She had expected silence — the silence of death, perhaps, or that vast hush that followed the Hollow Light's end.
Instead, there was breath.
Maelin's lungs ached as she inhaled sharply, her chest rising with painful effort. The world pressed back into her senses — warm light filtering through an opalescent ceiling, runes flickering like stars drawn by a trembling hand, the muffled drip of water echoing from unseen corners.
She wasn't in Silverwood anymore.
"You're awake," Caelum's voice broke softly through the haze. He was by her side, eyes rimmed with sleepless worry.
"How long…" she began, then winced. Her voice sounded foreign, raspy, like it had been scraped through a dream too long.
"Three days," Eira answered, stepping forward. "The collapse of the Hollow took more from you than we realized. But… you survived."
Maelin forced herself upright, cradled by cushions woven from some strange silken fiber that shimmered with every breath. Her arms trembled with the effort, but she met Eira's gaze, determined. "The Whisper. It's gone?"
"Yes," Eira said, but didn't smile. Instead, she produced a scroll — newer than most, yet its edges were already beginning to burn away as if scorched by unseen flames.
"We thought ending the Hollow would bring peace. But this arrived the same night the stars realigned."
Caelum leaned in, unrolling the parchment gently. The moment it opened, cold air rushed across Maelin's skin.
The chart showed the sky — or what used to be the sky.
Now, the constellations were fractured, their familiar lines broken. A massive black smear had been etched across the heavens, devouring stars, reshaping celestial paths.
At its center was nothing.
No light.
No song.
Just the Scar.
Eira's voice was low. "It's growing."
Maelin stared. "That's not natural. That's… not even real space. That's something trying to be seen."
Caelum nodded grimly. "We call it the Starless Scar."
"The Whisper didn't end," Maelin murmured. "It changed."
Her hands tightened on the edge of the scroll. Deep in her chest, the Celestial Locket pulsed faintly — not with song, but with a warning.
Eira looked toward the archway. "We scanned the rift. Something is behind it."
Caelum added, "And it's looking back."
Above them, in the sky far beyond the crystal walls, one lone star pulsed against the blackened veil.
But it wasn't a star.
It blinked.
And it smiled.