Chapter 153 – "When the Starless Weep"
In the vast, sprawling tapestry of the multiverse, there existed a realm forgotten by light and memory — a place where stars were not born, but where the absence of light became a profound presence. They called it The Starless.
This realm was neither void nor silence; it was an aching echo, a heartbeat in the dark. It was where lost hopes dwelled, where dreams dissolved into shadows, and where the cosmos itself seemed to hold its breath, waiting for a breath to return.
And now, it was weeping.
Far beyond Kael's growing dominion and the echoes of the Thread Between Thunder and Thought, something ancient stirred within the Starless. A sadness so deep it bent the fabric of reality. Not tears of water or light, but tears of cosmic entropy — a sorrow that rippled through dark matter and unraveled timelines.
It began with a solitary figure, cloaked in a shroud woven from the absence of stars. Her name was Liora, the Last Sentinel of the Starless — a being who had lived through the rise and fall of countless universes, whose eyes held the grief of eons.
Her gaze pierced the eternal dusk, and in it, a reflection of the pain carried by the multiverse.
"The Starless have wept for eons," she whispered to the void, her voice a fragile thread. "But now, their lament is heard beyond the silence."
Meanwhile, in the realm where Kael was weaving the Thread, Zeraphin felt a tremor of despair unlike any before. He called to Elenai, whose own connection to the multiverse made her a beacon of empathy and insight.
"The Starless are crying," Zeraphin said, his voice heavy with sorrow. "Their sorrow threatens to drown the very fabric of existence. They weep not just for themselves, but for what the multiverse is becoming."
Elenai's eyes shimmered with tears of her own. "What could cause such grief? The Starless are the void's guardians — untouched by light, yet essential to balance."
Back in the Starless, Liora's hands raised toward the dark skies. From the emptiness, shadows gathered and coalesced into figures — beings born from forgotten dreams and lost possibilities.
Among them was a child, eyes wide with wonder and despair, who had never seen the stars but felt their absence as a wound in his soul.
"This child," Liora murmured, "is the last hope of the Starless — the one who will carry their sorrow into the realms of light."
The child stepped forward, and as he did, the tears of the Starless crystallized into ethereal luminescence — tiny stars born from sorrow, flickering like fragile promises.
In the halls of the Supreme Beings, the council convened once more. The multiverse's creators, the architects of all that is, watched with concern as the Starless wept.
"The balance is threatened," intoned a being of pure radiance. "If the sorrow of the Starless continues to grow unchecked, it could unravel the delicate harmony we have maintained for eons."
Kael listened from afar, his mind touched by the deep melancholy spreading through the cosmos. The Thread Between Thunder and Thought had shown him possibilities — both creation and destruction.
Could the grief of the Starless be woven into the Thread? Could their sorrow be transformed into a new force, a power not yet understood?
Elenai approached Kael, her voice soft but firm. "We must venture to the Starless. We must understand their pain, or risk losing the multiverse to despair."
Kael nodded, feeling the weight of countless universes on his shoulders. "Then we will go," he said. "We will face the darkness not with fear, but with the light of understanding."
As Kael and Elenai crossed the boundaries of light and shadow, the Starless realm enveloped them — a place where silence was a living thing, and sorrow sang in the air.
Liora met them at the threshold, her eyes reflecting the void's endless depths.
"Welcome, Threadsmith," she said. "The Starless have waited for you."
Together, they stood at the edge of the weeping void, where tears became stars, and sorrow became the seed of a new dawn.
Next: Chapter 154 – "Echoes of the Forgotten Light"