The journey from the Temple of Silent Ashes had left a heavy silence in its wake.
The deeper the group ventured into the land known as Starfall Reach, the less the world resembled anything they had once known. Trees twisted upward like spears piercing the heavens. The sky shimmered with faint auroras, even though no night had fallen — the light was perpetual here, caught in some liminal space between dawn and dusk.
The Fragment Lyra now carried pulsed like a second heartbeat.
The Starborn Heart and the Third Fragment hummed in resonance, emitting pulses that seemed to ripple through reality itself. Stones shifted when they passed, light bent slightly toward her, and even time felt… stretched.
"This land is touched by celestial trauma," Vaelion observed "Whatever fell here from the heavens didn't merely scar the ground — it reshaped the world's pulse."
Kaelen paced ahead, sword at the ready "And we're walking right into the wound."
As they pressed deeper into Starfall Reach, Lyra couldn't shake the feeling that something ancient had once bled into this land. The trees, the wind, even the very air seemed to hold its breath in reverence or fear. There was no life here. No birdsong. No rustling from hidden beasts.
Only the hush.
And the glitter of broken stars embedded into the rock.
They arrived at the edge of a chasm — wide and jagged, stretching for miles. It cleaved the land like a scar torn open by an angry god. In its depths ran rivers of light, flowing like molten crystal.
"This is it," Riven said "The Veins of the Fallen Star."
Vaelion approached the rim and dropped a stone into the chasm. Instead of falling, it hovered, caught in the glowing current, then slowly began to rise.
"It defies gravity," Vaelion muttered, awe in his voice "We are standing atop an inverted leyline."
"Magic this raw is dangerous," Kaelen warned "We need to stay grounded — literally."
But Lyra stepped forward, and the Fragment in her chest blazed.
The light from the veins rose toward her.
It shimmered across her skin like threads of silk, tracing her veins with faint silver lines.
And then she heard it — a voice, soft and distant.
Not speech, but resonance. Like the call of a forgotten star.
"It wants me to follow."
"Wants you to what?" Kaelen stepped beside her, eyes narrowed "You're hearing it again?"
"No," she whispered "It's not like the whispers from the Hollow. This is… clear. Honest. Like music without words."
Riven looked uneasy.
"Places like this change people. They change truth. Don't listen too closely, Lyra."
But she was already stepping forward.
And the ground rose to meet her feet.
They descended into the chasm — not falling, but walking on paths of shimmering starlight that appeared as needed.
With each step, memories drifted up from the glowing rivers — not their own, but fragments from a time long before the rise of empires.
They saw a people wrought of fire and crystal, tall and serene, shaping mountains with their will.
A voice echoed through the canyon.
"They were the Aethar'kin," Vaelion breathed, eyes wide "The ones who fell with the Ember Crown."
Lyra's gaze sharpened "You knew of them?"
"Legends. Forbidden lore. They were the architects of balance — until they reached too far and tried to bind a star."
"And failed," Riven added "Or worse, succeeded."
At the heart of the chasm, the light coalesced into a platform of obsidian edged with constellations. On it stood a monument — a crystalline statue of a being not wholly human. Its limbs were long, features sharp, and wings of shattered light arched from its back like broken halos.
And embedded in its chest… was a Fourth Fragment.
Kaelen reached for his sword.
"It's never this easy."
The moment Lyra stepped forward, the statue's eyes flared.
And a pulse of force knocked them all to the ground.
The light deepened.
The monument moved.
Its limbs unfolded with a slow, mechanical grace. Its wings sparked and glitched, forming incomplete loops of energy.
It wasn't alive — not fully.
But it was aware.
And ancient.
"You are not the First," it said. The voice was layered, like many voices speaking through a single mouth "And yet, you bear the core."
"We seek to restore the Realms," Lyra said "We have the Heart, and the Fragments."
"The Realms shattered because of us," the monument said "Because we bound the Ember Crown. We tried to anchor a star's will… and fractured the world."
"Then help us fix it."
"To fix it," the voice said slowly, "you must be broken."
The statue lunged.
Not like a creature — but like an idea, fast and absolute.
Its arm morphed into a blade of crystallized void and swung toward Lyra. She raised her gauntlet, summoning a barrier of light.
The clash rang like a struck bell, echoing through the gorge.
Kaelen was on it next, driving his sword into its side, but the blade passed harmlessly through, meeting resistance only when his resolve flared.
"It feeds on doubt!" Vaelion shouted "It's a guardian of memory and belief — not flesh!"
Riven vanished into the shadows, reappearing behind the statue to strike at its core, but the being turned mid-motion, its wings slashing outward in a cyclone of raw light.
Lyra stood firm.
"We won't fight you as broken pieces," she shouted "We fight as one."
The Fragment on her chest and the Heart within her chest pulsed together — a resonance that cracked the air.
She called upon the flame trails she had inherited from Lyrian blood, her hands glowing brighter than before.
And she stepped forward.
The statue's next strike she didn't block — she caught.
Its blade met her palm, and though her skin blistered, she held on.
"We are not you," she said through gritted teeth "But we will not repeat your sins."
The statue paused.
Its many-layered eyes narrowed.
"Then take this burden," it said, voice fading "And remember our failure."
The Fragment lifted from its chest and hovered toward her.
She reached out.
The moment she touched it, pain lanced through her skull.
She remembered.
She was not just Lyra anymore.
She was standing in the place of the one who had once tried to chain the stars.
She saw the forging of the Ember Crown.
She saw the Realms quake.
She saw the First Star scream.
And then — silence.
When she came to, Kaelen was kneeling beside her.
"You went still for a while," he said "We thought… we lost you."
"I saw everything," she whispered "Their triumph, Their downfall, Their regret."
Vaelion nodded, solemn "Knowledge that heavy doesn't come free."
Lyra sat up, the Fourth Fragment hovering beside the others.
"We're running out of time," she said "Someone else is after these. And they're not asking."
The others nodded.
They stood once more, now bearing the weight of four Fragments, and the whisper of ancient sins.
Above them, the sky darkened.
Storms gathered at the horizon.
And in the far distance, the air shimmered — a fortress suspended in the sky.
"That's our next step," Vaelion said "The Skyhold. Where the stars first broke."