The light that struck Caelum did not burn. But it changed him.
A shockwave rippled through the courtyard as the sky's voice faded, leaving only a shimmering residue of starlit wind twisting around him like a living veil. His knees almost buckled, but Lyra and Astra caught his arms before he could fall.
"Caelum!" Lyra steadied him. "Talk to me. Are you hurt?"
He blinked, breath shaky. "No… I don't think so."
Elowen rose slowly, vines settling at her feet. "That wasn't the Harbinger."
Seraphine nodded. "No. Whatever that was… it knew him."
Aradia was the last to stand. Her eyes were full of dread. "You don't understand. The sky didn't just speak to him."
Astra crossed her arms. "Then what did it do? Introduce itself?"
Aradia swallowed. "It remembered him."
A tremor passed through Caelum's chest. He wasn't sure why the words made his pulse skip, but they did.
Before he could answer, the crack in the sky pulsed—once, twice—then sealed entirely, like it had never existed.
Silence.
Then, a distant boom rolled across the horizon.
The Watchers were gone. But something else had arrived.
Seraphine looked toward the Spire's upper terraces. "We need to regroup. Now."
Lyra nodded, keeping close to Caelum's side as they moved inside. Astra kept glancing between him and the sky as if comparing them.
Inside the main hall, Seraphine shut the colossal doors with a flick of her wrist. "We start with the obvious question." She turned to Caelum. "What did that voice mean by 'the true bearer'?"
Caelum opened his mouth— But the Crown answered first.
A burst of golden symbols spiraled out of it, hovering in the air like stardust. They rearranged themselves, forming a shape.
A name.
Not Caelum Vale.
Caelum looked at it. His chest tightened.
Lyra read it aloud softly. "Caelum Aetheris…"
Astra raised an eyebrow. "Fancy. So does he get a throne with that?"
Aradia shook her head, horrified. "No. It's worse." She turned to Caelum. "Aetheris is an ancient title. Pre-Harbinger. Pre-Watchers."
Seraphine frowned. "Meaning what?"
"It means he has a lineage. And not one tied to this world."
Lyra's breath hitched. "So the Crown didn't just choose him…"
Aradia nodded. "It found him."
Before Caelum could respond, a deep rumble echoed beneath their feet. The chandeliers trembled. Elowen steadied herself against a column.
A second rumble. Louder. Closer.
Astra groaned. "What now?"
A guard sprinted into the hall. "The eastern wards are collapsing! Something is coming through the breach!"
Seraphine snapped into command. "Positions!"
But the guard wasn't finished.
"It's not the Harbinger!" he shouted. "It's something else—something calling for the Crown Bearer!"
Every head turned toward Caelum.
A new pulse surged through his veins, the same strange energy the sky had given him. It felt like a heartbeat not his own.
"Caelum?" Lyra whispered.
He stepped forward.
"I think… I think whatever found me before is coming here."
Astra threw her hands up. "Of course it is."
Seraphine's eyes narrowed. "Can you sense it?"
He hesitated. Then nodded.
"It's not hostile. Not yet. But it's ancient." He looked toward the eastern wall. "And it knows my name."
The ground split.
A column of starlight burst upward through the floor, swirling like a tornado made of constellations. Everyone shielded their eyes except Caelum.
Because the light wasn't attacking. It was forming.
A figure stepped out—tall, ageless, and made entirely of shifting starlight. Not a Watcher. Not human. Something between.
Its voice echoed like a thousand distant chimes.
"Caelum Aetheris."
Lyra moved in front of him instantly. "State your purpose."
The figure bowed.
"I am an Emissary of the Celestial Archive. I come seeking the one who bears the Crown."
Astra whispered to Seraphine, "Archive? What is that? A cosmic library?"
The Emissary's eyes glowed brighter.
"The Archive records all origins." It turned to Caelum. "Including yours."
Caelum froze. "My origins?"
"Yes," the Emissary said. "For the Harbinger rises. And only the bearer who remembers his first name may end its return."
Lyra's hand tightened around Caelum's.
Seraphine stepped forward. "You intend to take him."
"Yes."
"No," Lyra snapped immediately.
Astra pointed at the glowing being. "Yeah, you're going to need an appointment and maybe a nice written request if you want to abduct our guy."
The Emissary tilted its head. "This is not abduction. It is restoration."
Caelum's breath caught. "Restoration of what?"
"Your memory."
The hall went dead silent.
Aradia stepped forward, shaking. "What memory?"
The Emissary spoke simply.
"The life you had before this one."
Caelum's heart stopped.
Lyra's grip slackened in shock.
Astra whispered, "He had a previous life? Like reincarnation?"
The Emissary nodded. "Not reincarnation. Return."
Caelum swallowed. "And why—why would I return?"
The Emissary lifted a hand. Starlight coiled.
"To finish what you began."
The Crown flared violently, answering the Emissary's presence.
Lyra stepped between them again. "He isn't going anywhere until we know exactly what you intend."
The Emissary's tone did not change.
"The Harbinger rises in full in seven days. If Caelum Aetheris does not reclaim his true past, this world will end."
Astra blinked. "Seven days?! We don't even do laundry that fast."
Seraphine drew her blades. "We need details. All of them."
The Emissary met her stare.
"Then listen. For the past you seek is the future you fear."
It lifted its arm. The hall dissolved into starlight.