Chapter 1: The Falling Star
The night sky over the quiet village of Eloria stretched endlessly, a velvet canvas scattered with silver stars. Most nights, those stars were a comfort to the villagers—tiny lanterns watching over the fields, the rivers, and the little cottages huddled together against the forest's edge. But for sixteen-year-old Kairo Ren, the stars were more than just distant lights. They were promises. Promises that somewhere beyond the horizon, beyond the mundane rhythm of farm work and firewood chopping, a greater destiny waited for him.
He sat on the worn wooden fence outside his guardian's cottage, legs dangling, gazing up at the heavens as the wind rustled the wheat fields. His dark hair fell untidily over his eyes, but he didn't brush it away. Instead, his mind wandered.
"One day, I'll find out what I'm meant for," he whispered, clutching the small wooden pendant around his neck—his only memento from parents he never knew.
The night was calm, the air cool with the scent of rain-soaked earth. Then the stillness shattered.
A streak of blinding light tore across the heavens, burning gold and white. The villagers gasped from their doorsteps, pointing, shouting in awe and fear. Kairo's heart skipped. It wasn't just a falling star—it was descending fast, closer and closer, until the air trembled with a deep, thunderous hum.
The star crashed into the forest beyond the fields with a shockwave that sent birds shrieking into the sky. The ground trembled beneath Kairo's feet, and a column of blue-white radiance pulsed upward like a beacon.
For a long moment, no one moved. The villagers murmured nervously, elders warning that such things were omens. But Kairo's chest tightened with something different: curiosity, a pull so strong it felt like the stars themselves tugged at him.
Before doubt could take root, he leapt from the fence and sprinted toward the forest.
The woods were alive with whispers of leaves and the heavy scent of pine. Shadows swallowed the moonlight as Kairo pushed deeper, guided by the faint, rhythmic pulse of light that flickered between the trees. His breath came fast, his heart faster, but he didn't stop.
Branches clawed at his arms. The ground dipped, roots catching his boots. Yet the glow drew him onward until the trees opened into a clearing that glowed like the heart of another world.
At its center lay the crater.
The earth was scorched, steaming, as though struck by divine fire. And there, embedded in the middle, was not a rock, but a shard—a jagged crystal blade fragment, glowing with an ethereal silver-blue light. It hummed, not with sound, but with vibration that seemed to echo inside his bones.
Kairo stepped forward, unable to resist. His hand lifted of its own accord, trembling as he reached for it. The moment his fingers brushed the shard, light flared, swallowing the clearing.
Pain seared through him like fire and ice. He fell to his knees, clutching his chest as the shard dissolved into pure energy and poured into his body. His vision blurred. Symbol