Page 37 of The Alien's Vicious Starflash Manor

But I have to keep trying.

“Fine.” The word comes out more growl than speech.

I sheath Starflash with more force than necessary and move to the cabinet where I keep Cyan’s modified testing equipment.

The devices look absurd here in my study, gleaming metal and blinking lights amid the ancient stonework. Technology that would see me exiled—or worse—if anyone knew I possessed it.

But I’m running out of options.

The scanner whirs to life with a hum that sets my teeth on edge, its beam sweeping over both artifacts. I watch the readout screen with the same desperate attention I once gave to my father’s lessons in swordplay, but the display shows nothing but standard background energy readings.

Just as it has every other time.

“Fuck!” I slam my fist against the desk as ice spreads from my feet across the floor. My voice echoes in the empty room, bouncing back to mock me. “I don’t have time for this.”

Inhaling deeply, I speak aloud to the crown and sword as if they can hear me, understand me. “I need to know how you work. How you were used to expand magic across Trasq. How you can save us now.”

The crown’s gem pulses brighter for a moment, and I lift it again, studying the intricate metalwork that weaves gold and silver together. The blue stone at its center throbs with power I can feel but can’t touch, don’t understand.

My hand shakes as I grab Starflash again.

“What am I missing?” I murmur, bringing the sword closer to the crown once more.

The crown and sword mock me with their silence. I’m running out of time. The peace summit approaches, my powers continue to weaken, and I still don’t understand the tools I need to save my world.

Everything depends on understanding these artifacts—my entire world’s survival hangs on unlocking their secrets. And I’m failing.

Just as I failed to save my father when his mind began to fracture.

Goddess. Am I truly doomed to kill everyone I?—

I cut the thought off before I can finish it. My father’s death might have been in vain, but that kind of failure is not my destiny.

I won’t allow it to be.

Something shifts in the air, a change in pressure that makes my ears pop.

Starflash’s hum deepens, reverberating through my chest. The sword grows warm in my hand—not the gentle warmth of before, but a heat that threatens to burn.

Before I can release my grip, Starflash suddenly flares with brilliant light, a bolt of energy arcs outward, leaping from its blade to the crown.

The blue gem blazes in response, flaring blindingly bright as power surges between the artifacts, creating a feedback loop of raw power that slams into my chest.

My knees buckle as raw magic courses through my body. I stagger back as foreign energy courses through me, ancient magic that tastes of blood and starlight.

It’s too much—ice and fire and starlight all at once, overwhelming my senses.

Through the maelstrom, I glimpse fragments of understanding.

My vision whites out as centuries of knowledge try to pour into my mind all at once.

I catch fragments—the crown’s original forging in flames hot enough to melt stars, the desperate attempts to unite the bloodlines of ice and fire, rivers of royal blood, magic expanding across a half-frozen world...

The true price that must be paid to save Trasq’s magic.

Images flash through my mind faster than I can process—King Caix wearing the crown as he expanded magic across our realm, the sacrifice that powered his spell.

The power surge peaks, magic crackling across my skin like lightning. My muscles seize as the feedback loop intensifies, the connection between sword and crown growing stronger until the light is blinding even through my closed eyelids.

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