Chapter 21
The battlefield lay in ruin, still echoing the aftermath of the god-sundering clash. Dim embers flickered across the shattered realm, the residual aura of Zereth Kaine's unleashed wrath still pulsing through the broken sky like a heartbeat of the void.
And yet... something stirred.
Far beyond the battlefield, in the void between realities where no light dared to tread, a presence opened its eyes.
A figure stood atop a mountain of petrified stars. Hair silver like frozen moonlight, his eyes deep pools of indigo flame. He was known by many names throughout forgotten eons. But to Zereth Kaine, he was once something else.
His lips barely moved. "...Zereth has returned."
---
Back in the Mortal Spiral, whispers of the battle still raged. The gods were shaken. The Celestial Concord had been broken in their hearts. For what good were pantheons... if a single man could sunder them?
From the floating capital of Vharos, an emergency Convergence of Realms had been called.
"Zereth Kaine has resurfaced... and destroyed Agnir, the God of Rebirth."
"He didn't just destroy him," murmured a veiled elder. "He erased him. Soul and story."
The chambers went cold.
Yet amidst the panic, one deity leaned forward half smile, golden skin, and serpent eyes. "He's incomplete. You all saw it. That wasn't his full power. We strike before it returns."
"Strike him?" another spat. "Do you wish to provoke the End?"
"Fear has always been your chain," the serpent-eyed one chuckled. "Let mine be ambition."
---
Elsewhere...
In a sealed realm lost to time, beneath a dying sun, a massive gate pulsed with strange glyphs beating like a heart.
A lone warrior stood before it. Cloaked in shadows, his armor bore the emblem of Kaine's fallen empire. He knelt, and pressed a hand to the gate.
"I've waited long enough, my Lord," he whispered. "The stars tell me you've awakened. I will return to your side."
The gate split open.
---
Meanwhile, Zereth Kaine stood atop the ruins in silence. His robes fluttered gently in the wind, the last traces of cosmic fire still evaporating from his fingertips.
He stared into the sky.
"They're planning something," he muttered.
The old sage who'd followed him for three realms now stepped forward, eyes solemn.
"They fear what they cannot measure. They fear the unknown. But they've forgotten, Zereth... You are the unknown."
Zereth smirked faintly, his voice cold and unshakable.
"Then let them remember."