The night didn't feel like night anymore.

The sky above Starfall Village stretched wider than Y͟u͟n͟ had ever seen it, almost like it was breathing in slow heavy pulses. Even the wind carried a strange rhythm, brushing past his ears like someone whispering a song he should've remembered but somehow forgot. His chest felt tight, buzzing, almost aching like something inside him wanted out, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to let it.

Shen Yu stood beside him on the hill overlooking the village, his face pale under the starlight. He kept glancing upward, hand on the hilt of a blade Yun had never seen him draw before.

"You felt it again, didn't you?" Shen Yu asked.

Yun swallowed. "Yeah. Like something is… pushing at me. Or calling me. It's weird. I don't know how to explain it."

"You don't have to," Shen Yu muttered, jaw tensing. "It's getting stronger each time. Faster than I thought."

Below them, candles flickered in the houses. Life went on in small, nervous breaths villagers pretending everything was normal even though every one of them felt the tremors last night. Chickens still ran around, dogs barked too much, babies cried for no reason. But the air, the sky… none of it was normal anymore.

Yun hugged his arms to his chest, suddenly cold. "What… what's happening to me, Shen Yu? Just tell me straight this time. Don't wrap it in riddles."

Shen Yu hesitated.

And Yun hated that more than any monster.

Finally Shen Yu sighed, rubbing his forehead like the truth physically hurt him.

"Your bloodline is waking too quickly," he said softly. "Something out there is forcing the process. Something ancient. And dangerous. I think it's searching for you."

Yun froze. His heart thumped too loud. "Searching for me? Why? I don't even— I'm not even anything yet."

"That's exactly why," Shen Yu said. "You are not grown. Not defended. Not hidden enough. The moment your bloodline settles… your presence will echo through the Cosmos. And not everything out there wishes you well."

He pointed upward.

And Yun followed his gaze.

The Stars Shifted. Actually Shifted.

Constellations moved like they were rearranging themselves. One star dimmed. Another brightened—no, flared. A faint voice pressed against Yun's mind, not words, just… emotion. Urgency. Distance. Pain. Pride. Sadness.

He stumbled back, clutching his head. "Ah—! I… I heard something—felt someone—"

Shen Yu grabbed his arm. "Careful! Don't open your mind too far! You'll attract—"

The sky broke.

Not literally, but Yun felt something crack across the heavens like a hairline fracture. A ripple tore through the constellations. And through that ripple, Yun saw—

Somewhere in the Vast Cosmos

A battlefield forged out of broken galaxies. Stars—entire suns—used as torches for titanic warriors. A monstrous entity with chains made of blackened nebulae was dragging itself through the void. Three Celestial Empires clashed in the distance, their armies slamming into each other like storms made of light.

And in the middle of that chaos…

A woman with hair like silver flame—Yun's mother—stood wounded, holding up a collapsing barrier of starlight.

Her voice reached him through the crack.

"…Yun… stay hidden…"

Yun's heart nearly stopped.

He didn't know how he knew she was talking to him, but he knew it as surely as he knew his own breath.

Before he could speak back, a second voice thundered across the cosmos, deeper, furious, terrifying.

"DO NOT REVEAL YOURSELF, MY SON!"

His father.

Yun staggered, gasping. Shen Yu grabbed him by both shoulders.

"What did you see? Yun—YUN—look at me!"

"I saw them," Yun choked. "My parents. They're fighting something… something massive— and they told me— they told me to stay hidden—"

Shen Yu's face drained of all color. "They talked to you? Directly? Through the cosmos?"

"I didn't— I didn't mean to answer— I just— the crack— the noise—"

Shen Yu cursed under his breath, something Yun had never heard him do before.

"That means the barrier weakening is worse than I feared. They shouldn't be able to reach you from that distance. Not unless…"

A low sound rumbled across the sky.

Not thunder.

Roaring.

Something roaring beyond the stars.

Yun shivered so violently his teeth clacked. "Shen Yu… what was that?"

Shen Yu didn't answer immediately. His eyes were fixed on the heavens, his expression shifting from fear… to anger… to pure determination.

"That," he said quietly, "is the one enemy your parents feared most. The one they abandoned their thrones to hide you from."

Yun's stomach dropped. "Why—why me?"

Shen Yu looked at him with a mix of pity and awe.

"Because, Yun… your bloodline isn't just powerful. It is forbidden."

Yun's breath hitched. "Forbidden? What does that even mean—"

But he didn't get to finish.

The crack in the sky pulsed—bright, loud, like a tear ripping wider.

And Yun's entire body lit up, veins glowing like silver rivers, eyes shimmering with stardust. Not painful this time. Just overwhelming. Like he was too small to hold what was inside him.

"Shen Yu…" Yun whispered, voice trembling. "I think… I think something in me just— woke up again."

Shen Yu stepped back, eyes widening. "Not again… not this soon…"

Yun reached out blindly, grabbing the front of Shen Yu's robe.

"Help me," he whispered. "I don't wanna lose myself."

And the sky split open again.

Just a little.

Just enough for something ancient to look through.

And Yun felt its gaze land on him.

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