The sky above the ruins had shifted. Once dusk-orange, now it was a sickly purple, swirled with black clouds that didn't move. Kairo stood on broken stone, the remnants of his battle with Kael still echoing in his bones.
But something was wrong.
The air was heavy with pressure—not physical, but cosmic. Like the universe itself was holding its breath.
> [System Alert: Anomaly Detected – Unsealed Fragment: Fractured Star]
A vision struck him like lightning.
He stood in the center of a ruined temple, galaxies spiraling above him. In the center of it all… a star cracked into nine fragments, each burning with a different hue—blood red, void black, blinding gold, and six more he couldn't name.
Whispers bled into his ears.
> "Nine fragments scattered across time… nine gods broken by war…"
> "He who reforges the star… reshapes reality."
The vision faded, but not the feeling.
---
Kairo collapsed to his knees.
Sweat poured down his face. His pulse thundered in his ears.
"That wasn't just a memory," he muttered. "That was a warning."
---
Back at the guild, Vexa burst into Commander Eris's chamber, her eyes wide.
"You knew, didn't you? You knew what the mission really was!"
Eris stood at the window, arms crossed. "I suspected. Not confirmed."
"You sent him to trigger the Fractured Star."
Eris turned, her silver gaze hard. "Because he is the only one who can bear its mark."
---
Kairo returned two days later, silent and grim. The guild watched him pass, murmurs trailing behind him. His presence felt heavier—like his soul had become denser.
He went straight to the underground records.
There, in the oldest scrolls sealed by magic, he found them:
The Nine Fragments of the Star.
Each hidden in a place warped by Essence:
The Frozen Labyrinth of Yurnak
The Graveyard of Time
The Hollowed Sun Fortress
The Sea of Whispering Bones
The Tower That Falls Forever
The Crimson Moon's Garden
The Endless Duel Plane
The World-Eater's Spine
…and the final, unnamed location: The Origin Mirror
He stared at the list.
Each was a death sentence.
But each was also a key.
> "Reforge the Star," the whispers had said, "and become more than a god."
---
Later that night, Reylin confronted him on the training balcony.
"You should rest."
Kairo looked out at the stars. "Rest is for those with time."
"You're chasing something none of us understand."
"I don't need to understand it. I need to survive it."
Reylin stepped closer. "We're afraid of what you'll become."
"I'm afraid of what will happen if I don't."
---
In a hidden chamber beneath the city, a pair of glowing red eyes watched Kairo through a portal made of obsidian.
Kael stood beside a figure cloaked in starlight and shadow.
"He's begun," Kael said, smiling.
The figure—taller than a man, wearing a crown of fractured light—nodded once.
"The game has started," it said. "The Ascendant rises."