The summit of Mount Caelestia, once a sacred peak where mortals communed with the divine, was drowning in blood.
Kaelen Vane, the Paragon of the Blade, knelt on the shattered marble. His armor, forged from the scales of an Ancient Wyrm, was torn to jagged metal. His breathing was a wet, ragged rasp. Beside him lay the severed, massive head of Ignis, his dragon and closest companion. The great beast's eyes were already dulling to a lifeless grey.
Kaelen forced his head up, blood stinging his vision. Surrounding him was an impossible alliance.
To his left stood King Aethelgard, the monarch Kaelen had bled to put on the throne, flanked by the Royal Paladins. To his right hovered Malphas, the Grand Duke of the Demonic Nether, wreathed in shadows. And suspended in the golden sky above them were the Avatars of the Seven Gods, their featureless faces radiating a cold, oppressive light.
"Why?" Kaelen's voice was a gravelly whisper, though it echoed in the unnatural silence. "I won the war. I secured the realm."
King Aethelgard stepped forward, his face twisted in a mixture of fear and disgust. "You secured it too well, Hound of Vane. You single-handedly slew the Abyssal Lords. You shattered the heavens' decrees. You are no longer a subject, Kaelen. You are a threat to the balance of the world."
Malphas chuckled, a sound like grinding bones. "For once, the human livestock and the arrogant creators agree. A mortal with the power to sever gods and demons alike cannot be allowed to exist."
A pillar of blinding, searing light descended from the Gods above, pinning Kaelen to the ground. The divine pressure began to crush his bones. He didn't scream. He looked at the King he had protected, the Demons he had spared, and the Gods he had worshipped.
In his final moments, the honor and chivalry that had defined his life burned away, leaving only a cold, crystallized hatred.
"If the abyss spits me back," Kaelen vowed, his voice cutting through the divine roar, his eyes locking onto Aethelgard, "I will not return as a shield. I will return as a slaughterer. I will drown your thrones in blood and shatter your heavens."
The Royal Paladins drove their blessed lances through his chest. The Demon Lord unleashed a torrent of hellfire. The Gods intensified their light.
Kaelen Vane's world went white, then plunged into absolute, silent darkness