The Starforge loomed ahead—vast, ancient, and alive with unspoken purpose. It floated in a sea of black fire, tethered to nothing, pulsing with memories of a time before time. The vessel of anchors, guided by the Skybrand, drifted toward its gates, which bloomed open like a flower of obsidian light.
No one spoke as they entered.
The interior was endless. Corridors looped upon themselves. Stairways climbed into stars and descended into thought. Every surface shimmered with celestial scripts—moving, rewriting, erasing. It was as if the Forge itself was questioning why it still existed.
Kaelen placed a hand on a glowing panel. "This place… it remembers every anchor ever made. Every Skyborn. Every fall."
"Then it remembers how the Hollow Star was born," Orin said.
Mira nodded. "And maybe how to end it."
A flicker of motion. A shape of fire and steel stepped forward—a Forged Warden—not a being, but a memory of one. Its voice echoed in their minds.
> "You are not Skyborn. Yet you bear their burden."
> "We bound the four anchors," Orin said. "Now we seek to understand the thing they tried to delay. The Hollow Star."
> "It was not born. It was forged. Here."
The Warden raised its arms, and the Forge reshaped itself around them.
They saw it.
Eons ago, the Skyborn sought to contain entropy—to lock away the unraveling forces of the universe. They created a construct of containment, powered by compressed memory, sealed with flame and light. But it grew sentient. Curious. Hungry.
That was the Hollow Star: not a weapon, but a forgotten prison that became its prisoner.
And now, it wanted release.
Mira stepped forward. "Then why bind it? Why not destroy it?"
> "Because destruction is a lie," the Warden answered. "Even stars die only to be reborn."
Kaelen looked at Orin. "Then maybe that's our way forward—not to fight it, but to rebuild what it lost."
Orin's eyes glowed faintly. The Skybrand pulsed.
"There's still a piece missing."
The Warden nodded and touched Orin's chest.
> "Then take the Fifth Anchor. The Flame of Origin."
A fifth point ignited on the Skybrand.
Five stars.
A starshape, complete.
And far away, the Hollow Star felt it.
And turned its gaze.