The fractured sky above the Crown's Reflection dimmed as if recoiling from the presence now awake beneath the world. Kaen could still feel it—its heartbeat was slower now, but heavier. Like tectonic plates grinding against time.
Lira remained silent beside him, her gaze fixed not on the forest, but on something distant—within herself.
"You know this place," Kaen said.
Her silence cracked. "Not this version. But... I was born in its shadow."
Kaen turned fully to her.
"You said you were from the North."
"I lied."
She stepped forward, brushing her fingers across the twisted bark of a nearby tree. It pulsed faintly with silver light in response.
"My bloodline is bound to the Vault. My ancestors were the last watchers. We weren't meant to leave. And we definitely weren't meant to return."
Kaen's grip tightened on Vothkarr. "So why follow me?"
Lira turned. Her expression was no longer the calm tactician—but something colder, older. "Because the Hollowed Star doesn't kill randomly. It chooses."
Before Kaen could answer, the ground beneath them pulsed—not in danger, but like a ripple of intent.
A figure rose from the fractured roots.
No footsteps. No breath. Just presence.
It wore pieces of what once might have been armor, now fused to molten flesh. Its face was covered by a mask carved from obsidian, cracked down the center. Inside the mask, no eyes—only starlight, burning with patient hate.
Kaen stepped in front of Lira instinctively.
The being spoke—not with a voice, but through vibration in Kaen's bones:
"Bearer of the Blade. Walker of Ruin. Son of the Twice-Broken Flame. You stand before the Judge of the Hollowed Star."
Kaen didn't move. "If you're here to stop me, you're late."
"We are not here to stop."
The sky darkened further.
"We are here to test."
Lira hissed. "Don't let it touch you!"
Too late.
The Judge raised a hand and time bent.
Kaen blinked—and suddenly he was alone.
Alone in a burning village.
His village.
People screamed. Shadows tore through homes. And standing among the chaos—himself. Younger. Powerless. Watching it all burn.
Kaen staggered. "This isn't real…"
The Judge's voice echoed in the flames:
"If your blade breaks here, it will never rise again."
Kaen screamed in fury and drove Vothkarr into the illusion—
—and time snapped back.
He was back in the forest. On his knees. Gasping.
The Judge watched. Silent.
Then, it bowed.
"You did not falter. The Vault remembers."
The mask cracked further. Starlight bled from within.
"But the Hollowed Star... remembers more."
Then the Judge crumbled—shards of obsidian and stardust scattering in the wind.
Lira knelt beside him, gripping his arm. "You saw it, didn't you?"
Kaen nodded. "It showed me my failure."
"And you stood."
He looked up.
Far above, in the broken sky, a crack widened.
From within, something moved.
Not falling. Not rising.
Just waiting.