The air grew warmer as Arka walked deeper into the Silent Realm.
The mist began to shimmer faintly, tinged with soft hues of blue and gold.
Each step he took made the ground pulse with faint light, as though the world itself was responding to his heartbeat.
He stopped.
A faint sound broke the stillness.
Not a voice, not even a breath, but something deeper the quiet hum of existence itself.
The astral wolf turned its gaze upward. Do you hear it?
Arka nodded slowly. It's like… the world is singing.
That is the echo of creation. Few ever reach this far. The Star Seed must be near.
Ahead, a massive structure emerged from the mist.
It wasn't a temple nor a mountain, but something in between a colossal crystal spire reaching endlessly into the sky.
Within it, faint lights flowed like veins of molten silver.
Arka approached carefully.
As he reached the base, ancient runes ignited beneath his feet, forming a circle that resonated with the pulse inside his chest.
The wolf lowered its head. It recognizes you.
Arka placed a hand on the surface of the crystal. It was warm, alive, and beating in rhythm with his own pulse.
Then, a voice gentle yet infinite spoke directly into his mind.
Bearer of the Wolf's Blood… Why do you seek the voice of creation?
Arka closed his eyes. Because the silence is spreading. The stars are dying. I cannot let the world forget itself.
To remember is to suffer. Creation is pain unending.
Then I will suffer, Arka replied without hesitation. Because memory is what makes us alive.
The crystal pulsed once, and light enveloped him entirely.
The Trial of Origin
He found himself standing within a void filled with drifting constellations.
Each star pulsed with fragments of memory faces, names, laughter, battles, tears.
The voice spoke again, softer this time. To awaken the Star Seed, you must remember everything. Even the things you've buried.
Images began to appear before him his childhood home, his mother's voice, his first hunt, the night he lost everything.
He saw the beasts he'd slain, the allies who'd died protecting him, and the faces of those he had failed to save.
The weight was unbearable.
Each memory burned like molten glass inside his mind.
He fell to one knee, gasping silently.
If you cannot carry them all, the silence will claim you, the voice warned.
Arka clenched his teeth. His vision blurred.
But then he remembered Liora's last words: "Remember, but do not drown."
He steadied his breath.
Instead of resisting the memories, he let them flow through him pain, loss, hope, and love all intertwined.
They became light instead of chains.
The stars around him began to move.
They formed a spiral, converging toward his chest.
A sphere of blinding radiance appeared within him, spinning faster until it melted into his soul.
The voice whispered, The Star Seed awakens… and so does the balance it once defied.
The Keeper of Lost Names
The light faded, and Arka stood once again before the crystal spire.
But he was not alone.
A figure waited at the top of the steps, its body cloaked in silver and its face hidden behind a mask of glass.
Where it stood, the air shimmered with memories.
Each step it took left behind faint whispers—names, countless names—spoken and forgotten in an instant.
The wolf growled, its fur bristling. The Keeper of Lost Names.
The figure's voice was both male and female, echoing like two tones layered together.
"You have awakened the Seed, child of the fallen sky. But in doing so, you disturb the equilibrium. The forgotten are stirring."
Arka stood his ground. "If they were forgotten, then I will remember them all."
The Keeper tilted its head slightly. "Do you even understand what memory costs? Every name you recall takes a piece of your own."
"I know," Arka said. "But if silence means losing them forever, then I'll give everything I have."
The Keeper extended its hand. "Then prove your conviction. Speak the name of one who no longer exists."
Arka hesitated. He could feel the danger in the request. The wolf's voice echoed in his mind. Be careful. A name is power here. If you call one that has truly been erased, it may consume you.
But Arka already knew which name to say.
He closed his eyes, and through the stillness, he whispered: "Liora."
The moment the name formed in his mind, the entire realm trembled.
The Keeper's mask cracked. Light burst from the fissure, and waves of memory rippled outward.
The Keeper staggered, its voice faltering. "That name... should not exist here."
Arka stepped forward, eyes glowing with the light of the Star Seed. "Then let it exist again."
The air erupted in a storm of starlight. Fragments of forgotten names filled the sky, swirling around him like a cosmic tide.
The Keeper raised its arm to strike, but the astral wolf leapt, its form merging with Arka's in a blaze of radiant energy.
Their souls became one.
Silver flames ignited across his body, and his voice thundered through the realm.
"I am the Sovereign who remembers. I will give voice to every silence."
The Keeper's body shattered into pure light, scattering into the void.
The New Dawn
The storm subsided.
The crystal spire stood silent once more, but the air around it was warm.
Stars above began to pulse again, faint yet alive.
Arka fell to one knee, exhausted but alive. The wolf's voice lingered gently within him. You did it. The Seed has chosen you.
He looked at his hands.
Symbols of light glowed faintly beneath his skin runes of memory, pulsating with soft power.
What happens now?
Now the silence knows your name, the wolf replied. And it will come for you.
Arka looked up at the endless sky.
For the first time since the Third Light appeared, he smiled.
"Then let it come. I'll make sure it remembers who I am."
The stars answered with a quiet shimmer, and far beyond the horizon, the first dawn in centuries began to rise.