Falling Star in My Garden

The shrine forest had returned to stillness, but something in the air had shifted.

Aki sat on one of the mossy stones, still catching his breath. The Trial of Dawn had drained him—not just his body, but his soul. Hoshikiri sat nearby, watching him not as a celestial guardian, but as a companion who had just witnessed a spark ignite.

"Did you feel it?" she asked after a while.

Aki looked up. "I saw myself. Or maybe… the part of me I try not to face."

She nodded. "The thread doesn't lie. It weaves everything, even the shadows."

He touched the pendant again. The warmth hadn't faded.

"Then I have to keep walking," he said. "Even if the next part breaks me."

Aki stood, stronger than before.

From deep within the forest, a new path revealed itself—twisting and narrow, covered in roots and mist. It hadn't been there before.

"The next thread," Hoshikiri whispered.

They stepped into it together.

And from the far reaches of the Celestial Realm, a different god stirred.

A figure cloaked in twilight and silence, eyes like the void between stars, opened a hand.

"The boy has begun to hear the echoes," he said, his voice like the stillness before a storm.

"And soon," he continued, turning toward the veil between realms, "he will awaken more than just fate."

—To be continued—

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