The world trembled as a second sun rose
not of warmth, but of ruin.
It shone black and gold, bleeding into the sky like spilled ink.
Everywhere it touched, the land decayed, time fractured, and the beasts howled in pain.
From the ruins of the southern deserts, a man stood beneath that darkened dawn.
His name was Kael.
He was neither god nor mortal
but something born from the reflected will of the First Beast,
a shadow made flesh, craving what its original self once lost: dominion.
✦ The Birth of the False Star
Kael knelt amid the shattered bones of an ancient titan.
Golden veins crawled up his arms, pulsing in rhythm with the heart of the heavens.
"So this is what remains of divinity,"
he whispered.
"Rot and silence."
He clenched his fist, and the fragment embedded in his chest flared
a jagged shard of the First Beast's spine.
Its voice echoed in his mind, deep and cold.
"You are my shadow, Kael.
The light they worship was born from your hunger."
Kael smiled a slow, cruel curve of his lips.
"Then let them worship me instead."
He raised his hand.
The sand around him lifted, swirling into a storm of molten gold.
When it cleared, the desert had transformed
a golden wasteland under a black sun.
And from the heart of it, the Cult of the False Star was born.
✦ The Message Across the Heavens
Far away, aboard Arka's ship, the skies rippled.
Every compass failed, every rune went dark.
Liora gasped.
"The stars… they're bleeding again!"
Arka lifted his gaze and froze.
Above the sea, a massive sigil had appeared, drawn across the night sky itself.
It burned like molten metal, forming a single, undeniable mark: a cracked star.
Then came the voice echoing through every mind attuned to magic.
"Beast Sovereign,
You took what was never yours.
You chained the will of creation.
I will unmake your legacy and feed the world to the hollow sun."
The crew fell silent, trembling.
Even the wolf spirit growled low and ancient.
"That voice," it said,
"I know it. It carries the scent of the First Beast's other half."
Arka clenched his fists.
"Then the light that rose in me… has birthed its shadow."
✦ Kael's Power
In the southern lands, Kael's army marched under banners of obsidian and gold.
Wherever they passed, the beasts bowed not in loyalty, but in fear.
He could command their instincts directly, overriding the natural order Arka had restored.
One gesture from his hand, and the beasts turned rabid.
Another, and they knelt.
He whispered a word, and mountains folded inward like parchment.
He was rewriting the law of existence itself
using the spinal fragment as a conduit.
"They called him Sovereign," Kael murmured to his followers.
"But he is a thief.
A human playing god."
His golden eyes glowed brighter.
"We will return the world to its origin
a place where beasts ruled and humans bowed."
The cult roared, thousands strong.
And in that roar, something divine stirred
the pulse of a god that refused to die.
✦ Arka's Awakening
Back on the ship, Arka's chest burned with silver fire.
The fragment he carried reacted violently as if in pain.
"He's awakening faster than I expected," the wolf said.
"Kael has one of the core fragments. He's building a mirror of your power."
Arka sat cross-legged, breathing slowly.
The cabin filled with starlight, symbols circling his form.
"If he's my mirror," Arka said,
"then my strength will feed his, and his rage will call mine.
This isn't just a war of strength it's a war of reflection."
He raised his eyes, calm but fierce.
"Then I'll learn to shatter the reflection before it becomes the real sky."
✦ The First Clash
On the third night, when the twin moons aligned, the air split like glass.
From the horizon, Kael appeared walking across the sea as if it were stone.
Every wave froze in his wake.
Arka met him halfway, suspended above the glowing water.
The world held its breath.
"So… the light bearer finally stands before me."
Kael's voice was smooth, like silk over a blade.
"You speak as if you were my echo," Arka replied.
Kael smiled.
"Echo? No. I am the original rhythm.
You are the noise that came after."
Their eyes met gold against silver.
Two halves of the same divine ruin.
Lightning tore the sky.
The sea rose in towers of light.
The air thickened with energy older than stars.
They clashed
and the world shattered.
✦ Battle of Light and Shadow
Arka's blade met Kael's bare hand.
Every impact rippled across the ocean, forming spirals of glowing mist.
Kael laughed.
"You fight like a god who's afraid to fall."
"And you," Arka replied, "like a man who's already fallen."
Kael's aura exploded.
Golden light turned black at the edges, consuming everything it touched.
He summoned spears of molten starlight and hurled them one by one.
Arka countered with lunar shields, each shaped from the soul of his wolf spirit.
When the last spear struck, both were flung apart
their energies twisting the sky into an eclipse.
They hovered across the broken sea, both panting.
Kael smiled faintly.
"You can't kill me, Sovereign.
Every light you claim makes me stronger."
Arka lowered his blade, eyes narrowing.
"Then I'll burn the sky itself if I must."
Their powers surged and in that explosion of divinity, the entire horizon vanished into white.
✦ Aftermath
When the light faded, Kael was gone.
Only a single line remained in the sky, carved by his departing magic:
"When the ninth light falls, so will you."
Arka collapsed to his knees, gasping.
The wolf spirit hovered beside him, wounded but steady.
"He's linked to your soul," it warned.
"If you lose yourself… he will take your place."
Arka looked at his reflection in the water
half silver, half gold.
"Then I'll walk the edge of ruin," he whispered,
"until I find where the light truly belongs."