The morning after the dream felt unreal.
Erian walked through the corridors of the academy, but everything around him seemed distant, blurred at the edges. The students' laughter, the scent of parchment and ink, the rustle of robes all faded beneath the echo of a single name beating in his chest.
Aster.
No matter how much he tried to focus, his mind returned to that voice. That warmth.
He reached the edge of the courtyard, where sunlight poured through the arches, glinting off a statue of the Goddess Astraea the deity of fate and celestial bonds. Her stone eyes seemed to follow him.
"Are you mocking me too?" Erian murmured.
"Talking to statues again?"
He turned sharply. Professor Kael stood behind him, robes fluttering in the wind, a knowing smile touching his lips.
"I've been observing you, Erian," Kael said calmly. "Your aura is… shifting."
Erian's pulse quickened. "Shifting?"
Kael nodded. "You've begun to resonate with astral energy. Very few mages in history ever reach that stage without divine guidance."
Erian frowned. "Astral energy?"
"It is the power that binds worlds," Kael explained, his gaze steady. "It links souls across space and time. When it awakens, it means your spirit is calling to another."
Erian froze. "Calling to… another?"
Kael studied him quietly, then added, "Tell me, Erian. When you dream… do you see a man with silver hair?"
The question struck like lightning. Erian's mouth went dry.
"How did you"
Kael smiled faintly. "The same vision once haunted the High Priest Orion. He called it the Bond of Starlight. Two souls born under opposing constellations, yet bound by the same fate."
Erian's hands trembled. "What does it mean?"
"It means your destiny is no longer your own," Kael said softly. "And neither is his."
The words left Erian silent.
But far across the empire, in the marble chambers of the royal palace, Aster felt it too.
He stood before the council, the air thick with hostility. A circle of high magisters surrounded him, their eyes glowing faintly as they chanted an ancient detection spell.
"The Crown Prince bears a foreign resonance," one of them said sharply. "An astral echo from beyond our realm."
Aster's eyes narrowed. "You dare to invade my spirit?"
"It is not invasion, Your Highness," another replied coldly. "It is protection. If the stars mark you, the empire must know why."
A surge of silver light burst from Aster's body, shattering their formation. The magisters stumbled back, gasping as their runes dissolved.
"The stars answer to no throne," Aster said quietly, his voice calm but dangerous. "And neither do I."
He turned and left the chamber before they could respond, the echo of his boots fading into silence.
But beneath his composure, his heart raced.
That pull again. That warmth across the void.
He placed a hand over his chest. "Erian…"
Somewhere, he knew, the same heartbeat was answering him.