By the time we reached the edge of the forest, the sun had already risen high enough to paint the mist gold. The air was thick with silence, and the faint hum of ancient mana pulsed beneath our feet. The trees here were older, their roots twisted around stones engraved with runes that glowed faintly in response to my mark.
Aster walked ahead, his steps steady and cautious. Even in this quiet, he moved with the awareness of someone who had lived too long surrounded by danger. I followed closely, one hand pressed over the faint glow of the Sigil under my sleeve.
When the forest finally opened up, I saw it.
The altar.
It stood in the middle of a clearing, half-buried in moss and vines. Broken pillars encircled it like sentinels of a forgotten age. The air around it shimmered faintly, as if reality itself was thinner here.
Aster stepped forward and placed a hand on one of the stone pillars. "This place was built before the Empire existed," he said softly. "A remnant from when gods still walked among mortals."
I looked at the runes etched across the altar's surface. They pulsed faintly with the same light that lived beneath my skin. "Then it's connected to the Celestial Realm."
He nodded. "Exactly. It can send us anywhere. If it still works."
We approached carefully. The air grew colder, the scent of old magic sharp enough to sting. I could feel the pull of the altar like a heartbeat, slow and heavy. Aster began brushing the dust and vines from its surface, revealing a central sigil shaped like a star within a circle.
He looked up at me. "It needs a source of divine mana to activate."
I knew what that meant even before he said it. My mark started to react, glowing brighter until the air around me shimmered. "You mean me."
"Yes," he said, his voice softer now. "But I'll stay close. If it draws too much, I'll stop it."
I knelt beside the altar, pressing my palm to the carved stone. The light from my hand spilled across the runes, awakening them one by one. A low hum filled the air, and wind began to circle us.
The sigil burned with silver fire. My breath hitched as the magic surged upward, wrapping around us in spirals of light. It felt alive, ancient, and impossibly vast. For a moment, I could see flashes of constellations spinning behind my closed eyes, as if the universe itself was trying to speak.
Then a voice broke through the noise.
"You should not have come here."
Both of us turned.
A figure stood at the edge of the clearing, cloaked in deep blue, the fabric lined with faint starlight. I couldn't see his face, but the air around him trembled with power.
Aster moved instantly, drawing his sword. "Who are you?"
The stranger stepped forward slowly. "Once, I was a guardian of the Starfall Gate. Now, I am its last prisoner."
The way he said it made my blood run cold. The altar beneath my hand stopped glowing, as if silenced by his presence. I felt the mark on my hand ache, pulsing with recognition.
He looked at me then. "Lumis's echo. The world trembles because you have awakened."
I took a step back. "You know who I am?"
"I know what you carry," he replied. "And what it will cost you to keep it."
Aster shifted closer to me, his stance protective. "If you intend to harm him, you'll have to go through me first."
The man's tone didn't change. "You misunderstand, prince. I am not your enemy. But every step you take toward the stars will draw you closer to ruin. The Church is only the beginning."
He raised his hand, and the air rippled. A single feather made of silver light drifted between us, landing on the altar.
"When the time comes, you will have to choose," he said softly. "Between salvation and love."
Before I could ask what he meant, the wind roared again. The feather dissolved, and the man vanished like smoke scattered by dawn.
Silence returned.
Aster exhaled slowly, lowering his sword. "Another warning. Another shadow."
I stared at the altar, the runes still glowing faintly beneath my hand. "He said the world trembles because of me."
Aster turned to me, his expression unreadable. "Then we'll make it tremble for the right reason."
His hand brushed against mine, steady and sure. "We move north. Whatever lies ahead, we face it together."
The light around the altar flared again, and the magic responded to his words. In the next breath, the world blurred into silver light, and the forest vanished beneath our feet.