The wind howled like a dying beast.
Rael stood at the edge of a ruined cliff, black cloak fluttering behind him like the shadow of a forgotten storm. Far below, the shattered remains of Vael'thara, once the capital of the mortal world, now crumbled into smoke and ruin.
He had been gone for a century.
The gods had made sure time forgot him. But even memory, like ash, leaves stains.
> "It's worse than I remember," he murmured.
Thimble skittered onto his shoulder, legs twitching excitedly. "Of course it's worse. The gods always clean up their mistakes with fire and lies."
Rael's red eyes scanned the devastation. The once-golden towers were now charred stumps. Statues of the gods lay decapitated, half-buried in the rubble. Where priests once blessed children, executioners now raised blades in holy names.
"They burned the empire to kill me," he said.
> "They didn't just burn it," Thimble chuckled, "They rebuilt it in Sevrien's image."
That name cut deeper than any blade.
Sevrien Thorne — the golden boy, the beloved general, his sworn brother... the traitor.
---
Rael stepped forward.
The moment his foot touched soil, the earth shuddered. Not loudly — not enough for the sky to notice — but enough for something older than gods to stir.
His presence was a blasphemy.
---
⚔️ A Day Later – South Ward, Outer Slums of Vael'thara
A girl knelt beside a broken fountain, her hands trembling as she tried to clean her brother's wound with torn cloth. Blood seeped through. Around her, soldiers in divine armor dragged men and women into chains, reciting the will of the gods like puppets.
"By the authority of the Celestial Throne—!"
A scream cut the air.
The girl flinched. Her brother didn't move.
Then—
A shadow crossed the square.
The soldiers turned.
> "Another rat? Kneel."
They raised their weapons.
Rael didn't speak.
He simply moved.
A flash of red — a breath between heartbeats — and five men crumpled, blood blooming in the shape of a forgotten rune.
The last soldier stood frozen. "Wh-What... are you...?"
Rael turned his crimson gaze toward him.
> "I am what your gods tried to erase."
With a flick of his hand, the man's divine armor shattered like glass. He collapsed, convulsing, as if the very essence of belief had been ripped from his soul.
The girl stared, wide-eyed, unsure whether to bow or flee.
Rael stepped past her. Then stopped.
He knelt.
Pulled a black cloth from his cloak and wrapped it around her brother's wound. With a whisper, the injury hissed and sealed — not healed, but stabilized.
"Live," he said. "One day, you'll need to choose whether you follow gods... or bury them."
---
🌕 High Above, in the Celestial Sanctum...
Sevrien Thorne gazed through the Mirror of Stars, his perfect face bathed in divine light.
> "He's returned," murmured the Seer behind him.
> "Good," Sevrien said, calm as still water. "The world has grown boring without him."
He reached for his glaive.
> "Let him gather his strength. Let him bleed a little. And when he thinks he's ready—"
A thin smile curled on his lips.
> "—I'll show him what true divinity feels like."
---
🌑 Meanwhile... in the ruins of Blackveil Fortress
A lone campfire burned.
A woman with silver hair, wrapped in old armor and seething scars, stared into the flames. Her sword, broken in half, rested beside her. Around her neck, a cracked medallion of the moon god flickered faintly.
Her eyes, cold as frostbite, narrowed as the wind shifted.
> "...Rael."
She whispered his name like a curse.
Lyria Valemorne had waited long enough.