The hunter moved first.
Light collapsed inward, folding space like paper, and suddenly it was inside the courtyard — blade already falling, a spear of condensed firmament aimed not at Elira…
…but at Kael's heart.
"Elira—!"
Kael shoved her back.
Shadow surged too late.
The spear punched through his shoulder, pinning him to the stone wall behind with a sound too wet, too final. Blood sprayed — dark, steaming where celestial energy burned through it.
Kael snarled, ripping the weapon free with a roar that shook the battlements. He staggered — once.
Did not fall.
"Kael!" Elira screamed.
Pain detonated through the bond — not shared, not dulled. Magnified. As if the universe wanted her to understand exactly what it would cost to love him.
The hunter advanced calmly.
> He is finite, it intoned.
You are not.
Let him die.
Something inside Elira snapped.
Training vanished. Control shattered.
"No."
Silver light erupted — wild, violent — throwing the hunter back several paces. Stone vaporized. Wards screamed as ancient protections overloaded.
Kael slid down the wall, breath ragged, blood soaking his armor.
"Elira…" he rasped. "Don't—"
She dropped beside him, hands shaking as she pressed them to his wound. Healing flared — failed. The celestial residue repelled her power, eating away at it like acid.
She sobbed.
For the first time since she fell, Elira felt truly helpless.
The hunter rose again, armor cracking but intact.
> This is mercy, it said.
Release him.
Elira lifted her head slowly.
"No."
The word carried weight.
The sky above them began to move — constellations shifting, aligning.
Kael's vision blurred, but he saw it then — the way the air bent around her, the way reality seemed to lean in and listen.
"Elira," he whispered urgently. "If you do this—"
She shook her head, tears streaking down glowing cheeks.
"I remember now."
The words rippled outward.
The hunter froze.
> That is impossible—
"I remember my name."
Silence slammed down.
Not absence of sound — obedience.
Elira stood.
Light and shadow parted around her like courtiers before a throne.
"I was not cast down," she said softly. "I left."
Memory flooded her in a blinding rush:
— Standing among the Firmament, crowned in starlight
— Being called The Cartographer, the one who named paths between worlds
— Loving a mortal not meant to survive what she was
Her voice rang clear and absolute.
"My name is Aurelion Astraea."
The universe inhaled.
The hunter screamed.
Not in pain — in recognition.
THE FORGOTTEN STAR—
Elira lifted one hand.
"Enough."
The word was not loud.
It was law.
The hunter collapsed inward, celestial armor unraveling into ash and light, its essence unmade — not destroyed, but returned to the void it came from.
The sky sealed.
Stars slid back into place.
The courtyard fell deathly quiet.
Elira swayed.
Kael caught her just in time, arms trembling as he pulled her against him.
"You idiot," he breathed, voice breaking. "You beautiful, reckless—"
She pressed her forehead to his, exhausted, glowing faintly.
"I couldn't let you die," she whispered. "Not again."
His breath hitched.
"Again?"
She closed her eyes.
"I loved you before the serpent," she said softly. "Before the war. Before I fell."
The bond hummed — settled now, deeper, irrevocable.
Kael held her like he was afraid the world might try to take her again.
Above them, unseen by mortal eyes, the Firmament reeled.
Because the star they erased…
Had remembered herself.