Kael stood at the threshold of the godlands
The sky above was no longer red
It was an endless sheet of white with no clouds no wind no warmth
It did not move
It simply existed watching waiting
A place untouched by death or life a hollow plane beyond mortal comprehension
Before him rose the Stair of Silence
Each step made of memories carved from the bones of forgotten kings
It stretched into the heavens so high that even time bent around it
Kael placed one foot on the stair and the ground behind him vanished
There would be no return no more mercy no more pause
The girl in chains no longer followed
She was locked far behind trapped in the realm of what once was
Her voice no longer reached him only the echo of what she had meant
Kael climbed in silence
Each step took something from him
On the first step his skin cracked
On the second his voice was taken
On the third his past twisted and folded away
He did not stop
With every step forward more memories were stripped from him
But one thing remained
His reason
His vengeance
It burned hotter than the sun that had abandoned this world
At the top of the stair stood a gate
A gate without doors without shape only a wall of pure truth
Beyond it lived the gods
They were not creatures of flesh
They were thoughts given mass
They were the hunger behind stars
The breath behind silence
They were what had watched Kael die and laughed
He walked through the gate and entered their domain
A world of inverted time where cause came after effect
Where light screamed and sound bled
Where every step led to a hundred possible deaths
Kael moved through the godlands like a curse that could not be undone
His presence poisoned their eternity
His soul left trails of corruption in their perfect sanctuary
One of the gods approached
A being of glass and light with wings made from prayers
It spoke not with words but with certainty
It asked why he had come
It asked what he hoped to gain
Kael raised his hand and answered by tearing the god in half
It screamed with the voices of a thousand saints
But he did not stop
Another god came
This one wore a crown of suns
It raised its hand and created a city from Kael's forgotten regrets
It tried to trap him in illusions of peace
Of what could have been
Kael walked through the city and burned it with a glance
He was beyond temptation
Beyond healing
He did not want peace
He wanted them to understand
He reached the Hall of Beginning
Where the first god waited
The one who had created the world
The one who had given Kael his name
And taken it away
This god looked like a man
But its eyes held every sunrise
Every betrayal
Every smile that ended in blood
You are not meant to be here the god said
You are not meant to exist
Kael looked at the god and took another step forward
He was no longer Kael
He had no name
He had no face
He was the weight of every scream ever ignored
The god raised its hand and tried to unmake him
But Kael had walked through death
Had fought through time
Had murdered fate itself
He lunged forward and grabbed the god by the throat
Though it had no body he found it
Though it had no soul he crushed it
The sky tore open
The other gods screamed as their beginning was shattered
Kael consumed the light that held their world together
He drank the river of creation
He shattered the loom that spun reality
The god begged at the end
Not for itself
But for Kael to stop
To spare what remained
To leave something behind
Kael leaned close and whispered without lips
Now you understand
He did not stop
Not until the world of gods was nothing
Not until there was no above no below
Only him
He stood in the center of nothing
A god among no gods
A king among no thrones
Alone
But his story was not yet finished
Far beyond the godlands
In the ashes of the broken world
A child was born
Its eyes black as void
Its breath cold as forgotten tombs
It did not cry
It only stared
And somewhere deep within Kael
Something stirred
Something ancient
Something broken
Something he had buried long ago
A whisper not of hate but of memory
A name spoken by a voice long dead
The next war had already begun