Flashback: Before Yul Had a Name
Somewhere between kingdoms, before the first fire was lit, there was a thing made of hunger.
He had no name.
Only appetites.
He moved through the night like silk and sin, cloaked in starlight, eyes glowing gold — not warm gold, but burning.
He wasn't cruel.Cruelty required conscience.He simply… was.
He fed on emotion, yes — but not just passion or lust.
He fed on guilt.On grief.On the taste of human contradictions.
And when he looked into the mirror of a soul… he saw how much they wanted to be devoured.
One night, he looked into the face of a boy who didn't run.Who simply said: "If you're going to destroy me, make it beautiful."
Yul never forgot that.
It was the first time he felt anything like regret.
And when the hunters came…
He didn't fight.
He let himself burn.
But the fire didn't kill him.
It changed him.
Monarch's Studio, Present Day
Practice Room 3A, 2:31 PM
REX sat on the floor, drenched in sweat, chest heaving.
A beat pounded through the speakers — aggressive, fractured, tribal.
Kai was scribbling lyrics on a whiteboard:"We were born from ash and breathless gods."
Zayn was working on choreography — fast, sharp movements, like a fight in disguise.
EO sat curled on the floor, mouthing melodies to himself.
And Min…
Min stood near the mirrors, eyes unfocused.
He wasn't singing.Wasn't moving.
He was… listening.
Monarch's New Song (working title: "STARDIVE")
(Verse 1 – Kai)Fell from the sky with a starlight grin,Didn't ask why, just let you in.You crash like a comet in my chest,But I've never felt more blessed.
(Pre-Chorus – EO & Min)No maps, no guide, we ride the light,Laughing in the dark before it bites.
(Chorus – All)Stardive, into you I go,No gravity, no fear to show.Even if we break the night,We'll fall like stars and shine too bright.
(Bridge – Jiwon)If I burn, I burn in color,With my brothers, not another.Hearts on fire, eyes wide—This is how we learn to fly.
(Outro – All)Dive with me, no goodbyes—Just stardust, just starlives.
Min's Awakening
Mid-rehearsal, Min staggered.
Jiwon noticed first. "Min—?"
Min pressed his palms against the mirror, jaw tight. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Zayn asked.
Min's breath caught.
The mirror was whispering.
Not words. Not language. But something dark and deep and old. Like the echoes of Yul's presence after a storm.
He turned, eyes wide, voice shaking.
"There's something in the glass," he whispered. "Watching us."
After Practice
Jiwon sat with Min outside the studio, both sipping water.
"Tell me exactly what you felt," Jiwon said.
Min hesitated. "Like… static. But under my skin. Like when we performed Veil of Flame. Like him."
Jiwon closed his eyes.
"You're awakening," he said.
Min stared. "Awakening what?"
"I don't know yet. But your blood's changing. You're sensing things you shouldn't be able to."
Min gripped his arm. "Am I becoming one of them?"
"No," Jiwon said. "You're becoming something else."
Equinox's Hidden Room
Yul lit a candle with his fingertip.
Rien entered with a small wooden box. Inside was a mirror fragment, jagged and stained with ichor.
"It's starting," Rien said. "The veil between here and the Otherworld is thinning. That thing that attacked Monarch? It wasn't alone."
"I know," Yul murmured. "And now they'll come for the ones closest to him."
He closed the box slowly.
"Min will need protection."
Rien tilted his head. "You're protecting them now?"
"No," Yul said quietly. "I'm protecting him from losing them."