The air was weightless.
Elior stepped forward, and the world bled away.
Colors folded, light bent, and the ground beneath him dissolved into stardust. He was no longer in Solis — nor in any realm that could be named.
This place was silence made visible.
He floated between fragments of light — echoes of worlds that had lived and died. The constellations drifted like broken mirrors, each reflecting a memory: Aster's first smile, the warmth of his hand, the moment they had defied the empire together.
Every image shimmered, then burned away, as if consumed by unseen fire.
A voice whispered from everywhere at once.
Welcome, inheritor of the seal.
Elior looked up. Before him hovered the Heart of Solis, now torn open — its center no longer gold, but bleeding light that pulsed like a living wound.
The glow was beautiful and terrible, filling him with both longing and fear.
"What are you?" he asked softly.
I am what remains of the first light, the voice answered. I gave life to the heavens and bound fate to the stars. And now… I am dying.
Elior's throat tightened. "Then why bring me here?"
Because you carry what was lost.
Two souls intertwined, bound by starlight. The mortal and the heir. The seal cannot hold both.
One must fade — for the other to live.
The words cut like a blade.
Elior shook his head. "No. There must be another way. I won't let either of us vanish."
The Heart pulsed, and golden threads of energy coiled around him, lifting him into the air. They pressed against his skin like warm fire, sinking into his veins.
Defy fate, then, it whispered. Show me which light deserves to remain.
The space around him split open, revealing a reflection — Aster — standing across from him, but not the one he knew. This version was darker, colder.
His armor was etched with runes of judgment, and his eyes glowed with divine fury.
"Cael…?" Elior whispered.
The figure smiled faintly. "No. I am what remains of him — the part that obeyed destiny."
Before Elior could move, the reflection raised his blade, forged from starlight itself. "If you wish to keep him alive, then defeat me."
The strike came like a storm.
Elior barely blocked it with a shield of light, sparks flying as the impact sent shockwaves through the void. Their energies collided, painting the air with ribbons of gold and silver.
"You think love can rewrite fate?" the reflection hissed, pressing forward. "You think your defiance makes you chosen?"
Elior's breath trembled, but his eyes blazed with resolve. "No. But it makes me alive."
He unleashed his magic — starlight spiraling from his chest, merging with the remnants of his soulmark. The world exploded in radiance.
The void trembled. The stars screamed.
When the light faded, Elior was on his knees, panting, his hands shaking. The reflection stood before him, flickering like a dying flame.
"You… really would sacrifice everything for him," it whispered, almost softly. "Even your name. Even your light."
Elior nodded, tears glimmering in his eyes. "If that's the price, I'll pay it."
The reflection smiled — not cruelly this time, but sadly. Then, it lowered its blade and placed its hand over his heart.
"Then take it. Take our light."
The reflection dissolved, pouring into Elior like a wave of fire and starlight. He screamed — not in pain, but in release. His mark burned with brilliance, and for a heartbeat, all the broken stars around him reignited.
The Heart of Solis pulsed once, as if sighing.
Then let it be known, the voice whispered. The Chosen Light has been found.
As the realm began to collapse, Elior saw a hand reach toward him — warm, familiar — pulling him back into the world of the living.
And he whispered, as the stars faded,
"Cael… I'm coming back."