When Aurea opened her eyes, the world had changed.
The forest was still.
Too still.
Not silent—no, it pulsed.
With her heartbeat.
With the stars.
With something ancient and waiting.
---
She stood on air.
Not metaphorically.
The leaves below her feet didn't bend.
Gravity forgot her name.
And above her, constellations shifted into patterns she'd never seen—but somehow knew.
"They are speaking to you," Eryan said gently.
He was standing beneath her, eyes full of something like reverence... or sorrow.
"Who?" she whispered.
"The stars."
"They don't have voices."
"You didn't, either. Until three chose you."
---
Kael broke the moment, storming into the clearing. His eyes burned like twin suns.
"Get her down," he barked.
"She's not yours to command," Riven drawled, appearing from the smoke, arms crossed.
"She's in danger."
"No," Eryan said. "She is the danger."
Aurea looked down at her hands.
They glowed with starfire.
---
Memories not her own surged through her.
A name that had been chanted by monks in golden towers.
A sigil once worn by queens who ruled the skies.
A vision of herself—not baking bread—but lifting swords made of cosmic metal.
And a voice, not hers, whispering:
"You are the Key.
The Chain.
The Blade."
---
Her knees buckled. She fell—
But didn't hit the ground.
Kael caught her.
His grip was iron and heat.
"You're burning up," he murmured.
"She's transmuting," Eryan corrected.
"Don't use that word like it's normal," Kael growled. "She's human."
Riven's eyes darkened. "She was."
---
Later, in the cave that now served as their makeshift sanctuary, Aurea sat cross-legged in silence.
The fire crackled.
Kael sharpened his blade.
Riven watched shadows move.
Eryan charted star maps only he could read.
"I dreamed again," Aurea said suddenly.
All three looked up.
"There was a door."
Eryan nodded. "The Seal."
"And something behind it," she continued, voice trembling. "It… it looked like me."
"Not you," Riven murmured. "Your reflection. Twisted."
"It smiled."
Kael stiffened.
"That smile," Aurea whispered, "was full of teeth. Not human."
---
None of them spoke for a long time.
Until Eryan broke the silence.
"The door you saw isn't just a vision," he said. "It exists. In the Astral Fold."
"The what?"
"A realm between this world and what came before."
"She's not ready," Kael said sharply.
"She was born for this," Eryan replied.
"She was born to die," Riven said coldly. "That's how oracles work. Burn bright, then burn out."
Aurea's voice cut through the argument: "Am I going to die?"
They looked at her.
Only one of them—Kael—answered.
"Not if I can stop it."
---
But later that night, when everyone slept—except Eryan—Aurea sat beside the fire again.
And the stars whispered.
This time louder.
"Three keys.
One gate.
But one shall betray.
One shall break.
One shall bleed."
She clutched her head.
The whisper turned into screaming.
And behind her eyes, she saw it again—
The other her.
The one who smiled like a god.
But that smile had cracks.
And something inside it was crawling.