A/N : Thank you for choosing to read my rewrite of Wish! For all who are here for Star Boy, he comes in around Chapter 7. There's some groundwork and worldbuilding we have to cover before we get to him. This is going to be a long-form story of around 60,000 words (novel-length), anywhere from 32 - 35 chapters long. I hope you'll enjoy the journey!
I've had so much fun writing this story and if you like what you read, a comment would be much appreciated :)
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There was once a boy who knew nothing but decay. Born in the smoldering twilight of an empire, he noted the change of seasons by disease and marked the years in wars. He didn't know his mother and his father was merely a phantom that plagued his memory from time to time. The last physical remnant of the man was a ring on a thin leather strap that held fast to the child's neck.
A small weed of a thing, the boy grew into a feral creature. He stole when he could, and starved when he couldn't. With his black eyes and waxy face, he scared many in the villages he inhabited. Moving like a wraith along the narrow pathways and alleys, he had several priests called to exorcise him over the years. But when they'd bring their holy fury, they only found an emaciated boy beyond their crucifix.
With nothing but the dirty clothes on his back he made his way through the continent. Evading thieves and knights alike, he slept in trees because they were well off the ground and easily defensible with a few heavy stones. He'd developed a dead-accurate aim over the years, no man had ever caught him, and he was determined to keep it that way. After all, he'd lived his life alone and he liked it fine.
So went the majority of his adolescence, until one night when he was perched aloft in a massive apple tree. He lay back on a generous bough, devouring yet another of the fruit that was within arm's reach, when he noticed a line of fire slice the night sky. Startled, he nearly dropped the half-eaten apple. He grappled with it until he fell to the freshly tilled ground below.
His yelp as loud as a church bell in the empty orchard, the boy cursed his clumsiness and felt around for his lost prize. Finding it in the dark, he shoved the fruit back in his mouth. It tasted like soil, but he ate it without complaint. Wiping off the residual stickiness he remembered again the comet that had cleaved the night. Curiosity overtook him and he made his way toward where it ought to have landed.
His trek was much longer than he anticipated, stumbling through ivy and stone, his journey took him deep into the forest. He held his breath at every broken twig and tensed at the far-off howling of wolves. By the time he discovered the impact site, dawn was starting the break on the horizon. He could see where the earth had cracked and bowed upon collision. The boy dropped on all fours and scaled the crater. He kept low, peaking over the top to see down into the trench.
At first all he saw was a bundle of rags blowing in the soft breeze, that was until a slender leg adjusted itself to curl back into shadow. He pulled himself up and stared further, blinking to clear his vision. No, that was certainly a leg. A women's leg to be precise. What was a woman doing falling from the sky?
The first rays of sun touched the edges of the pit and the strange woman stood to greet them. She was tall to an abnormal degree and her movements were too smooth to be human. She walked with precise posture and may as well have been wearing a lavish gown rather than a bunch of dirty rags. The boy sniffed at this display, throwing his legs over the side, he sat there kicking the air, "Lady, what do they call you?"
The woman started at this sudden question. She turned to look up at the unexpected guest perched atop the crater. The boy's heart skipped when he looked upon her face. Bright green eyes glinted against her olive skin and her lips curled into a dangerous smile.
"And who is this imp who has the audacity to address a queen?"
"Queen?!" he guffawed, "Queen of rags more like!"
The woman's eye brow rose at his jest, her smile waning, "I say again, what is your name?"
"I haven't got one, miss."
"Impossible, you must go by something."
"Boy mostly, Welp other times. I told you, I don't have one."
"Well then...Boy, if that is indeed how you go by. Come down here, I wish to see you better."
He fidgeted, he didn't like the look in her eyes, "I much like sitting up here, miss-"
"YOUR HIGHNESS," she was quick to interrupt, her mouth dropping into a snarl, "If you please."
"MISS!" the boy jumped up to stand at the mouth of the crater, "I know what you are Miss, you're a demon! And I'm not gonna talk to you any longer! Certainly not, no way!" He made a brisk turn away from the hole only to find the lithe woman staring down at him. The boy gasped, stuttering back. His toes caught on the edge of the great chasm and his arms windmilled in a desperate fight against gravity. With a beleaguered sigh, the woman grabbed the front of his dirty shirt and pulled him away from certain death. He landed on his knees at her feet, his heart beating in his ears.
"There now," she cooed, stroking his matted hair, "Was it really all that hard?"
The boy tensed and scuttled away. Crawling backwards, he never dropped eye contact," I want to go home...your highness."
"Home?" the queen crept toward him, "But you don't have one, Boy."
"I-I never told you tha-"
"You didn't have to," she reached where he was frozen in place and knelt down. Her slender fingers bushed the mop of hair out of his eyes, " I know a wild animal when I see one."
With her face so close to his, he was again struck by her beauty. She was a perfect marriage between ethereal and earthly, his heart paused in his chest, "Who are you?"
"I am Cassiopeia, queen of Aethiopia. I'm sure you've seen me in the histories."
The boy shook his heard, "I read no books, your highness. I don't know how."
"Pity, you seem intelligent enough." The queen stood and extended her hand down to the stupefied boy, "I can teach you to read."
He regarded the hand like a cobra, "But only noblemen read. What use do I have for that?"
"Intelligent yet daft!" She laughed, turning her head up to the lavender dawn, "I offer you opportunity you silly creature!"
He continued to stare, a rabbit unsure of the wolf hovering over him.
The queen softened her voice, speaking in lilting tones, "I can keep you from starving little one. You can have all the finest clothes and the richest cuisine. You can possess knowledge older than time itself and even beat back the decay of age. Boy, I wish to make you my king."
"King.."
"Yes, just take my hand and it will be done."
The dream of satiated hunger and warm clothes floated behind the child's eyes. The woman's hand glowed in the new day, open and soft. His dirt-encrusted fingers reached toward the queen's, hovering just an inch away from her grasp. He swallowed and stared down those brilliant green eyes, "That sounds like the kind of deal a devil would make."
She sighed and chuckled to herself, "Well it's your decision to make. Am I a devil or aren't I?"
The boy chewed on his chapped lips. His mind whirled with the possibilities. In his short life he had been assured of his early demise. Loved by no one and known by very little, his was an existence bound to be erased from history. But there he was, at the foot of a queen, pondering the possibility of monarchy. What was he doing? This wasn't a hard decision at all! He shook his head to clear his superstitious thoughts and reached for her. His roughed hand entwining with hers.
A flash of light nearly blinded him. His free hand flew up in front of his face. Through slitted sight the petite figure of a girl appeared. He blinked the sunbursts out of his vision. All he could see was her eyes as they faded from emerald green to hazel, never once dropping their stare. He gulped, "Y-your majesty?"
The girl's laughter was like the delicate chime of sleigh bells. She pulled his hand to her cheek, "Call me Amaya."
YOU ARE READING
Of Stardust and Wishes (A Wish Rewrite)
Fanfiction"Salvē!" The golden specter repeated. She was in shock. That had to be it. All that tossing around in the water must have shaken her insides around enough to make her see things. She blinked a few times, but he was still there, looking even more con...
