Fate begins with a wildly spinning compass and a special gemstone.
One night in a seaside town, two gemstones vanish from the home of the local constable.
The thief leaves behind only a note, written in red ink with a wild scrawl:
"Borrowing a ray of starlight.
Respectfully, the Collector."
Three young people raised in a seaside village are pushed by this mystery onto a westward journey from which there is no turning back.
The brass compass Eli inherited from his mother has spun uselessly for decades. Now it suddenly points unwaveringly west, as if a long-dormant secret has finally opened its eyes.
They pass through the shadows of the Black Pine Forest and encounter dark red monsters from nightmares long past. They reach Astraea, a city hailed as "the stars upon the earth," only to be drawn into a power struggle within a ducal family and the currents of intrigue running beneath the White Tower and the temples.
Mermaid's tears, Starfall Amber, the prophet of the moon, the mender of time...
None of the legends are mere legends. The compass Eli carries points not only west, but toward an origin he has never known.
When a noblewoman's birthday celebration becomes a blood-soaked crime scene, and framing and flight follow one after another, they finally understand: someone does not want them to reach the truth, while someone else has been waiting for many years.
"If the whole world has already been rewritten for you, will you still have the courage to turn to the final page?"
Reader's guide:
Main plot, with a focus on the bonds between companions and growth through adventure
Slow burn, with plenty of foreshadowing and a world revealed bit by bit
Every character has a growth arc
Theme: On the road to finding answers, become each other's starlight
