"When gods fall silent, only steel remembers."— Inscription on the ruins of Solmerion Fortress.
The battlefield burned like a dying sun.The sky had split open, and from its wound bled starlight and fire.
Kael Ardent stood at the center of it all — his armor cracked, his sword dragging a comet's tail of light behind it. He was the Stellar Knight Commander, last guardian of the Celestial Empire, and the blade in his hand — Ardentia — sang with the fury of a dying star.
"Formation Delta! Protect the capital's gate!" he roared, voice cutting through the roar of collapsing skyships and screaming steel.
But no one answered.Only the wind screamed back.
His unit — his brothers, his disciples — were gone. Ash drifted where they once stood, their stellar sigils fading into dust.
Kael's vision wavered. His heart pulsed in rhythm with the sword. The weapon fed off his life force now, devouring his essence to keep the barrier around the city intact.
A voice echoed through the flames — soft, mocking, divine.
"Still standing, Ardent Knight? Even the stars know when to kneel."
The Dominion Lord descended — a being of black light, armored in the remnants of dead suns. Every step it took warped the air, pulling gravity itself toward it like a god reclaiming worship.
Kael spat blood and lifted his blade."I'll kneel when the last human breath fades."
The Dominion's laughter was cold and endless."Then fade first."
Their swords collided — one made of dying light, the other of void-born gravity. The impact shattered sound, split the heavens. The world cracked beneath their duel, and for an instant, Kael thought he saw the Source beyond reality — a vast consciousness, cold and observing, like the architect of everything.
Why are you watching? He thought bitterly. Are we your entertainment?
The Source didn't answer. It never did.
Kael's power bled out. He had burned his star core beyond repair. Yet his soul refused to yield. Memories flickered — of comrades, of the princess he swore to protect, of the boy he once was beneath the armor.
He whispered her name."Elira…"
The Dominion struck, cleaving him from shoulder to hip. Light exploded outward.
But in that instant of death — Kael laughed.
"Even if you kill me… my light will find a way back."
The Dominion's smirk faltered as the shards of Kael's armor began to rise, glowing like newborn stars.
"The Iron Star… never truly falls."
And with that, Kael detonated. The explosion consumed both of them — light against void — until the sky itself screamed and collapsed inward.
Centuries later.
The world was quiet again.Empires had risen and fallen. Magic had changed shape. The old Celestial Era was forgotten, buried beneath myth and superstition. The Dominion vanished from history — or perhaps it had never truly left.
And in a remote border village, a boy lay dying in a gutter — beaten, starved, forgotten.
Lightning struck a nearby iron pillar.The spark leapt to his body. His pulse flickered.
"Even if you kill me… my light will find a way back."
The words echoed faintly through time — and in the boy's dying heart, something ancient stirred.
The iron around him began to hum.His blood glowed with faint starlight.And in the void of his mind — a voice whispered.
"You've slept long enough, Commander."
His eyes snapped open, glowing silver-white.
Kael Ardent was alive again.But the world he'd returned to… no longer remembered his name.