I went back to my cave and sat on the floor again.
The stone was cold, as it always was. Familiar. The walls hadn't changed, dark rocks with faint scorch marks where I'd failed before, hairline cracks that glowed softly when the fire in my chest stirred. I didn't close my eyes. I just stared at the wall and listened to the mountain breathe.
Earth didn't push back.
It simply wouldn't answer.
I sat there for a long time, breathing slowly, trying to feel it. Fire answered easily. It always had. Earth felt distant and heavy like a door I couldn't even find the handle for.
Eventually, frustration crept in.
What if I'm thinking about this wrong?
The thought landed quietly, but it stayed.
If I couldn't hold more than one element in my body… why did it have to be my body at all?
I straightened slightly.
"…A clone," I muttered.
I turned inward.
Carefully, I began shaping a consciousness. Not just any fragment, I tried to make it like me as much as possible. Something like a mirror, one with the same instincts, same reasoning, and same awareness as me.
It was harder than I expected. My thoughts resisted splitting. My sense of self clung stubbornly together. But I kept pressing, tempering it like metal in a forge.
Eventually, something clicked, and another presence opened its eyes inside my mind.
So this is what it's like in here, it said
My own voice, flat though without any emotion.
I grimaced. "You're too similar."
That was the point, it replied.
"Yeah," I said quietly.
I couldn't deny the small surge of satisfaction, it was a stable, self-aware and not unraveling.
That was step one. Step two was getting it out, and that was where everything fell apart.
I needed a vessel, something that could hold the consciousness without breaking. Something strong and preferably alive, in a way my creations weren't.
I couldn't make flesh, not true flesh. What I created was cheap imitationsl, not life. And using a corpse, the idea itself made my stomach twist.
I stayed there, staring at the wall as if it might offer an answer.
Well obviously, It didn't.
Eventually, I exhaled and stood up.
"…Enough," I muttered.
If I wasn't going to find the answer here, I needed to stop hiding in the mountain. So I walked out of the cave and walked around the mountain, and then decided to find Alto.
I found him overseeing a gathering not far from the slopes, young fire gods scattered around him, some arguing, some laughing, some just sitting there. He noticed me immediately.
He raised a hand. "That's enough for today."
They straightened at once, bowing before dispersing.
Alto turned to me, studying my face. "You've been gone a long time."
"I know," I said. "I needed to ask you something."
His expression sobered. "Then let's walk."
We moved along a ridge where blackened stone gave way to untouched earth. I sighed deeply before saying the words in my tongue.
Alright. I'll keep this human, mythic, and novel-ready, not mechanical, not rushed. I'll pace it so the weight lands where it should. This will be a legendary fall scene, not just a fight.
"How many gods have died throughout the years?" I asked quietly.
Alto blinked. "Died?"
"Yes. I mean—" I searched for the word, realizing how absurd it sounded here. "How many gods have stopped functioning. Gone to sleep and not woken up."
"There has been no such precedent," he answered, brow furrowed. "Why would such a thing occur, my lord?"
I smiled, soft and dismissive. "Nothing, don't mind me."
But my thoughts were already spiraling.
I left before he could ask more, lifting into the air and drifting down the mountain's slope. Below, a lush forest stretched outward, green and alive, its canopy breathing in slow rhythm with the world. I landed among the trees and began to walk, letting my sandals brush through moss and fallen leaves.
Death hasn't been born yet, I realized.
The thought unsettled me more than it should have. What brought it into being the first time? And did my arrival change that?
A sharp disturbance cut through the air. Heat, and smoke. I looked up just in time to see the flaming chariot tear through the sky, trailing blackened vapor as it spiraled downward like a wounded star.
"No—"
I vanished upward in a burst of fire and caught them before they hit the ground.
Admus and Casadin clung to each other, wide-eyed and shaking, their togas singed, their faces pale. Behind us, the chariot struck the earth and shattered, its fire sputtering out in a hiss of dying embers.
"What happened?" I demanded, setting them down.
"We....we were flying over the west," Admus said, breathless. "The something struck us."
Casadin nodded frantically. "A spear, it was a spear made of light."
The world seemed to still.
"…Light?" I asked slowly.
They both nodded.
My jaw tightened. "Go back to the mountain. Tell everyone to be on high alert, Now!"
They didn't argue. They ran towards the mountain, and I turned my gaze skyward.
As if summoned by my anger, the clouds parted. Ludfrick descended first, radiant and serene, his smile polished and hollow. Kalrus hovered beside him, eyes sharp, posture coiled like a drawn blade.
I rose to meet them, fire rolling within my chest.
"How dare you," I said, my voice low and burning.
"Ah," Ludfrick replied mockingly, "The son of the elements."
"We have grown tired of bowing to Fire Mountain," Kalrus said flatly. "No single entity should rule the gods."
"You chose children," I said, anger finally cracking through. "Instead of coming to me like men."
Ludfrick chuckled. "You still speak strangely."
"And if no one rules," I pressed, "then who does? You?" I pointed at Kalrus. "Or you?"
"All three of us," Kalrus answered.
"All three—"
"And me."
The air shifted.
Caelus descended behind them, his presence almost bending the sky itself. His eyes glowed with quiet curiosity.
I exhaled slowly.
"…So that's it," I murmured. "It finally makes sense."
I didn't wait. Fire roared from my entire body and I launched myself at them, and the world shattered.
The sky split as gods poured in, wind, earth, lightning, water, light and shadow, the concepts clashed.
I burned through the first wave, my fire screaming as it met wind sharp enough to flay mountains. Earth rose to bind me, only to melt into rivers of glass. Lightning spears pierced the air; I caught one and hurled it back, shattering a god's chest in a burst of blue-white agony.
The ground screamed.
Storms formed where none had existed. Thunder scarred the land, carving trenches miles long. Firestorms rolled across forests, turning green to ash. Seas rose and boiled. Mountains cracked and collapsed like brittle bones.
I killed, again and again. Their bodies fell, not dissolving into the elemnts, they didn't even reforming.
They stayed down, and something inside the world… changed.
Then fire surged behind me. Alto, Wrath, Passion and War.
The fire gods fell upon the others with feral devotion, tearing through four more pantheons. I felt the pressure ease, just slightly, and I breathed for the first time since the battle began.
But it didn't last as a light spear pierced me from the side, then one made of shadow, then one made of ice.
Caelus, Kalrus and Ludfrick.
The other gods moved together, perfectly and a blade of wind went through my chest, a spear of lighting through my shoulder, a crushing earth hammer strike that shattered my ribs.
I staggered back, they didn't stop.
Weapons formed, elemental spears, swords, other constructs and they struck as one.
Pain unlike anything I had known tore through me.
The sun dimmed and the world darkened, just a fraction, but enough to make it look like it was sunset. I coughed, golden blood splattering the broken earth.
Behind me, the fire gods screamed.
"Lord!"
"Hold them," Caelus said calmly.
An invisible force bound them in place and a detachment of gods surrounded them.
Caelus descended slowly, studying me. "I've always wondered who you were," he said thoughtfully. "Your face… it was never quite clear. You always has a layer of mist in front of your face"
He gripped my jaw and forced my head up. Light flared in his eyes and then dimmed. He smiled in amusement.
"…Interesting."
Then he released me and I fell.
The impact carved a crater into the earth. I landed against a jagged stone, barely managing to sit upright.
Around me lay the bodies of gods. Still and silent, no trace of breath in any of them
None were returning.
I stared, then laughed, I laughed until it all hurt.
"So that's it," I rasped, blood on my lips. "Death has come into the world, even gods can fall now. Even eternity has an end now."
Thunder rolled.
Rain began to pour.
"The gods don't love the world" I said coughing and then laughed like a maniac
Lightning tore the sky apart. Caelus looked toward his pantheon's domain, and laughed with me, then from the heavens, a child appeared then descended slowly.
Caelus extended a hand. "Come."
The child's form flared and became a woman. Golden-haired, silver eyed, her beautiful face collapsed in horror as she took in the dead.
She screamed, her tears fell, and the rain became a deluge.
"…Ramona," I whispered, unwillingness blooming inside my heart. I tried to reach out for her despite the distance between us.
A light glimmered from a forming river nearby and a man in white emerged, sorrowful green eyes looked at the world as well. He raised his hands, but darkness engulfed me.