The royal palace of Ashkar remained frozen in absolute silence.

Glowing crimson dust drifted slowly through the shattered throne hall.

Broken marble pillars leaned dangerously beneath the weight of the destruction while fires burned across the cracked walls.

And at the very center of the devastation—

stood the barefoot child.

His small arms still remained raised toward the sky.

Smoke curled from his trembling fingers.

The queen stared at him without breathing.

Around her—

terrified nobles slowly backed away across the shattered floor.

Nobody understood what they had just witnessed.

Because no human alive could destroy a celestial magic meteor.

Those stones were not weapons.

They were disasters.

Entire kingdoms had vanished beneath their impact.

Yet somehow—

this starving child had crushed one with his bare hands.

Then suddenly—

the boy collapsed.

The queen gasped.

His knees slammed violently against the marble floor while blood spilled from both of his hands.

Several guards instinctively reached for their swords.

Even now—

they feared him.

The child tried forcing himself back upward.

Failed.

And nearly fell unconscious beside the throne.

That was when Queen Selene finally moved.

“Stop staring at him!” she screamed.

Her voice echoed through the ruined hall.

“HELP HIM!”

The nobles looked horrified.

One minister immediately shouted back.

“Your Majesty, that child is dangerous!”

“He used forbidden magic!”

“He could be a demon!”

But Queen Selene ignored them completely.

She rushed across the broken throne hall herself and dropped beside the boy.

Up close—

he looked even younger.

Ten years old at most.

Thin enough to see every rib beneath the soaked cloth wrapped around his body.

Bruises covered his arms.

Old scars crossed his shoulders.

And despite what he had just done—

he looked terrified.

Not proud.

Not powerful.

Terrified.

The queen slowly touched his burned hand.

The boy flinched instantly like an abused animal expecting pain.

That single reaction made something inside the queen crack.

Because powerful children did not fear kindness.

Broken children did.

“What is your name?” she whispered softly.

For several seconds—

the boy said nothing.

Then finally—

“Ash.”

His voice barely existed above the thunder.

Before Queen Selene could speak again—

the massive palace doors exploded open.

BOOOOM.

Royal knights stormed into the throne hall through smoke and fire.

At their center walked King Vaelor himself.

Tall.

Terrifying.

Still wearing black war armor from the northern campaign.

Rainwater dripped from his crimson cape while lightning flashed behind him.

The moment he saw the destruction—

his expression darkened instantly.

Then his eyes landed on Ash.

The king stopped walking.

The entire throne hall felt colder.

“Who,” the king said slowly, “is that child?”

Nobody answered.

Not immediately.

Several nobles lowered their heads nervously.

Finally one minister pointed toward Ash with trembling fingers.

“He… he stopped the meteor, Your Majesty.”

King Vaelor’s face hardened.

“That’s impossible.”

“We all saw it!”

“The child destroyed it!”

The throne hall erupted into terrified voices.

“Forbidden magic!”

“A cursed sorcerer!”

“He’ll doom the kingdom!”

“Kill him now before—”

“ENOUGH!”

The king’s roar silenced the palace instantly.

King Vaelor slowly approached the child.

Ash remained kneeling weakly beside the throne while blood continued dripping onto the marble beneath him.

Their eyes finally met.

And something strange happened.

The king froze.

Only for a second.

But Queen Selene noticed.

So did Ash.

The child suddenly looked confused.

Like he recognized the king somehow.

Then—

a sharp pain exploded through Ash’s head.

Images flashed violently across his mind.

Fire.

Screaming.

A woman crying.

Black armor stained with blood.

A royal symbol burning beneath crimson flames.

Ash grabbed his head in agony.

The king’s expression changed instantly.

Fear.

Real fear.

“What did you see?” King Vaelor demanded.

Ash looked up slowly.

“I… don’t know…”

But that was a lie.

Because deep inside—

he remembered those eyes.

The same eyes standing above him during the worst night of his life.

Suddenly—

the palace shook again.

A violent tremor thundered beneath the floor.

Everyone panicked instantly.

Another explosion echoed somewhere beyond the throne hall.

Then came the screams.

Not inside the palace.

Outside.

From the capital itself.

A knight sprinted into the hall covered in ash.

“Your Majesty!”

He collapsed to one knee desperately.

“More meteors are falling!”

The nobles turned pale.

“What?!”

“That’s impossible!”

The knight pointed toward the shattered ceiling.

“There are dozens!”

The throne hall erupted into chaos again.

People ran toward windows.

Others screamed prayers.

Far beyond the palace walls—

the night sky had turned completely red.

And descending through the storm—

came burning lights.

Not one.

Not two.

Hundreds.

The kingdom of Ashkar stood beneath a celestial bombardment.

Entire sections of the capital already burned.

Towering explosions erupted across distant districts.

The queen whispered in horror,

“We’re all going to die…”

Then every eye slowly turned toward Ash.

The child still knelt beside the throne breathing heavily.

One noble fell to his knees before him.

“Please…”

Others followed immediately.

“Save us!”

“You stopped the first one!”

“Please save the kingdom!”

Ash stared at them silently.

Hours ago—

those same people would have executed him without hesitation.

Now they begged him like worshippers.

The child slowly lowered his eyes.

“I can’t stop all of them…”

Fear spread instantly.

But then—

King Vaelor suddenly spoke.

“Yes,” he said quietly.

“You can.”

Ash looked up sharply.

The king stepped closer.

Too close.

His voice dropped low enough that only Ash and the queen could hear.

“Because you were born for this.”

The child’s heartbeat stopped.

Before he could respond—

the king grabbed Ash’s wrist violently.

The torn cloth around the boy’s arm ripped backward.

And the entire throne hall gasped.

A glowing symbol burned across Ash’s skin.

A black sun surrounded by crimson cracks.

Several elderly nobles immediately stumbled backward in terror.

“No…”

“It can’t be…”

“The Celestial Bloodline…”

Queen Selene looked between the symbol and the king in confusion.

“What does that mark mean?”

Nobody wanted to answer.

Finally—

the oldest royal priest stepped forward trembling.

His face had become completely pale.

“That symbol belonged to the ancient Starborn Kings.”

“The rulers who existed before Ashkar.”

The priest’s voice shook harder.

“The bloodline capable of controlling celestial magic.”

Queen Selene frowned.

“But they vanished centuries ago.”

The old priest slowly looked toward King Vaelor.

“No, Your Majesty.”

“They were exterminated.”

Silence.

The queen turned slowly toward her husband.

King Vaelor said nothing.

And suddenly—

she understood.

Her voice became barely audible.

“You killed them…”

The king’s jaw tightened.

“They became dangerous.”

“They controlled power beyond human limits.”

“So you slaughtered children?” the queen whispered.

Another meteor exploded somewhere beyond the palace walls.

The throne hall trembled again.

But nobody moved.

Because the real disaster now stood inside the palace.

Ash stared at the king in horror.

Fragments of memory kept returning.

Fire consuming a village.

A woman screaming while soldiers dragged her away.

A knight raising his sword above a child.

The same black armor.

The same crimson cape.

The same eyes.

“You…” Ash whispered.

The king finally looked directly at him.

“Yes.”

The answer shattered the last barrier inside the boy’s mind.

Everything returned at once.

Ash remembered the massacre.

His family.

His mother hiding him beneath burning floorboards while royal soldiers murdered every Starborn survivor.

And leading them—

stood King Vaelor.

Ash stopped breathing.

The queen looked horrified.

“You murdered his family?”

The king’s face remained cold.

“I saved the kingdom.”

“No,” Ash whispered weakly.

His glowing hands slowly clenched.

“You destroyed it.”

Outside—

another meteor crashed into the capital.

The explosion lit the throne hall blood-red.

And suddenly—

all the falling meteors in the sky changed direction.

Every single burning celestial stone began moving toward the palace.

The royal priest screamed instantly.

“The heavens are responding to him!”

Panic erupted.

Nobles ran desperately for the exits.

Guards abandoned their posts.

But Ash never moved.

He stood slowly from the shattered floor.

The storm above the kingdom intensified violently.

Crimson lightning spiraled around the palace towers.

The queen stepped toward him carefully.

“Ash…”

The child looked at her.

And for the first time—

his eyes glowed completely crimson.

“You knew none of this,” he said softly.

Queen Selene shook her head immediately.

“I swear it.”

Ash believed her.

Because unlike the others—

she had touched his burned hands without fear.

Another explosion shook the palace.

The king drew his sword instantly.

Black steel reflected crimson lightning across the throne hall.

“If you lose control now,” King Vaelor said coldly, “millions will die.”

Ash stared at him silently.

Then asked the question that terrified the king most.

“Why are the meteors coming?”

King Vaelor said nothing.

That silence became the answer.

The old priest suddenly looked horrified.

“You didn’t…”

The king finally turned away.

Years ago—

after exterminating the Starborn bloodline—

King Vaelor had done something even worse.

He stole their celestial core.

The source of their power.

A living fragment of magic that maintained balance between the heavens and the world.

The priest nearly collapsed.

“You broke the covenant…”

Queen Selene stared at her husband in disbelief.

“What have you done?”

The king finally shouted back.

“I DID WHAT WAS NECESSARY!”

The throne hall shook violently.

Cracks spread across the floor beneath everyone’s feet.

“The Starborn were becoming stronger every generation!” the king roared.

“One day they would have ruled humanity itself!”

“So you murdered them first?” the queen screamed.

The king looked toward Ash.

“No.”

His voice lowered.

“I failed to murder all of them.”

Suddenly—

the ceiling exploded open.

BOOOOOOM.

A colossal celestial meteor descended directly toward the throne hall.

Larger than the first.

Larger than the palace itself.

Everyone screamed.

The queen grabbed Ash instinctively.

But the child slowly stepped forward.

Wind erupted around him violently.

Thousands of glowing fragments lifted from the shattered floor.

The giant meteor descended closer—

burning like a second sun above the kingdom.

Ash looked upward silently.

Then finally understood the truth.

The meteors were not attacking the kingdom.

They were searching.

Searching for the stolen celestial core.

And the core—

was inside the palace.

Hidden by the king for ten years.

Ash slowly turned toward King Vaelor.

“Where is it?”

The king’s silence confirmed everything.

Another explosion thundered overhead.

The palace towers began collapsing outward.

Ash screamed suddenly—

and invisible force waves erupted through the throne hall.

The gigantic meteor froze above the palace.

But this time—

Ash immediately dropped to one knee.

He was too exhausted.

Too weak.

Blood poured from his nose onto the marble.

The meteor trembled violently overhead trying to descend.

The entire palace began collapsing beneath the pressure.

Queen Selene rushed toward the king desperately.

“Tell him where the core is!”

“If he destroys it,” the king growled, “the celestial gates may open forever!”

“And if he doesn’t?!” the queen screamed back.

“We die tonight!”

The king looked toward Ash.

Toward the starving child he had failed to kill.

Then finally—

for the first time in years—

King Vaelor showed regret.

He slowly removed the black iron gauntlet covering his left arm.

Gasps spread across the throne hall.

Embedded inside the king’s flesh—

glowed a crimson crystal.

The celestial core.

The king had fused it into his own body.

Ash stared in shock.

“That’s impossible…”

The old priest whispered,

“He used its power to build the empire…”

Everything suddenly made sense.

Ashkar’s impossible victories.

The king’s unnatural strength.

The endless wars.

The celestial core had been feeding the throne itself.

And now the heavens wanted it back.

The meteor overhead cracked the sky apart.

Ash screamed in pain trying to hold it back.

The king looked at the child silently.

Then—

he made a decision nobody expected.

King Vaelor raised his sword.

And drove the blade directly into his own arm.

The throne hall exploded with screams.

Blood sprayed across the marble as the king tore the glowing crystal from his flesh.

The moment the celestial core separated from his body—

the king collapsed.

Older.

Weaker.

Like the crystal had stolen years from his life.

He threw the burning core toward Ash.

“TAKE IT!”

Ash caught the crystal instinctively.

The moment his fingers touched it—

the world stopped.

Crimson light swallowed the throne hall.

The child suddenly saw countless figures standing within the storm.

Ancient Starborn kings.

Women.

Children.

His family.

All watching him silently from inside the celestial light.

Then his mother stepped forward.

Tears filled Ash’s eyes instantly.

She smiled softly.

Not afraid.

Not angry.

Proud.

“You were never born to destroy the world,” she whispered.

“You were born to heal it.”

The vision vanished.

Reality returned violently.

The giant meteor descended closer.

The palace began collapsing completely.

Ash slowly stood.

Still barefoot.

Still covered in ash and blood.

But now—

celestial light spiraled around his entire body.

The queen stared in disbelief.

The old priest dropped to both knees crying.

Because for the first time in centuries—

a true Starborn king stood inside Ashkar.

Ash looked upward.

Then raised the celestial core toward the heavens.

Every meteor in the sky suddenly stopped moving.

The kingdom fell silent.

Ash closed his eyes.

And instead of crushing the celestial storm—

he released the core.

The crystal floated upward into the crimson sky.

Higher.

Higher.

Until it reached the center of the storm clouds.

Then—

the heavens exploded with golden light.

BOOOOOOOOM.

Shockwaves spread across the entire kingdom.

But not destruction.

Healing.

Burning meteors dissolved instantly into glowing rain.

Collapsed buildings stopped crumbling.

Fires across the capital extinguished themselves.

The crimson storm slowly faded into soft golden clouds.

And above the palace—

thousands of celestial fragments drifted peacefully through the night sky like stars returning home.

The kingdom watched in stunned silence.

Ash slowly lowered his arms.

The glowing marks across his skin faded.

Then suddenly—

he collapsed forward from exhaustion.

But before he hit the floor—

someone caught him.

Queen Selene.

She held the unconscious child carefully against her chest.

And for the first time in many years—

the throne hall felt peaceful.

Several hours later—

dawn rose slowly above Ashkar.

The kingdom still stood.

Citizens emerged carefully from shelters and ruined streets.

Golden celestial dust continued drifting gently through the morning air.

Inside the royal chamber—

Ash finally opened his eyes.

For one brief moment—

he panicked.

Soft bed.

Warm blankets.

Safety felt unfamiliar.

Then Queen Selene smiled from beside the window.

“You’re awake.”

Ash immediately tried sitting up.

“Where’s the king?”

The room became quiet.

King Vaelor had survived.

Barely.

Without the celestial core sustaining him—

he had aged nearly twenty years overnight.

But for the first time in his life—

the king had ordered the truth revealed publicly.

The massacres.

The Starborn extermination.

Everything.

The kingdom erupted in outrage.

Some demanded his execution.

Others demanded revolution.

But the king accepted all of it silently.

Because after witnessing Ash save the people he should have hated—

Vaelor finally understood what true strength looked like.

Ash looked toward the window.

Children were already gathering outside the palace gates.

Not soldiers.

Not nobles.

Children.

Leaving flowers.

Food.

Small wooden stars carved by hand.

The queen smiled softly.

“They’re calling you the Boy Who Held the Sky.”

Ash looked confused.

Then quietly asked,

“Why are they being nice to me?”

The question nearly broke the queen’s heart.

Because no child should ever ask that.

She walked toward him slowly.

Then gently brushed tangled hair from his face.

“Because you saved them.”

Ash lowered his eyes.

“But I wanted to hate him.”

The queen understood immediately.

King Vaelor.

Ash had every reason to seek revenge.

Every reason to let the kingdom burn.

Yet he hadn’t.

Queen Selene sat beside him quietly.

“That’s why you’re different from the men who destroyed your family.”

Tears slowly filled Ash’s eyes.

Not from pain.

From exhaustion.

From finally being seen.

Outside—

the storm clouds over Ashkar finally disappeared completely.

And high above the kingdom—

new stars slowly began appearing in the morning sky.