Page 5 of Burning Star

We crashed. We need to find out where the hell we are. We need to locate the Star Disc. We need to get out of here before fate finishes what it started.

With a slow breath, I shift and untangle myself from her, as if one wrong move might break her.

“Are you hurt?” I ask, and she blinks, like she’s remembering how to breathe.

“No. I just…” Her gaze darts around, taking in our surroundings. “Where are we?”

I chuckle, because she asks as though I have some secret map hidden away.

“I like to think I’m decently well-traveled, but if I had a bucket list, the Cosmic Tides wouldn’t have even made the footnotes,” I say as I push to my feet, scanning the landscape around us.

The sand is like nothing I’ve ever seen, black and shimmering with stardust. Galaxies swirl overhead, spinning into infinity.

Despite how beautiful it is, something about the silence is wrong.

We shouldn’t be here.

But we are. So, I extend a hand to Sapphire, pulling her to her feet as she steadies herself, relieved when she doesn’t yank her hand away as if my skin is burning her flesh.

And with her standing so close, the weight of what just happened—of what we were before the crash—lingers between us.

But I don’t acknowledge it. I can’t. Because every decision I make in this place could determine if she stays alive or not, and I refuse to lose her. I won’t survive it if I do.

“We need to find the Star Disc and get out of here,” I say, breaking my gaze from hers to scan the horizon again. “Now.”

She nods, shaking off whatever thoughts are running through her mind. “Agreed.”

With the decision made, we move.

“Stay close.” I draw my sword, watching with quiet pride as she does the same with her dagger, alert and ready.

I trained her well.

The sand shifts under our boots as we walk away from the spectral ship, leaving it abandoned behind us. Each breath feels heavier, charged with an ancient power that clings to my skin.

Then—

The sand shudders, rising and swirling into waves that crash against an invisible shore.

I pull Sapphire behind me, ice forming at my fingertips as the cosmic floor erupts like a geyser, stardust raining down as something massive emerges from its depths.

First, a head. Serpentine, with eyes that burn like dying stars.

Then comes a body, impossibly long, covered in scales that reflect entire galaxies. Fins like the tattered edges of nebulae unfurl from its sides.

Finally, its eyes open, two fiery orbs locked onto us with unmistakable intent.

Kill.

An inexperienced soldier would run.

We, on the other hand, stay where we are. No sudden movements. Nothing that will risk provoking it further.

“What is it?” Sapphire whispers, her magic pulsing against mine.

“Cetus,” I say, recognizing the creature from ancient texts in the Winter Court’s library. “The sea monster of the stars.”

RIVEN

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