The sun had not yet risen when the alarm rune ignited.
Aster's voice echoed through the tower's corridor calm, steady, absolute.
"Celestial Division, assemble."
I jolted from the cot, throwing on my uniform. My pulse raced even before my feet hit the cold floor. By the time I reached the main chamber, the others were already there armored, armed, and watching.
The crimson-eyed woman tossed me a pair of gloves. "You'll need those. First mission, rookie."
I caught them, confused. "Mission? Already?"
"Welcome to the Division," she said with a smirk. "Sleep is for normal people."
Aster stood by the mission table, a holographic map of shifting light hovering above it.
"An outpost north of the Frostline has gone silent," he said. "They reported a celestial anomaly before contact was lost. The Council wants it contained."
He looked at each of us in turn. "We move at dawn. No unnecessary casualties. No questions."
The golden-eyed boy grinned. "So, same as always clean up a mess we didn't make."
No one laughed.
Outside, the wind howled against the tower walls as we departed. The journey north was long, cold, and eerily quiet. Even the birds avoided the sky above the Frostline.
By midday, we reached the outpost. Or what was left of it.
Buildings reduced to ash and frost. The air thick with static. The faint scent of something divine and wrong.
The shadow creature in our team bent low, its voice like a broken chord. "Residual star energy… corrupted."
Aster's jaw tightened. "Spread out. Search for survivors."
I moved through the ruins carefully, the ground cracking under my boots. Every step echoed like a heartbeat.
Then I felt it that pull. The same one from the Trial. The same light beneath my skin.
"Erian!"
Aster's voice cut through the haze, but it was too late. The energy surged up my arm, brilliant and searing. I gasped as silver light burst from my hands, illuminating the wreckage.
And in that light… something moved.
A figure tall, cloaked, faceless stepped from the mist. Its voice was neither male nor female, a whisper like wind between stars.
"Child of light… you do not belong here."
Aster was beside me in an instant, blade drawn. "Get back!"
But the entity didn't attack. Instead, it reached toward me and the mark on my chest, the one that appeared after the Trial, began to glow.
Pain lanced through me. My knees buckled. I heard Aster's voice, distant and desperate.
"Erian! Stay with me!"
Then darkness.
When I woke, I was lying on the frozen ground. The rest of the team stood in a circle around us. The faceless figure was gone.
"What happened?" I whispered.
Aster didn't answer immediately. His gloves were scorched; his blade cracked. His expression unreadable.
"It called you by name," he said finally. "Before it vanished."
My breath caught. "It… knew me?"
"Yes." His gaze met mine sharp, haunted. "And that's what terrifies me."