The night deepened further, and the outline of Dusk City grew hazy under the sparse starlight as if it were a slumbering beast whose every breath exuded decay. Like a true ghost, Raine Dawnstar silently returned to his dilapidated, empty ancestral mansion. Crossing the overgrown garden and ascending creaking stairs—each step accompanied by wary glances over his shoulder at the lurking shadows—the hungry, cold, and scrutinizing gazes at the auction still prickled at him like sharp thorns, forbidding even a moment's relaxation.
Only when the heavy oak door closed behind him, temporarily shutting out prying eyes and external dangers, did Raine heave a long, relieved breath; his taut nerves eased just a little. Eschewing his costly magic lamp, he relied solely on the meager moonlight and starlight filtering through the window, groping his way to the modest study. This room had once housed the family's treasured documents and star charts, but now only bare shelves and a severely worn, scratch-marked desk remained.
With utmost care, he removed his oversized cloak and set it aside. Then, reverently, he retrieved the "Fallen Stone"—the artifact for which he had exhausted his entire fortune—from within his bosom.
Holding the stone in his palm, he felt a strange sensation. It was icy to the touch, reminiscent of the frost of the far north, yet upon closer inspection, a faint warmth, almost as if emanating from the very core of life, slowly seeped from within. The surface was rough, pockmarked with tiny indentations and irregular edges, displaying a deep, nearly light-devouring grayish blue. However, when Raine held the stone near the window to examine it in the scant starlight, the internal flowing glimmers became more discernible. They were not static points of light, but rather resembled miniature rivers composed of stardust, gently and eternally coursing through the stone, forming a living, confined microcosm of the stars.
The sight was both magnificent and eerie, imbued with an indescribable antiquity and desolation. Raine had never seen any of the family's recorded starlight gems or magical artifacts take on such a form. The energy radiating from it was equally peculiar—faint, yet extraordinarily pure and condensed, as if compressing and sealing the very essence of the stars. Compared to the nearly imperceptible Starborne blood within him, the energy contained in this stone was like the vast difference between an endless starry sea and a single dewdrop.
He sensed a subtle calling—a weak yet familiar yearning rooted deep in his bloodline for this stone. It was a sensation both alien and intimate, as if an ancient instinct long dormant had been awakened. Setting the stone upon the desk, he ran his fingers gently over its rugged surface, attempting to further attune himself to its mysterious energy.
"Aellariel…" he murmured; his sister's name was like an unhealed wound, every utterance triggering a sharp, piercing pain. Could this stone truly be his only hope of finding her? Could it answer his prayers and guide him to the lost legendary Fallenstar Citadel?
Raine sat down and fixed his gaze intently on the Fallen Stone. He concentrated, recalling from the family documents the long-forgotten techniques for harnessing starlight magic. Extending his finger cautiously, he attempted to project his faint will outward to establish a connection with the energy within the stone.
Yet the stone offered no response. The internal starlight continued its relentless flow, indifferent to his feeble probing. Undeterred, Raine recognized that his Starborne blood had grown so thin as to be nearly indistinguishable from that of ordinary mortals—attempting to channel such pure starlight energy was, in truth, a hopeless aspiration.
Changing his approach, he picked up the stone to scrutinize a particularly deep crack on its surface. Perhaps this fissure concealed a clue? From a drawer in the desk, he retrieved a small silver carving knife once used for opening letters and cutting parchment. Its edge wasn't particularly sharp, but it would suffice to clear away any surface grime or debris.
As he carefully scraped along the edge of the crack with the knife's tip—perhaps due to his agitated state or the dim light in the room—his hand slipped slightly, and in an instant, the knife's keen edge sliced through the pulp of his left index fingertip.
"Hiss…" Raine withdrew his hand with a pained gasp; a single drop of bright red blood emerged from the wound and, with precise inevitability, fell onto the surface of the grayish-blue Fallen Stone.
Time seemed to freeze.
The drop, rather than being absorbed or flowing over the stone's surface as it would on an ordinary rock, behaved like mercury falling onto scalding metal—emitting a faint, sizzle-like "szzzt" sound. In that instant, the Fallen Stone erupted in an unprecedented, dazzling burst of light!
No longer did it merely display the understated, flowing glimmers of before; now it shone with a brilliance as if a supernova had burst forth! The dim study was instantly bathed in a pure, searing blue-white radiance, nearly blinding Raine.
What shocked him even more was that with this burst of light, an overwhelming surge of energy force nearly unimaginable roared forth from within the stone, immediately resonating with the dormant Starborne blood in his veins, which had lain nearly forgotten for more than two decades!
"Ugh—ah!" Raine emitted a pained groan, feeling as if his entire bloodstream had been set ablaze and boiled at that moment! A powerful force raced up his bleeding finger, coursed along his arm, and suddenly surged throughout his entire body. He could vividly "see" his sparse, golden starlight, now activated and magnified within his blood vessels, like a parched riverbed suddenly inundated by a torrential flood. Bones trembled; muscles convulsed; every cell groaned under the onslaught of this sudden energy shock.
This was no gentle guidance—it was a brutal awakening! The Fallen Stone seemed like a portal flung open by a key forged of blood, unleashing countless years' worth of stellar power into his fragile form without reservation.
Raine felt his consciousness being pummeled and torn apart by this mighty surge of energy. He tried to resist, to retreat, but his body betrayed him completely. His vision began to distort, and the study dissolved before his eyes like a painting thrown into water.
Overwhelming vertigo crashed over him like a tidal wave, engulfing him in an instant.
He felt as though he were hurled into an endless, spinning vortex, surrounded by shattered light and chaotic hues. Concepts of time and space blurred into insignificance. Then, a vivid and grand vision burned itself into his mind with searing intensity—
A city—a vast city suspended within the endless void.
It was immense, once undoubtedly resplendent and magnificent, yet now reduced to nothing but broken ruins. Gigantic towers lay fractured; majestic palaces were half-collapsed; countless shattered floating isles drifted slowly like fragments of stars around the city's core. A faint, ominous gray-black mist shrouded the entire city, its lingering starlight unable to completely disperse the gloom. Below the city lay an unfathomable darkness, as if it connected to an abyss that devoured everything.
Fallen star, Citadel!
In a single moment, the name flashed through Raine's mind. This was the legendary, lost, floating, shattered capital—Fallenstar Citadel!
Then, the vision abruptly zoomed in, piercing through layers of mist to focus on a tall, severely damaged spire at the city's center. At one of the spire's windows, where warped iron bars hung, a faint, emaciated figure appeared to be imprisoned.
Raine's heart nearly stopped.
Though the image was blurry, distant, and fleeting, he recognized that figure at once! That familiar silhouette, and even amid terror, the stubborn glimmer in the eyes…
Aellariel!
It was his sister, Aellariel! She was alive! Trapped within Fallenstar Citadel!
"Aella…" Raine instinctively wanted to cry out, to reach out and grasp that apparition, but no sound emerged from his throat, and his body felt as if shackled by invisible chains.
In the vision, Aellariel seemed to notice something—she abruptly lifted her head, her gaze piercing through the barriers of time and space to meet Raine's in the void. Her eyes brimmed with terror, despair, and a hint of... an ineffable warning? Her lips moved as if to speak silently, yet Raine could not hear a single word.
The next moment, the gray-black mist around the spire thickened violently, churning like a living beast, and in an instant, it completely swallowed Aellariel's figure.
Then the vision abruptly ceased.
As if being hurled from a great height, Raine's consciousness crashed back into his own body.
"Thud!" He could no longer hold on as he slid off his chair, crashing onto the floor with a heavy, dull sound.
Yet the physical pain from the fall was insignificant compared to the agony he was enduring at that moment.
The instant the vision ended, an indescribable, searing pain—like a red-hot branding iron—stabbed deep into his brain! It felt as if countless steel needles were frantically twisting within his skull, each heartbeat delivering a lacerating agony. Golden sparks danced in his vision; a buzzing filled his ears, and his innermost organs felt as though they were being mercilessly squeezed and kneaded by an unseen hand.
This was not merely a headache—it was an erosion from within. He could sense something cold and heavy, slowly and inexorably corroding his activated bloodline, devouring his vitality. Every breath scorched him as if innumerable tiny shards of ice were gliding beneath his skin.
"Ugh…ah…" Raine curled up on the floor, clutching his head with both hands, teeth clenched, veins bulging on his forehead as cold sweat soaked his clothes. He had never experienced such horror—a torment that felt as though his very soul was being peeled away bit by bit.
Was this… the price of glimpsing the future?
Scattered throughout the ancient family documents were vague references: that the Starborne bloodline of the Dawnstar family could momentarily glimpse the trajectory of the future, but this ability came not as a blessing, but as a perilous pact with the stars. Every glimpse was a depletion of starlight power, accelerating some unknown "repercussion." The texts spoke of this backlash only in nebulous terms—using words like "stellar eclipse" or "soul's demise."
Only now did Raine truly understand what that "backlash" entailed.
It was a curse that burned slowly from within.
The Fallen Stone had indeed answered his prayer, awakening his long-dormant bloodline and revealing the clue to finding his sister, Fallen Star Citadel. But at the same time, it had unleashed the fatal curse latent within him.
Each use of this future-sighting ability dragged him deeper into the abyss, hastening his body's collapse and the erosion of his soul.
This ability was both the sole torch to illuminate his path and a Damoclean sword hanging over his head.
The searing pain continued its relentless assault on his consciousness, yet through gritted teeth, he endured the inhuman torment. Struggling, he lifted his head to gaze once more at the Fallen Stone resting on the desk, its inner radiance now subdued and modest.
The stone lay there as if nothing had occurred. However, the dried bloodstain on its surface and the excruciating pain coursing through Raine's body silently testified to the dramatic events that had just transpired.
Fallenstar Citadel… Aellariel… imprisoned… danger…
Amid his agony, Raine's eyes grew resolute.
No matter the cost, no matter how perilous the road ahead, he must go!
For Aellariel, to uncover the truth behind his family's annihilation and to reveal the secrets lurking behind the shroud of Shadowblight that enshrouded the world, he had no alternative.
This Fallen Stone, this cursed power, would be his only support.
Straining, he extended his trembling hand and grasped the stone, which still carried that peculiar intermingling of cold and faint warmth, of hope and despair.
The road ahead was destined to be strewn with thorns and suffering, every step fraught with the risk of an irreversible plunge into the abyss.
Yet, at least now, he would no longer wander in darkness.
The stars—even in their diminished state, even if they brought curses—had nonetheless pointed him in a direction.
A direction leading toward a shattered illusion, and perhaps ultimately toward his destruction.