Edenvale no longer felt safe.
The stars overhead didn't twinkle.
They watched.
And beneath them, Arielle stood in the center of the town square, barefoot on stone, her hair lifting as if caught in invisible winds.
Glyphs shimmered around her—ancient runes no mortal was ever meant to see.
> "You must channel, not command," Calen said, voice firm.
"Light does not obey. It reveals."
Arielle gritted her teeth. "What if I don't want to see what it reveals?"
Calen stepped forward, his gaze piercing.
"Then we all die in the dark."
The Training
They began at dusk.
Arielle stood surrounded by the memory-fragments of stars—crystals forged from her dreams, humming with forgotten power.
She reached for one, and as her fingers touched it—
> Pain.
Her skin glowed. Her heartbeat pulsed in blue rhythms.
The vision returned.
The Kael Fragment
She was standing in a glass temple.
And Kael—her old self—was kneeling before a blinding figure of white flame.
> "We should not love them," the flame said.
"But we do," Kael whispered. "And now it will cost us everything."
Arielle gasped, collapsing to her knees in Edenvale's square as the vision faded.
Calen caught her.
> "You saw it?" he asked softly.
She nodded. "I saw what Kael gave up. Not just power… he gave up eternity."
Ayden's Echo
That night, Ayden stood outside, staring at the same star that had appeared when Calen first arrived.
A faint vibration in his chest pulled him forward.
He pressed his palm to the tree near Arielle's window—and it responded.
A symbol glowed beneath the bark.
One he'd never seen before… and yet, somehow, it answered him.
"What is this?" he whispered.
Calen appeared beside him, quiet.
"That's not her mark," Calen said. "It's yours."
Ayden turned, confused.
> "What are you talking about?"
Calen didn't smile.
> "You didn't just love a star, Ayden. Part of you was touched by the sky too. And now… you're changing."
---
The Clock Begins
At midnight, the star pulsed three times.
And in the distance—far beyond Edenvale—an unseen veil to
re open with a sound like bones cracking through the heavens.
Azenar had entered the world.
And it was hungry.