Chapter 2 – The Transition
Ren's body dissolved into starlight.
At first, it felt like he was falling—tumbling through a bottomless sky with no ground to ever catch him. But then, the sensation shifted. He wasn't falling at all. He was drifting, his soul stretched across threads of light that extended endlessly in every direction.
A strange hum filled the void, rhythmic like a heartbeat yet resonant like a thousand bells.
Ba-dum. Ba-dum.
It wasn't his heart.
It was the Cosmos itself, breathing life into him.
The galaxy-haired goddess's presence lingered even though she was gone, her voice woven into the fabric of the void.
"Your bloodline must be sealed, Ren… for even you could not withstand its full awakening. But do not despair—its fragments will come to you in time. Earn them. Fight for them. And you will understand what it means to be both light and shadow."
Her words reverberated through the stars, and Ren's consciousness was suddenly pulled.
A glowing chain of symbols wrapped around his soul—sigils shaped like twin wings, one white and one black, bound together by threads of silver. He gasped, or would have, if he had a body to gasp with.
The sealing burned, not painfully but profoundly, like molten truth carving itself into him.
⚔️ [SYSTEM INITIALIZATION] ⚔️
[Binding Host: REN]
[Identity Conversion: Initiated]
[Sealing Cosmic Bloodline… 98%]
[Bloodline Locked. Fragments accessible via System Rewards.]
A crystalline voice—not the goddess's, but cold, mechanical—rang in his mind.
[Warning: Host's mortal shell is incompatible with sealed divinity.]
[Adjusting vessel parameters.]
[Reconstruction in progress.]
Ren felt himself split apart. His old body—broken, tired, scarred by betrayal—peeled away like ash in the wind. Beneath it, something new was being woven.
He saw flashes.
– Skin pale as moonlight.
– Eyes catching flecks of stars.
– Hair flowing silver-white like strands of comet light.
– A form graceful, unfamiliar, yet undeniably his own reborn self.
Ren panicked. "W-Wait, this—this isn't—!"
But the voice cut through his protests:
[New Identity Established.]
[Name: AURORA]
[Designation: Vessel of the Sealed Cosmic Bloodline.]
[Gender: Female.]
The void pulsed. His old name, his old shell, seemed to dissolve entirely, leaving only this new identity anchored by the System's decree.
Ren—no, Aurora—felt tears she didn't know she had welling up, even without a body. Was she truly losing herself? Or… was this a new beginning?
The goddess's voice returned then, soft as starlight, weaving comfort into the ache.
"Fear not, child. You are still you. But the world you are going to… it needs a goddess, not a man broken by betrayal. One day, you may curse me for this choice. But when you stand against the darkness… you will understand why."
The warmth in her voice made Aurora's panic ease, just a little.
And then—pain. Sharp, searing.
The black wing of her sealed bloodline flared for an instant, a surge of darkness crashing against the light. Her soul trembled violently, as if it might shatter.
But the chains tightened, locking the darkness away.
[Dark Aspect: Inaccessible.]
[Access Restricted to Future Conditions.]
The light wing pulsed softly, stabilizing her.
Aurora felt herself compress, pulled downward through a tunnel of stars. Faster, faster, the hum of the Cosmos growing deafening.
And then—silence.
Her eyes snapped open.
She was lying in a meadow under a twilight sky, her chest rising and falling, breath misting in the cool air. For the first time since her death, she had a body again. A new one.
The System's interface flickered in her vision like faint constellations:
[Welcome, Aurora.]
[Mission One: Survive.]