The wind carried a strange chill not the cold of winter, but of centuries long gone.
Arka opened his eyes to a horizon he did not recognize. Where once stood the marble towers of Aurion, now rose steel and glass spires reaching higher than the mountains, humming with light and life. Flying vessels crossed the sky, and streets below pulsed with a rhythm both human and mechanical.
The world had changed.
And he… had outlived it.
He took a step forward, boots sinking into cracked stone. Beneath the modern glow, ruins of the old world slept remnants of the age he'd left behind. Statues of winged figures half-buried beneath neon vines. Fragments of star-metal once sacred, now melted into fuel for airships.
His reflection flashed in a window.
His hair was still white-silver, though faint streaks of black now ran through it. His eyes one gold, one dark reflected both dawn and dusk. And etched across his collarbone burned the mark that refused to fade: the intertwined fang and halo, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat.
He had fallen from the Rift… into the future.
"Where…" His voice rasped. "…am I?"
A faint hum answered him mechanical, but soft. A small drone hovered near, scanning his form. Its lens flickered blue, then red, then projected faint text into the air:
IDENTITY: UNKNOWN
BIOLOGICAL SIGNATURE: NON-COMPLIANT WITH HUMAN DATABASE
CELESTIAL ENERGY DETECTED — CLASS SIGMA ANOMALY.
Arka frowned. "Celestial energy… They still remember."
Before he could react, a sharp whistle split the air. A figure leaped down from a ledge above cloaked in black leather, mask reflecting the city's neon glow. The stranger landed soundlessly, raising a glowing rifle that hummed with divine circuitry.
"Hands where I can see them," the voice commanded female, steady, but laced with tension. "You're trespassing in New Aurion territory."
The name hit him like a memory. "Aurion?"
The woman hesitated. "Yeah. What's left of it. Now, state your code or I'll "
She stopped mid-sentence as the wind caught his cloak, revealing the mark burning faintly on his chest. Her rifle dropped a fraction. "That symbol… No. That's impossible."
Arka met her gaze. "You've seen it before."
"I've read about it," she said, voice trembling. "The mark of the Starwolf the one who defied Heaven. But that's just a myth. He vanished thousands of years ago."
Arka's lips curved faintly. "Then I suppose myths don't stay buried forever."
The woman blinked, confusion mixing with awe. "Who… are you?"
Before he could answer, a roar shook the city. Not mechanical primal. The buildings trembled as a vast silhouette rose from the river beyond the lights. Wings of iron, eyes of molten crystal a hybrid construct, both machine and beast.
The woman cursed under her breath. "Damn it, not again! Those things breach the barrier every full cycle"
Arka turned his gaze toward the creature.
The mark on his chest flared silver.
And from the air itself came a low, haunting sound a howl that reverberated through steel and storm.
Every light in the city flickered. The hybrid stopped mid-charge, its sensors glitching as energy warped around it. Clouds twisted into spirals, forming a faint silver ring high above.
The woman staggered back. "What… what did you just do?"
Arka didn't answer. He stepped forward, eyes glowing like twin eclipses. The ancient power the union of Heaven and Abyss surged within him once more, awakened by instinct.
He leaped. The world blurred. One swing of his blade cleaved through the hybrid's armor, splitting the metal as if it were glass. Silver energy erupted, scattering into the night like stars reborn.
When the light faded, the creature collapsed silent, unmoving.
The woman stared, speechless. "You… you just destroyed a Class Sigma aberration in one strike."
Arka sheathed his sword, the silver glow fading. "It wasn't the first time."
"Who are you?" she whispered again.
He looked up at the bleeding sky, where the stars pulsed faintly as if recognizing him.
"Arka," he said softly. "Once called the Wolf of Stars. Now… maybe something else."
From the shadow of the fallen machine, faint whispers rose echoes of celestial codes buried within its core. One of them formed a name he hadn't heard in centuries.
Aeltharion.
Arka's expression darkened. "So even the future isn't free of the past."
The woman approached cautiously. "If what you're saying is true… you might be the only one who can stop what's coming."
He turned to her. "And what's coming?"
She hesitated, then said, "They call it The Second Descent. The sky's been… cracking."
Arka's gaze lifted. Above the towers, the stars shimmered unnaturally as if something vast pressed against the barrier of the heavens once more.
The same light he'd seen when everything began.
He whispered under his breath, "So it begins again."