It rained stardust in Edenvale.
Not from the sky.
But from her.
Arielle opened her eyes just before dawn.
They glowed faintly—no longer fully human, but not yet divine.
And in her chest, the locket had vanished.
Replaced by something far more powerful.
> A memory that wasn't hers.
A name that didn't belong to this world.
> Azenar.
A whisper across her soul.
> "The one who watches the stars die."
---
The Warning
Calen felt the shift instantly.
He dropped the starglass he was holding—it shattered into smoke.
> "It's awake," he breathed. "The old one. The true destroyer."
Ayden turned from the window. "What are you talking about?"
> "Not Veyrix. Not Kael. Not any of us. There's something older watching the veil. Azenar—the one who feeds on endings."
Ayden's blood ran cold. "Is it here?"
Calen's answer chilled him further.
> "No. It's coming."
---
Arielle's Vision
Arielle stood alone in a dream of stars.
But unlike before, the stars weren't warm.
They were dying.
One by one, their light winked out, swallowed by a shadow with no form—only hunger.
And in the center of the void stood a mirror.
She stepped toward it.
Inside, she saw herself—not as Kael, not as Arielle, but something else entirely.
Her voice echoed in the void:
> "What am I becoming?"
From the blackness, a voice answered.
> "You are the key and the lock. The memory and the weapon. The star that forgot… and the one they will never let remember."
Back in Edenvale
Arielle woke with tears in her eyes.
Ayden rushed to her, holding her face in his hands.
"You're here," he said. "You came back."
She nodded weakly. "But something else came with me."
Her hand trembled as she held it up.
From her palm rose a faint glyph—glowing blue-gold, pulsating like a heartbeat.
"Azenar knows I exist now," she whispe
red. "And it's coming for me. For this world."
Calen appeared in the doorway.
"Then we prepare for war."