The night grew deeper, Duskstar's outline blurring under sparse starlight like a slumbering beast exhaling decay. Raine Dawnstar moved through his derelict ancestral home like a true specter, silently passing through the overgrown garden and up the creaking stairs, each step accompanied by wary glances at the shadows behind him. The greedy, cold, scrutinizing gazes from the auction clung to his back like thorns, leaving no room for carelessness.
Only when the heavy oak door closed behind him, temporarily shutting out the outside world's prying eyes and dangers, did Raine finally exhale, his taut nerves relaxing slightly? He didn't light the expensive magic lamp, relying instead on the faint moonlight and starlight filtering through the windows to guide him to his simple study. This room had once housed the family's precious documents and star charts, but now only empty bookshelves and a severely worn, scratched desk remained.
Carefully removing his wide cloak and setting it aside, he then reverently took out the "Starfall Shard" that had cost him his entire fortune from his chest.
Holding the stone in his palm, he felt an unusual sensation. It was cold to the touch like arctic ice, yet upon closer inspection, there was a faint warmth emanating from within, as if from the core of life itself. The stone's surface was rough and uneven, covered with tiny pits and irregular edges, appearing a deep gray-blue that nearly swallowed light. Yet when Raine brought it closer to the window to examine under the meager starlight, the flowing glimmers within became clearer. They weren't static points of light, but rather miniature rivers of stardust, flowing slowly and eternally within the stone, forming a living microcosm of the cosmos confined within this small space.
The sight was both magnificent and eerie, carrying an indescribable sense of ancientness and desolation. Raine had never seen any Starlight gem or magical artifact like this in the family records. The energy it emitted was also peculiar - faint yet extraordinarily pure and concentrated, as if the most fundamental power of the stars had been compressed and sealed within. Compared to the nearly imperceptible trace of celestial bloodline in his veins, the energy contained in this stone was like an ocean versus a single dewdrop.
He could sense a faint calling, a feeling of kinship and longing for this stone from deep within his bloodline. It felt both unfamiliar and familiar, like some long-dormant primal instinct awakening. He placed the stone on the desk, gently running his fingers over its rough surface, trying to better perceive that strange energy.
"Elaria..." he murmured, his sister's name like an unhealed wound that brought sharp pain with every mention. Was this stone truly his only hope of finding her? Could it answer his prayers and guide him to the legendary lost city - Fallenstar Citadel?
Raine sat down, his gaze fixed intently on the Starfall Shard. He tried to focus, recalling the long-lost techniques for channeling Starlight magic from family records. He reached out a finger, cautiously touching the stone, attempting to extend his weak will outward to establish a connection with the energy within.
Yet the stone remained unresponsive. The flowing starlight inside continued its course, indifferent to his feeble attempts. Undeterred, Raine knew his celestial bloodline had become too diluted, nearly indistinguishable from ordinary humans. Trying to channel such pure stellar energy was likely a fool's errand.
Changing approach, he picked up the stone to examine a deeper crack on its surface. Perhaps this fissure held some clue? From the desk drawer, he retrieved a small silver letter opener, its blade not particularly sharp but sufficient for cleaning surface debris.
As he carefully scraped along the crack's edge - perhaps due to distraction or the dim lighting - his hand slipped slightly, and the sharp blade nicked the index finger of his left hand holding the stone.
"Hiss..." Raine drew back in pain as a drop of bright red blood welled from the wound, then fell perfectly onto the gray-blue surface of the Starfall Shard.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
The blood droplet didn't absorb or spread as it would on ordinary stone but instead made a slight sizzling sound like mercury meeting molten metal. Immediately, the entire Starfall Shard erupted with unprecedented brilliance!
No longer the restrained, flowing glow from before, but a supernova-like explosion of blinding light! The dim study was instantly bathed in pure, blazing blue-white radiance that forced Raine to nearly close his eyes.
Even more shocking, as the light burst forth, an unimaginably powerful torrent of energy surged from the stone, instantly resonating violently with the long-dormant celestial bloodline in his veins that he'd nearly forgotten over twenty years.
"Ugh!" Raine groaned in pain, feeling like his entire bloodstream had ignited and boiled! A tremendous force traveled from his bleeding finger up his arm, instantly flooding his entire body. He could clearly "see" the thin golden Starlight in his veins activating and amplifying, like a parched riverbed hit by a tidal wave. His bones vibrated, muscles spasmed, every cell crying out under the sudden energy onslaught.
This wasn't gentle guidance - it was a brutal awakening! The Starfall Shard became like a floodgate unlocked by his blood, releasing stellar power accumulated over unknowable ages, pouring without restraint into his fragile vessel.
Raine felt his consciousness being scoured and torn by this massive energy current. He wanted to resist, to retreat, but his body was completely beyond his control. His vision distorted, the study's appearance dissolving like ink in water.
A crushing wave of vertigo hit like a tsunami, instantly overwhelming him.
He felt himself thrown into an endlessly spinning vortex, surrounded by fragmented light and chaotic colors. Concepts of time and space became blurred. Then a clear, grand vision branded itself into his mind -
A city. A city floating in an endless void.
Enormous in scale, it must have once been magnificent, but now lay in ruins. Towering spires snapped mid-section, grand palaces half-collapsed, countless broken floating islands drifting like star fragments around the main city. The entire structure was shrouded in a faint gray-black mist exuding ominous energy, which even the city's remaining weak Starlight couldn't fully dispel. Below stretched bottomless darkness, as if connecting to some all-consuming abyss.
Fallen star Citadel!
The name flashed through Raine's mind instantly. This was the legendary lost floating capital - Fallen Star Citadel!
Then the view abruptly zoomed in, piercing through layers of mist to focus on a tall but severely damaged spire at the city's center. In one of the spire's windows, behind twisted iron bars, a faint, emaciated figure was imprisoned.
Raine's heart stopped.
Though the image was blurry, distant, and fleeting, he recognized that figure instantly! That familiar silhouette, the stubborn glint visible even through fear...
Elaria!
His sister, Elaria! She was alive! She was truly trapped in Fallenstar Citadel!
"El..." Raine instinctively tried to call out, to reach for that vision, but his throat produced no sound, his body bound by invisible shackles.
The Elaria in the vision seemed to sense something, suddenly looking up. Her gaze traversed space and time to meet Raine's in that void. Her eyes held terror, despair, and... something else? An unspoken warning? Her lips moved as if saying something, but Raine heard nothing.
The next instant, the gray-black mist around the spire thickened abruptly, writhing like a living thing before completely swallowing Elaria's form.
The vision ended abruptly.
Like being thrown from a great height, Raine's consciousness crashed back into his body.
"Thud!" He collapsed from the chair onto the floor with a heavy impact.
Yet the pain from the fall was nothing compared to what came next.
As the vision ended, indescribable agony like a red-hot iron spike drove into his brain! Countless needles seemed to twist inside his skull, each heartbeat bringing fresh tearing pain. Stars exploded in his vision, his ears rang, and his organs felt squeezed and kneaded by an invisible hand.
This wasn't just a headache - it felt like... erosion. He could sense something cold and heavy moving through his awakened bloodline, steadily corroding his body and devouring his vitality. Each breath burned, and beneath his skin, tiny ice needles seemed to crawl.
"Ngh... ah..." Raine curled on the floor, clutching his head, teeth clenched, veins bulging on his forehead as sweat drenched his clothes. He'd never experienced such terrible pain, as if his soul was being flayed layer by layer.
Was this... the price of foresight?
Ancient family texts had mentioned fragments about the Dawnstar bloodline's ability to glimpse future threads, but warned this was no blessing - rather a dangerous pact with the stars. Each vision drained Starlight power and accelerated some unknown "backlash." The records described this backlash vaguely with terms like "stellar corrosion" or "soul scourge."
Only now did Raine truly understand what this "backlash" meant.
It was a slowly burning curse.
The Starfall Shard had indeed answered his plea, awakened his dormant bloodline, and shown him the path to finding his sister - Fallenstar Citadel. But it had also activated the innate, fatal curse within him.
Each use of this precognitive ability would push him deeper into the abyss, hastening his body's collapse and soul's erosion.
This power was both the only torch lighting his way and the sword of Damocles hanging over him.
The pain came in waves, battering his consciousness, but Raine gritted his teeth through the torment. Struggling to lift his head, he looked at the now-calm Starfall Shard on the desk.
The stone lay quietly as if nothing had happened. Yet the dried bloodstain on its surface and Raine's current agony silently testified to the cataclysmic events that had just occurred.
Fallenstar Citadel... Elaria... imprisoned... danger...
Through the pain, determination grew in Raine's eyes.
Whatever the cost, however perilous the path, he would go.
For Elaria. To uncover the truth behind his family's massacre. To understand what lurked behind the shadow corruption engulfing their world. He had no other choice.
This Starfall Shard, this cursed power, would be his only recourse.
With trembling hands, he grasped the stone that still held a strange warmth. Cold and heat intertwined, hope and despair coexisted.
The road ahead would surely be strewn with thorns and suffering, each step potentially leading to eternal damnation.
But at least he was no longer wandering in the dark.
The stars, though dimmed, though cursing him, had finally shown him a direction.
A path leading to broken illusions, and perhaps to ultimate destruction.