The town of Edenvale began to tremble—not with earthquakes, but with silence.
Animals stopped making noise.
Clocks skipped seconds.
Mirrors cracked with no one touching them.
Arielle stood at the edge of the orchard with Calen beside her, the trees humming with faint cosmic resonance. She could feel the tear widening between her ribs—between who she was and who she had once been.
> "It's not just me," she whispered. "Something else is waking."
Calen's expression darkened.
> "That's because Azenar has touched your bondmate."
Ayden's Truth
Ayden sat beneath the marked tree, fingers brushing over the glowing sigil that pulsed beneath the bark.
The symbol felt warm. Familiar.
His breath caught when an image flooded his mind—
> —A man cloaked in starfire, holding a child.
"He will be raised among mortals," the man said, "but he is born of twilight and light. He will guard her. Or end her."
Ayden gasped, staggering back.
"What… what am I?
The Book of Forgotten Names
That night, Calen brought out a relic wrapped in velvet.
The Book of Forgotten Names.
A celestial record of all born under the starlight pact—the protectors, the destroyers, the sacrifices.
Calen's voice was low and reverent.
> "Kael's light was never meant to remain. But when he fell, it fractured fate. Some of his essence… chose a host."
He opened the book.
On one page: Kaelith. Starborn. Exiled.
On the next page: Arielle. Bound vessel. Incomplete.
And below that…
"Ayden."
Ayden stared, throat dry.
"That's not possible."
"You weren't just chosen, Ayden," Calen said. "You were created. A half-light. A balance."
Destiny Shifts
Arielle could feel Ayden's panic before she even found him.
She raced to him, wrapped her arms around his trembling frame.
"This doesn't change who you are," she said.
"Doesn't it?" he whispered. "What if I was never real? What if I was just made to protect you?"
Arielle pressed her forehead to his.
"Then thank the stars you were made just for me."
And somewhere in the starlit sky above them…
The fracture pulsed again.
Louder. Closer.
Azenar's Whisper
Later that night, as Ayden slept, Arielle stood alone in the field of stardust where she had first seen Calen.
The wind stilled.
A single voice echoed all around her.
"You were never meant to awaken," it said.
She turned—but no one stood behind her.
"Who are you?"
"I am the end of light. The forgotten shadow. And I have waited for you."
A black star appeared overhead. No glow. Just hunger.
And in that moment, Arielle understood—
> Azenar wasn't just coming.
> It had already entered her.