There was no sound—no air—no time.
Only light. Endless, blinding light.
Elior tried to breathe, but it felt like drowning in starlight. His body floated weightless, surrounded by shifting fragments of memory. Voices whispered in echoes—his own, and others that sounded like him but weren't.
When he finally opened his eyes, the world had changed.
He stood on a vast expanse of white crystal, suspended in a void where constellations moved like living creatures. At the horizon, rivers of gold and silver merged, forming a sun that pulsed like a beating heart.
Cael was beside him, kneeling, clutching his chest as if in pain. The mark on his wrist blazed violently, connected by a line of light to Elior's own.
"Cael!" Elior reached out, helping him stand. "Are you—"
"I'm fine," Cael said through clenched teeth. "But this place… it's alive."
A deep vibration rolled through the air.
The Heart of Solis pulsed again, each wave bending reality itself. Above them, shapes began to form — silhouettes of towers, cities, and people made of pure radiance.
Elior stared, realization dawning. "These are memories."
"Not just memories," Cael murmured. "This is what the Heart remembers."
The landscape shifted.
Now they stood in the past — the old world before its fall. The sky burned with fractured constellations, and at its center stood two figures: Erian and Aster, hand in hand, their eyes filled with both sorrow and resolve.
Elior's breath hitched. "That's… us."
He watched as the memory unfolded — their past selves facing a collapsing sky, the constellations breaking apart. Aster's voice echoed through the void.
"If we seal it now, we may never awaken again."
Erian's answer came softly, but firm. "Then I'll find you, no matter how many lives it takes."
Aster smiled. "You always say that."
The two clasped hands, light erupting around them, forming a seal that split the heavens. The explosion of energy echoed through time — the birth of the Starbond, and the curse that bound them to endless rebirth.
The vision shattered.
Elior gasped, falling to his knees. "We… we chose this."
Cael knelt beside him, his expression unreadable. "To protect the world. But they twisted our sacrifice into a myth of fear."
A thunderous voice interrupted them — cold and commanding.
"You sealed the heavens once. Now, you will open them again."
The Cardinal appeared within the void, his form glowing with golden fire. The chains from before had fused into his flesh, turning him into something more than human, something divine and monstrous at once.
Elior stood, fury and fear swirling within him. "You're using the Heart! You'll tear the veil apart!"
"That is precisely the point," the Cardinal said. "The gods abandoned us. The empire suffers while you two hoard the light of creation. I will reclaim it—for Solis!"
He raised his staff. The Heart convulsed, its light twisting violently. The stars around them began to crack, fragments falling like shards of glass.
Elior staggered, the pain overwhelming. "He's draining it—draining us!"
Cael gritted his teeth. "Then we take it back."
He grabbed Elior's hand. Their marks flared, and for a moment the world held its breath. Two opposing currents—gold and silver—merged, forming a single surge of radiance that burst outward.
The Cardinal screamed as the wave struck him.
The chains shattered, but the backlash was catastrophic. The Heart ruptured, the void collapsing into itself. The world bent, folding and twisting, dragging them all into a maelstrom of light.
Elior felt himself falling, his hand slipping from Cael's. "No—Cael!"
Their fingertips brushed, and for an instant, he saw it again — the promise made under dying stars.
"Even if the sky burns, I'll find you."
Then everything went dark.