SERAPHINA’S POV
The moment I crossed the threshold, Kieran vanished.
One step, he was beside me, solid, steady, his awareness brushing mine like a second heartbeat.
The next—
Nothing.
I stopped, breath catching as I turned, already knowing what I would find.
Or rather, what I wouldn’t.
The hollow was gone. The mountain path, the ancient tree, Elias—all of it had dissolved into something vast and familiar.
Starlight stretched beneath my feet once more, soft and weightless, glowing with each step I took.
Above me, the endless expanse of violet and silver swirled like a living sky, constellations shifting in dazzling patterns.
The Starlight Hallway.
I exhaled, steadying myself and forcing the instinctive spike of disorientation back under control.
I guess the Origins Archives wasn’t built for companionship.
It was built for judgment.
For truth.
And truth, more often than not, was something you faced alone.
