The operation began—and the world slipped away.
But there was no darkness.
There was ''Eclipsera.''
Silver light drifted like falling snow.
The field stretched endlessly beneath a sky full of slow, breathing stars.
She sat there—
the girl of starlight.
Her silver dress shimmered like the night itself had taken form.
Her sword rested beside her, glowing faintly, like a heartbeat.
When she looked at me—everything stopped.
"Ryn."
My name sounded softer in her voice. Almost like a memory.
"Where is this?" I asked.
"Eclipsera," she answered. "Where your soul comes to breathe."
Her tone didn't demand belief.
It simply "was."
"I brought you here to offer a contract."
Her gaze held something—distant, quiet, almost sorrowful.
"If you accept, I will guide you. I will help you become strong enough to protect those you can't lose."
"And what do you want in return?"
"When I call for you," she said gently, "you will come."
No threat.
No pressure.
Just truth.
I swallowed. Something in my chest tightened.
Not fear—something like understanding.
"…I accept."
Her hand touched mine.
Warm. Human. Real.
Light rippled—
Not outside me.
**Inside.**
Deep in my chest, where something new pulsed with my heartbeat.
My "core."
The organ created during the operation.
Not metal. Not stone.
Something alive.
The stars flickered—
—
And I woke.
"Operation complete," someone said.
But her warmth stayed with me.
---
At home, I went to my workspace.
A single asteroid shard sat on my desk—
the one I had studied before all this.
I picked it up.
A faint warmth spread through my palm—
not from the stone,
but from "inside my chest", pulsing outward.
The shard's glow slowly faded.
Its color dulled.
Until it was just stone.
Not because the power left—
but because "it had already entered me."
A wave of dizziness hit—
and I fell asleep.
---
I returned to "Eclipsera".
The air felt lighter.
My body felt… less heavy.
Almost free.
She stood where the stars bent toward her.
"You came quickly," she said, a small smile forming. "Good."
"I don't understand any of this yet," I whispered.
"You don't need to. Not now."
Her voice was soft.
Certain.
"With the contract formed, your path has already begun."
The sky dimmed. The starlight gathered around us.
"Close your eyes."
"Breathe."
"Find the rhythm inside your body."
I inhaled—slow.
Followed the warmth through my blood.
There—
A steady pulse, not mine, yet part of me.
"The core is settling," she said quietly.
"It is becoming "you." Don't fear it."
The stars trembled.
She looked up—her expression darkening.
"…They've noticed."
A tear of light opened behind me.
Her hand pressed my shoulder—gentle, but firm.
"Live," she whispered.
I fell—
And woke with tears on my face.
Crying
for someone I had only met in a dream.
But felt like I had always known.
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