"To control the stars, you must first destroy the sky."
Selene stood frozen in the shattered Rift, heart pounding against her ribs as Zahir descended—like a god carved from night itself. His presence was suffocating, heavier than gravity, louder than silence. The shards of the starry dome crackled around him, swirling in jagged orbit like the remnants of a fallen constellation.
And on his head… a crown.
Forged from warped fragments of the moon, twisted clockwork gears, and the cracked faces of broken timepieces.
It pulsed with dark light.
Aarav, still kneeling beside her, clutched his chest as if his very soul had been torn apart by the sight. His eyes, now flickering between black and starlight, watched Zahir with fear and something worse—recognition.
"Selene…" Aarav rasped. "He was… my first dream."
☽ Zahir's Arrival
Zahir hovered just above the ground, his feet not touching the earth, his voice echoing without sound.
"How poetic. The boy made of stardust and the girl kissed by the moon—still clinging to fantasy."
Selene stepped forward, hands glowing faintly with silvery light, masking the fear rising in her throat. "You won't take him," she said. "Not again."
Zahir chuckled. "Oh, Selene. You think this is about him? Aarav was just a seed. A vessel. The Rift chose him because you loved him."
"And because love... is the only thing strong enough to rewrite fate."
🌀 The Rift's True Nature
The space trembled as Zahir gestured to the broken constellations above.
"This Rift isn't just a passage. It's a quill. A rewrite. A realm where reality bends to the emotion of its wielder."
He raised his hand, and a sphere of memories shimmered between his palms—Selene and Aarav laughing on the school rooftop, watching stars, whispering secrets.
Then, in a blink, the scene twisted: Selene forgotten, erased from Aarav's mind. Her voice muted. Her presence voided.
Selene cried out. "Stop!"
Zahir's smile widened. "I already have."
🌌 The Rift Remembers
Aarav groaned as silver and red threads tangled around him, binding him mid-air. His voice came in gasps. "Selene… if he takes the Shard… he'll rewrite everything."
Zahir turned to him, curious. "Still resisting? How... quaint."
He floated toward Aarav and touched his forehead. Aarav screamed—not in pain, but in memory.
A flash of another life.
Selene and Aarav as celestial beings, dancing among galaxies.
Then: Aarav kneeling before Zahir, offering the Crown willingly.
Then: Aarav standing alone, watching Selene fall from the sky, like a broken moon.
🕰 The Price of Power
"You were always destined to kneel, Aarav," Zahir whispered. "You just didn't know which version of you would do it first."
The glowing pocket watch in Selene's hand shattered.
Time stuttered.
Selene collapsed to her knees, overwhelmed by the chronal pressure, memories colliding inside her—past lives, forgotten futures, glimpses of Aarav in forms she'd never met. Warrior. Poet. Betrayer. Savior.
"What are you doing to him?" she choked out.
Zahir looked at her. "I'm freeing him from the illusion of hope. You're the last tether, moon-girl. When you let go… the Rift will fully belong to me."
🌠 A Choice in the Rift
Selene's hands trembled as she touched the lunar scar on her collarbone—the mark left the night she was banished from her celestial realm. It pulsed now, hotter than ever.
She realized something terrifying.
Zahir wasn't just feeding off the Rift. He was feeding off them. Their emotions. Their connection. Their pain.
If she gave in to despair… he'd win.
So she stood.
Despite the cracking ground, the howling Riftwinds, and the storm of broken time, she walked toward Aarav.
Zahir raised a hand to stop her—but paused.
Selene was glowing.
Not with rage. Not with sorrow.
But with love.
A Fractured Future
"I remember everything," she said softly. "And I still believe in him."
With a defiant cry, she reached for Aarav and—
Touched his heart.
A blinding pulse of silver light exploded from the contact.
Aarav screamed—and then—
His eyes cleared.
Blackness shattered from within.
He looked at her, really looked, and said, "Selene."
But before their fingers could truly intertwine—
Zahir vanished.
Only for the Rift itself to begin collapsing.
A thousand clock hands burst from the void, spinning wildly, and a terrible voice—not Zahir's—echoed through time:
"One of you has rewritten fate."
"One must now be erased."
To be continued…