The crack widened.
Light poured from it,too bright, too cold, too ancient. It flooded the chamber in waves, turning the carved stone walls into silhouettes. Every breath Liuxue took felt thin, scraped raw by the pressure in the air.
Yining clung to her arm, trembling so violently that Liuxue could feel it through their sleeves.
"Liuxue," Yining whispered, voice high with panic. "That thing… whatever is coming… it feels wrong."
Wrong.
Unfamiliar.
But watching her.
Liuxue's seal pulsed in frantic bursts, each one more painful than the last. The burn was nothing like before. Earlier, it had felt like a warning.
Now it felt like a summons.
The Starborn man moved in front of her so quickly the air seemed to ripple around him. His posture wasn't calm anymore,
no controlled elegance, no composed mystery.
He was braced as if preparing for attack.
"Stay behind me," he repeated, voice low.
Liuxue swallowed hard. "Do you know what's coming?"
His jaw tightened. "I know enough to be afraid."
The crack hissed open with a tearing sound that was like silk ripping underwater.
The golden light sharpened into shapes.
Lines.
Patterns.
Runes that shimmered like living flame.
Yining whimpered, clapping a hand over her mouth. "That… That's celestial script…"
Liuxue looked at her sharply. "Celestial?"
But before Yining could answer, the rift let out a sound.
A single note.
Low… hollow… ancient.
And familiar.
Liuxue stiffened. "I've… heard that before."
Both Yining and the Starborn man snapped their gazes toward her.
"When?" he demanded.
Liuxue pressed a trembling hand to her forehead. "I—I don't know. I can't remember. But it feels like a place I've stood in before. A place I was supposed to never return to."
The man flinched. The reaction was small, but she caught it.
He knew.
He knew exactly what she meant.
And he feared it.
Before Liuxue could press him further, something pushed through the golden rift.
At first, it wasn't a shape.
It was wind.
A force.
A presence so heavy it felt like kneeling under the weight of a throne.
The torches blew out.
Darkness swallowed the chamber.
Only the golden light remained.
Liuxue's breath caught as something stepped through the light.
A figure.
Not like the twilight being—no flickering mist, no soft distortion. This presence was sharp. Solid. Each movement deliberate, precise. As if even the air respected its existence.
A silhouette of armor.
Tall.
Regal.
Terrifying.
Golden cracks of light ran along the figure's form, but no face could be seen beneath the helm.
The temperature dropped instantly.
Liuxue's legs wobbled.
"Who… is that?" she whispered.
The Starborn man didn't answer.
He stepped in front of her fully, spreading one arm slightly to push her back.
His voice came out like steel drawn from a sheath.
"Liuxue, do not speak to it."
The armored figure tilted its head slightly, as though the motion itself was assessing, calculating.
Then it spoke.
Its voice was distorted—echoes layered upon echoes—neither male nor female.
More like many voices speaking in unison.
"We have found you."
Liuxue's blood turned to ice.
Her heart stopped.
The shape took one step forward.
The runes on its armor blazed.
Each footfall shook the stones beneath them, sending dust into the air.
Yining screamed and stumbled back. "It's looking at Liuxue! Why is it looking at her?!"
Liuxue's pulse hammered.
The Starborn man held out a hand, summoning a barrier of starfire. The air crackled with violent energy.
"You cannot touch her," he said.
The golden figure did not pause.
It simply walked forward.
The Starborn's barrier—something that earlier had repelled the void itself—shimmered like glass against a storm. The force pressed against it, cracks forming instantly, splintering outward.
Liuxue clutched his robe sleeve. "Your barrier… it's breaking!"
"I know," he snapped, voice tightening. "Step back."
The pressure intensified.
A deafening hum filled the air, vibrating through Liuxue's bones. She pressed her hands over her ears, but it didn't help.
Then—
The golden figure halted.
Not because it was stopped.
Because it chose to.
And its helm turned toward Liuxue again.
She felt its attention like a hand against her throat.
"Your seal is incomplete," the voices said.
Liuxue froze.
Something inside her chest responded to the words, twisting violently.
"You have forgotten us."
The room spun.
Her knees collapsed.
The Starborn man caught her instantly, arms closing around her.
"Don't listen," he breathed urgently, voice shaking. "Liuxue, don't let it in."
The golden figure raised a hand.
A single gesture.
The seal on Liuxue's chest blazed open.
It felt like claws ripping down her body,it was like memories trying to flood through a door forced far too wide.
A scream tore from her throat.
Yining shouted her name.
The Starborn man swore, pulling her tighter against him, starfire bursting from his palms as he attempted to block the attack.
But the golden force tore through his energy like paper.
Liuxue choked on her own breath, eyes squeezing shut as visions—blurred, disjointed, terrifying—flashed through her mind.
A throne of light.
A crown of broken gold.
A battlefield drenched in starlight.
A voice whispering her true name.
A hand reaching for hers—
And then letting go.
Her heart lurched.
"Stop!" she cried, voice cracking. "I don't know what you want from me!"
The golden figure finally lowered its hand.
The pressure vanished instantly.
Liuxue collapsed fully this time, trembling uncontrollably.
The figure's helm tilted again.
"You will remember," the voices said.
"And when you do… we will collect what you left behind."
Before anyone could react, the golden rift snapped shut.
Light vanished.
Silence slammed into the room.
Yining collapsed to her knees, sobbing in shock.
Liuxue gasped for air, her vision swimming, her body shaking so violently she could barely hold herself up.
The Starborn man knelt in front of her, one hand gripping her shoulder, the other hovering over her seal as it dimmed in painful pulses.
He looked shaken.
Truly shaken.
"Liuxue," he said hoarsely. "Don't move. Breathe. Just breathe."
Her voice trembled. "What… what was that?"
He pressed his forehead briefly to hers, as if steadying both of them.
"That," he whispered, "was your past coming to reclaim you."
Liuxue's breath caught.
"And next time," he continued, "I may not be able to hold it back."