The Black Star Gaze's
The dawn light filtered through the skeletal branches of the forest, but the sky was no longer theirs. The black star hung low on the horizon, a smoldering pupil in the heavens, its light leaching color from the world. Alex walked beside Jordan and Lila, their footsteps muffled by ash that now coated the forest floor like snow. The Heartroot's pool, once radiant, had dulled to a leaden mirror, reflecting only the void above.
"It's watching," Lila murmured, her eyes fixed on the star. "Like it's waiting for something."
Jordan adjusted the strap of their sword, its blade still smudged with harpy ash. "We need to find shelter. Whatever that thing is, it's not here to grant wishes."
Alex flexed their hand, now free of the orb's corruption but marked by a faint lattice of silver scars. The absence of the artifact's whispers left an eerie silence in their mind. "Kael said Ashkar was contained, not destroyed. That star… it's a wound. A door."
The forest, once alive with malice, now felt hollow. Trees stood like sentinels of bone, their leaves shriveled to dust. Even the wind had died, as though the world itself held its breath.
---
**The First Sign**
They found the village at midday—or what remained of it. The huts were charred husks, their roofs caved in. The air reeked of iron and burnt hair. Lila knelt, brushing ash from a half-buried symbol scratched into the soil: a spiral with a single eye at its center.
"This wasn't zealots," she said. "This was a ritual. They were trying to protect themselves."
Jordan nudged a shattered clay pot with their boot. "From what?"
A child's whimper echoed from a collapsed cellar. Alex pried open the splintered door, revealing a girl no older than ten, her face streaked with soot and tears. She recoiled, clutching a wooden doll with no eyes.
"It's okay," Lila said softly. "We won't hurt you."
The girl pointed to the sky. "The star… it *talks*. It told them to burn us."
---
**Whispers from the Void**
Her name was Mara. She spoke in fragments, her voice hollow.
"They came when the star appeared. Men in black robes. They said the Devourer demanded tribute. Mama told them no. Then the fires…"
Jordan handed her a waterskin. "Where are the others?"
"Gone. Taken. To the Tower of Eyes."
Lila stiffened. "The Tower is a myth. A story to scare scholars."
"Not anymore," Alex said. The silver scars on their hand pulsed as the black star's light shifted, casting long shadows that pointed northeast.
Mara tugged at Alex's sleeve. "Don't go there. The Tower *sees*. And it hates."
---
**The Weight of Shadows**
They camped in the ruins, the black star's gaze relentless. Alex dreamt of Kael.
*He stood in a field of stars, his form flickering between man and shadow. "You think you won? The Devourer thrives on sacrifice. My death… your scars… they're threads in his web."*
Ashkar's voice slithered through the dream, deeper than the earth. *"The star is my eye. The Tower, my hand. You will kneel, little light."*
Alex woke to Jordan shaking them. "You were screaming."
"Not me," Alex whispered. "*Him.*"
---
**The Tower of Eyes**
The Tower rose from the plains like a thorn, its obsidian spires studded with pulsating orbs—each a prison for a stolen eye. The air hummed with a low, collective wail. At its base, robed figures chanted, their hoods embroidered with the spiral-and-eye symbol.
Lila's grip tightened on her dagger. "Cultists. They're harvesting eyes to feed the star."
Jordan glanced at Alex. "Plan?"
The silver scars burned. "We end this."
---
**The Ritual**
Chaos erupted. Cultists swarmed, their daggers dripping with venom. Jordan carved through them, their sword a blur, while Lila hurled vials of alchemical fire. Alex moved as if guided by instinct, their body alight with residual starlight.
At the Tower's entrance, a priest awaited, his robe stitched with human eyelids. "The Devourer's gaze favors you, child. Join us, and see *true* power."
Alex lunged, but the priest's hand snapped up. The Tower's orbs glowed, and a beam of black light struck Alex's chest. They fell, their scars *tearing*.
*"Pathetic,"* Ashkar's voice laughed. *"You are still mine."*
---
**The Price of Sight**
Lila tackled the priest, her dagger finding his throat. The Tower shuddered, orbs shattering. Light—pure and blinding—erupted from within.
Jordan hauled Alex upright. "Move!"
They staggered into the Tower's heart, where a massive eye, veined with black rot, floated above an altar. Mara's doll lay at its base, eyeless.
"The star's source," Lila breathed. "Destroy it!"
Alex plunged their scarred hand into the eye.
---
**The Devourer's Truth**
The world fractured.
*Alex stood in a realm of endless night, Ashkar before them—a colossus of shadow and teeth. "You cannot kill a god, little moth. But you can feed me."*
Kael's voice echoed, faint but defiant. *"Break the cycle, Alex. Break *him*."*
With a roar, Alex tore into the eye. Light and void collided.
---
**Aftermath**
The Tower collapsed. The cultists fled, screaming as the black star dimmed.
Mara's doll crumbled to dust. "It's over?" she asked.
"No," Alex said, staring at their hand. The silver scars now glowed with trapped starlight—and a sliver of void. "It's just beginning."
High above, the black star blinked.
---
**End of Chapter 16**
**Next**: The Tower's fall has awakened a network of ancient shrines, each tied to Ashkar's prison. The group must race against cultists and crumbling seals, but Alex's bond with the void grows stronger—and the line between savior and herald blurs.