A month had passed since the battle against *Xynorath, the Star Eater*. Since the veil tore and stitched itself back like a wound too deep to remain open. And in that month, not a single gate flared, no celestial trembled, and no whispers echoed from beyond.
The world called it peace.
But Grim Arclight didn't believe in silence anymore.
Each day, he trained. Each night, he dreamed—sometimes of Elyse, sometimes of the Seven Shadows. And always of the Bakunawa, watching from beyond the stars like a moon that had never left.
He stood at the edge of the cliff near Philippine Hunter University, the wind curling around him like a familiar ghost. Elyse approached, the quiet crunch of boots on gravel her only announcement.
"You're thinking about it again," she said.
"I can't stop," Grim admitted, glancing at the pulse of his arm—the faint tattoo of the Bakunawa always glowing under starlight. "I feel like something's still waiting to break."
"And what do you want to do about it?"
Grim turned. "Leave. Seek out whatever comes next. Become stronger. We've seen what's out there. I can't sit here and hope it doesn't come knocking again."
Elyse nodded, unsurprised. "Then I'll go with you."
***
Dean Jack Rizalde didn't speak immediately after hearing Grim's request. He simply stared, the sunlight casting a sword-shaped silhouette from his back onto the marble floor.
"Biringan," he said finally. "You want to enter the City of the Celestials."
Grim nodded. "We're not ready for what's coming. But I can be. *We* can be."
"You understand what you're asking. No mortal steps into Biringan without cause. That place is beyond gates—it's where divine beasts slumber, and where even the gods tread carefully."
"The Bakunawa marked me," Grim said. "It called me. And Elyse… she was part of the vision. It chose us."
The dean's eyes sharpened. "You think this is a gift?"
Grim didn't answer.
Rizalde sighed. "Fine. You'll go. But only the two of you. That realm is tied to celestial resonance. Only those attuned may enter without disrupting its balance."
"And what lies within?"
"A gate," the dean said. "Not to the world of demons—but to power. The Seven Lunar Shadows of the Bakunawa await. Pass their trials, and you may unlock what was once lost to the stars."
***
**The Journey to Biringan**
The path to Biringan wasn't physical. It began with a tear in reality—a glyph of silver flame etched into the air by Rizalde's blade. It shimmered and pulled them through, depositing them beneath a sky of swirling moons and impossible constellations.
Biringan was beautiful. Floating crystal towers. Silver rivers. Trees with leaves of stardust. And creatures—majestic, otherworldly—watched from perches of golden marble.
Grim and Elyse stood in silence, both overwhelmed.
"Are we in another world?" she whispered.
"In between them," Grim said.
Then the voice came.
**"The seal stirs. The chosen arrive. But power is not granted. It is proven."**
A circle of moonlight opened in the center of the plaza. A great celestial lion stepped forth—its mane blazing like dawn, its eyes ancient and gold.
**Ahoran, Gatekeeper of Trials.**
"You carry the mark of Bakunawa," the lion rumbled. "But only through shadow may light reclaim itself. Do you wish to begin the Trials of the Seven?"
Grim stepped forward. "Yes."
"Then enter, and be judged by the First Shadow—Silagan, the Pale Maw."
***
**The Trial of Silagan**
Grim awoke alone.
Not in the city, not in reality—but in a broken world of ash and bone. A grey desert beneath a blackened moon.
A figure awaited him—silver-skinned, skeletal, wrapped in spectral fire. Silagan's presence burned without heat, hollow yet overwhelming.
"You are marked," Silagan said, "but untempered. You wield a name that once moved stars, but you no longer remember how to carry it."
Grim readied himself. "Then remind me."
Silagan's maw widened. "Then burn away what is false."
The trial began.
Shadows rose from the sands—echoes of Grim himself. Doubts, failures, fears given shape. Each swing of his summoned blade cleaved through them, but the wounds inside his heart remained. Elyse's face, his parents, the deaths he couldn't prevent—they all surfaced.
"You fight to forget," Silagan said, circling him. "But true strength is forged in remembrance."
Then Silagan charged.
Grim met the Pale Maw head-on, their clash sending shockwaves through the dream realm. Grim's left side scorched from ghostly fire, but he refused to fall.
"I'm not afraid of my past anymore!" Grim shouted, unleashing Minokawa's soulfire with his strike.
The flames turned silver, and the desert shattered.
Silagan stepped back, nodding slowly. "You are not whole—but neither are you broken. The first flame is yours."
A silver ember floated to Grim's hand. It sank into his arm, making the Bakunawa's mark glow brighter.
When Grim awoke, Elyse was there. Her gravity aura rippled around her like starlight waves.
"I felt it," she said softly. "One of them awakened."
"I'm going to face all seven," Grim said.
Elyse looked toward the horizon, where six more beacons had begun to glow across Biringan.
"Then we face them together."
Far from Biringan, in the depths of the void beyond the veil, Xavier stood before a growing tear in reality.
A crimson blade floated in the rift—held in place by writhing chains of starlight and shadow. It pulsed once, and the air screamed.
"They're waking," a voice hissed behind him. The red-hooded figure from before, now surrounded by robed fanatics of the Crimson Crescent.
"The Highborn Demons stir. And the seal's trial has begun. Let the boy win. It matters not."
Xavier turned. "You still believe he'll spark the end?"
"No," said the figure. "He will spark something far worse. *Hope.* And hope... must be consumed."
***
**Back in Biringan: Preparation and Discovery**
Between trials, Grim and Elyse trained under divine beast mentors. A silver phoenix taught Elyse how to compress gravity into blades of force. A titanic horned whale shared with Grim the art of "Celestial Anchoring"—a technique to bind a summon's soul to the material world longer and with stronger form.
They also discovered the **Hall of Echoes**, an ancient library of celestial prophecy. There, on a mural carved in shifting starlight, they saw their past selves—warriors who stood at the edge of creation during a war against a being only called *The Maw*.
"It devoured stars," Elyse whispered.
"And we stopped it," Grim said. "But died doing it."
"Not died," corrected a voice.
**Talaaya, the Star-Eyed Seer**, one of the Seven, drifted into view—blindfolded, floating above the mural.
"You were sealed into rebirth. Bakunawa saved what it could. But your return means the cycle spins again."
"Then we stop it this time," Grim said.
Talaaya only whispered, "You must first awaken the others. And beware… not all of them wish to be found."
On their sixth evening in Biringan, Grim and Elyse stood atop the Moonspire—watching the constellations shift like puzzle pieces.
Then—a sound.
Not thunder. Not wind.
A *crack*.
The sky above split—not wide, not deep, but enough. A sliver of red light, like a bleeding wound in the stars.
And then it vanished.
Elyse's hand tightened around Grim's.
"They're watching," she said.
"No," Grim whispered. "They're *waiting*."
From far below, the seven beacons pulsed again—faster now, as if the city itself knew something was coming.
**Nightfall in Biringan**
After the crack in the sky faded, an unease lingered.
The divine beasts, once regal and serene, stirred restlessly. The starlight trees whispered faster, like wind rushing to deliver a message that had no time left. Even the city's luminous pathways, once warm beneath their feet, grew cold.
Grim and Elyse returned to their temporary dwelling—a sanctuary shaped from crystal and moonlight, gifted by the city's guardians. But neither spoke much that night. Instead, they sat together on a balcony, watching stars shift and realign.
Grim leaned back, arms crossed behind his head. "Do you think the other Shadows will be harder?"
Elyse gave a wry smile. "You mean harder than fighting flaming copies of your darkest memories while being judged by a talking skeleton? No idea."
They both chuckled. But only for a moment.
"Something's coming," Elyse said quietly. "That crack—it didn't feel like a warning. It felt like an omen."
"Which is why we keep going," Grim replied. "Because whatever's out there, I won't let it reach Earth. Not again."
Elyse nodded and stood. "Then we train until dawn."
---
Training with the Divine Beasts
Their next days in Biringan became a forge. Training, pushing limits, unraveling secrets even the gods had once guarded.
Under the guidance of a celestial serpent known as **Viryana**, Grim learned to attune to multiple summon channels simultaneously. This allowed him to begin mastering *Dual Summon Synchrony*, calling forth two distinct summoned spirits—*Minokawa* and a new minor spirit of shadows—**Silagan, the First Named**—at once.
Silagan, the first named shadow, was a formless, loyal being born from the Bakunawa's broken scales. Its voice whispered only to Grim.
"I remember the eclipse. I remember your voice, even when you had none."
Through Silagan, Grim discovered how to bend shadow to form, solidify weapons, distort perception, and even travel short distances through reflective surfaces—a technique called **Shadow Stepping**.
Elyse's Training:
Elyse bonded with **Auralis**, a winged stag that radiated pure gravimetric force. She learned how to condense her field into gravity lances—deadly spears of compressed spatial pressure capable of piercing celestial armor.
But more than that, she discovered a hidden layer within her Blessing. A voice whispered from the core of her being:
"You are not just gravity's wielder. You are its chosen anchor. Its fixed star."
She learned to bend localized time, ever so slightly—creating brief moments of slowed or accelerated movement. She couldn't stop time, but she could change her perception of it, buying herself the advantage in battle.
Together, they sparred. Together, they fell. And each time, they rose more complete.
One evening, Grim followed Silagan's whispers to a hidden pool at the heart of the city. The Moon Pool.
He stared into the water and saw more than his reflection.
He saw himself—cloaked in celestial silver, eyes glowing with twin moons. Behind him, the Seven Lunar Shadows stood in a circle. And before them—The Maw.
A void of nothing. A cosmic mouth that consumed constellations. Standing beside it... was Xavier. And behind Xavier, a throne of broken gods.
Grim stumbled back, panting. Elyse caught him, having followed moments later.
"What did you see?" she asked.
Grim's voice cracked. "The end. And I was standing in front of it."
---
**Awakening of the Second Trial**
The second beacon lit in the eastern ridge of Biringan.
This time, the trial was for **Talaaya, the Star-Eyed Seer**.
Grim and Elyse were both pulled into it—a first.
They entered a realm of dreams and shifting truths. Here, lies manifested as beasts. Time moved backward. Memories turned against them.
To pass, they had to face the truth of each other's thoughts.
Grim was forced to witness Elyse's lingering fear—that if Grim ever lost control, she would have to stop him.
Elyse, meanwhile, saw Grim's own fear—that everyone he loved would die before he could become strong enough to protect them.
But they didn't turn away. They embraced the fear. And in doing so, they earned Talaaya's blessing—**The Moon's Gaze**, a passive gift allowing them to sense celestial interference and lies within their immediate presence.
As they exited the second trial, the skies darkened.
In the distance, a deep howling echoed across the city. A red aurora rippled above the third beacon—far to the north.
Grim turned to Elyse.
"One step at a time."
Elyse took his hand. "Until the end."
And behind them, deep within the Hall of Echoes, a final prophecy stirred—letters etching themselves across stone in glowing silver:
"When the Seventh Moon rises, and all shadows awaken, the Maw shall open its eyes. Let the Arclight burn, or the world shall drown."