Universität der Ewigen Flamme – Throne Key Depths
The door was older than the rest of the university. Older than the city. Perhaps older than time itself.
Maximilian descended alone, following the pulsing pull of his Throne Key. It glowed dimly, sensing proximity to something it had been crafted to find.
Each step down the spiral staircase warped reality. The walls flickered—sometimes stone, sometimes starlit void, sometimes images of long-dead battles in realms unseen.
At last, the staircase ended.
Before him lay a chamber that defied description—a convergence of space, flame, and thought.
The air shimmered with suppressed truths. Time here did not flow. It pulsed.
At the center, the old man sat beside the fire that burned without source, smoke curling upward into stars.
"You came," the Starforger said.
Maximilian hesitated. "Who… or what are you?"
The old man stirred, lifting a cup of tea that somehow hadn't cooled. "Once, I was the Prime Flamewright of the Azure Epoch. Now, I am just the last forge-sage of the Star Soul Line."
He extended a hand. "You may call me Theon."
Maximilian didn't shake it. "What do you want?"
"It's not what I want," Theon said gently. "It's what you're becoming."
The flames roared suddenly behind him—without heat, without sound—only presence. And in that presence, Maximilian felt his soul flare and split across visions.
He saw himself forging a blade that cut not bodies, but destinies.Saw himself bending time like metal over an anvil of eternity.Saw the Throne—finished—burning in solar script.And beside it, a corpse in black armor, whispering: "It was always meant to be you."
He collapsed to one knee, gasping.
"Your soul is already in motion," Theon said. "But it lacks focus. Without it, the flame will consume you."
Theon gestured, and the chamber around them shifted—folded inward like ink soaking into parchment.
Suddenly, Maximilian stood within a memory not his own.
A world at war.
Massive starships burning through reality. Celestial titans hurling mountains at each other. At the center: a Starforger, alone on a floating forge-platform, hammering something in defiance of apocalypse.
"This is what we were," Theon's voice echoed. "Flame wielders of time and creation. But our path was shattered. Forgotten."
The figure turned—its face was a mirror of Maximilian's.
System Trial Initiated:Trial of Burning Memory – Reforge the Unfinished BladeObjective: Recall lost forging patterns from soul-imprint fragmentsPenalty: Soul Fracture if failure exceeds 3 attempts
Maximilian stepped toward the forge.
It was unlike anything he had ever touched. It didn't run on heat—but on intention. The anvil pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat. A chunk of unknown ore lay on it—pulsing with trapped history.
He raised the Star Hammer.
And struck.
Each blow was a war in itself.
Visions assaulted him with every strike. His body bled memories—of his parents, of the orphanage, of the dungeon awakens, of the flame that spoke to him before he had language.
Strike.
Strike.
On the final hit, the blade solidified—unfinished, yes, but real. Incomplete—but hungry.
Item Gained: Prototyp – Sternenschneide (Prototype: Starcut)Status: DormantSoul Resonance: 42%Evolution Potential: Divine Tier+Notes: Only a true Starforger may awaken its true name
Theon watched as Maximilian panted, sweat dripping down his face.
"Good," the old man said. "Now we begin for real."
For the next cycle—days? weeks? time had no meaning here—Maximilian trained.
Not in combat. Not in magic.
But in crafting reality.
He learned to forge with compressed timelines—bending events around items to condense evolution.
He tempered raw emotion into structural enchantments.
He imprinted soul fragments into weapon cores using echo-forging.
And, perhaps most terrifyingly—he began to see the blueprints of destiny in objects around him.
Every item had a potential. A truth. A path it could have taken.
He could now change that path.
But only slightly. For now.
Elsewhere, the ripples began.
House Wyrmbinder:Warden Scaelith crushed a gauntlet in her hand. "Why hasn't he accepted our offer? Is he forging something greater than allegiance?"
House Vulcanos:Arch-Crafter Hephram grunted. "The kid's seen the Flame Path structures. All of them. No candidate has ever moved that fast."
The Independent Council:An unnamed figure in the shadows whispered, "We are watching a king in the making… or a calamity."
The Flame Parliament:The Chancellor read a new report. A Star Soul fragment had resonated with the Unfinished Throne again.
This time… it responded with its own pulse.
Far beneath the university, in the Forbidden Vaults long sealed, a prison of crystal cracked.
Something ancient—sealed since the First Collapse—stirred at the echo of the Starcut.
A voice rasped from behind temporal bindings.
"A Starforger lives. And if he does not join us… he must be unmade."
Chains flared with warding runes.
They would not hold forever.
When Maximilian returned to himself, back in the Throne Key dormitory, it was as if no time had passed.
But everything had changed.
Theon's final words echoed in his mind:
"Forge your own path. But know this—every light you ignite casts a shadow. And the darker your flame becomes… the deeper the things it will awaken."
System Alert:Starcut Resonance Increased: 57%Class Evolution Progress: 23% – Stellarweave InitiateNew Ability Unlocked: Soul Forge Imprint – Temporarily modify reality-linked traits of crafted weapons/itemsWarning: Overuse may trigger Class Revelation
End of Chapter 9: Der Sternenschmied – The Starforger