Chapter 1 — The Moment Between Worlds
Elias Crane wasn't the sort of man who believed in destiny. At twenty-three, he worked night shifts at a shipping warehouse, spent too many breaks staring at vending machines that ate his coins, and dreamed in quiet, stubborn fragments about a life that felt less… accidental. He wasn't unhappy—just unfinished.
On a night like any other, the warehouse hummed with the low groan of machinery. Rain hammered the roof in steady percussion, each drop sounding like a clock tick. Elias scanned barcodes, stacked boxes, repeated motions until his muscles acted without thought. Routine had a way of shrinking him.
But tonight, the routine broke.
A sound—thin, metallic, almost like a wire tightening—cut through the air. Elias paused. The warehouse lights flickered, not in the usual tired way but as if something was pressing against the edges of reality. The temperature dropped. His breath puffed white.
"Generator again?" he muttered, but even his voice sounded muted.
Then he saw it: a crack hanging in the air.
Not in the wall. Not in the floor.
In the air.
A thin fracture, glowing white-blue like lightning frozen in place. Light spilled from it, bright yet soft, like a star dying in slow motion.
Elias blinked hard. "Okay… probably need sleep."
The crack widened.
Wind roared inward even though there was nowhere for it to come from. Papers spiraled up. Metal racks groaned. A box slid across the floor. The air felt charged—alive—buzzing against his skin.
Instinct screamed: Run.
But curiosity held him still.
A voice whispered through the light, soft and distant, layered like many voices speaking as one.
"Found… him…"
Elias staggered back. "What—who said that?"
The crack tore open like a curtain ripped wide. A burst of light swallowed the warehouse, a blinding tide. Elias shielded his eyes, but the glow burned through closed lids. He felt weightless, untethered.
Then came a pull—not gravity, not wind, but something older. Something vast.
He screamed despite himself, the sound devoured before it left his throat.
The warehouse vanished.
The world dissolved.
The moment between worlds stretched into infinity.
When sensation returned, Elias felt cold stone beneath his palms, warm sunlight across his face, and a breeze carrying the scent of something sweet—something alien. He opened his eyes slowly.
Above him arched a sky unlike any sky he knew. Colors shifted softly—indigo blending into rose gold, then emerald—like watercolors poured across silk. Two moons floated high, one pale silver, the other deep violet.
He sat up abruptly.
He was on a platform carved from black marble streaked with glowing white lines. Symbols pulsed at the edges—delicate, angular markings he had never seen.
A woman stood before him.
Her cloak rippled like living shadow, embroidered with threads of light. Her hair was silver but moved like smoke. Her eyes were bright amber, too bright to be human.
"Elias Crane," she said, her voice calm but resonant. "You have crossed the Veil between worlds. Welcome to Astryion."
He stared. His heartbeat thundered. "I—I didn't cross anything. Something dragged me here!"
The woman tilted her head. "The Starbound Veil summoned you. That is… unusual. Summonings are not meant to choose."
"Summonings?" Elias echoed, the word sour in his mouth. "Send me back. Now."
Her expression softened—not pity, but a kind of heavy understanding. "The world you came from is beyond return. Your soul detached when you fell through the Veil. You are reborn here."
The words landed like blows.
"Reborn?" Elias whispered.
She nodded. "Your mortal body perished at the moment of crossing."
A hollow silence followed. Elias felt for breath he suddenly wasn't sure he needed. His hands shook.
"I'm dead?" The words felt unreal.
"Your earthly life has ended," she said gently. "But your existence continues. Astryion has chosen you, and with that choice comes power."
Power.
It struck him as absurd, yet something in his chest thrummed—a faint glow beneath the skin of his sternum. The same light he'd seen when the crack appeared.
"What's happening to me?" he demanded.
The woman stepped closer. "Every soul reborn carries the Echo of the Veil. But yours is… abnormal. Strong. Untamed." She extended her hand. "Let me show you."
Before Elias could protest, her fingertips touched his forehead.
A burst of sensation flooded him.
He saw a thousand stars spiraling inward. Rivers of light. A storm of constellations collapsing and reforming. A serpent made of golden fire. A giant tree whose branches held entire galaxies. A black sun pulsing like a heartbeat.
And deep within all of it—something vast, coiled, waiting.
Elias tore away with a gasp, stumbling backward. "What—what is that?"
"The Shattered Star," she said. "The ancient power sealed since the Astral Wars. It should not exist within a human soul." Her gaze sharpened. "And yet, here it is—inside you."
Elias felt the heaviness of her words. The pulsing-light sensation grew stronger, threading through his veins.
A low rumble echoed across the sky. Clouds twisted unnaturally. The air thickened. The woman's eyes widened not in fear, but recognition.
"They've sensed your awakening," she said urgently. "We must leave—now!"
"Who sensed it?" Elias shouted.
"Those who wish to claim the Shattered Star. And those who would kill you to destroy it."
The platform trembled. Cracks splintered across the marble. A shape emerged from the clouds—massive wings, like molten glass; a serpent's body trailing fire; eyes like red suns.
Elias staggered back as the creature roared, shaking the world.
"What is that?!" he yelled.
"A Draekyr. A hunter of celestial anomalies." The woman grabbed his wrist. "If it reaches you before you learn control, you will die a second and final death."
Elias felt the pulsing light in his chest flare. The creature dove, splitting the sky with fire trailing behind.
"I can't fight that!" he shouted.
"You can," she said, her voice steady. "Because the power inside you is older than the beast. Reach for it. Call it."
"I don't know how!"
"Then learn—now!"
The Draekyr struck with a blast of burning wind. Instinct—not knowledge—took over. Elias raised his hand.
Light erupted.
A shield formed around him, a dome of shimmering stardust that deflected the attack in a burst of sparks. The ground shook violently. The woman smiled, fierce and approving.
"You see? You can."
Elias stared at his own glowing hand. Shock and terror warred inside him. "What is happening to me?"
"You are awakening," she said. "And your fate has already begun."
Above them, the Draekyr circled for another strike.
And Elias—reborn, terrified, and blazing with a power he couldn't understand—knew this was only the beginning.
END OF CHAPTER-1
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