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Novel Title: Ashes of the Nameless Star
Genre: Dark Fantasy / Mystery / Epic Progression / Fate vs Will
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Chapter 1 – The Boy Who Remembered a Dying Star
(~1500+ words)
The sky should have been dark that night.
But instead, it burned.
A crimson star hung above the world like a bleeding eye, pulsing slowly—one beat, then another. Every pulse sent a shiver crawling through the spines of the people below. The old priests called it The Wound of Heaven. The scholars whispered of a celestial disease. But the common folk had their own, simple name:
The Dying Star.
To most, it was just an omen—something to fear, something to pray under.
But to one boy, that night was the beginning of everything.
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Rian sat on the roof of his crumbling house, barefoot, arms wrapped around his knees. The wind was cold, but he didn't notice. His pale-grey eyes stayed fixed on the sky. That star… that star felt familiar. As if it were calling him. As if—
As if it remembered him.
Rian was eleven, thin, and quiet—the kind of child easily ignored by others. He lived in Dustford, a village named after the endless grey soil that stretched in every direction. Nothing grew here. No flowers. No tall grass. Just thorny bushes and a few dying trees.
Dustford was the kind of place where hopes came to die.
And yet, that night, something stirred. The air felt heavier, as if carrying a message too ancient to be spoken.
Rian whispered, barely breathing:
"…I've seen you before."
He didn't know why he said it. He didn't remember seeing a red star in his life. Yet inside, in the deepest part of his memory where dreams and forgotten things blended, something pulsed.
Boom—Boom—Boom.
The same rhythm as the star.
Then he heard it—a whisper. Clear. Soft. Not from outside.
But inside his mind.
"Awake."
Rian jerked. His heart slammed against his ribs. He glanced around—nobody. Only the wind, the silent houses, the lonely water well.
But the voice continued, smooth and cold:
"Awake, Vessel of the Ashen Path."
Vessel?
Rian clenched his fists. He wasn't anyone. He wasn't special. He was just a boy whose father vanished into the northern wasteland and whose mother coughed blood until she didn't wake up anymore.
Vessel? No. That wasn't him.
He swallowed.
"…Who are you?"
Silence.
Then—
"Look."
The star flared—bright, red lightning slashed across the sky. A streak of burning light rushed downward, like a comet tearing the world apart.
Rian's eyes widened.
The falling star was heading toward the forest beyond Dustford.
And then he felt something else.
Something pulling him.
Dragging him.
Calling him.
His breath trembled.
He stood up.
---
Down the quiet house, past the broken fence, across the sleeping street—Rian walked as if in a trance.
He didn't know why.
He didn't know what waited.
But his heart knew.
He reached the edge of the forest.
The trees were twisted and skeletal, branches reaching like claws. No one entered this forest. People said it was haunted. They spoke of whispers in the fog, of shapes that watched from the shadows.
Rian walked in.
The world outside faded.
The forest was silent—but not empty. The darkness felt alive. The fog hugged the ground like pale fingers. Rian felt eyes on him. Many eyes. Watching. Waiting.
His heart pounded.
Boom—Boom—Boom.
The same rhythm.
The same echo.
After what felt like hours, he reached a clearing.
And there it was.
The fallen star.
Only—it wasn't a star.
It was a crystal the size of a man's chest, glowing with faint embers of red light. It pulsed—like a heartbeat.
Rian approached slowly.
The crystal flickered—and then, it cracked with a sound like shattering bone.
A dark mist poured out, swirling around him.
Rian's breath froze.
Inside the mist…
something moved.
A shape.
A presence.
Ancient. Vast. Wrong.
Two eyes opened in the darkness.
Eyes older than time.
Eyes full of hunger.
"Found you."
Rian couldn't scream. He couldn't move. The mist rushed into him, flooding his lungs, his mind, his soul.
He collapsed to the ground.
And suddenly—
He wasn't in the forest anymore.
---
He stood in a sky of ash. The ground beneath him was made of broken stars. Mountains floated like islands. A hollow moon hung overhead, cracked into two jagged halves.
And towering before him was a being made of shadows and dying starlight.
It had no face.
Yet it watched him.
"Do you remember me?" the being asked.
Rian shook, breath trembling. "N-No. I don't know you."
The being's form rippled—like it was laughing.
"You once ruled beside me."
Rian blinked.
He couldn't breathe.
Ruled? Him? Impossible.
"Who… who are you?"
The being leaned closer.
"I am the Last Sovereign of the Nameless Star."
"And you—were my Heir."
Rian stepped back.
"No… that's not—"
Suddenly, images flashed in his mind.
A burning throne of starlight.
Worlds kneeling in flame.
A shadow crown resting on his head.
A voice—his own—commanding galaxies.
Rian collapsed to his knees.
"No… I'm just a boy… I'm nothing…"
The Sovereign knelt in front of him, its tone soft, patient, eternal.
"You were broken. Reborn. Scattered into mortal flesh."
"But now, the seal has fractured. The Path calls again."
The ashes around them began to swirl, shaping into symbols—ancient runes burning with red light.
Rian watched, trembling.
"What… do you want from me?"
The Sovereign extended its hand.
"To remember."
"To rise."
"To reclaim what was taken."
The runes sank into Rian's chest.
He gasped.
His vision burned red.
The Sovereign's final words rang like thunder:
"Awaken, Rian Ashborne."
"Awaken, the Lost Heir of the Nameless Star."
---
When Rian's eyes opened, he was lying in the forest.
The crystal was gone.
The mist was gone.
But something inside him had changed.
He felt… aware.
He felt… powerful.
But most of all—
He felt watched.
Footsteps crunched nearby.
Rian turned.
A group of villagers stood at the edge of the clearing—faces pale, eyes wide with fear.
One pointed at him.
"That boy… he… he was glowing—!"
Another shouted:
"Demon!!"
Rian's heart sank.
They weren't wrong.
Not anymore
To be continued
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