Skyheaven District, One Week After Finding the Record
Nana lay curled on her bed, tears streaming silently down her face, her injured finger throbbing beneath the bandage.
Another failed search. Another day of running through the city with Xavier's picture, showing it to strangers who looked at her like she was crazy.
Another evening of coming home empty-handed, heartbroken, exhausted.
She'd been to every district in Linkon over the past week. Lower city, mid-city, commercial zones, residential areas. She'd visited cafes where she thought Xavier might stop for coffee. Parks where he might sit to think. Hospitals, government offices, shopping centers—anywhere a twenty-five-year-old man might reasonably be found.
She'd shown his picture to hundreds of people. Thousands, maybe.
"Have you seen this man? Silver hair, blue eyes, about this tall?"
The responses were always the same. Confusion. Polite negatives. Concerned looks at the desperate young woman clutching a blurry ID photo like a lifeline.
One woman had called security, thinking Nana was stalking someone.
Another had suggested, gently, that Nana "seek professional help for her obsession."
A teenager had laughed and said, "That face? That's like something out of a fairy tale. People don't actually look like that."
But they did. Xavier did. He was REAL, not a fantasy, not a delusion born from too many romantic stories.Nana knew he was real because she'd loved him across five lifetimes. Because she'd died in his arms and he'd died in hers.
Because she'd been a star searching the cosmos for his consciousness. Because she'd been reborn with every memory of him carved into her soul.
But nobody believed her. Not the strangers. Not even her parents.
"Nana, sweetheart," her mother had said yesterday, voice thick with worry.
"This obsession with finding the 'crown star prince' isn't healthy. Maybe you should talk to someone? A therapist? You've been reading too many fantasy novels, spending too much time alone..."
Her father had been more direct.
"There's no such thing as a man who glows with crown-shaped birthmarks and carries memories from ancient kingdoms. You're chasing a fairy tale. It's time to let go and live in reality".
They thought she was delusional. Thought the stress of being a prodigy child, of growing up too fast, of carrying their enormous expectations had finally broken her mind.
They didn't know. Couldn't know. How could Nana explain that she was a centuries-old soul trapped in a twenty-year-old body? That she'd loved the same person across five lifetimes? That her "fairy tale prince" was actually a reborn star who'd traded his immortality to be human again?.
She couldn't. So she'd stopped trying to explain. Had locked herself in her room instead, nursing her injuries (a scraped knee from falling in a crowd, a cut finger from desperately clutching Xavier's photo printed on paper), and crying herself to exhaustion.
I found your university record, Nana thought desperately, staring at the ceiling through blurred vision. I know you're enrolled at Linkon University. I know you're studying Ancient History and Mythology. I have all the information I need. So why can't I find you?
Because she'd been too afraid. Too afraid to actually go to the university, to walk those halls, to potentially face the moment of truth.
What if she went there and didn't find him? What if the record was old, outdated, wrong? What if Xavier had dropped out, transferred, moved away?
What if she'd been chasing a ghost?.
But worse—what if she found him and he didn't recognize her? What if rebirth had changed her too much? What if he'd moved on, stopped searching, accepted that they'd never meet again?.
The fear had paralyzed her. So instead of going to the university—the one place she KNEW Xavier should be—Nana had spent a week running around the entire city, searching everywhere EXCEPT the one location that mattered.
Because searching meant hope. But finding—or not finding—meant finality.
Nana clutched her pillow tighter, fresh tears soaking into the fabric. Her body ached from a week of non-stop searching. Her heart ached from sixty years (thirty as a soul, thirty as a human) of separation.
"I'm so tired, Xavier," she whispered to the empty room. "I'm so tired of searching. Of hoping. Of living in a world where you exist but I can't find you. How did you do this for centuries? How did you survive watching me die four times and still keep searching?"Her tablet lay on the nightstand, screen dark. The university record was still saved there. Linkon University, Graduate Program, Ancient History and Mythology. Current student. Active enrollment.
All she had to do was go there. Tomorrow. First thing in the morning. Walk into the building, find the department office, ask where Xavier—
But she didn't even know his last name in this lifetime. The record had been partially corrupted, showing only "Xavier, X." and a student ID number.
Still. She could search. Could describe him. Could show his photo to professors, students, administrative staff.Tomorrow, Nana promised herself. Tomorrow I'll be brave. Tomorrow I'll go to the university and search every building until I find him. No more running to random cities. No more showing his picture to strangers. Tomorrow I'll go to the one place he SHOULD be.
Tomorrow.
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Linkon University Library.
Xavier stood frozen in the library aisle, his hand still outstretched toward the young woman who'd been climbing the ladder.
"Sorry,"
He'd said, bowing politely when she'd turned around with confused eyes—brown, not the warm dark eyes he remembered.
"I thought you were someone else."
The woman had given him an odd look and hurried away, probably thinking he was some creep who made a habit of touching random strangers.
Xavier hadn't noticed. Was too busy staring at his empty hand, feeling the ghost of Nana's shoulder beneath his fingers—or rather, feeling the absence of it.
Another false alarm. Another girl with auburn hair and a small frame who'd made his heart stop for a split second before reality crushed him.
This was the fourth time this week. Xavier had become hyper-aware of every short woman with dark hair, every laugh that sounded remotely like Nana's, every gesture that reminded him of the way she used to move.
He was seeing ghosts everywhere. And each time he realized his mistake, it hurt a little more.
She's not here, the cruel voice in his head whispered. She didn't reborn. Breaking the curse meant she couldn't return. You traded your immortality for nothing. You'll live this one mortal lifetime alone and then die permanently, and you'll never see her again.
"No," Xavier said aloud, his voice rough. "She's here. She HAS to be here. I felt her soul. She was conscious, aware, searching for me. She wouldn't just... disappear."
An elderly librarian gave him a concerned look. Xavier realized he was talking to himself and turned away, embarrassed.
He glanced up through the library's glass ceiling, toward the floating Skyheaven District visible in the distance.
Lights twinkled from the floating city like artificial stars, beautiful and completely inaccessible to someone like Xavier who could barely afford university tuition, let alone the exorbitant cost of Skyheaven residency.
What if she was reborn up there? Xavier thought, not for the first time. In the floating city, among the wealthy and privileged? I'd never find her.
They don't exactly publish resident directories, and the security wouldn't let someone like me anywhere near the place.
It was possible. Probable, even.
Nana had always been important—a princess, a queen, someone with status and power. If the universe had any consistency in its reincarnation patterns, she'd probably been born into another privileged family.
Which meant Xavier, a broke graduate student barely scraping by, would never reach her.
"Your Highness?"
Xavier blinked, realized someone was talking to him. He turned to find his advisor, Professor Chen, looking at him with concern.
"Sorry, you were... staring at the ceiling for five minutes,"
the professor said gently. "Are you alright? You've seemed distracted lately. Is everything okay with your research?"
"Fine," Xavier lied. "Just tired. Late night studying."
"Hmm." Professor Chen didn't look convinced.
"Your parents called me yesterday. They're worried about you. Something about you searching for a girl who died sixty years ago?"
Xavier's jaw tightened. His parents—kind people who'd raised him with love despite his strangeness—had been increasingly concerned about his "obsession." They'd staged multiple interventions, trying to convince him to "live in the present" instead of "chasing a historical ghost."
They'd even arranged dates with their friends' daughters. Nice girls, pretty girls, intelligent girls who looked at Xavier with interest and saw only a handsome, mysterious young man with unusual features.Xavier had refused every single one.
How could he date someone else? How could he even LOOK at another woman when his heart had belonged to the same person for over a century? When he'd watched her die four times and mourned her for decades? When he'd literally given up his immortality just for the chance to see her one more time?
"I'm not interested in dating,"
Xavier said flatly. "I appreciate their concern, but I'm fine. I'm just... focused on my research."
"Research on ancient Philos mythology,"
Professor Chen said, his tone carefully neutral.
"The kingdom that supposedly existed before recorded history. The Crown Star legend. The curse of eternal love."
He paused.
"Xavier, you know there's no historical evidence that Philos actually existed, right? It's considered a myth. A beautiful story, but ultimately fiction."
Xavier's hand moved unconsciously to his palm, where the crown-shaped birthmark pulsed faintly beneath his glove.
"What if it wasn't fiction? What if the stories were based on real events, just... misremembered across time?"
"Then you'd need proof. Archaeological evidence. Primary sources. Something concrete."
Professor Chen's expression softened.
"I know you're passionate about this topic. Your thesis proposal was brilliant. But Xavier—" He hesitated. "Don't lose yourself in stories. Don't sacrifice your present chasing a past that might never have existed."
But it DID exist, Xavier wanted to scream. I LIVED it. I was the Crown Star. I abandoned my kingdom. I cursed the girl I loved. I watched her die four times. I became a literal star for sixty years before trading my existence to be human again.
It's not a myth. It's MY LIFE.But he couldn't say any of that. So Xavier just nodded, said
"I understand, Professor," and excused himself.
He left the library as the sun set, walked through the university campus with his hands shoved in his pockets, his mind spiraling.
Five years. He'd been searching for five years—ever since he was old enough to really start researching, to hack databases, to access information. Five years of looking for any sign of Nana being reborn.
Nothing. Not a trace. Not even a whisper.
Xavier found himself at his favorite spot on campus—a quiet garden behind the Ancient History building, with a bench that overlooked the city. He sat heavily, stared up at the darkening sky where stars were beginning to appear.
The brightest star—the position where he used to exist—was still empty. A dark gap in the cosmos where his consciousness had once burned.
"I gave up eternity for this,"
Xavier whispered to the stars.
"Gave up everything for one more chance. And I can't find her. Sixty years since she died, thirty years since I was reborn, and I still can't find her. Starlight, where ARE you?"
His crown mark pulsed warmly, glowing faintly in the darkness. It always did this when he was emotional—responding to his feelings, his desperation, his love.
Xavier pulled off his glove to stare at the mark properly. Crown-shaped, silver light, pulsing like a heartbeat.
The remnant of what he'd been, the proof of his sacrifice, the symbol of everything he'd given up.
"I'd do it again,"
Xavier said quietly.
"Trade immortality a thousand times. Become human, become mortal, accept permanent death—all of it. Just for the chance to see you one more time. To hold you. To finally, FINALLY have a lifetime together where we both remember, both live, both get to be happy."
The mark glowed brighter, warm against his skin.
And then—
A sensation. Faint, barely there, like a tug at his chest. Like something pulling him, calling him, drawing him toward—
Xavier's head snapped up. The sensation was coming from... that direction. Toward the city center. Toward...
Toward Skyheaven.Xavier stood abruptly, his heart racing. He knew this feeling. Had felt it across four lifetimes—the connection between him and Nana, the bond that had survived deaths and rebirths and cosmic distances.
Their souls recognizing each other.
"Starlight?" Xavier breathed, turning toward the floating city with desperate hope.
"Is that you? Are you up there?"
The sensation pulsed again—stronger this time, insistent, like his soul was trying to tell him something his mind couldn't quite grasp.
She was here.
She was CLOSE. Maybe not in Skyheaven exactly, but somewhere in that direction. Somewhere within reach.
Xavier's hands trembled as he pulled out his phone, pulled up every search he'd ever done, every database he'd ever hacked, every scrap of information he'd collected.He was missing something. Some connection, some pattern, some—
Wait.
Xavier's breath caught. He pulled up the records of every girl born in Linkon twenty years ago (Nana's probable rebirth year, five years after his own). He'd searched these records before, but never with the specific criteria of...
Wealthy families. Skyheaven District. Prodigy children showing unusual intelligence from early age.
There. One result.
Angelina Wang. Born to the Wang family, tech moguls residing in Skyheaven. Noted in medical records for "exceptional cognitive development" and "unusual early language acquisition." Described by teachers as "seeming older than her age" and "asking questions far beyond typical childhood curiosity."
No photo in the records—Skyheaven families valued privacy. But the name. The same name. And the behavior patterns matched exactly what a reborn soul with intact memories might display.
"Nana," Xavier whispered, staring at the screen. "Oh god. Nana."
His Starlight had been reborn in Skyheaven. Had been living just above his head for twenty years.
They'd been in the same city, breathing the same air, existing in the same timeline, and he'd never known.Xavier was already running. Not toward Skyheaven—he couldn't reach it directly, couldn't get past the security even if he tried.
But toward the transit station, toward the main terminals where Skyheaven residents would come down to access the lower city.
If Nana had been reborn with her memories intact—and the records suggested she had—then she'd be searching for him too. Which meant eventually, inevitably, she'd come down to the city. To search. To find him.
All Xavier had to do was be visible. Be findable. Be in the places she might look.
Starting tomorrow, he'd spend every free moment in public spaces. The university quad. The main commercial district. The parks. Anywhere a searching Nana might go.
"I'm here,"
Xavier said aloud, not caring if anyone heard.
"Starlight, I'm here. I'm at Linkon University. I'm searching for you too. Please—please find me. I'm so tired of being apart."
The crown mark pulsed bright and warm, like his soul was crying out across the distance.
And somewhere in Skyheaven, unknown to Xavier, Nana stirred in her sleep. Dreamed of blue eyes and silver hair.
Woke with Xavier's name on her lips and the phantom sensation of a mark burning on her palm.
They were so close.
Just a little longer.
Just one more day.
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⭐⭐⭐
To be continued __