The fractured sky above the Crown's Reflection dimmed—
as though recoiling from the presence now stirring beneath the world.
Kaen could still feel it.
A heartbeat. Slower now, but heavier.
Like tectonic plates grinding against the bones of time.
Beside him, Lira stood in silence.
Not watching the forest.
Watching something distant.
Something inside her.
"You know this place," Kaen said.
Her silence fractured.
"Not this version. But... I was born in its shadow."
Kaen turned to face her fully.
"You said you were from the North."
"I lied."
She stepped forward, brushing her fingers along a twisted tree.
Its bark pulsed—silver veins flickering in recognition.
"My bloodline is bound to the Vault. My ancestors… were the last Watchers.
We weren't meant to leave. And we were never meant to return."
Kaen's fingers tightened around Vothkarr.
"So why follow me?"
Lira turned. Her eyes no longer held the calm of strategy—
but something older. Sharper.
A gaze that remembered promises made before empires fell.
"Because the Hollowed Star doesn't kill at random," she said.
"It chooses."
Then the ground trembled—not in warning.
In invitation.
From the roots of a shattered tree, something rose.
Not with footsteps.
Not with breath.
But with presence.
It wore what might once have been armor—now fused with molten flesh.
Its face, hidden behind an obsidian mask cracked straight down the center.
No eyes.
Only starlight.
Burning with ancient judgment.
Kaen stepped between it and Lira on instinct.
Then came the voice.
Not spoken.
Felt.
Vibrating through Kaen's bones.
> "Bearer of the Blade.
Walker of Ruin.
Son of the Twice-Broken Flame.
You stand before the Judge of the Hollowed Star."
Kaen didn't flinch.
"If you're here to stop me, you're late."
> "We are not here to stop.
We are here to test."
The sky grew darker still.
Lira hissed. "Don't let it touch you—!"
Too late.
The Judge raised a hand—
—and time fractured.
Kaen blinked.
And found himself standing in fire.
His village.
Burning.
Screams tore through the air.
Homes collapsed into ash.
And standing in the center—
himself.
Younger. Powerless. Watching it all burn.
Kaen stumbled backward. "This isn't real…"
But the Judge's voice echoed in the fire:
> "If your blade breaks here…
it will never rise again."
Kaen roared in fury—
and plunged Vothkarr into the heart of the illusion.
Light erupted.
And time snapped back.
He collapsed in the forest—gasping.
Knees in the moss. Sweat and memory clinging to his skin.
The Judge stood above him.
Silent.
Then bowed.
> "You did not falter.
The Vault remembers."
The crack in its mask widened.
Starlight spilled out like blood.
> "But the Hollowed Star…
remembers more."
And then it crumbled—
obsidian and stardust vanishing on the wind.
Lira knelt beside him, clutching his arm.
"You saw it, didn't you?"
Kaen nodded. "It showed me my failure."
"And you stood."
He looked up.
Above them, in the broken sky—
a crack widened.
From within, something stirred.
Not falling.
Not rising.
Just...
waiting.