Fluorite Castle blazed with lights as the nobles danced gracefully in the ballroom; Wuyou Snake Manor's bonfires roared as the commoners held hands and sang and danced together.
At Russell's Dragon Riding Ceremony, all the clamor felt so vivid.
Yet as the host of this grand celebration, Russell himself felt a faint sense of loneliness amid the noise.
It could not exactly be called loneliness. More accurately, he felt a little out of place.
He left the ballroom and stepped onto the castle corridor, resting both hands on the railing as he gazed up at the star-filled sky. The stars were so densely packed together, yet though they seemed crowded side by side, each was actually separated by millions of light-years.
"Isn't that the same with people?" Russell thought.
But he was not one to wallow in sadness, and he quickly found something to lift his spirits. "But every star has its own planets and moons... Just like me. I have my parents, friends, Rossay, Polly, Harpe... and Ice Cream, too."
In his view,
though he was a lonely star, dragons, Phantom Beasts, and sprites still revolved around him.
A star drew its planets and moons through gravity, while he drew dragons, Phantom Beasts, and sprites through the spiritual power granted by contracts. His body might be lonely, but in the realm of the mind, he would never feel alone.
"Right, Polly?"
"Yes, Russell." Polly's voice rang out in his mind.
Russell liked talking with Polly because she was intelligent and talkative. She seemed to possess more "humanity" than "animal nature." Rossay and Harpe were also highly intelligent, but their "animal nature" was much stronger.
Strictly speaking, that "animal nature" was a kind of selfhood.
In Harpe's sense of self, Harpe was a Harpy Dragon, sharing the same origin as