One Day Before Her 23rd Birthday
The morning had started with joy.
Nana had woken Xavier before dawn, her hands trembling with excitement and nerves as she pressed them against his chest to rouse him.
"Xavier,"
she'd whispered, her voice caught between laughter and tears.
"Xavier, wake up. I need to tell you something."
He'd opened his eyes to find her smiling down at him—radiant, beautiful, alive.
The pre-dawn light painted her in shades of silver and gold, and Xavier had thought, This. This is what heaven looks like.
"What is it, Starlight?" He'd pulled her down beside him, tucking her against his chest. "It's barely morning. Can't it wait until—"
"I'm pregnant."
Xavier had gone completely still.
"What?"
"I'm pregnant."
Nana had pulled back to look at his face, her expression nervous but glowing with happiness.
"The physician confirmed it yesterday. I wanted to wait until today—until my birthday—to tell you properly, but I couldn't keep it secret any longer. Xavier, we're going to have a baby. You're going to be a father."
For a moment, Xavier couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Couldn't process what she'd just said.
A baby. Their baby. A child born of their love, their union, their—
She's going to die today.
The thought crashed through his joy like a knife through silk.
Today was the day before her twenty-third birthday. Today was when the curse would come. Today she would die in his arms, just like every other lifetime.
And now she was carrying his child.
"Xavier?"
Nana's smile had started to fade, concern creeping into her expression.
"Are you... are you not happy? I thought you'd be—"
"I'm happy." Xavier had pulled her back against him, buried his face in her hair so she couldn't see his expression.
"God, Nana, I'm so happy. You have no idea. I just—" His voice cracked.
"I'm overwhelmed. That's all. Overwhelmed with joy."
And terror. And grief. And desperate, futile hope that maybe—just maybe—the curse won't claim a pregnant woman. Won't take both of you from me.
They'd stayed in bed for another hour, Xavier holding his wife and their unborn child, memorizing the feel of her heartbeat, the warmth of her skin, the sound of her voice as she excitedly planned for their baby's future.
A future that would never come.
Then the alarm bells had started ringing.
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The Betrayal
The Riverside Kingdom's army appeared on the horizon like a plague of locusts—thousands of soldiers, siege weapons, war machines. They'd bypassed the outer defenses somehow, gotten too close to the capital city before anyone noticed.
Because they'd had help from the inside.
Xavier had known immediately what happened. The "alliance" had been a lie from the start.
King Wang had used his daughter—his own flesh and blood—as a distraction, a way to get close to Xavier's kingdom, to plant spies and traitors within the palace walls.
The trade agreements, the marriage, the two years of peace—all of it had been preparation for this moment. For a coordinated attack that would catch Xavier off-guard, his defenses weakened by trust and complacency.
"Get the Queen to the underground passages,"
Xavier had ordered his most trusted guards. "Take her to the mountain fortress. Guard her with your lives."
"No!" Nana had grabbed his arm, her face pale but determined. "I'm not leaving you! Xavier, please—"
"You're carrying our child."
Xavier had cupped her face, pressed a fierce kiss to her forehead.
"I need you safe. Both of you. Please, Nana. Please do this for me."
"Promise you'll come back." Her voice had broken. "Promise you'll come find us. Promise—"
"I promise."
Another lie. Another broken promise to add to his collection across lifetimes.
"I love you. I love you both. Now go. GO!"
The guards had pulled her away, Nana's screams of his name echoing through the palace as Xavier turned toward the battle that would claim everything he'd built.
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The Battle
Xavier fought like a man possessed.
His light evol blazed bright enough to blind, cutting through enemy soldiers like wheat before a scythe.
He was everywhere at once—on the walls, in the courtyards, at the gates. The Crown Star of Philos, who'd once led armies, who'd conquered kingdoms, who'd spent over a century refining his combat abilities.
He killed hundreds. Thousands, maybe. The battlefield became a nightmare of light and blood and screaming.
But it wasn't enough.
The Riverside Kingdom had brought their entire military force. And worse—they'd brought siege weapons specifically designed to counter light evol users.
Mirrors that reflected and dispersed his attacks. Smoke bombs that obscured his vision. Weapons coated in substances that disrupted evol energy.They'd studied him. Prepared for him. Planned for exactly how to kill the unkillable King of the North.
Xavier's soldiers fell around him. His generals. His advisors. People he'd known for years, people who'd served him faithfully, people who didn't deserve to die for his sins.
This is my fault, Xavier thought as he cut down another wave of attackers.
I should have seen this coming. Should have known King Wang would betray us. Should have protected them better.
The palace fell by midday. The outer city by afternoon. By evening, Xavier stood alone in the ruins of his throne room, surrounded by bodies, his light evol flickering weakly as his energy depleted.
He'd lost.
His kingdom was destroyed. His people dead or scattered. Everything he'd built over decades reduced to rubble and corpses.And
Nana—
Please let her have escaped. Please let the guards have gotten her to safety. Please—
"Your Majesty!"
Xavier spun to see one of his guards staggering through the rubble—one of the men he'd assigned to protect Nana. The man was bleeding from multiple wounds, barely staying upright.
"Where is she?" Xavier demanded, already moving toward him. "Where's the Queen?"
"The passages—they were compromised. Traitors sealed the exits. We tried to fight our way out but—"
The guard coughed, blood flecking his lips. "The Queen—she's trapped in the eastern catacombs. The ceiling collapsed. I couldn't—I tried to move the rubble but—"
Xavier didn't wait to hear more. He ran.His light evol propelled him through the destroyed palace, over rubble and bodies, toward the eastern catacombs where Nana had been trapped. Where his wife—his pregnant wife—was buried alive beneath tons of stone.
No. No. Not like this. Please not like this.
He found the collapsed passage and nearly fell to his knees. The entrance was completely blocked, massive stones that would take hours to move, even with his evol helping.
Hours he didn't have.
"NANA!"
Xavier screamed, pressing his hands against the rubble.
"NANA, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"
Silence.
Then, faintly, so faintly he almost missed it:
"Xavier...?"
"I'm here!"
Xavier's hands blazed with light, beginning to blast through the stones.
"I'm here, Starlight! Hold on! I'm getting you out!"
"Xavier... it hurts..."
No. No no no—
Xavier worked frantically, his light evol tearing through stone and mortar, his hands bleeding as he physically hauled debris aside.
The rocks were too heavy, too many, his power depleting too fast from the day's fighting.
But he didn't stop. Couldn't stop. Not when his wife was dying on the other side of this wall.
It took an eternity. It took seconds. Xavier lost all sense of time as he clawed his way through the rubble, his vision narrowing to a single purpose: reach her, save her, don't let her die alone—
Finally, FINALLY, he broke through.
The sight that greeted him stole the air from his lungs.
The catacomb had partially collapsed, crushing anyone who'd been inside. Bodies of guards scattered like broken dolls. And in the center, pinned beneath a fallen beam but miraculously still breathing—
Nana.
"Starlight!"
Xavier scrambled over the rubble, his hands shaking as he reached her side.
"I'm here. I've got you. You're going to be okay, you're—"
But even as the words left his mouth, he knew they were lies.
She was dying. He could see it in the unnatural angle of her body, the way blood pooled beneath her, the pallor of her skin. The beam had crushed her torso, and moving it would only make things worse.
"Xavier..." Nana's voice was barely a whisper. Her eyes found his—those warm, beautiful eyes now dimmed with pain and fading consciousness.
"You came..."
"Of course I came." Xavier knelt beside her, his hands hovering uselessly, unsure where to touch without causing more pain.
"I'll always come for you. Always."
"I'm cold..."
Nana's hand moved weakly, trying to reach for him. "So cold..."
Xavier caught her hand—the one with the star-shaped mark, their mark—and pressed it against his face.
His skin was cold too, his body temperature dropping from evol exhaustion and blood loss. He'd been wounded multiple times during the battle, he realized distantly. He just hadn't noticed through the adrenaline.
"I'm here," he said, his voice breaking.
"I'm right here with you."
Tears were already streaming down his face, falling onto her skin like rain.
He tried desperately to channel his light evol into her, to heal her, to fix this somehow—but his power was too depleted, his energy too scattered.He was going to watch her die and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
Again.
"I was happy,"
Nana whispered, and impossibly, she smiled.
"These past two years with you. I was so happy, Xavier. Even now—even like this—I'm happy because I got to love you. Got to be loved by you."
"Nana, please—"
Xavier's voice cracked completely.
"Please don't. Don't say goodbye. We're going to get you out of here. We're going to—"
"The baby..."
Her other hand moved to rest on her crushed stomach, and Xavier's heart shattered at the gesture. "I'm sorry. I couldn't protect our baby. I wanted—I wanted to give you a family. Wanted to see you hold our child. Wanted—"
"Stop."
Xavier was sobbing now, his forehead pressed against hers.
"You have nothing to apologize for. Nothing. This is my fault. All of it. I should have protected you better. Should have seen the betrayal coming. Should have—"
"Not your fault." Nana's thumb brushed weakly against his cold cheek.
"Xavier, my king, my love—not your fault. You tried. You always try so hard to save everyone. But some things..."
Her breath hitched, became more labored. "Some things can't be saved."
"You can. You have to."
Xavier's hands were shaking as he held her face. "Nana, please. I need you. I've needed you for so long. I can't lose you again. I can't—"
The word slipped out. Again. And Nana's dimming eyes showed a flicker of confusion.
"Again...?" she whispered.
"Xavier, what do you... why does that word..."
And then, like every other lifetime, the memories came.
Fragmentary. Incomplete. But enough.
Nana gasped, her eyes widening as images flooded her dying mind—a planet called Philos, a meadow on Luna, a Valley Kingdom festival with lanterns, Xavier's face crying over her in lifetime after lifetime after lifetime.
"You've..." Her voice was barely audible now. "You've been doing this... over and over... watching me die..."
"Yes." No point in lying now. "Three times. You've died three times in my arms. And I—"
Xavier's voice broke completely.
"I can't stop it. I can't save you. No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, the curse takes you at twenty-two. One day before your twenty-third birthday. Every single time."
"A curse..."
Nana's eyes were closing now, her breathing turning to broken gasps.
"Because you... chose me... over Philos..."
"I'd choose you again."
Xavier pressed desperate kisses to her forehead, her cheeks, her lips.
"I'd choose you a thousand times. A million. Even knowing it ends like this. Even knowing I have to watch you die. I'd still choose you."
"My king..."
Nana's smile was soft, sad, accepting.
"My stubborn, wonderful, tragic king... I love you. Even though I can't make it this time. Even though our baby—"
Her voice cracked. "I love you. And I'll find you again. In the next life. I promise."
"No."
Xavier shook his head frantically. "No, Nana, please. Don't go. Don't leave me alone. I can't do this again. I can't watch you—"
But her hand was already slipping from his face, her breathing slowing, her heartbeat—
The heartbeat carrying their child—
Fading.
"Starlight,"
Xavier whispered desperately. "My Starlight, please. Please stay. Please don't—"
The hand pressed against his cheek went limp.
The star-shaped mark on her palm glowed once—bright and cruel and mocking—then went dark.
She was gone.
His wife was gone.
His child was gone.
Everything was gone.
"No."
Xavier's voice was barely human.
"No. No no no no—NANA!"
He pulled her broken body into his arms, cradling her against his chest like he could protect her from death even though death had already won. Blood—hers and his—mingled together, soaking into both their clothes.
Xavier screamed. A raw, animal sound of pure agony that echoed through the ruined catacombs, through the destroyed palace, through the battlefield littered with thousands of corpses.
The sound of a man breaking completely.
He tried to restart her heart with his light evol. Tried again. And again. Each attempt weaker than the last, his power completely depleted, his own body starting to shut down from blood loss and exhaustion.
It didn't work. It never worked.
Xavier pressed his face against Nana's hair and sobbed like a child, his body shaking with grief so profound it felt like dying.
Except he couldn't die. Not permanently. He was the Crown Star, cursed to live, to wait, to watch her reborn and fall in love and die over and over and over.
"I'm sorry," he whispered brokenly into her hair. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you. I'm sorry I couldn't protect our child. I'm sorry I'm so useless, so powerless, so—"
His voice failed completely. He just held her and cried.
Above them, the destroyed palace groaned. Fires burned unchecked through the rubble. The Riverside Kingdom's soldiers were probably still searching for survivors to kill, but Xavier didn't care.
Let them come. Let them finish this. He had nothing left to protect. Nothing left to fight for.
Gently, with trembling hands, Xavier adjusted Nana in his arms. Brushed her hair from her face. Closed her eyes so she looked like she was sleeping. Her smile—that small, peaceful smile—remained on her lips, and Xavier wondered what she'd been thinking at the end.
Probably that she'd see me again. That we'd have another chance. That love would find a way.
Xavier's hand found the star tassel on his sword—the third one she'd made him, black and silver, pristine despite the battle. He removed it with shaking fingers and placed it on his chest .
"Three lifetimes," he whispered. "Three deaths. Three gifts. I kept all of them safe. Just like I promised."
The irony wasn't lost on him—he could keep the tassels safe, but not her. Never her.
Xavier looked around the destroyed catacomb.
At the bodies of guards who'd died trying to protect their queen. At the rubble that had killed her. At the ruins of his kingdom, his home, everything he'd built.
All destroyed because he'd been selfish enough to love her. To marry her. To give her a child they'd never get to raise.
The sky outside was darkening—not from night, but from smoke and ash. The entire city was burning. And somewhere in that destruction, Xavier could feel something else shifting. Something cosmic and cruel and inevitable.
His power was fading.
Not from battle. Not from exhaustion.
From Philos.
The kingdom he'd abandoned over a century ago, the throne he'd cast aside, the crown he'd rejected—they were calling him back. The stars he'd rebelled against were demanding their due.
A king who abandoned his kingdom couldn't stay away forever. Eventually, the cosmos would reclaim what belonged to it.
Eventually, the Crown Star would have to return to the sky.
Xavier looked down at Nana's peaceful face and realized with bitter clarity: he was dying too. Not immediately, but soon. The fading of his light evol, the cold spreading through his body—it wasn't just from his wounds. It was the beginning of his own end.
Philos wanted its star back.
And this time, Xavier had no strength left to refuse.
"I'll see you again," he promised her lifeless form, his voice hoarse from crying.
"In the next life. I'll find you. I'll protect you. I'll try again to break this curse."
His lips brushed her forehead one last time. "Even if it takes a thousand lifetimes. Even if I fade into stardust. Even if—"
He couldn't finish. His body was trembling, his vision blurring, his light evol flickering like a dying candle.Xavier laid Nana carefully on the ground, arranged her like she deserved—with dignity, with love, with all the reverence of a king honoring his queen. He couldn't bury her properly, not with his strength failing, but he could at least give her this.
Then Xavier lay down beside her, pulled her back into his arms one final time, and closed his eyes.
Around them, the ruins of the Dark North Kingdom smoldered. Two kingdoms destroyed in one day—the North and its alliance with the Riverside. Thousands dead. An unborn child lost. A love story ended in tragedy for the third time.
The only survivor was Xavier.
The cursed Crown Star.
Who lay dying in the rubble, holding his wife's body, waiting for the stars to claim him.
But death wouldn't come. Not permanently. Not for him.He would fade. Would return to the cosmos. Would become one with the starlight he'd been born from.
And then, decades or centuries from now, he would return. Would search for her again. Would find her reborn with no memory of him. Would watch her die at twenty-two all over again.
The cycle would continue.
The curse would persist.
And Xavier—the fool who'd chosen love over duty—would spend eternity loving and losing the same person.
His Starlight.
Forever out of reach.
Forever dying in his arms.
Xavier pressed one final kiss to Nana's cold lips.
"I love you," he whispered. "In every lifetime. In every death. I love you."
Then his eyes closed, his light evol faded to nothing, and Xavier's consciousness drifted away into darkness.
When he woke—if he woke—it would be to start the cycle all over again.
But for now, in this moment of perfect tragedy, the Crown Star and his Starlight lay together in the ruins of their shattered dreams.
Two souls bound by a curse that not even death could break.
Three lifetimes down.
Countless more to go.
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To be continued __