The world felt too loud when Maelin opened her eyes.
Not noise—just... existence. The walls of the Forge buzzed like a storm trapped in stone. The runes along the pillars flickered with new patterns, and the air itself carried something sharp—like the moment before lightning hits.
Caelum was already running toward her. "Maelin! You were gone—just gone!"
She blinked at him, confused. "Gone? I was only there for a minute."
His face said no, not even close. "Three hours. You collapsed. You weren't breathing."
Maelin sat up. Her hands trembled around the Starforge.
It wasn't glowing anymore.
It was humming.
---
The Lingering Voice
Inside her skull, the voice still echoed. Not words anymore. Just music. A rhythm without sound. A melody no one taught her, but her bones remembered anyway.
> "Burn the Choir."
> "Let the Star fall."
But how?
And why did it have her face?
Maelin stood, knees unsteady. The world tilted. The Forge tilted. Or maybe nothing was tilting and she just wasn't the same anymore.
Caelum steadied her. "Tell me what happened. What did you see?"
She wanted to lie. To pretend it was nothing. But her voice betrayed her.
"I saw the end."
---
The Star's Scar
As they walked deeper into the Forge, the architecture shifted again—walls thinning, turning to glass and then to nothing at all.
They stepped into a chamber open to the stars.
Except... the stars weren't there.
Just black holes where stars used to be. Whole constellations wiped from the sky like someone had erased them with regret.
And right in the middle of the void—was a floating shard.
It looked like a broken piece of the Star itself. Small. Incomplete. But it pulsed with that same ancient light. The one that had spoken to her.
She stepped toward it.
The shard sang.
---
A Song Begins
Maelin raised the Forge.
And the shard responded.
A line of glowing symbols zipped into place in the air between them—an ancient score, floating like musical notes no one had ever dared to play.
She didn't recognize the language.
But somehow… she knew the tune.
The first note slipped from her lips before she realized she was singing.
It was beautiful.
And terrifying.
The chamber shook.
From deep in the Forge, something roared—not angry, not violent.
Awake.
---
Caelum grabbed her arm. "You need to stop—whatever that was—don't do it again."
Maelin didn't look at him. Her eyes were locked on the shard.
"I didn't mean to."
"But you can," he whispered.
She nodded slowly.
And the shard whispered one last thing before it vanished into her chest:
> "The Choir has heard you."