Chapter 38: Stirring Shadows and Sleeping Stars
—Elsewhere in the Galaxy—
The stars above Aetherion Prime shimmered unnaturally, like a pulse had just passed through the very spine of the cosmos.
On the highest balcony of the Citadel of Harmony, High Chancellor Serath moved a single ivory token across a crystalline board. It landed with a faint clink on a rune-etched sigil: Chaos.
Immediately, the room dimmed. From the shadowed corners of the grand chamber, projections flickered to life—envoys, seers, and warlords alike. Aetherians, all.
One spoke. "We felt it. The seal trembled."
Another followed. "Cloamspire should have remained buried. The Conclave swore to—"
Serath raised his hand.
"The Veiled Conclave only delays the inevitable," he said. "And now the dragon's echo walks again."
At the far end of the table, a hooded figure stepped forward, revealing twin serpent irises that shimmered gold.
"We must act before the heir awakens. Chaos unbound will burn through galaxies."
Serath nodded, tapping a command rune. A star chart bloomed in the center of the chamber, displaying a web of celestial currents. At its center pulsed a new node: Ashen Aras.
He stared at it, then whispered:
"He's already weaving the threads."
A flick of his fingers sent pulses of light toward various worlds. "Deploy the Ascendants. Locate the Cocoon. And if he resists…"
The hooded figure smiled. "Then we unmake him."
---
—Back in Cloamspire—
Ashen sat in stillness beneath the Beacon of Veils, the echo of the Conclave's revelations reverberating through his bones.
Kaelis and Revyn waited a respectful distance away, quiet in the eerie light of the room. The Cocoon pulsed, slow and steady.
He wasn't the heir. He was the bridge.
But what did that mean?
Ashen let out a slow breath, his focus turning inward. He drew on the accelerated comprehension, pulling fragments of the Conclave's memories and matching them against the chaotic signatures etched into his own soul.
Images surfaced—two dragons locked in celestial combat. One of shimmering golden harmony. The other wrapped in spiraling entropy.
His body bore traces of both.
His memories—especially the pain—belonged to only one.
Suddenly, the Cocoon quivered.
Revyn jumped to his feet. "Did it just move?"
Kaelis drew his blade, his body already flickering between reality threads. "It's sensing something."
Ashen stood slowly, and the Cocoon responded again—this time flaring with light, like veins of starlight bursting across its surface.
Then it cracked.
Just a hairline fracture. A whisper of light and steam. But enough.
From within, a faint pulse echoed. Not a heartbeat. A call.
And Ashen felt his blood ignite.
The Conclave stepped forward from the edges of the spire, seven shadows woven into the air. Their leader spoke.
"It begins."
"What is inside?" Ashen asked.
The answer came in a voice not their own.
"A memory… and a promise. A dragon not born, but remembered."
Ashen took another step forward. The Cocoon pulsed again—and this time, his chaos-thread flared in response.
His eyes turned silver.
The Cocoon cracked further.
---
—Meanwhile, in the Outer Rim—
On a war-blasted moon orbiting Delkrath, the Ascendant known as Lysanthe knelt over a burning field of corpses. Her armor shimmered with void-tech and her helm bore the sigil of the Aetherian Hunt.
She held a relic—a shard of ancient bone laced with dragonic DNA.
It pulsed.
She turned her gaze to the stars. "Found you."
With a ripple of space, she vanished.
---
—Back in Cloamspire—
The moment broke as suddenly as it began. The Cocoon's light dimmed—but the crack remained.
Ashen exhaled, his chest rising and falling like waves crashing against fate.
Kaelis approached him, cautious. "It responded to you. Not the Conclave."
Ashen looked at his hands. "It knows me. But it isn't ready. Not yet."
The Conclave stepped back into the veil. "Prepare, Ashen Aras. Cloamspire will not shelter you forever. The galaxy stirs."
Ashen nodded. "Then let it come."
He turned to Kaelis. "We leave at dusk. We're going to find the remaining fragments. If this Cocoon is only part of the legacy…"
"Then the rest," Kaelis said, eyes gleaming, "might already be awake."
And somewhere in the distant dark, stars blinked in warning.
---