Silence followed the battle like a funeral shroud.
The cavern no longer pulsed with living stone. The luminous veins had dimmed, their once-bright glow reduced to faint embers crawling through cracked walls. Where the dais had stood, there was now only a jagged crater, its ancient runes erased as if they had never existed.
Kael lay motionless at its edge.
Lysara knelt beside him, one hand pressed against his chest, the other clenched so tightly her knuckles had gone white. His breathing was shallow—irregular—but there.
Still alive.
Barely.
"Kael," she said softly, then louder. "Kael, you stubborn, star-cursed idiot. Wake up."
No response.
Elder Thorne moved with uncharacteristic haste, his staff tapping sharply as he reached them. He knelt, placing two fingers against Kael's neck, then exhaled slowly.
"His core hasn't collapsed," Thorne said. "But it's… changed."
The Star Mark on Kael's chest no longer burned or flared. Instead, it lay calm and unnervingly quiet—silver lines etched into his skin like a constellation frozen in time. Mana flowed around it cautiously, as though afraid to draw too close.
"Is that good or bad?" Lysara asked.
Thorne hesitated. "Yes."
Kael's fingers twitched.
A sharp gasp tore from his throat as his eyes flew open. He bolted upright, sucking in air like a drowning man hauled back to shore. Pain followed instantly—deep, grinding agony that radiated through every vein and bone.
He groaned and fell back, teeth clenched.
"Easy," Lysara said, relief flooding her voice as she pushed him back down. "You're not dying again today."
Kael swallowed. "That… was an option?"
She snorted despite herself.
Elder Thorne's gaze remained grave. "You forced synchronization with a relic older than recorded history. If your will had faltered for even a moment, your body would have dissolved into star ash."
Kael stared at the cavern ceiling, fragmented memories flickering behind his eyes—stars tearing apart, voices screaming, Aerin's name echoing through it all.
"Aerin," he said hoarsely.
The name hit the air like a curse.
Thorne stiffened. "You heard him too."
Kael nodded slowly. "Not just heard. Felt." He flexed his fingers. Power stirred—quiet, controlled, terrifyingly present. "He's changing. Faster than I am."
Lysara's jaw tightened. "Then we stop him."
Thorne shook his head. "Not yet. What happened here…" He gestured to the ruined cavern. "This will not go unnoticed."
As if summoned by his words, the air rippled.
Three distant flares ignited far above the Obsidian Pass—different colors, different frequencies.
Clan beacons.
"The major clans felt that release," Thorne said grimly. "Starfire. Void. And something else entirely."
Kael sat up despite the pain. "They'll come looking."
"Yes," Thorne replied. "And when they find you…" He met Kael's eyes. "They won't see a savior. They'll see a broken system walking on two legs."
Lysara placed herself between Kael and the cavern entrance instinctively. "Then they'll have to deal with me first."
Kael smiled faintly. "Remind me not to make you angry."
The smile faded as his gaze drifted back to his chest. The silver-threaded Star Mark pulsed once, then stilled.
"What am I now?" he asked quietly.
Thorne took a long moment before answering.
"You are no longer bound by clan ranks," he said. "Nor by ascension stages as we understand them."
He hesitated, then spoke the words like a verdict.
"You've entered what the First Records called the Interstice Path—the space between ascension and annihilation."
Lysara swore under her breath.
Kael closed his eyes.
Between.
That felt right. And terrifying.
"Can it be stabilized?" Lysara asked.
Thorne nodded slowly. "Yes. But not here. And not alone."
Kael opened his eyes again. "Where?"
The elder's grip tightened on his staff. "The Astral Expanse. A place the clans erased from maps and memory."
Kael pushed himself to his feet, swaying but standing. "Then that's where we go."
A low rumble shook the cavern—distant, heavy, deliberate.
Thorne's eyes widened. "Too late. They're already moving."
From the darkness beyond the shattered tunnel came the echo of armored footsteps.
And above the world, across clan territories and forbidden zones alike, one truth spread like wildfire:
The Starborn had broken the balance.
And the world was about to answer.