The brilliance that carried them faded into the hush of an unfamiliar cosmos.Stars here were wrong—fractured, like crystal shards caught in suspended motion. The void hummed with the same resonance as the Ember, but distorted, broken by unseen hands.
Kairo steadied himself as gravity slowly returned. "Where are we?"
Ryo's visor scanned the darkness. "According to the Ember's coordinates… nowhere that should exist."
Ayla's boots touched a floating slab of obsidian. It pulsed faintly beneath her feet, revealing faint glyphs—ancient sigils that responded to her presence. "This isn't a world," she said softly. "It's a memory of one."
The air shimmered, and echoes began to move—figures made of starlight, flickering between recognition and oblivion. They looked almost human, almost alive.
Kairo felt the Ember in his chest sync to their rhythm. "These are the echoes Lyra warned us about," he murmured. "Remnants of the Convergence, trying to find meaning."
A tremor rippled through the void. The largest shard of the shattered starfield pulsed, and a deep voice resonated from its core.
"Bearer of the Ember… your flame rekindled the balance, yet balance breeds shadow."
From within the shard emerged a being—its form a fusion of light and void, neither solid nor spectral. Its eyes glowed like twin novas.
"I am Vaelith, Keeper of Forgotten Cycles," it declared. "The Starblade's call led you here to witness what your victory cost."
The void reformed, showing visions: realms collapsing, stars burning out prematurely, fragments of time erased to make room for new ones.
Ayla clenched her fists. "We saved creation—why are we seeing destruction?"
Vaelith's gaze fell upon Kairo. "Because every creation is built upon the ashes of what came before. The Ember did not restore—it rewrote."
The words struck Kairo like a blade of truth. He had wielded the Ember thinking it healed the multiverse, not realizing it might have replaced it entirely.
Ryo muttered, "So… we might not be in the same universe we saved?"
"No," Vaelith said simply. "You are in its echo."
The shards around them began to rotate, forming a spiral gate of pure resonance. At its center burned a familiar symbol—the split blade of light.
"The Starblade lies beyond," Vaelith said. "But to wield it again, you must confront the truth that forged it."
The spiral expanded, pulling them in. As they crossed the threshold, each felt the weight of countless timelines press upon their souls.
For the first time, Kairo wondered if heroes could ever truly save what they touched—or if every act of salvation was simply the start of another echo.