For the first time in an age,
the Eternal Star flickered.
Arhaan's light — once the steady heart of the heavens — rippled like a dying flame.
Every archway of Celestium shuddered.
The angels froze, staring upward in dread.
Kael felt it like a blade in his chest.
> "Arhaan… what's happening to you?"
But the Star could not speak.
Its glow dimmed in slow, painful pulses — like a heartbeat drowning.
---
I. THE CRACK IN THE SKY
Deep in the outer veil, where creation meets nothingness,
a small crack of black fire pulsed.
It whispered.
And the whisper carried across the planes.
Arhaan turned all his energy to seal it — but the Abyss pushed back, ancient and patient.
Selara closed her eyes.
Her wings trembled.
> "This is no simple corruption.
Something is pulling at him… draining the Star from the edges inward."
Kael clenched his spear.
> "Is it Dravonn? Velistra?"
Selara shook her head slowly.
> "No. This is older.
Older than the first angels.
Older than the First Law."
---
II. THE STAR'S STRAIN
Arhaan tried to brighten his radiance, but each surge took longer — and cost more.
The light around him began to tear, thin strings of silver unraveling from his form.
Selara gasped.
"He's losing threads of his existence…"
Kael's voice cracked with anger.
> "We cannot just watch him die!"
But Arhaan finally spoke — not with light, but with a whisper that shook the heavens.
> "It is the Abyss.
It remembers me."
The temperature plummeted.
Every angel instinctively spread their wings in fear.
---
III. A MEMORY OF BEFORE
Kael stepped closer.
"What do you mean, remembers you?"
Arhaan's glow dimmed further.
> "When the First Dawn rose,
I was not a Star.
I was a weapon."
Selara's eyes widened.
Arhaan continued, voice trembling:
> "Forged to imprison the Abyss.
To bind its first voice beneath creation.
I was made to shine…
so it could never speak again."
The truth hit Kael like lightning.
> "So if your light weakens—
the Abyss can… speak?"
Arhaan did not answer.
He didn't have to.
---
IV. THE SHADOW ECHO
Below the heavens, in Arkhor's throne hall,
Varkul Dravonn paused mid-step.
A cold breeze brushed his ear.
A whisper followed.
> "…the Star weakens…"
His heart pounded.
Not in fear — but in triumph.
Velistra materialized behind him like spilled ink.
"Do you feel it, mortal?" she whispered.
"When the Star was whole, you were nothing.
But now?
Every flicker brings you closer to the throne of a broken heaven."
Varkul didn't smile.
His eyes burned with purpose.
> "Good.
Let it fall."
---
V. BACK IN HEAVEN
As the Star dimmed further,
the gates of Celestium groaned — ancient locks shifting.
Kael felt the change.
"Something is opening… something we sealed ages ago."
Selara nodded, trembling.
> "If Arhaan fades any more…
the first prison breaks."
An enormous tremor shook the skies.
Pieces of starlight rained like shards of glass.
Kael grabbed Arhaan's collapsing form, shouting:
> "Hold on, brother!"
But Arhaan's glow flickered violently —
a wave of darkness rippling through him like poison.
He whispered:
> "The Abyss… knows my name."
And then his light
collapsed inward,
shrinking to half its size.
The heavens screamed.
---
VI. A STAR ON ITS KNEES
For the first time in creation,
the Eternal Star hung low…
dim, trembling, struggling to breathe.
Kael stood frozen.
Tears streamed down Selara's face.
Arhaan's voice was barely audible.
> "If I fall…
the world below is the first to die."
And from the crack in the cosmos,
a voice answered him.
One that had not spoken since before angels existed.
Deep, ancient, hungry:
> "Arhaaaaan…"
"I am coming back."
The last heavenly lights flickered like dying candles.
The Star trembled.
And far below,
Velistra smiled.