Silence.
Not the calm kind—but the silence that followed after the world had screamed itself apart.
Elior opened his eyes slowly. He was lying on cracked marble, the once-white stone now veined with black starlight. The air shimmered faintly, heavy with dust and fragments of glowing embers that drifted like slow-falling snow.
He sat up, clutching his head. His vision spun between two worlds—one familiar, one broken. The city of Solis hung before him, yet half of it was gone, replaced by endless space. Towers bent upward like roots trying to pierce the stars, and rivers of molten light flowed in the sky above.
He was alone.
"Cael?" he called out, his voice echoing through the empty expanse.
No answer.
Elior stood, weak but determined. The bond mark on his wrist flickered faintly—dim, but still alive. He's somewhere… I can still feel him.
He looked up. The constellations above were shattering, collapsing like dying embers. Fragments of ancient beasts drifted through the void—echoes of the Starborn that once roamed freely.
And among them, a shape loomed.
It was colossal—a silhouette of wings and light, neither beast nor god. Its presence made the air tremble.
Elior's chest tightened. "The Primordial... the source of the Heart."
The creature turned its head, and though it had no eyes, he felt its gaze pierce through him. A low, melodic hum reverberated through the fractured sky, shaping words not spoken but felt.
You carry its echo, child of the seal.
The cycle begins again.
Before he could speak, the ground rippled beneath him, and the marble shattered. He fell—through light, through shadow—until the world reformed beneath his feet.
He landed hard, in a courtyard filled with ruins.
Half of a temple stood behind him; its spires twisted into the clouds, still burning faintly with golden flame. Across from him, something glimmered—a fragment of the Heart of Solis, hovering above the ground like a dying star.
He reached out to touch it—but the moment his fingers neared, visions tore through his mind.
Flashes.
Aster's scream.
Erian's blood.
The seal closing, light devouring everything.
He fell backward, gasping, clutching his chest. The fragment pulsed, reacting to his presence.
"Elior."
The voice froze him. Soft. Familiar.
He turned—and his breath caught.
Cael stood there, but his form flickered like a reflection on water. His eyes glowed faintly gold, his expression unreadable. "You shouldn't have come here."
"Cael!" Elior ran to him, but his hand passed through as though through smoke. "No—what's happening to you?"
"I'm... not whole." Cael's voice trembled slightly. "The Cardinal's ritual tore my essence apart. Part of me is trapped within the Heart—part within the veil. I can't hold this form long."
Elior clenched his fists. "Then I'll fix it. We can merge the fragments. We can—"
"Elior." Cael's gaze softened, almost tender. "You don't understand. The Heart isn't just breaking—it's choosing."
Elior froze. "Choosing what?"
Cael looked toward the sky.
Where the last fragments of the constellations were burning out one by one, as if snuffed by unseen hands.
"It's choosing who remains," he whispered. "And if we defy it... one of us won't survive."
The light between them flickered violently, and before Elior could respond, Cael's image shattered—dissolving into a thousand fragments of gold that vanished into the wind.
Elior stood frozen, the last of Cael's warmth fading from his hands.
He looked up at the collapsing sky, voice breaking into the silence.
"Then it better choose right—because I'm not letting go."
The fragment of the Heart pulsed in response, as though it had heard him.
And somewhere beyond the veil, the stars began to stir.