The white light swallowed everything.
Heaven.
The sky.
The gardens.
The angels.
Even sound itself.
For a moment, the universe held its breath.
Then—
something began to glow inside the void.
A faint ember…
a spark…
a heartbeat made of starlight.
Selara opened her eyes first, tears still clinging to her lashes.
"Arhaan…?" she whispered into the blinding emptiness.
Kael stood beside her, fists trembling as he braced for the worst.
"Brother… come back…"
But Arhaan was no longer kneeling.
No longer bleeding light.
No longer cracking apart.
He was rising.
---
THE NEW FORM
Where a mortal body had been, a silhouette now floated —
shaped like Arhaan, yet made of swirling gold and white flame.
His "skin" was translucent, glowing with the patterns of constellations.
His heartbeat pulsed like a distant sun.
The air itself shifted around him, bending to the rhythm of his existence.
Heaven's sky brightened with every pulse of his new heart.
Kael stepped forward, stunned.
"What… what are you?"
The star-shaped figure looked down at them — and when he spoke, his voice was layered:
Arhaan's mortal tone,
the Song of Creation,
and a soft cosmic hum intertwined.
"I am still myself," he said gently.
"But I have become… more."
---
THE REBORN HEAVEN
The ground below trembled — not with fear, but with life.
Flowers burst from the stone.
Marble reshaped itself.
The sky ignited with colors never seen before:
blues mixed with gold, violets swirling like nebula dust.
Wherever Arhaan looked, light followed.
His presence didn't command Heaven —
it awakened it.
Selara fell to her knees, overwhelmed.
"Arhaan… you've become… a star."
Arhaan's light flickered with warmth.
"Not a star," he corrected softly.
"A guardian. A guide.
The Song needed a vessel that wouldn't break…"
He looked at his new glowing hands.
"…so it made one."
---
THE ANGELS REACT
Angels gathered from every corner of the realm, breathless and trembling as they beheld Arhaan's new form.
Some bowed in reverence.
Some wept openly.
Some shielded their eyes from the brilliance.
A Seraph with six wings stepped forward.
"Is this… what Heaven becomes now?"
Arhaan floated down, touching the ground gently.
His light softened so the angels could approach.
"Heaven becomes what you choose," he said.
"I am not your king.
Not your ruler.
Not your judge."
His flame pulsed warmly.
"I am simply… your dawn."
A murmur of awe swept through the angelic ranks.
They looked at him not with fear —
but with hope.
---
THE COSMIC AWAKENING
But suddenly—
Arhaan's body flared.
His flames grew brighter, rising upward like a solar bloom.
He lifted into the air involuntarily, head tilted back as vast cosmic energy poured out of him.
Kael shouted, "ARHAAN! WHAT'S HAPPENING?!"
Selara grabbed Kael's arm.
"He's not destabilizing — he's ascending!"
The sky split open.
Behind Arhaan, galaxies flickered into view.
A doorway of pure cosmic light formed, turning the heavens into a window of deep space.
Arhaan looked back at them —
and for the first time, his star-like eyes shimmered with emotion.
"Heaven is safe now," he said.
"You all are safe."
Kael's voice cracked.
"You're leaving us…?"
Arhaan shook his head gently.
"No.
I will always be here.
Just not as before."
The cosmic light wrapped around him, lifting him higher.
He became brighter…
brighter…
brighter—
Until he was a second sun hovering above the skies of Heaven.
---
THE STAR ABOVE
The light faded.
Arhaan's body transformed into a radiant star —
glowing gold and white, hanging peacefully above the realm.
It pulsed like a heartbeat.
Gentle.
Warm.
Alive.
Selara whispered, voice trembling,
"He… became the first Star-God…"
Kael looked up, tears in his eyes but smiling.
"No," he murmured.
"He became Arhaan.
Just… bigger."
Angels fell to their knees.
Jinn bowed their heads.
Mortals across the world looked up and saw a new star in the sky —
brighter than any other,
comforting,
guiding.
A star that sang softly.
A star that watched over them.
A star that was once a boy who refused to bow.