Celeste's heartbeat pounded
The figure at the edge of the ruins stood still. They weren't entirely solid.
"You should not be here," the voice repeated
Celeste took a step forward, her boots crunching against the ground.
"I should not be here blah blah blah," she said, her voice steady
The figure didn't move.
Celeste's gaze flickered to the throne at the center of the ruins. It was massive— But it was empty.
Dust settled in the cracks of its surface
"You seek answers," the figure said "But all you will find here is what was lost."
Celeste narrowed her eyes. "Lost to who?"
A pause. Then—
"To the ones who made your gods."
The Pantheon wasn't the first. That much, she had already begun to suspect. But this… this was something else entirely.
She took another step closer. "Who are you?"
For the first time, the figure moved. Their face remained obscured, but their presence became sharper
Celeste's grip tightened around the Aether swirling in her palm. "That doesn't answer anything."
The figure tilted their head slightly, as if amused.
A sudden gust of energy rushed through the ruins, shifting beneath her feet.
She glanced down—
And the ruins flickered.
For a split second. The broken pillars stood tall, the shattered pathways whole. The air smelled of something powerful.
And then the throne was occupied.
Celeste's breath hitched. A massive figure sat upon it. their presence was suffocating.
A voice—deeper than the void itself—spoke from the past.
"The Cycle will not break."
Then—
The vision shattered.
Celeste staggered back as the ruins returned to their ruined state. The throne was empty once more. The figure before her remained unmoving.
Her mind raced. That wasn't the Pantheon. It wasn't the gods she had fought against.
It was something before them.
"Tell me what I just saw."
The figure exhaled—a sound like the wind through forgotten halls.
"The ones who came before the gods. The ones they buried."
Celeste felt something cold settle in her chest. "Why?"
The remnant finally looked at her directly.
"Because they lost."
Before she could respond, the ruins shook.
Aether pulsed violently through the air, reacting to something unseen. Celeste instinctively stepped back, her body tensing.
The throne was no longer empty.
Something sat upon it once more.
Not a vision.
Not a memory.
Something that had just awoken.