The dogs were barking like they lost their minds, all teeth and spit and fur, pulling their ropes so hard they choked themselves. The villagers were gathering in little groups, holding sticks, hoes, old rusted blades that probably hadn't been used in years except to cut stubborn roots. The air felt sharp, like breathing cut inside the chest.

Yun stood there, not knowing what to do, his hands cold even though the morning sun was rising. Shen Yu stepped forward slowly, not rushing, not scared. He walked the way someone walks when they already know the ending of the story.

Suddenly there was a scream.

A sharp one. A woman's voice. From the east field.

Everyone turned. Old Guo shouted, "MOVE!" though his legs shook.

People ran. Yun ran too, feet stumbling, lungs burning though he barely moved more than a few seconds. They reached the field and...and everything stopped.

The scarecrow was torn apart, not just ripped but shredded into tiny strips like fingers had been peeling it thread by thread. And beside it, in the dirt, were footprints.

Not animal.

Not human.

Long.

Bent.

Like something walked on legs that shouldn't bend the way legs bend.

The villagers gasped and crossed themselves or whispered prayers to gods they barely believed in. Liang grabbed Yun's arm, fingers cold. "This—this— this is real then," he stuttered.

Yun couldn't speak. He felt like if he opened his mouth something else would talk through him.

Before anyone could think what to do next, there was another scream—this time from the river side.

Yun and Shen Yu ran together, but Shen Yu was faster, moving like he'd been waiting for this exact moment. The sound of water splashing, dogs barking from afar, and something else like a wet dragging sound echoed near the riverbank.

When Yun got there, he saw Auntie Lin's oldest son lying on the ground, his leg bleeding, torn open like something bit it or clawed it or maybe both. His eyes were wide, whites showing too much, and he was gulping air like he was drowning even though he was on dry land.

"IT CAME OUT OF THE TREES!" he shouted, voice breaking, shaking. "IT WATCHED US, IT WAS WATCHING, ITS EYES"

Shen Yu knelt beside him, pressing his hand over the wound. Something faint glowed from Shen Yu's palm—dim, like starlight through fog.

Yun stared at the glow. "You— you can use—"

Shen Yu didn't look up. "Later."

People gathered around, shouting, crying, asking questions nobody had answers to, voices mixing into a terrible noise that made Yun want to cover his ears.

He stepped back, away from all of it, because suddenly his heart was beating too loud. So loud it felt like it was going to crack his ribs.

His vision blurred.

The sky looked too bright.

The trees were too dark.

The shadows were too deep.

And then—he heard something.

Not with his ears.

Inside his head.

A voice, or maybe a song, or maybe just stars whispering thousands of miles away:

Yun…

He gasped and grabbed his head, dropping to his knees. His breath came too fast, too sharp, like he was drowning on air. The world tilted, spinning slow.

Yun… you were never sleeping…

Wake… wake now…

His chest hurt,burned like someone poured fire into it.

He saw something then, not with eyes—maybe memory, maybe dream—stars, endless stars, a sky full of them, moving like a river of light, like they were alive.

Then someone touched his shoulder.

Not Shen Yu.

Someone else.

A man stood there, hooded, cloak made of something dark, darker than night but with faint specks of shimmering light inside it like constellations stitched into fabric. Yun couldn't see his face. Couldn't even breathe when he looked at him.

The villagers didn't see the man. Only Yun did.

The man spoke, voice like a deep bell rolling in the distance.

"You are not alone, child of the Starborne."

Yun almost cried, though he didn't know why. "Who..who are you please please tell me!

The figure reached out a finger, gently touched his forehead and the pain stopped.

Just like that.

Gone.

Like it was never there.

Shen Yu turned then, sensing something, but the cloaked man stepped back and faded. Not disappeared, not vanished, just… stepped out of the world like he walked through a curtain.

Yun gasped and fell forward, panting, sweat dripping down his face. The villagers stared at him now because he was the one who fell, the one who looked like he saw something no one else did.

Shen Yu walked toward him, slow again, careful. "You saw him," he said quietly. Not a question.

Yun nodded, trembling. "Wh-who was he?"

Shen Yu looked at the sky this time, not the trees.

"One of your guardians."

"My guardian? Why..why didn't he just… help us? Help the village? Stop that thing?"

Shen Yu's voice grew heavy. "He cannot interfere. Not yet. Your awakening must be your own."

Yun's hands curled into fists. "Awakening? I didn't ask for any of this!"

Shen Yu looked at him then, eyes filled with something Yun didn't expect.

Pity.

"Fate doesn't ask," Shen Yu said. "It only waits."

And in the trees, just beyond the first line of shadow—

something moved.

And watched.

And waited too.

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