It started with a dream.Lyra woke in darkness, her chest heaving, tears still wet on her cheeks though she didn't remember why. In her dream, the sky had broken open and someone had reached for her hand, whispering her name as if it were the last word in existence.But when she blinked, it was to see her small room the sunlight streaming through half drawn curtains, dust dancing lazily in the beam.Her heart was still racing.The world outside looked as it usually did, but to Lyra, it was new as if everything had shifted overnight.The air hummed differently; the wind had rhythm.And every time she looked up toward the morning star, bright and silver against a pale sky, she would feel something stirring deep in her bones.Something like recognition.At breakfast, her grandmother watched her with quiet curiosity.“You've been distracted lately,” she said. “Another one of your dreams?”Lyra hesitated, her fingers tracing the rim of her cup. "They don't feel like dreams. They feel like.

When Lyra opened her eyes again, the world wasn't the same. The ruins were gone. The stars overhead were still red, still shifting, but the marble beneath her feet had turned into dirt and broken concrete. The whole of the observatory hill seemed to have been… scorched, like lightning and stardust had carved new scars into the earth. She stumbled to her feet, dazed. Along the highway far below, cars were pulled over; people were standing outside them, necks stretched toward the bleeding sky, phones held up but failing to record anything but static. Some pointed. Some prayed. Others cried. There was a faint hum in the air, an eerie humming, it seemed, of reality itself. Riven rose beside her, now fully solid in her realm, the lines of his celestial form dimmed but still visible beneath the surface of his skin. He gazed off toward the horizon, his expression tense and unreadable. "The mortal realm is destabilizing," he said. "The Vein awakened too quickly." Lyra r

The Binding Thread glowed faintly between their hands as Lyra and Kael stepped deeper into the crystal lit path. Every step felt heavier, charged with the revelation of what they were becoming.Lyra wasn’t sure if it was her heart pounding or Kael’s the thread made it difficult to define where one ended and where the other began.Kael continued to glance at her, as if to make sure she hadn't vanished.“You’re quiet,” he muttered.Lyra shrugged softly.“I'm thinking.”His eyes narrowed.“About Lucien?”Lyra shook her head.“No. About us.”Kael's steps faltered.The thread pulsed once warm and bright.He looked at her like her words hit something deep.“Lyra…”His voice was soft, with the edges trembling with vulnerability.“You’re not afraid of this?”“I'm terrified,” she said.“But not of you. Never of you.”Kael breathed out shakily, like the confession unraveled him.He raised her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it, slowly, reverently.The thread flared between them, bright

In that instant, when Lyra and Kael stepped through the archway, the world shifted.There was no earth.No sky.No sound.Just an open expanse with no bounds glinting like the inside of a shattered star.The ground they stood on was made of glass that showed reflections of them with an uncanny precision.Except…their reflections weren't doing the same things they were.Lyra’s reflection smiled back at herbut it wasn't a kind smile.It was sharp, knowing, hungry.Kael stiffened.“Stay close,” he whispered.Lyra nodded and reached for his handbut the moment their fingers touched, the realm reacted.The glass floor shattered.Shards sprang upwards, whirling around them like a storm of broken mirrors. Every shard held an image, darker versions of themselves, possibilities of alternatives, visible fears.A voice echoed in the endless void, deep and without emotion.“DUAL ASCENSION INITIATED.”“TRIAL ONE: THE MIRRORS OF TRUTH.”“SURVIVAL RATE 12%.”Lyra's blood ran cold.Kael squeezed h

The heavens, above Valenfall shifted to the hue of fading embers.Lyra leaned on the balcony of the Astral Spire clutching the marble edge tightly until slight cracks appeared beneath her grip. Her flames no longer merely stirred they beckoned. Drawing her in. Stretching out. Murmuring her name as if something primordial recalled her presence.Kael sensed it prior to her turning.Shadow was drawn to her innate, fundamental indestructibility.He moved into the balcony’s light, the dark cloak drifting like mist. "Your power is shifting more.”“It isn’t shifting " Lyra murmured, gazing at her hands. "It’s… recognizing me.”Kael moved cautiously like she was a star he hesitated to reach for. Found himself irresistibly attracted to. "Lyra." His tone softened, quite deliberate. "If your fire ignites soon it will scorch right through you.”“And if you continue suppressing them your shadows will consume you " she replied gently. ". Yet here we stand.”The breeze changed direction. Her hair g