With Varron safe and sleeping soundly in the sanctuary crystal Takeshi summoned, the party turned east. Selene had spoken of the second Broken God: Niraxis, the Chainmother, imprisoned beneath the ruins of a once-glorious floating metropolis now fallen to earth—Ydrasilon.
The journey was harsh. Acid rain poured from a sickly green sky as the terrain grew unstable. The Codex occasionally flickered, losing its readings for hours at a time. The world itself felt… wounded.
They arrived at the ruins of Ydrasilon, where towers lay like toppled bones. Craters from magical detonations littered the ground. But deep beneath it all, the scanners pointed to a central point—an underground complex hidden beneath layers of fallen stone and cursed metal.
A massive chain protruded from the ground, links the size of carriages. Takeshi approached it with caution.
Elira touched the stone. "It's humming. Something down there is alive."
They descended.
The underground was unlike anything they'd seen—long corridors of runed chains and pulsing crimson sigils. At the center was a chamber lined with a spiraling stair of broken memories—images burned into the walls: gods bound, people kneeling, cities consumed.
And in the center, wrapped in thousands of chains, suspended upside-down from the ceiling, was Niraxis. Her body was serpentine, half-metallic, and her dozen glowing eyes were closed in agony.
"She sealed herself here," Selene whispered. "To stop herself from becoming a destroyer."
Takeshi stepped forward, but a wall of chains erupted between him and the goddess.
"You must prove your will."
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. A test had begun.
The chains animated, turning into avatars of guilt. Each tamer was faced with their own past regrets, made manifest.
Elira faced her brother's memory—whom she'd abandoned during the monster wars.
Fyria fought against a vision of her former self: destructive, wrathful, consumed by fire.
Sir Haiku recited a poem so solemn it caused the illusions to weep.
Takeshi stood last. A vision of his old life in Japan appeared: his darkened apartment, the isolation, the resentment from his parents. His own self, whispering:
"You don't deserve this power. You ran from life."
Takeshi looked at his own reflection, then reached into the Codex.
"I didn't run. I was waiting. For this. For them."
The chains shattered.
Niraxis opened her eyes.
[New Pact Formed: Niraxis, Chainmother – Awakened Form]
The second god was free. Her eyes glowed with a tearful gratitude.
"I remember now," she said softly. "We gods were never meant to rule. Only to protect."
Above, the chains began to dissolve. The ruins of Ydrasilon quaked.
And far in the distance… the third god stirred.