Part 1: Echoes Beneath the Skin
The moment Kaelrith stepped back into the Emperor's palace, the Rune beneath his skin began to throb—deep, slow, like the tolling of a war bell buried in his bones.
It wasn't just pain.
It was memory trying to crawl out.
It was the voice of something older than magic whispering, "You were never theirs to begin with."
The Rune had been carved into his soul when he was fourteen, bound by the Chancellor's decree, etched in starlight and blood. It ensured loyalty. It severed love. It silenced truth.
But now…
Now it screamed.
Every step he took left an echo in his head, each one growing louder.
Seraphina's face. Her laughter. The vow she made while the sky was falling.
He staggered into his private chambers, slammed the door, and fell to his knees before the mirror.
The Rune glowed on his chest—a mark like a shattered star. No longer dormant. No longer shackled.
Kaelrith stared at himself—and finally asked the question that had haunted him for a decade.
"Who was I before they made me into this?"
Part 2: Seraphina's Plan
Far across the capital, Seraphina stood before a circle of flickering candles and starlit ink, her eyes hard, her lips sealed as she painted sigils into the floor of an abandoned observatory.
"Once this circle is complete, the Rune will weaken," said Elya, the last living Astral Seer. "But only if he chooses to face the memory willingly. If he resists—"
"He won't," Seraphina cut in.
"You trust him that much?"
"No," she said, tightening the final stroke. "But I trust the love he forgot."
A pause.
Then Elya sighed. "There's still one more condition. Once the Rune is broken, his powers will awaken completely. And you know what he is."
Seraphina closed her eyes. "He's not just the heir."
"No," Elya whispered. "He's the Starborn King. And starborns… were never meant to love."
Part 3: The Confrontation
Kaelrith burst into the Forbidden Chamber again, heart pounding, cloak torn, sweat clinging to his skin.
Seraphina stood waiting.
"You came," she whispered.
"I remember the oath," he said, chest heaving. "I remember the kiss. The fire. Everything they tried to burn."
She stepped forward, the starlight circle glowing between them.
"Step inside," she said. "Break the Rune."
He looked down at the circle—then back at her.
"What happens after?"
"You remember who you are," she said. "And we lose whatever protection your ignorance gave us."
A pause.
"And if I don't want protection anymore?"
She didn't smile.
Instead, she stepped forward and pressed her hand to his chest—right over the Rune.
"Then you'll burn brighter than any king this empire has ever known."
Part 4: The Breaking
Kaelrith stepped into the circle.
And screamed.
Not from pain.
But from truth.
Flashes exploded behind his eyes—Seraphina laughing beneath stardust, his sword plunged into the back of a traitor-prince, the Emperor standing over his unconscious body whispering, "You'll forget her, my son. You'll forget and you'll serve."
But he didn't forget.
Not this time.
The Rune blistered. Cracked.
And then—
Shattered.
He collapsed into her arms.
And the stars outside flared white.
Part 5: The Starborn Awakens
When Kaelrith opened his eyes, they were no longer green.
They were silver. Like starlight on midnight glass.
And every particle of magic in the city bowed.
He rose to his feet, and the wind moved with him.
"I remember everything," he said.
Seraphina blinked, tears slipping down her cheeks. "Then you know why we failed last time."
He nodded. "Because I wasn't strong enough."
"And this time?"
He turned toward the window, toward the palace where the Council was already stirring.
"I'll make them remember," he said coldly. "That I'm not just their prince."
"I'm the storm they tried to chain."
End of Chapter 5: "The Rune That Screams"