NOVEL WEB Chapter 8: Chapter 8: The Star Within
The wind howled over the crumbled arena as the last embers of Kun's starfire faded into the night.
Rein was silent. Lyra sat by the scorched stones, wrapping her wounds. Elandor, however, knelt beside Kun, studying him as one might a living riddle.
"You've touched it," the old mage finally said. "The core."
Kun blinked, still catching his breath. "The core of what?"
Elandor didn't answer. Instead, he rose and beckoned Kun forward. "We need to go somewhere. Now. Before that power fades again."
---
The Tower of Arcanum
By morning, they had arrived at Elandor's secondary tower—a secluded spire nestled between cliffs and mist-laced waterfalls. It wasn't tall, but it was ancient—older than Windrest, older perhaps than the kingdom itself. The walls were etched with constellations, and strange blue moss grew between the stones, glowing faintly in the dim morning light.
Kun followed Elandor into a wide chamber at the top. The air was thick with incense and starlight magic.
In the center was a floating, crystalline disc, ringed by runes that rotated on their own, pulsing in time with Kun's heartbeat.
"This," Elandor said softly, "is the Astral Lens. One of the few remaining relics capable of reading celestial resonance from within a mortal soul."
He turned to Kun. "Lie down. And relax."
---
Into the Soulstream
As soon as Kun touched the crystal disc, his vision faded.
The room disappeared.
He found himself standing in a sky without end, surrounded by orbiting glyphs, streams of light, and vast, silent constellations. His own body shimmered with energy, a faint outline of stars beneath his skin.
A voice echoed—not from outside, but within.
> "Subject: Kun. Alignment: Stellar Divergence. Anomaly Tier: Sovereign-class."
Kun floated backward, stunned. "What the hell is this?"
Elandor's voice drifted in, like a distant echo from the waking world.
> "You are no longer just a visitor. Your soul has fused with the aetheral pattern of this realm."
> "You are now marked by the Starfire Codex—a lost magical inheritance believed to be destroyed in the last age."
Suddenly, an image formed ahead of him.
A massive celestial seal—nine concentric rings interlocked by starbursts and black flame.
> "The seal... that's the mark I saw when I fought Kael'thas," Kun said aloud.
Elandor responded, his voice deeper now, weighted with awe.
> "That is the imprint of the Codex's last user... the god Solariin—the First Flame of the Sky."
---
Solariin, the God of the First Flame
Kun floated closer to the seal.
It pulsed once—and suddenly, images flooded his mind:
A divine figure shattering mountains with light.
Stars falling like raindrops upon an army of darkness.
Nine shadows kneeling before a hooded prophet—the same energy Kun had felt from Kael'thas.
Elandor explained:
> "Solariin did not die. He burned himself out to trap the Black Prophet—Eroth, the leader of the Nine—in a prison between realms."
> "But now... you've become the host of the Codex's last fragment. And Eroth... has awakened."
---
A Choice of Fate
The constellation above Kun's head reformed into a triangle.
One star flared brightest—his own.
Elandor's voice faded, replaced by something else. A whisper. Familiar.
> "Kun…"
It was the god's voice. Solariin.
> "I was not meant to speak again. But your soul echoes louder than fate intended."
> "You were chosen not by mistake… but by momentum. One path led to stars. The other led to war. You fell in-between."
> "The Nine will not stop. And I… cannot rise again. But you… you must decide what to become."
Suddenly, a second seal appeared: blazing, unstable.
> "Unlock it," Solariin said. "But know this—every layer of power you embrace brings you closer to becoming… what I was."
Kun stared at the seal, hovering just beyond reach.
---
And then—
He gasped.
The Astral Lens shattered.