The Starfall Crater was silent.
No birds. No wind. No breath of life.
Just scorched earth, ancient stone, and a growing shadow at its center—Veyrix, cloaked in the void.
Arielle stood across from him, her hair glowing like a comet's trail, her eyes flickering between gold and midnight. She was no longer just Kael, nor simply Arielle.
She was becoming something new.
> "I won't let you take this world," she said, her voice layered with both her lives.
Veyrix tilted his head.
> "You already did."
---
The Origin of the Shadow
Ayden reached the crater too late to stop her.
But Aetheron met him on the edge, carrying an ancient relic—a starlit orb that pulsed with truth.
> "There is something Kael never told you."
Ayden took the orb. It lit up with memory.
A flash.
Kael kneeling before the Celestial Council.
A plea.
> "Let me save the boy."
Another flash.
A hand behind the throne—Veyrix, imprisoned in celestial shadow, watching Kael with envy.
Then—Kael falling. And as she did, her light split.
Part of it became Arielle.
The other half awakened Veyrix.
> "She didn't just fall to save you, Ayden," Aetheron said softly. "She fell… to release him."
---
The Battle of Light and Void
Arielle raised her hands, summoning starlight from the heavens.
Veyrix responded with silence—a silence so deep it swallowed magic.
Energy clashed like galaxies colliding. Lightning of memory, fire of forgotten time, winds that blew backwards through history.
> "You're made of regret," Arielle cried. "But I'm made of love!"
He struck her with a pulse of shadow.
She fell to one knee.
But didn't break.
Ayden entered the field just as Veyrix prepared to deliver the final blow.
> "Don't!" Ayden shouted. "She's more than Kael now! She's what you wanted to be!"
Veyrix paused.
For just a second.
---
A Love That Defies Fate
Ayden ran to Arielle, pulled her into his arms.
> "You're not alone," he whispered. "And you never were."
Their hands locked.
Starlight surged—not from Kael, not from Arielle—but from their bond.
It struck Veyrix in the chest.
Not to destroy.
To remember.