Echoes, Embers & A Stolen Sky

The sky wasn't supposed to bleed.

Not yet.

But above the Immortal Arena, clouds unraveled like torn silk, leaking streaks of crimson light across the heavens. It wasn't sunset— it was something older, something wrong. Yueli could feel it in her bones before she saw it. A chill laced with pressure, like the air itself was holding its breath.

" What… is that?" she whispered,

shielding their daughter with one arm as she stepped beside Di Yan.

He stood still, expression unreadable.

His silver hair stirred in the strange wind, eyes locked on the shifting sky. " A rift," he said.

" A tear between realms."

Their baby looked up, eyes glowing faintly, and said the most unexpected thing:

" Mine."

Yueli blinked. " Sorry, did she just claim the sky?"

" She's not wrong," murmured an ancient voice behind them.

A ripple parted the air as one of the

High Celestial Guardians approached, robes glimmering with starlight, face hidden beneath a mask of pearls.

" The child was never meant to stay hidden," the Guardian said, voice hollow like a memory. " The realm has been watching. So have others."

Yueli narrowed her eyes. " Be more specific or I'm setting something on fire."

" The prophecy you fear? It was never about destruction. Not directly." The Guardian lowered his hood, revealing a face both youthful and timeless. " It was about a choice. A child born of moonfire and wild root. Of balance… or chaos."

Di Yan stepped forward, blade humming at his side. " What happens when she turns one?"

The Guardian didn't answer.

Instead, the skies screamed.

A roar— not beast, not human— split the heavens as something massive moved just beyond the veil of reality. The crowd below the arena scattered, guardians drawing runes in the air, priests chanting desperately. The baby's star- shaped mark glowed with a pulse— steady, insistent.

" I think she just unlocked something,"

Yueli muttered, gripping her child tightly.

Di Yan glanced up. " Or something unlocked her."

A massive shape crashed through the cloud- rift above— a serpentine creature of stardust and shadow, wrapped in golden shackles. Its eyes were comets, its teeth glittered like broken constellations.

Yueli's jaw dropped. " I thought dragons were extinct."

" They are," Di Yan said grimly. " That's not a dragon. That's a Celestial Maw."

" Of course it is," Yueli groaned.

" Nothing's ever just a regular problem."

The beast let out another roar, and part of the arena vanished. Not crumbled— vanished. As if reality had been snatched away in one careless breath.

Yueli handed the baby to one of the spirit wolves, who growled in celestial tongue. " Guard her with your soul."

" Arf," it barked, glowing.

Then she and Di Yan launched into the air, spiraling around one another like twin comets.

" You take the wings, I'll go for the belly!"

she shouted.

" You're assuming it has a belly!"

" I'm an optimist!"

Yueli summoned a wave of throned vines laced with phoenix fire, wrapping them around the creature's wing. Di Yan's blade flashed, slicing through cosmic sinew and stardust. The creature shrieked and twisted, but it wasn't falling— it was shedding.

And beneath the stardust?

A face.

Not monstrous. Human.

Yueli's breath caught. " Wait… it's wearing a celestial illusion."

Di Yan floated beside her, face pale.

" This isn't an invasion."

" It's a prison break."

Below, their baby floated again— calm,

eyes glowing with eerie understanding.

She pointed at the creature. " Friend."

" Let's not jump to conclusions,

sweetheart," Yueli muttered.

The creature stared at the baby for a long moment, then bowed— an impossibly elegant gesture for something so terrifying.

And the sky shattered.

Cracks rippled across the heavens like broken glass. Through the rift, dozens— no, hundreds— of similar celestial prisoners began to stir. Some huge and winged, others shadowy and swift. All of them… ancient.

" Someone's waking the Forgotten Realms," Di Yan growled.

" And I'm guessing it's not just for tea."

Just then, a second wave of celestial beings arrived— Guardians, Enforcers, wielders of sun forged weapons. They clashed with the rising tide of freed beings, creating a battle in the skies that raged like a war of gods.

Yueli turned to Di Yan. " We need to get the baby out of here."

But their daughter was already gone.

The spirit wolf howled below— and when they turned, they saw it: their baby floating above the arena's highest platform, bathed in radiant starlight.

Time slowed. Everyone, everything— froze.

Except her.

She looked up at the bleeding sky, her star mark shining like a newborn sun.

Then, she spoke a single word:

" Enough."

And the world obeyed.

The winds stopped. The battling gods paused mid-blow. The beast who had shattered the sky shrank down to the size of a hound, curling peacefully at her feet.

Yueli stared in stunned silence. " Did…

she just put reality on pause?"

Di Yan's voice was low. " She's more than a prophecy. She's becoming a force."

The Guardians fell to one knee. The Celestial Enforcers bowed. Even the sky began to mend, clouds weaving themselves back into form.

Then a final scroll dropped from above,

landing softly at Yueli's feet.

She opened it.

" Three nights remain until the First Flame is kindled. When the child turns one, the veil will burn. The forgotten shall return. And the crown must be chosen."

Yueli's hands trembled. " The Oracle was right. Her birthday isn't just a celebration. It's… a reckoning."

Their daughter floated down into her arms, yawning like nothing had happened.

Di Yan touched his daughter's tiny foot.

" Then we'll face it. All of it. Together."

Yueli looked at the horizon, where the last of the sky- rifts closed.

" Let them come," she said quietly.

" But they should know… this little girl bites."