The world trembled.
Not from war. Not from the awakening of power. But from something far colder.
Silence.
It crept across the sky like a sickness. Clouds dissolved. Wind stopped. Birds fell mid-flight, frozen in place. Somewhere beyond the mortal veil, reality paused—as if the universe held its breath.
Kael emerged from the Crucible of Flame, surrounded by a corona of stars that pulsed with divine cadence. The Celestial God now walked among men. But his return was met not with cheers… but stillness.
Lyra was the first to notice it. Her dagger slipped from her hand as the forest before her turned gray color drained from bark and leaf alike. Time, it seemed, was faltering.
Valen raised his sword, panic surfacing in his eyes. "This… this isn't the Abyss. It's something worse."
A whisper echoed across the sky.
"We are the Heralds of Silence."
Three figures appeared each more unreal than the last.
The first hovered, faceless, wrapped in scrolls of forgotten prophecy, its voice the sound of unraveling memory.
The second was a massive figure forged of shattered time, its chest an hourglass leaking sand that reversed mid-air.
And the third… was a child, barefoot and weeping, with eyes that blinked out stars when they opened too long.
Kael stepped forward, power humming beneath his skin.
"Why now?" he demanded. "Why come for this world?"
The child spoke in a voice far too old.
"Because your ascension was heard… and it broke the silence."
The Herald of Prophecy opened a scroll. "This world was marked to fade. Your rebirth disrupts the cycle. We are here to erase the noise."
Kael narrowed his gaze. "You mean me."
The time-forged Herald raised a hand, and the sky cracked not with thunder, but with memory. Moments from across time began vanishing entire cities blinked from history, names forgotten even as they were spoken.
Lyra fell to her knees. "Kael… it's like they're erasing existence itself."
The Heralds advanced, reality screaming in reverse around them.
Kael lifted his hand, forming a blade of celestial light—half-star, half-soul.
"You want silence?" he said, his voice shaking the very horizon. "Then come take it from a god."
And with that, the war against Oblivion began.