The wind was gentle that morning, but the air held a tension that no breeze could soothe.
Erza stood at the edge of the clearing, the soft glow of dawn behind him, casting long shadows on the dew-covered grass. His cloak, tattered from the last battle, fluttered gently in the wind. The others were breaking camp in silence behind him—Selene sharpening her blades, Ryse muttering to himself while adjusting his gear, and Kale humming faintly as he fed embers into a portable seal box.
The wounded defector still lay unconscious, guarded and warded, breathing shallow but alive. What he'd revealed the night before weighed heavy on them all.
"Three nights until the Eclipse Gate opens," Selene said behind him. "And we're still half a day from Solstice Basin."
"We'll make it," Erza replied without turning.
Ryse snorted. "Not if we go through the Mawwood."
"That's the fastest route," Erza said.
"It's also cursed," Ryse shot back. "Those woods eat people. Ask Kale."
Kale blinked slowly, clearly already tuning out of the argument. "I'd rather not," he said softly.
Erza turned around to face them. "The Shadow Consortium is counting on fear to slow us. We move through the Mawwood. At night."
Selene raised a brow. "At night?"
"They're already watching the obvious roads during the day," Erza replied. "We play their game, we lose before we start."
Selene's expression tightened. But she nodded.
Kale sighed, standing and slinging his seal box over his back. "If we die, I'm haunting you."
Erza gave him a sideways glance. "You already do."
The Mawwood did not welcome them.
They entered as the last light of day slipped behind the horizon. The trees here were wrong—twisted in ways that made the eye ache, leaves fluttering with no wind, and roots that pulsed faintly beneath their boots like veins.
Kale muttered incantations every dozen steps, carving sigils into nearby trees to keep the path sealed. Even with those protections, they all walked in formation—Erza at the front, Selene at his flank, Ryse sweeping the rear with a quiet vigilance.
"What exactly is the Mawwood?" Erza asked after hours of silence.
Kale's voice was quiet. "An old place. Pre-Constellation. Before we mapped the skies, before the Stars chose us. This forest... remembers."
"Remembers what?" Selene asked.
Kale didn't answer.
They kept walking.
Then—without warning—the trees thinned, opening into a clearing.
And in the center stood an ancient monolith.
Etched into it were symbols that twisted like they were alive—too deep to be carved, yet too precise to be natural. The group stopped instinctively.
"That's not on the map," Ryse muttered.
"It's not supposed to be," Kale whispered. "We're off course."
Erza stepped forward.
Something called to him from the stone—not a voice, not even a feeling. Just a pull. As if his Solar Core recognized the material.
"Erza," Selene warned. "This place feels... wrong."
He didn't stop. He placed his hand on the monolith.
In an instant, fire exploded behind his eyes. His breath caught.
He wasn't in the forest anymore.
He stood beneath a crimson sky, before a celestial lion the size of a mountain. Golden manes rippled like galaxies. Stars burned in its eyes.
"My roar echoes through your blood.
Your flame is scattered, Prince of Duskfire. Reforge it. Or be devoured."
And just like that—he was back.
Erza stumbled back from the stone, gasping. The mark on his palm blazed with radiant heat, and Leo's sigil flared briefly on his chest before fading.
"What the hell was that?" Selene asked, catching him.
"A vision," Erza said, voice hoarse. "Leo... showed me something. He's watching. He's—"
A sharp snap of a branch echoed from the tree line.
They all turned.
From the shadows, a figure stepped out—barefoot, skin like bleached ash, eyes glowing with blue voidlight. Cloaked in robes woven from starlight and shadow.
A Shadowborn Warden.
"You come too close to the gate," it hissed. "The Fallen Prince walks paths best left forgotten."
Erza raised his hand. "Get out of our way."
"I am not here to fight," the Warden said. "Only to warn. The gate will open. You cannot stop it. And when it does, your flame will flicker like dust in the black."
It raised one hand—and in a blink of firelight—it was gone.
No sound.
No trace.
No trail.
Only the monolith, still pulsing gently beneath their feet.
Ryse let out a long breath. "Well, that's not terrifying at all."
Kale crouched beside the stone, studying the remaining glow. "That vision wasn't a warning. It was a trial. Your bond with Leo just deepened. He's calling you to ascend."
Erza looked at his hand, then the forest.
He didn't feel stronger.
He felt like the forest had seen straight through him—and deemed him unworthy.
Still, he nodded. "Let's keep moving."
They left the clearing without a word, and the Mawwood swallowed them again.
But the fire in Erza's chest burned brighter now—like a storm behind his ribs, waiting to be unleashed.
And deep beneath Solstice Basin, something ancient turned its gaze upward... waiting for the prince who walked with stars.