​(When you wish upon a star, they say to be careful how much weight you place upon your desire. A wish powerful enough will reach the heavens, where a star might claim you, and demand a duty in return.)

I bolted through the grassy woods, my legs burning as I chased after her beneath a fractured, starlit sky.

Lira looked back at me from the air, just above the shorter branches of the trees.

Her crystal-blue eyes were wide with terror, piercing straight through my golden gaze. Yet even then, beneath the fear, there was something gentler.

Longing.

​(Wishes are fleeting dreams, until you anchor them into a person. That is when the dream dies and becomes a goal.)

It was as if she were trying to pour a lifetime of unspoken feelings into a single, desperate glance.

“Lira!”

I stretched out my hand.

She was so close.

And yet the distance between us seemed to stretch with every step I took.

Then I looked up.

A colossal eye loomed above the heavens.

It was framed by a halo of sweeping blade-like feathers that shimmered with an ethereal light. 

Its sun-gold iris locked onto me, pinning me beneath its gaze.

​(The powerful plant their desires inside the rest of us and call it a blessing. We call it destiny.)

WHOOOOM!

A gale tore through the forest from the beating of its golden wings.

Trees bent beneath the force. Leaves and feathers spiraled through the air as if the heavens themselves were being ripped apart.

Everything was coming undone.

Sparks from the feathers fell from the sky like shattered glass.

Great fractures ripped through the heavens, pouring blinding light onto the earth. 

The air hummed as reality itself began to unravel, the vibration reverberating through the ground.

I didn't stop.

My lungs burned.

My legs screamed at me to give up.

I kept running.

“Lira! Take my hand! Quickly!”

My voice shook, but the thundering noise above swallowed my words.

Lira reached down for me.

Her slender, white-gloved fingers trembled like branches caught in a storm.

Then I saw it.

Behind her, a wide silver gash had opened in the air.

It reflected across her white dress, bathing her in an eerie radiance.

The tear widened hungrily. 

The rift surged toward Lira and seized her body, dragging her upward like a riptide. Her golden

 hair lifted violently around her as she fought against the force pulling her away.

“Zorn!”

Her voice broke through the storm.

I lunged forward.

“Lira!”

The eye above us chuckled.

A cold, mocking sound rolled across the heavens.

“Did you honestly think I would not discover Lira sneaking into the Sixth Realm, Zorn?”

The voice was deep, reverberating, and filled with divine arrogance.

I froze for half a second.

Then rage overtook me.

“Let her go!”

I pointed toward the eye.

“I don't know who you are or what you are! You don't control her!”

“On the contrary.”

The golden iris narrowed.

“You are a demon, Zorn. A mere shadow compared to Lira's sun.”

My teeth clenched.

“‘Sun—?!’ I don't give a damn about your ideologies! You're not taking her!”

“There is no place for you beside the Ninth Realm's Herald of Light.”

The eye's voice became colder.

“Bid your farewell.”

“Never!”

The word escaped me before I could stop it.

Lira's eyes filled with tears.

“Zorn! I'm so sorry!”

She reached toward me again.

“Zorn! I'm so sorry! Please! Remember what I told you! Make a wish by the water! Help me end this war—”

Her words were cut off.

The rift swallowed her voice.

“No!”

I threw myself forward.

The silver tear consumed her completely.

Then came a sharp—

CRACK!

The rift snapped shut.

Lira vanished.

“Let this be your final transgression,” the eye spoke, its tone as cold as the void. “You shall wither and die here, Zorn. You are bound forever to the Sixth Realm of Eternal Night. Goodbye.”

“Bastard! I won't give up! I'm going to take her back! I'm going to kill—”

The enormous eye vanished into the darkness, its massive wings curling into a golden spiral before dissolving into shimmering dust.

And just like that…

The fractures disappeared.

The night sky was whole again as if none of it had ever happened.

“...No.”

I reached toward the fading light.

“Lira...”

Nothing.

My hand slowly fell to my side.

The silence was like a punishment.

Even the beat of my own heart sounded too loud against the emptiness she had left behind.

I dropped to my knees.

My fists slammed into the dirt.

“No!”

“NO!”

“NO!”

Once.

Twice.

Again.

Until my knuckles bled.

“LIRA!”

I gripped my face and threw my head back.

“LIIIRRRAAA!”

My scream tore through the moonlit forest.

“AAAAHHHH!”

Tears streamed down my face.

Pain consumed me.

​(A curse of determination that keeps you moving forward, long after hope turns to rage.)

***

Days turned into weeks.

The wound in my heart refused to heal, and my anger grew.

Questions and rage churned inside me until I could barely think.

How could this happen?

Why did she have to be taken?

Why her?

WHY?!

What was that thing in the sky?

Who was that winged eye?

What did he mean when he called Lira the sun?

I had no answers, but one: Get her back.

“I refuse that damned eye's sentence.”

I wandered aimlessly through the woods, following trails that seemed to lead nowhere.

The rustling leaves sounded as though they were laughing at me.

Everything pissed me off.

I remembered her telling me to sit by our favorite stream, and now it had become unbearable to look at.

I stared into the moonlit water.

My reflection stared back, but hers was gone.

​(We are only fuel for the powerful to burn while building their kingdoms.)

I lowered my head with a sigh.

I had never hated looking at a river so much before.

“I wish I could destroy everything that hurts us. I want to purge corruption from everyone and make the powerful fall,” I said through gritted teeth.

I looked into the dark water reflecting the starlit sky.

I gripped the dirt and started screaming at my reflection.

“I want to destroy evil in all of its forms! Get me out of this hell! I don't care what I have to do! I wish to destroy corruption from the inside out! Shove it in their faces! See how they like it! I will destroy it!”

My eyes felt like they would pop from rage.

The breeze was warm. It brushed through my hair and rippled the reflection in the water.

I waited a long moment for nothing to happen.

​I slumped back, exhaling a bitter breath as I turned by back to the stream.

“I knew it was just a fairy tale...”

(You are not a dreamer. You are their tool.)

​A bright red star suddenly twinkled in the depths of the stream, reflecting beneath the moonlit sky.

***

I remembered Lira smiling beside me at the same stream.

“Water is a powerful element. Some say it carries intense feelings deeper than any other element,” she said.

“Wish on the stars tonight, Zorn. But let the water hear it too. It'll strengthen it.”

I lowered my head and walked away from the stream.

My head was filled with angry thoughts.

She was supposed to be here.

Her footsteps should have been beside mine.

Her voice should have been filling the silence.

Instead, the forest felt empty.

Lifeless.

Until tonight.

I stepped into a clearing and stopped.

There was a door as dark as my clothes standing in the center.

Darkness wrapped around the door ominously, with the moon being the only light that allowed me to make out its form.

It wasn't made of wood or stone. I couldn't even tell what it was made of.

Its rectangular form churned like dark water, rippling and reflecting the black, star-filled sky.

A low hum emanated from it.

MMMMM...

The vibration traveled through the ground.

Through my feet and beneath my skin.

My wrist suddenly burned.

I looked down.

A red Scorpio glyph flashed brilliantly across my skin.

My eyes widened.

“What the?! My hand! What is that mark?!”

Beams of light erupted across my skin, crawling up my arm.

It burned like hell. 

It felt like it was taking over my very soul.

I gripped my left hand and screamed.

“AAAAHHH!!!”

My hand jerked toward the door as if the energy were controlling me.

“What is happening?!”

The black and red light grew brighter, illuminating the eternal night around me.

The wind it created was strong.

I could hear the waves of the stream crashing in the distance.

My own shadow stretched toward the threshold.

I trembled against the ground, fighting the force puppeteering me toward the ominous door.

I gritted my teeth and planted my heels into the dirt.

“Stop it!”

I feared whatever waited beyond it.

“Touch it.”

A rough voice that sounded like mine echoed inside my head.

I stiffened.

The entire forest went silent.

The insects were no longer buzzing, and the birds cut their songs.

Only the strange scent of iron lingered in the air, mixed with something that reminded me of an approaching thunderstorm.

I swallowed and held my breath as I reached out and touched the surface.

The sensation was as if I had put my hand into water rippling beneath it, and a freezing cold passed straight through my spine.

My Scorpio glyph began to thrum violently as if it recognized something on the other side.

The door opened with a soft, haunting sigh.

I gasped.

Golden clouds stretched across the horizon, glowing beneath the light of a distant sunset. 

Mountains floated far away, buried beneath amber fog.

Beautiful.

Until I realized something was wrong.

The world was upside down.

My stomach dropped.

Looking through the doorway, I saw the open sky beneath my feet.

Looking up...

I saw the ocean and earth suspended above me.

“What the hell?”

My voice echoed through the empty sky.

“Why is everything upside down?”

The door swung closed behind me without a squeak, pushing me out of the doorway. 

“Ah—” 

I attempted to yell, but the wind just tore it from my mouth.

I was falling toward the water. 

My senses couldn't understand which way was which.

The wind howled around me, whipping my hair into my face and pulling at my clothes.

I clawed the air, desperate to grab onto something, but there was nothing. 

Below me, golden clouds streaked past me, bleeding into crimson, violet, and silver.

"AAAHHH!”

My scream echoed through the endless sky.

POOF!

​Breaking through the final layer of clouds, the world below snapped into view.

​I looked around and spotted islands floating above the water against the shimmering curve of the horizon, entire forests clinging to their surfaces. 

In the distance, two figures stood on one of the floating landmasses. A man in purple smiled down at me, but they blurred past in a rush of wind before I could make out their faces.

My heart raced inside my chest. 

Who…?!

The Scorpio glyph grew searing hot.

“AAAAH!”

I instinctively knew…

​Something knows I’m here.

For a second, I wanted to give up. 

I closed my eyes and crossed my arms, bracing for the impact of the ocean rushing toward me.

Then…

SPLASH!

A massive, radiant hand made of blue and gold light emerged from the waves and caught me in a tight squeeze.

I gasped as the momentum vanished. 

I was being lowered. 

The light felt warm, forcing my body to relax despite the fear I felt.

My muscles went limp. I couldn't even keep my eyes open. 

The light felt like water circulating around me. I could see small bubbles escaping my mouth.

The hand pulled me deeper into the ocean. 

Silver streaks of light fractured like ribbons in the dark water. 

I tried to reach the surface, but my vision was fading, and my strength was gone. 

The water crushed the remaining air from my lungs, heavy and suffocating cold, dragging me down into an abyss as the surface light faded into blackness.