The Realm of Remembrance glowed with a peace unknown to most of existence. Yet peace, in a universe so vast and ancient, was rarely allowed to last.
As Zayn stood atop his newly forged world, his golden eyes scanned the horizon. The sky above him shimmered like water, reflecting not just light but memory. Floating islands danced through the heavens. Rivers of starlight flowed gently across mountains. Music hummed from the roots of trees. Every breath of this realm was an echo of love, of pain healed, of truths remembered.
But now, the echoes whispered warnings.
"Do you feel it?" Mira whispered as she appeared at his side.
Zayn didn't answer immediately. His gaze remained fixed on the space beyond the sky—where nothing should exist, but something stirred.
"Yes," he finally said. "Something old. Something wrong."
Zyros, standing at the edge of the lake that sang lullabies, turned his head slowly. "It has awakened."
"What is it?" asked Lyria, appearing behind them with her hands clutching her staff tightly.
Zyros's voice turned quiet. "The Hunger. The one the Realms forgot on purpose. The being that even the Echo feared."
Far beyond the light of known Realms, in the deepest hollow of the forgotten cosmos, it stirred.
It had no name.
It had no shape.
But it had hunger.
A hunger to devour everything with meaning.
It moved now, not with haste, but with certainty. There was something it had long craved: the Throne of Creation. And the one who sat upon it—the man who remembered, the man who loved, the man who chose—was the most appetizing flame it had ever smelled.
It opened its eyes—voids within voids—and reality cracked.
Back in the Realm of Remembrance, the winds died.
Music fell silent.
The rivers froze in midair.
And Zayn spoke a single command. "Everyone, prepare."
His voice echoed not just through his own realm, but across dimensions.
In distant Realms, old warriors stirred. Guardians awakened from eternal sleep. Great dragons opened their eyes in ancient caverns.
They had all sworn allegiance to the Star Sovereign.
And now he called.
The maidens assembled. Aelina stepped forward, armor glowing with soulfire. "Where do we strike?"
Zayn turned, slowly lifting Zyros into his arms. "We don't. Not yet."
Zyros looked up. "Because we must protect, not attack."
Zayn nodded. "This Hunger… it does not fight like other enemies. It doesn't aim to kill. It aims to erase. To devour meaning. To swallow memory. If we confront it with swords, we've already lost."
"Then how do we stop it?" asked Saphine.
Zayn's eyes glowed. "We remember. We anchor ourselves in truth so deeply, it cannot erase us."
He raised his hand.
From his palm bloomed a flower of light—each petal a different emotion: love, grief, hope, rage, joy, loss, purpose.
"These are our weapons," he said.
The Hunger arrived.
Not with thunder.
Not with roar.
It simply… appeared.
The stars blinked out.
Light bent away.
Words vanished mid-thought.
Even time paused to breathe.
It was a vast cloud of un-being, a shape that could not be named.
Zayn stepped forward, planting his feet into the very soul of his realm.
"You are not welcome here," he said calmly.
The Hunger made no sound.
But a ripple surged through the realm. Mountains began to fade. Songs were forgotten. Trees withered into concepts.
Zyros held out his hands. "Remember me!" he cried.
And instantly, the lake returned.
Lyria followed. "Remember our first kiss!"
The forests re-bloomed.
Mira shouted, "Remember the promise under the blood moon!"
The rivers sang again.
Each memory pushed the Hunger back, made it shrink, recoil.
Zayn stepped forward. "I remember every soul that cried out for love and never received it. Every warrior who fought alone. Every child who dreamed. Every truth that died without a voice."
And then he shouted—not in fury, but in clarity.
"I AM REMEMBRANCE!"
The Throne of Creation pulsed.
Light cascaded across the Hunger.
And for the first time… it screamed.
A scream not of pain—but of fear.
The Hunger fled.
Not defeated.
But halted.
Zayn collapsed to his knees, sweat glistening on his brow.
Aelina caught him. "You did it."
"No," he said. "We did. Together."
Zyros sat at his feet. "It will return."
"Yes," Zayn said. "But so will we."
The stars began to hum again.
Not as they once did.
But with new songs.
Songs of a Sovereign who remembered.
And of a realm that refused to be forgotten.