ASHES OF THE SUNDERED STAR

The Sky Tombs | Veythra

The crown's roots slithered into Lira's skull like serpents made of starlight. She lay sprawled on the cold stone floor of the vault, her breath ragged, blood pooling beneath her where the diadem's jagged edges had torn her scalp. Above her, the Starweaver Council's sigils glowed faintly on the domed ceiling—constellations twisted into chains.

"You are the lock, Lira."

Her mother's voice echoed in the dark, a memory frayed at the edges. Lira clawed at the crown, her fingers slipping on blood and sweat.

"The Council lied. The shard was never meant to seal Nyrisia. It was meant to seal you."

The vision struck like a blade: her mother, years younger, standing in this very chamber, a meteorite shard clutched in her trembling hands. The Council's robed figures surrounded her, their masks glowing like pale moons.

"Bind her," the High Oracle had commanded. "The goddess's power is too volatile. The child will bear it instead."

Lira's mother had wept as she pressed the shard to her daughter's infant chest. "Forgive me."

The memory dissolved. The crown's roots tightened.

"Lira!"

Jessa's voice cut through the haze. The disgraced knight stood in the vault's shattered doorway, Dawnbreaker's golden light carving through the shadows. Her scarred face was grim, her armor streaked with void-ichor. Behind her, the corpses of Council guards smoldered, their masks cracked.

"Get up," Jessa growled, tossing Lira a vial of swirling silver liquid. "Drink. Now."

Lira caught it, the glass warm. "What is it?"

"Starlight and spite. Brewed it myself." Jessa kicked aside a fallen guard's spear. "It'll slow the crown's corruption. For a while."

The liquid burned like molten iron. Lira gagged, her veins lighting up with fire. The crown recoiled, its roots hissing as they retracted.

"You cannot stop this," whispered the parasite, its voice oozing from the walls. Erran's shadowy form materialized, his boyish features melting into a grotesque mimicry of Nyrisia's regal visage. "The Sundered Star is ours. You are ours."

Jessa swung Dawnbreaker, its light searing the creature's edges. "Talk less. Die faster."

The parasite laughed, tendrils of darkness lashing out. "You are brave, little knight. But bravery feeds the Void."

Lira staggered to her feet, the crown's weight unbearable. "Jessa—the laboratory. My mother's notes. There's something there—!"

A shadowy tendril slammed Jessa into the wall. "No more distractions."

The Ashen Wastes | Solaris Border

Kael's father died again in front of him.

The memory played out in vivid detail, projected by the Voidspawn general's shadows: the Emberfall Canyon, the collapsing mine, the horde of Voidspawn tearing into his father's squad. Twelve-year-old Kael, hidden in a crevice, clutching Soulbrand as his father roared, "Run! Don't look back!"

He hadn't run. He'd frozen.

The general's form shifted, mirroring Kael's own face—taunting, cruel. "You watched him die. You let him die."

Tyrus's claw sparked, its unstable energy casting jagged shadows. "Don't listen, Vyrion. It's just noise."

"Noise?" The general's laugh echoed through the mining tunnels, dislodging pebbles from the ceiling. "You left Selene too, priest. Pushed her into the dark. How many graves will you dig?"

Tyrus flinched. For a heartbeat, his mask slipped—grief, raw and unguarded. Then he lunged, claw slashing through the general's shadowy torso. "Shut your damn mouth!"

The general dissolved, re-forming behind Kael. "Weak. Both of you."

Kael swung Soulbrand, the hammer's dim light flaring. "Why show me this? What do you want?"

"The truth," the general hissed. "You are not a knight. You are a coward."

The vision shifted: Lira, trapped in the Sky Tombs, the crown's roots devouring her mind. "You abandoned her too."

Kael roared, charging.

The Obsidian Spire | Umbralis

The heart pulsed.

Goran's rebels fought like cornered animals, their blades clashing against the cultists' void-forged steel. Rissa's shadow—Nyrisia's shadow—writhed above the fray, its light dimming as the parasite's heart leeched its energy.

"You cannot win," the heart intoned, its voice a chorus of Erran, Selene, and countless others. "I am every regret. Every sin."

Tyrus's dagger struck true, piercing the heart's core. Black ichor sprayed, burning his hands. "Miss me?"

The heart screamed. Cultists collapsed, their bodies dissolving into ash.

Goran staggered, clutching a crystallized wound. "Finish it, priest!"

Rissa's shadow flickered, Nyrisia's voice fading. "The shard… use the shard…"

Tyrus yanked the dagger free. "What shard?!"

"In your pocket," Nyrisia whispered. "You've carried it all along."

Tyrus froze. The meteorite fragment he'd stolen weeks ago—Lira's shard—burned in his coat.

"Do it," Goran urged. "Before it reforms!"

The heart's cracks widened, leaking tendrils of shadow. "You hesitate, Varys. Why?"

Selene's face surfaced in the ichor, her eyes pleading. "You loved me once."

Tyrus's claw trembled. "I did."

He plunged the shard into the heart.

The Laboratory | Sky Tombs

Lira's mother's journal lay open on the slab, its pages fluttering in the dank air.

Entry 47: They'll come for you, Lira. The crown is not Nyrisia's—it's yours. You were born to hold it. To save us all. Forgive me.

Jessa slammed into the wall, Dawnbreaker clattering from her grip. The parasite loomed over her, Erran's face twisting into a rictus grin. "Your light fades, knight."

Lira gripped the crown, her blood sizzling where it touched the roots. "No. I'm done being your pawn."

She tore the diadem free.

The world shattered.

The Void's Embrace

Lira floated in nothingness.

Nyrisia stood before her, chained to a throne of blackened stars. The parasite coiled around her, its form shifting—a serpent, a shadow, a galaxy of teeth.

"You see now," Nyrisia whispered. "I did not betray them. I saved them."

Memories flooded Lira: Nyrisia bonding with the parasite to shield her knights from a cataclysm, the Council twisting her sacrifice into a lie, generations of Weavers bred as vessels.

"The crown is yours," Nyrisia said. "Break the cycle."

The parasite lunged. "You are mine!"

Lira reached for the crown.

The Canyon's Heart | Solaris

Kael's hammer struck true.

The general's form unraveled, shadows dissolving to reveal a flicker of his father's face—proud, sorrowful. "Live, Kael."

Tyrus's claw flared, sealing the rift. "Go. Find her."

Kael ran.

The Spire's Fall | Umbralis

The heart exploded.

Nyrisia's shadow faded, her final whisper brushing Rissa's cheek. "Be brave."

Goran collapsed. Tyrus caught him. "Stay with me, crystal-face."

"Go… to… her…"

The spire crumbled.

The Sky Tombs | Veythra

Lira awoke, the crown's roots shriveled at her feet. Jessa knelt beside her, Dawnbreaker's light guttering.

"Did we… win?"

The ceiling cracked, revealing the Dusk Eclipse—whole, unbroken.

"No," Jessa said. "But we're not done yet."

Epilogue: The God's Gaze

Far beyond the kingdoms, in the cold dark between stars, the parasite's true form opened its eyes.

"Mine," it said.

And the Void answered.