The world had changed.
Three days after the fall of the Archon, the sky no longer returned to its former hue. It remained a dim twilight — a horizon where dawn never broke, painted with streaks of silver and black.
The people called it the Dawnless Age.
Power grids flickered with unstable energy. Machines began to hum with awareness. Even the wind carried echoes of voices — whispers of Balance, of something ancient trying to rewrite the language of existence itself.
Arka stood atop the remnants of what once was the Central Spire, the highest tower of New Aurion. The city stretched below him, its architecture reshaped by the celestial pulse — glass fused with stone, steel intertwined with roots that glowed faintly in the dark.
Kael climbed the shattered stairs to reach him. "You haven't rested since the battle."
Arka didn't look back. "The Balance doesn't sleep."
She frowned. "And you think you're the Balance now?"
He finally turned, his eyes faintly silver. "I didn't choose it. But it chose me. And it's not finished yet."
Kael sighed, brushing ash from her uniform. "Then maybe you should explain what's happening to our world. Half the city's tech refuses to function. The other half—" she pointed at a nearby drone, which shimmered and folded into the shape of a small metallic bird, "—is evolving."
"The fusion's begun," Arka said softly. "When Balance entered me, it didn't just merge Abyss and Heaven — it tore the wall between spirit and matter. Creation itself is rewriting."
Kael crossed her arms. "And you're just… letting it?"
Arka's gaze drifted toward the horizon, where the dark sea glowed with veins of light. "If I interfere, it'll collapse. The world is learning how to exist again. Like a child remembering how to breathe."
Suddenly, the ground trembled. A deep hum reverberated from the ocean — rhythmic, like a heartbeat. The lights across the city flickered in unison.
Kael gripped the railing. "What now?"
Arka's expression sharpened. "The pulse. It's spreading from the sea."
They descended quickly through the ruins, reaching the lower docks where the silver tide lapped against the metal shores. The water itself glowed faintly, and within it, shapes moved — not fish, not machines, but something in between.
One of them surfaced.
A creature of metal and flesh, with scales of liquid crystal and eyes that mirrored the stars. It looked at Arka with a familiarity that made Kael step back instinctively.
"What is that?" she whispered.
Arka knelt by the water. "The first of the Starborn."
The creature blinked, lowering its head as if bowing. When it opened its mouth, a sound came forth — not speech, but pure resonance. Yet within the tone, Arka understood the meaning.
We are awake, Father.
Kael's eyes widened. "Did it just—call you—"
"Yes," Arka said quietly. "The Balance has birthed a new race. The children of both steel and soul."
The creature submerged again, its glow spreading through the ocean like wildfire. Soon, hundreds — no, thousands — of lights shimmered beneath the surface.
Kael grabbed his arm. "Arka, if they keep multiplying, the entire biosphere will—"
"I know," he said. "That's why I have to reach the Source."
"The Source?"
He pointed to the horizon. "Where the light first fell. The center of the new world — where Heaven's code meets Earth's core."
Kael frowned. "You mean the Axis Rift? No one's survived going near it since the first Descent!"
Arka looked at her. "Then I'll be the first."
A moment of silence passed between them — the weight of what he was about to do hanging heavy. Then Kael spoke quietly, "If you go, I'm coming with you."
He almost smiled. "You're not good at following orders."
"Then give better ones," she said.
Before he could reply, the sky rippled again — not gold this time, but violet. A fissure appeared high above, smaller than before, yet humming with unnatural rhythm. From it, faint whispers fell like rain.
Kael looked up. "Don't tell me—"
Arka's voice turned cold. "No. This isn't Heaven or Abyss. This is something new."
He turned toward the sea, his blade gleaming faintly. "The world's not done changing yet."
The Star Wolf's shadow appeared faintly behind him, howling toward the endless twilight.
And as the fissure widened above, something unseen — something that watched the changes unfold — finally stirred.