The sky was too quiet.
Not even the stars dared to move.
They stood at the edge of Eidra's heart—what remained of the throne once worshipped by the first flamebearers. Light, Mira, Barak, Sila, and the others stood together, watching as a slow wind carried ash like snow across black stone.
Then… the light shifted.
A figure stepped out of the void—calm, unbothered, bathed in radiant gold.
"Marrigon," Light said, his voice low.
The false god smiled. "You look tired, my flame. Come… let me end this burden for you."
His tone was fatherly, even loving. The sky above him pulsed with holy sigils. A glow circled his hand as he held out an orb—a divine relic pulsing with purity.
"I don't want to fight," Marrigon said. "I want to save you."
Light didn't move.
Mira narrowed her eyes. "Why now? Why mercy?"
Marrigon looked at her, kind but cold. "Because he was never meant to burn alone. We failed him. I failed him. This flame... wasn't a gift. It was a prison. Let me free him before it consumes everything."
Light stepped forward.
Mira tried to stop him, but his hand gently brushed hers aside.
"I'm just going to listen," he whispered.
He stood face to face with Marrigon. The orb glowed stronger.
"Just touch it," Marrigon said. "And you'll be whole again."
Light reached for it.
But then—
Flash.
The world flickered. Chains wrapped around his limbs. His voice was stolen. Before him—Marrigon, dressed in divine armor, watching him like a trophy.
"Let him burn," Marrigon said in that echo of the false future.
The vision broke.
Light didn't just pull his hand back—he punched straight through the orb.
It exploded in golden fire. Marrigon staggered backward, mask cracking.
"You really thought I'd trust a liar dressed in heaven's bones?" Light growled.
---
The sky opened.
Thousands of perfect, glowing forms descended—mirror-like silhouettes of gods from every myth. Odin, Anubis, Vishnu, Athena. They hovered like paintings, too perfect to be real.
"Your worship built them," Marrigon hissed, bleeding gold. "This is your legacy. A world addicted to lies."
He lifted his arms.
The Illusion Army attacked.
---
The battlefield broke apart.
Everyone was isolated by illusion magic.
Barak stood in the ruins of his old battalion. His friends cried to him. "Why did you leave us behind?"
Sila sat at a dinner table, her mother across from her. "Come home, child. This pain was never yours."
Mira stood before a flaming city, Light's silhouette laughing in the distance, wings of fire spreading across the sky. "I will burn this world into a better one."
She nearly broke—until she remembered Light's words from before:
"I won't lose myself. I'll lose everything else first."
She screamed. "That's not him!"
Her voice shattered the illusion.
And like a chain reaction, the others broke free too—Sila slashing through her memory with her chain-blade, Barak roaring as he punched the vision into dust.
---
Back in the real world, Light rose above them all, his sigil burning through his armor, his fire now black and white—reality and memory fused.
"Marrigon!" he roared.
The false god formed a massive spear from broken prayers and hurled it.
Light caught it mid-air and snapped it in half.
He flew toward Marrigon like a comet and drove his fist into his chest—shattering the divine core inside.
Marrigon coughed golden blood.
"You... were never meant to win…" he whispered.
He fell back, vanishing in a cloud of golden particles, leaving behind only one thing:
A glowing seal on the ground, burning with strange glyphs.
Sila stared. "That's not a god's mark…"
Barak stepped forward, fists still glowing. "That's a summoning seal."
The air crackled.
The sky pulsed.
And somewhere far off—drums began to beat.
---
Final Scene:
The seal on the ground cracked open slightly.
A voice echoed out—not divine. Not hollow.
But ancient.
"The throne is empty. The war has just begun."
The sky turned red.
And from the horizon… something massive was coming.
---
End of Chapter 13
Next: Chapter 14 – The War of Eidra