Chapter 36: The Fire Between Stars

The new constellation remained.

Three stars: one for the vessel, one for the keepers, one for what was still unknown.

In the days that followed, the world shifted subtly. Dreams lengthened. Birds migrated backward. Spells once impossible began to cast themselves.

Selene sat beside the child, now resting in the temple's sanctum, encased in runes and soft breathing. Alina paced, her fingers tracing a path worn in the stone floor.

"She hasn't woken," Alina murmured.

"She's dreaming too loud to hear us," Selene said.

A scroll arrived, bound in silver.

It came from the northern mages. It read only two words:

"She calls."

Alina held her breath. "She's reaching beyond dreams."

Selene stood, shoulders drawn tight. "Then we follow."

They entered the Dreamreach—a place older than gods, guarded by void and velvet.

There, fire moved sideways.

And thought took form.

The child waited at the edge of a starless cliff, her eyes glowing bright with borrowed galaxies.

"I called," she said. "But not just for you."

Something moved behind her.

A boy. No older than she. His eyes were dark.

Not evil.

Empty.

"Who is he?" Selene asked.

"My brother," the child answered.

Alina froze. "You never said you had one."

"I didn't. Until just now."

She reached for the boy's hand. He recoiled.

"He remembers everything I forgot. And he hates me for it."

The stars trembled.

And then the boy screamed.

Reality buckled.

Selene and Alina fell.

The child remained.

Between them. Between stars. Between memory and what comes next.