got shot in several parts. Back then, AWA’s mentioning of all the different damages suffered by the capsule seemed endless.

“AWA, shut up! You must not scare the princess,” blurted Kaoshin and the computer suddenly stopped. The young man immediately turned to Arreya who was frowning in surprise. “Sshh ... you will be fine. There is no time to explain. But you must stay here. I will put on your seat belt for you and control our capsule to the nearest planet. The planet in front seems really hostile.”

Arreya, who was still confused, let Kaoshin placed her on a chair and helped her put her seat belt on. The young man then disappeared and entered the control bridge.

Ah ... Arreya almost forgot that Kaoshin Stardust was the youngest general of Planet Akkadia who started his military career as a pilot. He could basically drive all flying objects. He must be able to save us, Arreya thought hopefully.

After several very nerve-wracking hours, the giant capsule finally landed on the moon. Following that, for half an hour, no one made any sound. Arreya was still in shock. She did not know why she was suddenly in a space capsule, flying in outer space, with Kaoshin Stardust as her only companion. Where were the others? What exactly happened?

Kaoshin himself was still very exhausted from driving their capsule to avoid attacks from Earth. He had to do different maneuvers to outwit their attackers by hiding in the nearest asteroid belt. On top of that, he had to look for ways to land the damaged capsule on the moon.

“General Kaoshin Stardust ...” Finally, consciousness returned to Arreya as she took off her seat belt and rose to her feet as she looked for Kaoshin. She walked down the long corridor and went up the stairs leading to the control bridge.

There she found the man she was looking for, sitting exhausted with his eyes closed. Kaoshin Stardust was a handsome and formidable man. Ever since the first time he stepped into the academy, he had always been the heartthrob that countless ladies desired for themselves. However, although so many women wanted to throw themselves at him, he remained faithful to Arreya.

No one in this world and beyond knew how much Kaoshin loved Arreya, and how much Arreya loved him back. They did a great job hiding their feelings well. To avoid suspicions, she never even called him by his first name, and it had become a habit that stuck with her for almost her whole life.

“Where’s everybody...?” Arreya asked softly, almost in a whisper. She approached Kaoshin and rubbed his hair lovingly. “What happened?”

Kaoshin slowly opened his eyes and revealed his bright blue-green irises that shone like a pair of diamonds. He looked at Arreya tiredly.

“There are only two of us here,” he answered softly but firmly. Kaoshin always spoke in a clear and firm tone. This was a result of his decades of experience in the military. Arreya really liked Kaoshin’s voice when he was speaking. Unfortunately, the man was stingy with his words. “I don’t know what happened yet, I’m still investigating.”

He narrowed his eyes and stretched his hand to touch Arreya’s long hair. The girl lowered her eyes. She was astonished to see that her hair that was in Kaoshin’s palm had become very long.

“When did my hair grow this much???” Arreya subconsciously covered her lips in disbelief. She usually only let her hair grow past her shoulders or waist. How did it suddenly become like this? Right now, her hair could even be fashioned into a floor mop!

“We have slept for a very long time ...” Finally, Kaoshin concluded. The man did not really experience changes in his short silver hair because, since joining the military, he had been given a special treatment that permanently controls hair growth. He looked up at Arreya apologetically. “I’m sorry, Princess ... you have been trapped here because of me.”