A heavy silence followed Barilo's words.
Not the calm kind.
The suffocating kind.
The kind where even deities, beings who ruled elements and concepts, felt something cold coil around their cores.
Barilo slowly exhaled.
"I'm not saying this so any of you will look down on anyone," he said, his voice steady yet carrying undeniable weight. "Some of us here are stronger than him. That is true."
A few deities stiffened.
"Others," Barilo continued, "are weaker than him. That is also true."
His icy gaze swept across the gathering.
"But strength comparisons mean nothing right now."
The lava beneath the platform bubbled faintly, reacting to the tension.
"Especially," Barilo said, his voice dropping, "because of what is coming."
The primordial awakening.
"I've said this countless times," he went on. "So listen carefully. We are approaching a point where pride, rivalry, and hierarchy will become meaningless."
He paused.
"A lot of us are going to die."
