The world was fading into pale stillness.
Light no longer shimmered. The air itself had lost its color, as if the realm had forgotten how to exist.
Arka walked alone, guided only by the faint glow of the Star Seed within his chest. His steps echoed softly on ground that wasn't truly there, ripples of starlight spreading beneath his feet with every motion.
The astral wolf drifted beside him in translucent form, its presence dimmer than before. The wounds from the previous battle had weakened it, and even its celestial aura flickered.
"How far?" Arka asked quietly.
Until time forgets to count, the wolf answered. We are close to the Heart of Silence.
He looked up. There was no sky above, only endless void stretching into nothing. Yet faintly, at the very center, he could see a pulse a single, rhythmic beat like a heart carved from the essence of oblivion.
"That's it," Arka murmured. "The source."
Yes. The silence is not absence it is memory devoured. Every forgotten name, every erased soul ends there.
Arka tightened his hand around the pendant that once belonged to Lysander, the silver-haired prince whose memory had become his light. He could feel the faint warmth it still carried, proof that not everything had been consumed.
"I won't let his name disappear."
The wolf's gaze softened. Then you must do what no Sovereign has ever done. You must speak against the Heart itself.
The Weight of Forgotten Time
As they approached, fragments of worlds began to swirl around them echoes of entire civilizations reduced to pale dust. Towers of memory collapsed and rebuilt in a single instant. The whispers of countless souls brushed against Arka's mind.
Who remembers me?
Where is my name?
Did I ever exist?
Each voice tugged at his consciousness, threatening to drown him in sorrow. His breath grew shallow as visions flooded in battles lost, stars extinguished, hearts breaking in silence.
"Stop," he gasped, clutching his head. "I can't bear all of them."
You must, the wolf urged. To face the Heart, you must carry every voice it has stolen.
The Star Seed pulsed violently, responding to the flood of emotion. Its glow spread across his body, weaving constellations beneath his skin.
The realm trembled as the first spark of true light reached the Heart.
The Heart Speaks
It began with a sound that was not sound at all a deep resonance that shook every corner of existence. The void rippled like water disturbed by unseen hands.
Then a voice emerged, ancient and cold.
You are the one who remembers too much.
Arka straightened, the light around him flaring. "I am the one who refuses to forget."
Memory breeds chaos, the Heart replied. The silence is peace. It is mercy.
"Peace without life is emptiness. Mercy that erases is cruelty."
The void pulsed again. You speak with borrowed light, child of dust. What gives you the right to defy eternity?
Arka lifted his hand. The Star Seed burned brighter, sending streams of starlight that clashed with the darkness around the Heart.
"I carry the voices you buried. Every name, every life, every dream they live through me."
The Heart's form began to twist. Within the swirling void, a colossal shape emerged a being neither light nor shadow, its face ever-shifting between gods, beasts, and men.
Then bear their pain, it whispered. Bear their end.
The Trial of Existence
Light and void collided. The shockwave tore through space, scattering fragments of creation.
Arka's body shook as memories poured into him like a storm. He saw entire worlds perish, felt the agony of souls fading into nothing, heard the last breaths of heroes long forgotten. His knees buckled under the weight of it.
The wolf roared, pushing its energy into him. Do not fall. Remember who you are.
Through the flood of sorrow, one image anchored him a silver-haired prince smiling beneath starlight, reaching out his hand.
Lysander's voice whispered faintly. You promised me, Arka. No matter what happens, remember.
Arka's breath steadied. His eyes glowed silver. "Then I'll remind even eternity that we lived."
The Star Seed burst open, its energy forming wings of pure starlight behind him. The wolf howled, merging with the light, their essences intertwining into a single being half man, half celestial beast.
Together, they charged.
The Birth of Light from Silence
The impact shook creation. The void split open, exposing rivers of light buried beneath layers of forgotten time.
Arka's blade of starlight pierced the Heart. For a moment, everything froze the darkness, the memories, even the pulse of existence itself.
Then the silence screamed.
From the wound, countless names erupted, scattering like stars across the cosmos. Forgotten constellations reignited in the heavens. Lost souls returned to the flow of time.
The Heart's voice trembled. What have you done?
Arka fell to one knee, exhausted, but his expression was resolute. "I reminded the world of its song."
The light surged outward, cleansing the realm. The void began to crumble, revealing the faint outline of a new dawn beyond.
The wolf's voice echoed within him. The silence is breaking... but so is your time. The Star Seed cannot hold this power forever.
Arka smiled weakly. "Then let it burn, until every name shines again."
The Heart faded into dust. The endless void dissolved, and for the first time in eons, the realm of silence knew the sound of life.