Alden Snowblaze was awake.
Not in the usual, blurry-eyed, half-conscious sense where dreams still clung to your thoughts like morning fog. No, he was wide-awake. Soul awake. Brain-on-fire, universe-warping kind of awake.
He sat up in bed, the moonlight spilling across his sheets like spilled milk, and stared at the wall across from him.
"Okay," he whispered to no one, "so that happened."
Memories—his memories—spun like whirlpools behind his eyes. Not just from this life, but from another. From a hospital room, a dying body, and a digital e-reader full of fantasy escapism.
Chronicles of the Crimson Star. Gods, what a name. He remembered groaning at it the first time, too.
And yet… he'd loved every second of it. The world-building. The plot twists. The protagonist Cael Estervale and his bloody road to the top.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed, feet brushing against cold stone. The chill grounded him.
"I'm in the book," he muttered. "I actually reincarnated into a story I read. As a twin. A twin that didn't exist."
He squinted into the moonlight.
"Damn, that's meta."
A sigh escaped him as he rubbed his face.
"Okay, brain. Let's process. Deep breath."
In through the nose. Out through the disbelief.
So let's break this down. In the story, Cael Estervale—the original MC—was born into a border duchy, got thrown into a war after graduating from the academy, survived sheer chaos through grit and protagonist luck, and slowly rose to become the empire's greatest hero.
Along the way, he saved princesses, befriended elves, punched demons, lost friends, nearly died a dozen times, and fought the freaking Demon God at the end.
Alden remembered reading that final chapter, feeling both awe and disappointment. Awe at the scale. Disappointment at the… emptiness.
Cael had stood alone in the end.
A hero with no reward. No closure. Just ashes and a cracked sword.
There had been hints of something more—something missing. Strange lines. Cutaway scenes. Readers thought it was a scrapped subplot.
He got up and paced the room, barefoot on the freezing floor. "So am I a glitch? A walking contradiction in the canon?"
He didn't belong here. There had been no twin brother. No Alden Snowblaze. Only Cassandra Snowblaze.
And yet here he was.
Eight years old. Silver hair. Purple eyes.
"So I reincarnated, not transmigrated," he muttered.
He stopped pacing and looked out the window.
Snow was still falling outside. Peaceful. Perfect. Like nothing world-shattering had happened.
Meanwhile, inside his brain:
◇ ◇ SYSTEM ONLINE ◇ ◇
ASTRA: Adaptive Starcore Resonance AI engaged.
Sync Rate: 0.43%
MECHA DESIGNATION: ASTERION
Status: Searching for Stellar Anchor… ◇ ◇
Alden took a deep breath. "Hey, ASTRA?"
There was a pause. Then—
◇ Inquiry detected. Vocal input accepted. ◇
"Oh thank the stars, you're voice-activated. I was worried I'd have to blink in Morse code."
◇ Incompatible humor pattern detected. Clarifying query… ◇
He snorted. "Yeah, that tracks."
He sat back down on the bed, pulling a blanket around his shoulders.
"So what exactly are you?" he asked.
◇ I am ASTRA. Core AI of Mecha Unit: Asterion. Designed for multi-phase evolutionary combat and interdimensional traversal. ◇
Alden blinked.
"Wait, hold up—mecha? That's not part of this world's setting! There's no tech in this story. No robots. No space-age armor. Just swords, mana, dragons, and overdramatic nobles."
He paused, frowning. "What are you doing here?"
◇ Uncertain. This system holds no prior data on this dimension. Cross-dimensional drift may have occurred.◇
"That's reassuring," Alden muttered. "The one thing that doesn't belong is just as lost as I am."
◇ Correction: I was not lost. I was… waiting.◇
"Waiting for what?"
◇ For you.◇
A chill ran down his spine. "Why?"
There was a long pause.
◇ Unknown. However… your soul resonates with the Starcore Matrix beyond calculated probability.◇
◇ The Asterion Protocol was never meant for this world. And yet—it responded only to your signal.◇
◇ Perhaps… it chose you. Or perhaps… you were always meant to find it.◇
He stared at his hands — still small, still eight — but no longer unfamiliar.
The soul inside him had seen too much.
◇ Stellar Anchor located. ◇
◇ Dimensional resonance linked: Planet Elarion. ◇
◇ Synchronization… initializing. ◇
◇ World anchor confirmed. ◇
A sudden warmth bloomed in his chest.
Not magic. Not pain.
Recognition.
"What just happened?," Alden whispered.
◇ Planetary coordinates confirmed. Dimensional anchor locked.◇ ◇ Arrival of Mecha Unit Asterion: pending host mana awakening. ◇
"...Wait, you mean it knows where I am now? It can come here?"
◇ Affirmative. Synchronization channel established. However, mecha deployment is restricted. ◇
"Why? It's not like I'm going to summon it with mana. This thing came from the core of a star, not a magic circle."
◇ Incorrect assumption. Host compatibility does not equal operational control.◇
◇ Without an awakened mana signature, neural link cannot form.◇
◇ You are compatible—but not yet connected. ◇
Alden blinked, staring at the swirling snow outside.
"So... it's waiting for me. Like a sword stuck in the stone, and I'm not strong enough to pull it yet?"
◇ Metaphorical interpretation: acceptable. ◇
He let out a shaky breath, half a laugh.
"Great. So I've got the key, but I still don't know how to turn the lock."
◇ Summary: functionally accurate. ◇
He let that sink in. Somewhere across the cosmos, a machine in the heart of a dying star had heard his soul's whisper.
He stood, walked back to the window, and placed a hand on the glass.
Snowflakes hit the pane in silence.
He took a breath.
"Things ... are going to change."
Far above, beyond even the stars, something vast stirred.
A shape. A structure. A waiting will.
And for the first time in eons… it turned.
Toward Elarion.
Toward its wielder.
◇ ◇ SYSTEM STATUS: STANDBY UNTIL AWAKENING ◇ ◇