The ruins of Solmaris loomed like the skeleton of a fallen starship—arches carved with celestial runes, shattered towers leaning toward the abyss, and a strange, humming silence that wrapped around them like a shroud. Aelria stood at the edge of the broken path, the air around her humming with Veil energy.
This was where it had all begun for the world. And perhaps, where it would end.
She stepped forward.
The stones beneath her feet pulsed, recognizing her. Symbols lit up with her presence—Veilbound, they whispered, echoing in the back of her mind. The markings of the ancient architects, those who had built Solmaris as a temple and a prison, glowed faintly with long-dormant power.
Behind her, Kalien and Riven followed cautiously, weapons ready, senses sharp.
"We're being watched," Kalien murmured.
"I know," Aelria replied. "The Court is near."
But they didn't strike.
Instead, the ground trembled. A ripple of golden dust swept through the ruins like a breath, and a door appeared where none had been—a swirling gate of pale magic, arched by twin statues of cloaked figures. Veilstone.
Aelria's heart twisted. She knew this gate. It wasn't built for mortals. It was the Threshold, the passage to the Inner Veil—a place only the Chosen could tread.
"I must go alone," she said.
Kalien's expression hardened. "Last time you said that, you almost didn't return."
She reached out and touched his cheek, fingers warm against his skin. "You brought me back last time. If I fail… I trust you'll do it again."
Riven scoffed. "You two are exhausting."
Aelria smiled faintly and stepped into the gate.
Inside the Veil, everything changed again.
She wasn't in ruins anymore—but floating in a mirrored expanse, stars wheeling around her in silence. Figures began to emerge—tall, faceless, cloaked in shadows and light, their presence vast and cold.
The Unseen Court.
"You trespass where you do not belong," one spoke, its voice a thousand whispers.
"I belong now," Aelria answered, her voice steady. "I've bound with the Veil. I am its heir."
"You are its anchor. But not its master."
They moved around her, circling like vultures made of smoke.
"You were never meant to live," another said. "You are a mistake. A splinter."
Aelria's hand tightened on her blade. "I was chosen. And I chose back. Your chains no longer bind this world."
A sudden spike of cold shot through her—the Court's magic, invasive and cruel, pressed against her mind. They were testing her will.
But Aelria didn't bend.
She summoned the memory of Kalien's voice. The warmth of his oath. The pain and beauty of everything she had lived through. And in that moment, she raised her hand, and the Veil pulsed with her power.
"I reclaim this place," she declared. "By right of blood, bond, and brokenness—I cast you out."
The Court recoiled, shrieking not with sound but with fury that shook the stars themselves.
The mirror beneath her shattered—revealing a path of pure starlight. The true heart of the Inner Veil.
Aelria took a breath and walked forward.
The path was short.
At its end stood a figure—not shadow, not light, but her. Aelria, dressed in the golden armor of the Veil Guardians, eyes filled with sorrow and hope.
"You've come far," her mirror said.
"I'm not done yet."
Her reflection stepped aside, revealing a crystal orb pulsing with radiant energy. The last shard of the Starbound Core.
The moment her fingers touched it, the Veil shuddered. The bond was complete.
And the war had truly begun.