Beyond Worlds, Beneath the Star God

Night had fallen over the shattered city of Vael'Tharin.

Kun stood alone atop the broken spire of the Hall of Mind, his gaze fixed on the twin moons above. The stars shimmered like ancient eyes, watching, waiting.

In his palm, he held a flickering ember of light—the second seal, awakened during the battle with Lady Malthera. It pulsed faintly, drawing strands of golden energy into the air.

Elandor had warned him: unlocking a seal was not merely a surge of power. It was a tether to something older. Deeper.

Dangerous.

Kun exhaled slowly and focused.

"Show me what lies beneath."

---

The Descent

The world melted away.

No blinding light. No sound.

Only silence—and then, darkness.

But not the kind that devours. This was a stillness beyond time.

Kun opened his eyes and found himself in a different world entirely.

The sky was purple, soaked with red stars. Giant crystalline towers floated in the air, and rivers of luminous thought flowed like veins across the land. It was a realm not bound by gravity or form—a place where ideas had shape, and emotion bent reality.

He wasn't dreaming.

He was within the memory.

A living memory.

---

The Child in the Stars

Kun walked through the dreamscape until he came upon a hill of white stone. Upon it stood a boy—no older than ten, cloaked in rags, eyes too ancient for his age.

He was kneeling beside a dying woman. Her skin was grey and cracked, her body barely breathing.

The boy whispered, "Don't go. Not yet."

Kun felt a tremor in the air as the boy's words twisted the ground around him. The stars overhead blinked, and the dying woman gasped, pain stretching her face into a frozen mask.

The boy had tried to command life itself.

It hadn't worked.

---

Eroth.

Even before Kun saw the sigil appear above the boy's head, he knew.

This was Eroth, the one who would one day become the Black Prophet, leader of the Nine.

But now—he was just a child.

A powerful, broken child.

Kun stepped forward instinctively. "Why am I here?"

The memory didn't answer.

Instead, a robed figure appeared on the horizon—faceless, gliding over the stone. It knelt beside Eroth and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"You felt it, didn't you?" the figure said.

"The fire within. The need to undo the rules of the world."

"I wanted to save her," the boy replied.

"And you failed. Because you were alone."

The figure stood. "But you don't have to be alone. Come with us. Let us teach you how to reshape fate itself."

---

The First Flame

Time skipped forward.

Now Eroth was older—sixteen, perhaps. He stood in a massive circular chamber, surrounded by nine thrones. Eight were empty.

Only one was occupied: the robed figure, now crowned in lightless stars.

"You've mastered every form of will-shaping," the voice said. "You've rewritten minds, bent cities, turned armies into ash with a word. But still you hesitate."

Eroth clenched his fists.

"I want to fix the world," he said. "Not destroy it."

"You cannot fix what was never meant to function. The gods abandoned their work. The weave of destiny is broken."

"And you want me to lead the others?"

"You already do."

---

The Shatterpoint

In the final fragment of the vision, Kun saw a world burning.

Not by fire.

But by belief.

People fell to their knees, chanting Eroth's name as stars crashed from the sky. The Nine stood behind him, each cloaked in a different shade of ruin. Eroth's eyes were black, endless, and calm.

But his voice trembled.

"I didn't want this," he whispered.

"You lit the match," someone said behind him. "Now watch the world burn."

---

The Return

Kun gasped as he snapped back into his body, sweat clinging to his skin.

He was no longer on the tower.

He was lying on the ground beside the dying embers of the seal. Elandor and Lyra were beside him, both looking pale.

"You vanished," Lyra said. "One moment you were glowing—and the next, gone for almost an hour."

Kun sat up slowly, mind spinning.

"I saw him," he said. "Eroth."

Elandor's expression turned grim. "Then the second seal didn't just unlock power. It showed you the origin of the enemy."

"Not just the enemy," Kun said quietly. "A boy who wanted to save someone. A leader who was betrayed by hope."

He stood, looking at the stars overhead.

"And a man who, somewhere deep inside, might still regret it all."