Chương 7: Vol. 1 - Echoes Of The Sevenfold Dawn

LIORA HOSHINO'S POV: Kawa-kun's has got to be the cutest baby I've ever seen!!! No, I'm not saying this as an overly sentimental, hearts-in-the-eyes mother who fawns over every babble and drool-covered smile. … I'm saying it as someone with perfectly sound judgment and working eyes. And alright, maybe I fawn a little. Maybe I melt a bit when he toddles up to me with that sleepy little wobble, arms raised, silently demanding to be held like the tiny emperor he clearly believes himself to be.

But in my defense, when your child wraps his fingers around yours — so small, so trusting — and rests his whole world against your shoulder with that quiet sigh of peace… how could any sane person not melt? He has this look lately. This furrow in his brow, like he's puzzling out the laws of reality itself. He'll just sit in the corner, book in lap (upside down, of course), humming to himself with this bizarre, exaggerated concentration.

Sometimes he raises a hand to the sky like he's trying to catch sunlight in his palm. Sometimes he presses it to his chest, closes his eyes, and just… breathes. Renar says it's cute. I say it's suspicious. I caught my husband whispering,"That's my boy," like some proud little schemer when he saw Hoshikawa mimicking his astralis meditation poses. Honestly, if he teaches that child even one of his flashy, show-off spells before he's old enough to use the potty properly, I will toss him off the veranda.

Gently, of course. With cushioning spells. Probably. (Still deciding.) I keep telling myself I'll be the strict one. The grounded one. The voice of reason. But then Hoshikawa looks up at me with those glassy star-silver eyes — and all my resolve crumbles like old parchment. He doesn't speak yet. Not with words. But oh, he speaks. With his little huffs and urgent "mm!"

s, with the way he tugs at the hem of my robe when he wants to be close, with that fierce little pout he gives when he's almost about to cry, but decides not to. (He's very proud. I don't know where he gets that from. Definitely not me.) And when he falls asleep — nestled against my chest, tiny hands curled like flower buds — the world goes still. I can feel his heartbeat against mine, soft and unhurried, like a secret shared only between us. It reminds me why I chose this quiet life.

Why I'd give anything to protect it. Sometimes I wonder what he'll become. I know every mother wonders that. But with Hoshikawa… it feels less like wondering, and more like waiting. As if the stars themselves are holding their breath to see what he'll choose. But for now — he is two. He is messy. He is loud when he wants to be and silent when I wish he weren't. He throws his food and then insists it was the cat.

He giggles at nothing, cries at shadows, and sometimes hugs my leg like it's the safest place in the universe. And maybe… for now, it is. So no, I'm not saying all this as a hopelessly enchanted, lovesick mother. … I'm saying it as a woman who once studied ancient magics, saw the rise and fall of kingdoms, and now knows for certain: There is no power in this world more magical than watching your child smile for the very first time. Until next time, Liora P. S.

Tomorrow I will move the sealed scrolls out of the lower drawer in the study. I caught Hoshikawa trying to chew on one — the one with the stasis rune on it, no less. I swear, if he accidentally freezes time before his third birthday, I'm sending him to his grandmother's. HOSHIKAWA HOSHINO'S POV: Ok, the coast's clear. My mother just put me in the crib for my nappy time. She has NO idea that this badass is gonna start reading restricted material. Mwahahahahaha! Hoshikawa's great escape plan officially begins!

First off, I place my blanket at the side of my crib, then I slide down just like Tom Cruise, maybe? I can't remember. Then I crawl, slowly and quietly into my family's library. Whoo! Mission Impossible For Babies, complete! Hmm… Echoes Of The Sevenfold Dawn… I'm sure I saw it somewhere… But why does Papa have restricted material? Eh, who cares. Hmm… aha! I found it! I opened Restricted Material…

"Echoes Of The Sevenfold Dawn"" In the hush before the stars first stirred, there was no fire, no frost, no form. Only silence, and the one who listened." The world was not forged by might but by yearning. Seven Divine Wills gazed into the void–not as gods, but as needs given shape. They were not born from worship but from the ache of existence to become. Each Will offered its truth, and from their union came Azelarion, the world we know today." Even in the void, something dreamed of beauty."

The Will of Starlight did not burn — it shimmered. It gave vision to darkness and wonder to emptiness. Where Starlight shone, the void learned to dream. It is teh magic of possibility, distance, fate, and the unseen paths between souls. Bearer of this Will walks between what is and what could be.

"To burn is to refuse stillness." Fire rose from yearning to transform. It destroyed, but not from hatred – only from its need to become. Fire is passion, anger, rebirth and desire. Those who wield it must master not power – but restraint.

"Even in stillness, some things choose to flow." Water is motion, but not noise. It carries what is hidden, cradles what is vulnerable. It is the Will of memory, of sorrow that shapes, of gentle strength ever-changing yet eternal. To hold Water is to embrace healing as a current.

"It was never meant to stay. And yet, it sings." Born of movement and freedom, Wind carries laughter and warning alike. It is the Will of wanderers, rebels, and messengers — swift, unseen, but always felt. Wind obeys none. Those who call it friend must live unbound.

"In the deep and dark, something grew." Earth is not weak for being still. It is the Will of patience, endurance, and strength without pride. It holds the weight of all the others — unshaken, unyielding. True Earth-bearers do not shout. They simply remain.

"What is cast aside learns to listen." Shadow is not evil, but forgotten. It is the Will of hidden truths, of shame, secrets, and solitude. Where Light blinds, Shadow reveals. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Shadow is loyal to none — but it remembers everything.

"Pain endures. But so does love." The last to awaken was not the strongest — but the most vital. Healing was born not from power, but from compassion. It did not seek to shape the world — it chose to hold it together. Healing is warmth after grief, hands that tremble yet reach out, and breath that returns in the quiet. Iscalon, the Gentle Bloom, weeps for all who suffer. And weeps gladly, for to feel is to live." The Circle of The Seven Heavens" The Seven Wills do not oppose. They complete.

They converge as a circle — without beginning, without end. Each breathes life into the next. Each is sacred. Fire burns, but only to illuminate. Water flows, but only to nourish. Earth holds, but only to steady. Wind moves, but only to guide. Shadow preserves, but only to remember. Healing restores, but only to remind. But there was once a Seventh Will, older than the sky, deeper than the sea. It was called Starlight — the light not of suns, but of souls. It did not rage, nor shield, nor mend.

It simply was: a quiet radiance that bound the six into one. And so the world was whole. But in time, mortals grew blind to what could not be grasped. The gods themselves turned their faces from it, fearful of its reach. For Starlight touches not the flesh, but the fate beneath it. Not the wound, but the meaning of the wound. And so they struck its name from the Codices. And the Circle of Seven became six. And in that forgetting… the world began to break.

Where cruelty spreads, it is not Fire that burns too hot — but Starlight unseen, its empathy forgotten. Where hope fades, it is not Healing that fails — but Starlight veiled, unable to remind the heart why it still beats. Where destiny falters, it is not Wind that misguides — but Starlight, torn from the sky that once gave us direction. The Circle of the Seven Heavens rose not to rule, but to remember. Not to bind the world in laws — but to restore the lost Will. Each member walks a path toward balance.

But only together can they reach the stars. I turned to the next page. The page was blank. After everything this book had shown me — the forgotten histories, the truths behind the Sevenfold Elements, the echoes of a world older than memory — it ends... like this? Empty. I stared at it, unmoving. Not in frustration. Not even in disappointment. Just stillness. The kind that comes when silence feels louder than sound. My fingers hovered over the page, careful not to smudge something invisible.

I pressed my hand gently on it. Still nothing. But then… I felt something shift. Not in the air. Not on the page. In me. It was soft at first — a quiet hum beneath my ribs, like my heartbeat had caught onto a different rhythm. I blinked. The room seemed to blur at the edges, the corners warping like heat over stone. And then — it happened. A warmth spread behind my eyes. My vision shimmered, and I caught my reflection in the glass of the nearby cabinet: My pupils were glowing — not just gold, but something deeper.

Like sunlight caught in stardust. I didn't feel alarmed. I felt… known. Then the page began to change. Not with ink, but with light. Letters emerged, traced by unseen hands — no, by memory itself — woven in gold, glowing like constellations. Words formed where none had been. I leaned closer, heart steady, breath caught in the space between wonder and recognition. And I read:"You were not born to shine alone. You were born to reflect — and to be reflected. To be mended — and to mend.

To fall — and to rise not as one, but as many." The words sank into me. Not like something learned, but something remembered. Suddenly, the world didn't look the same. Everything — the books, the floorboards, even the dust drifting in the light — was laced with soft threads. Invisible before. Visible now. They shimmered faintly. Connections. Some gentle. Some frayed. Some knotted tight with pain. And at the center, a rhythm pulsing in perfect time with mine. Another line formed before me.

"Let no one call stillness weakness. Let no one call gentleness a flaw. Let no one deny the seventh. For without Starlight, the heavens forget their names. And the world walks without memory, without wonder, without light." And then... silence again. The light faded. My eyes dimmed. But something stayed. I closed the book gently, not because it was fragile, but because I was. Not broken — just different now. I wasn't meant to fight like flame, or command like shadow, or shake the earth. I was meant to see. To heal.

To remember. Not the strongest. Not the brightest. But the one who carries Starlight, when all other lights have gone out. And somehow… that was enough. I propped myself on my butt, processing this whole lot of information that I just read. There were no pictures. Just glowing letters that danced and shifted and sang in my head. I didn't understand all the words — but somehow, I did. It felt like it was written for me. Like it had been waiting, tucked between dusty shelves and old air, for me to find it.

The final line keeps echoing inside me:" For without Starlight, the heavens forget their names. And the world walks without memory, without wonder — without light.." RENAR HOSHINO'S POV: My great baby boy is growing so well!! Just the other day, he started to crawl! How amazing is that? He's amazing, just like his dad. Hahaha! Since he's doing so well today, I decided to teach him some swordsmanship and train him to be a manly figure, just like me. Kawa–Kun is surprisingly good at it, even I'm surprised.

It's almost as if he's born with this innate talent. When I first passed him that tiny wooden sword, he was unfamiliar with it. But he slowly warmed up to it after a few swings and started performing those bizarre moves that definitely no baby can do! He did those crazy leaf splitters, butterfly slash and silent step slash all at the same time that it's horrifyingly scary!! He's definitely a sword prodigy, and would be one great general someday, just like I was.

Never have I thought that you could do all three at the same time! To slice a leaf, you can silent step slash to make sure you move so slowly that your steps and slash happen at the same time. When you use silent step slash, you would be able to move fast enough to slice a leaf drifting down from a tree using leaf splitter.

But instead of that, Kawa–Kun combined leaf splitter and butterfly slash so that he'll be able to cleanly cut the leaf in two halves, but if he does two rapid slashes so precisely, the halves of the leaf in the air will seem to "dance" around him, letting him know that he has cleanly finished off his target! Incredible! Simply a genius method!! I would never have thought of it this way before! This method is so much more effective! My dear Kawa–Kun, just how many talents do you hide?

But just as I wanted to ask him to try to copy my moves and hopefully improve them, my dear wife came out face as dark as hell. At that moment, I knew I was cooked, deep-fried. She just stood there, arms akimbo. Then she roared, " What the hell are you trying to do to my Kawaii Kawaii Kawa–Kun?!!!!" Then she proceeded to drag me by the ear back to our house with me screaming and begging for forgiveness. Do you have any idea how much pain I was in?! My poor Kawa–Kun was left there stunned.

"How could you teach my dear baby to fight?! He's not even 2 yet!!!" She yelled into my poor ear. I think I'm gonna go deaf from this… Goodbye world…RIP Me