Light rained from the heavens like falling stars. The once-crimson sky turned to silver fire, and within that endless glow, the world seemed to forget the meaning of darkness.
Rian stood at the center of it all, his body suspended slightly above the scorched ground. Every wound on his skin shimmered with faint, glowing threads—like constellations stitched into flesh. The Star Wolf's presence loomed behind him, half-spirit, half-light, its gaze fixed upon the trembling gods.
Lyra could only stare. Her heart hammered, torn between awe and fear.
This was not the man she had once fought beside.
This was something older… something infinite.
Eryndor's voice wavered, his chains dissolving into dust. "The First Star… that power was sealed before creation. It cannot exist."
Rian's voice was calm, almost gentle. "Yet it does. Because you forgot what it meant to be alive."
He lifted his hand. The air rippled outward, and visions bloomed—ghostly scenes from a time before gods and mortals.
Worlds forming.
Stars breathing.
A colossal wolf running through the newborn void, scattering galaxies with every stride.
Lyra watched, her lips parting. "This… this is the origin…"
Rian nodded faintly. "The Star Wolf wasn't a beast. It was the heartbeat of the universe—the first echo of light in endless nothing."
Eryndor staggered back, his once-divine aura flickering. "You would merge with that… with chaos itself?"
Rian's eyes glowed brighter. "Chaos is not destruction. It's the breath before creation. The gods feared it, but I remember it."
The ground pulsed with his words. Every shard of broken moonlight gathered, swirling above his head like a crown of stars. The heavens shuddered.
Nemea, the Moon Devourer, stepped forward, her voice trembling. "If you awaken that power completely, the balance will collapse. The realms will burn."
"Then let them burn," Rian answered softly. "From ashes, light is born anew."
Lyra took a hesitant step toward him. "Rian, if you do this… you'll disappear."
He looked at her, and for a brief moment, the endless light in his eyes softened—human again. "If that's what it takes to free this world, then let the stars take what's left of me."
Her tears fell silently. "Don't talk like that…"
Rian smiled faintly. "You once told me the stars remember us. Let's give them something worth remembering."
Then he raised his sword—what remained of it—and the phantom wolf howled once more.
The sound cracked the sky.
All around them, divine power unraveled. The gods screamed as the light of the First Star began to awaken fully, erasing the boundaries between heaven and earth. The air became weightless, timeless.
Lyra's voice broke through the storm.
"Rian!"
He turned to her one last time, whispering,
"Don't forget the promise… in the next world."
And then the world burst into light.