"When the world ends for you, it doesn't end for the stars."
Blackness.
Heavy, endless blackness.
Aarav floated somewhere between breath and dream, weightless yet drowning. His body had no form here—only his heartbeat, a lonely drum in an ocean of silence.
Where am I?Who am I?
Then—a crack tore through the void, like glass shattering underwater.
Out of the rupture spilled a river of starlight, carrying whispers, half-formed memories, and broken promises.
🌌 The Otherworld
Aarav gasped awake—
But he was no longer in his room.
Around him stretched an endless, ashen desert under a bleeding sky.The sand was black and silver, glittering faintly, shifting like it was breathing.
Above, two moons hung—one red, one blue—locked in a slow, painful eclipse.
In the distance, twisted towers of celestial stone pierced the clouds, and strange creatures, transparent and weightless, floated among them, weeping silent tears of light.
Aarav staggered to his feet.
His heart recognized this place before his mind did.
The Between.
The world between life and dream. Between memory and reality. Between the boy he was and the being he once had been.
The place where forgotten souls drifted, trapped forever.
Selene… is she here too?
He clutched the broken crystal Rohini had given him. It was cold now—lifeless—but something inside it still pulsed faintly. Like a dying beacon.
🌑 The Silent Shepherd
A shadow loomed on the horizon.
It moved strangely—like it was both walking and unraveling at the same time.
As it came closer, Aarav could see it wasn't human. It wore a cloak made of unraveling stars, and where its face should have been, there was only a mirror.
In the mirror, Aarav glimpsed fleeting images:
A baby crying under a silver tree.
A girl with silver eyes laughing at the sea's edge.
Himself, bleeding in the snow, screaming for something he couldn't name.
The creature raised a hand, palm outward, showing a burning triangle in its skin.
The Crown of Selene.
It spoke—not aloud, but directly into his mind:
"You broke the seal.""The Moon stirs from her slumber.""You must remember—or you will lose her forever."
🌘 The First Broken Law
Aarav stumbled back. "Remember what?!"
The ground beneath him cracked open.
Out spilled visions—Ancient cities floating in the skies.A council of luminous beings weaving the laws of existence.Selene standing trial before them, chains of silver binding her wings.
A single word echoed over and over:
"Forbidden."
Forbidden love.Forbidden choices.Forbidden memories.
Aarav was not just a lost boy.
He had once been the architect of a cosmic rebellion—one that had nearly torn existence apart.
And Selene had paid the price.
🌒 The Map of Moondust
The Silent Shepherd knelt and drew a pattern in the silver sand:
An intricate, spiraling map.A path made of broken constellations.At the center: a throne, empty, waiting.
"You must walk the Path," the voice said."Each step will awaken a memory you chose to forget. Each memory will cost you a piece of your soul."
"And if I don't?" Aarav whispered.
The Shepherd pointed upward.
Through the crimson clouds, a third moon emerged—black as coal, bleeding from its edges, and burning with endless hunger.
The Devouring Moon.
It was coming.It was hunting.
If Aarav failed, it would erase everything.
Selene.Earth.The stars themselves.
🌓 A Final Warning
As Aarav took a shaky step toward the spiral map, a voice—not the Shepherd's, but familiar and sweet—echoed faintly across the desert.
"Aarav... don't trust the ones who wear starlight."
It was Selene.
His chest tightened.
But before he could call out, the ground shifted again—the sands rising into towering figures of ash and memory, the Guardians of the Forgotten, who would test his will.
And one of them wore his own face—but twisted, cruel, smiling with hatred.
The first Guardian lunged—
—and Aarav had no choice but to fight himself.
To be continued...