The stairway was cold. Not in temperature, but in memory—like walking through echoes of a million forgotten footsteps.
Each step shimmered with constellations: stars that hadn't existed in ages, names that had long since been buried in the dust of dead galaxies. Maelin felt them whisper beneath her boots, like they recognized her. Or maybe they were warning her, too.
Caelum kept close. For once, he didn't speak.
The silence wasn't empty.
It was sacred.
---
The Outer Veil
At the top of the stairway, the world stopped pretending to be real.
The Forge vanished behind them like mist. In its place: an open sky full of colors that didn't belong in any spectrum. Floating islands of crystal and sound drifted slowly across the void. And in the center…
A Star.
But not like the ones they'd seen before. Not burning. Not violent.
This one beat.
It throbbed slowly, rhythmically, as if asleep. Wrapped in tendrils of frozen light, wrapped in a thousand prayers.
Maelin stepped forward.
And the Star opened its eye.
---
The Eye of the Star
It wasn't physical. It didn't see her the way people do.
But it knew her.
She felt her entire soul laid bare in an instant—every life she'd lived, every version of herself the Choir had tried to lock away, every memory she'd never asked to carry.
And then a voice boomed—not outside, but inside her own heartbeat.
> "YOU HAVE BROKEN THE HARMONY."
Maelin didn't flinch. "It was broken already."
> "YOU HAVE BECOME THE INSTRUMENT."
She lifted the Starforge. "Then I'll play the final chord."
The Star pulsed.
Not in anger.
But… in sorrow.
---
Caelum's Revelation
Behind her, Caelum staggered. He dropped to one knee, clutching his chest.
"Maelin…" he gasped. "It's speaking to me."
She turned sharply. "What's it saying?"
Caelum looked up, eyes wide, glowing faintly now with that same starfire.
> "I'm not just your witness."
Maelin blinked. "What do you mean?"
He stood, the glow pulsing brighter.
> "I'm your echo. I've always been."
And with that, his form shimmered—momentarily splitting into two overlapping images: Caelum… and someone else.
The boy from the murals.
The one who once stood beside Velastra.
---
Harmony or Ruin
The Star spoke one last time.
> "THE CYCLE MAY END. OR BEGIN AGAIN."
Maelin looked at Caelum—no, her echo—and then at the Star.
And she made her choice.