Silence.
The kind that feels alive.
Aren lay buried beneath the wreckage, the air hot and thin. Every breath tasted like ash. The world above was gone — the surface replaced by the groaning heartbeat of twisted metal.
He coughed, dragging himself free of the rubble. His palms burned where molten dust had fused to skin, but even the pain felt distant. His head buzzed — a faint hum in his ears that wasn't sound but vibration, like something deep inside him was awake and listening.
> "Do not hide from the dark, child of light."
Aren froze.
The voice wasn't real. It couldn't be.
Yet it came again — soft, layered, both near and infinite.
> "The stars have not forgotten their flame."
His pulse spiked. "Who's there?" His voice cracked, echoing down the tunnel.
Only the hiss of steam answered.
He pressed a hand to his chest, feeling the faint pulse of the Stellar Flame. It wasn't rage now — it was alive, whispering. Every spark that crawled across his skin seemed to breathe. He staggered forward through the dark, each step crunching on glass and bone.
Then came another sound — faint, mechanical, rhythmic.
The Seekers.
Their halos of blue light cut through the smoke ahead, moving with precision, scanning the wreckage. He ducked behind a broken pipe, heart hammering. The nearest drone tilted its head, sensors whirring softly.
> "Resonance trace persists," it said. "Subject proximity confirmed."
Aren swallowed.
He closed his eyes and thought of home — the tiny room above the scrapyard, his sister's laughter, his father's hands fixing broken circuits. Gone.
He couldn't hide forever.
The whisper returned, almost kind now.
> "The flame was never meant to be caged."
Something in his chest responded. The air thickened. The steam shimmered faintly around him, glowing with a golden hue. The Seekers paused — detecting the change.
Then the tunnel breathed.
A surge of Astralis erupted outward — pure light and heat. The Seekers screamed in distorted static, their wings disintegrating as molten light consumed them. Aren fell to his knees, gasping. His skin glowed like starlight beneath soot.
The hum faded. The whisper vanished.
He was alive — but not safe.
When the echo settled, Aren realized something terrifying.
He hadn't summoned that power out of anger.
It had answered him.
---
Aren looked up, the fading light of the Starcore still burning in his eyes.
The world had changed — and so had he.
———
✦ Author's Note ✦
That's the end of The Ashes of Sector Eleven.
From the ruins, Aren has taken his first step toward the stars.
Thank you for reading this far — your support means everything.
The next chapter of his evolution begins soon.
— Orbit Dusk ✦