Path of the Forgotten.

He dreamed. No, he remembered.

A battlefield beneath shattered heavens. Screams torn from gods. Blood that burned through space. And himself — standing alone, hand outstretched, as if ripping the stars from their roots.

> "He chose us once," a voice whispered.

"He will again." Then… silence.

---

He woke gasping.

Dust clung to his throat. His limbs trembled. The shard had vanished — but the mark it left behind lingered on the back of his palm: a faint, black sigil resembling a spiral collapsing inward.

Like a silent scream. > "What… was that place?" He staggered to his feet and stopped. He was no longer alone.

At the edge of the cavern stood a cloaked man. Half his face hidden, his aura unreadable — not from suppression, but because it didn't exist. Like the man stood outside of existence. > "So you've touched it," the man said.

Lin Feng tensed, slowly raising his guard. > "Who are you?"

The man didn't answer. > "They said you would remember too soon," he murmured, almost sadly. "Now they will hunt you in earnest."

> "Who—?"

> "The ones who locked you away. The ones who sealed that power. The ones afraid of what you are."

> "I don't understand—"

The man turned to leave. > "You're not meant to. Not yet." Then paused. > "Run, Lin Feng. Run… until you choose to stand again." And he vanished.

---

Far above – On a distant cliff

Han Yu sat cross-legged, eyes closed, but his expression was anything but calm.

His Starseer bloodline had awakened again — but this time, it showed him nothing.

No thread.

No light.

No fate.

Only a name echoing across his thoughts — one that shouldn't exist. > "The Child of the Echo," he whispered.

> "Why now…?" The stars didn't answer.

---