Jade opened his eyes to crying.
Not his own.
A child's cry.
Thin.
Weak.
Endless.
He tried to move, but his body was small.
Tiny hands.
Tiny fingers.
He was lying on cold stone wrapped in torn cloth inside a rusted iron cage.
The bars were black and ancient, covered in crimson symbols that glowed faintly in the dark.
Around him stood hundreds of cages.
Some broken.
Some empty.
Some still moving.
Children.
Countless children.
Their cries echoed through the cavern like wounded ghosts.
Jade gripped the bars.
Fear struck him immediately.
He remembered nothing.
Only darkness before this.
Then footsteps echoed.
A figure appeared beyond the cages.
Tall.
Robed in silver and black.
Its face hidden behind flowing cloth woven with moving stars.
Yet Jade somehow knew him.
The figure stopped before Jade's cage.
Two golden eyes burned beneath the hood.
Then the being spoke.
Its voice sounded like countless threads being pulled across the heavens.
"Little brother."
Jade froze.
Something inside him trembled.
The figure raised a hand.
The lock on the cage shattered.
The iron door swung open.
Jade crawled backward, staring upward.
The being knelt before him.
"I am Fate."
The words carried impossible weight.
Jade did not understand them…
but his soul did.
The figure extended a hand.
"If I remove you from this cage…"
its voice softened,
"will you protect your siblings?"
Jade looked around.
All the crying children.
Small faces hidden behind bars.
Cold hands reaching through iron.
Tears streaking dirty cheeks.
His heart tightened.
Then Fate spoke again.
"And when the time comes…"
The golden eyes burned brighter.
"Will you defeat the Void Baby?"
Jade didn't know what that meant.
He didn't know what a void was.
Or why these children were trapped.
But he knew one thing.
If he left…
he could not leave them behind.
The child Jade lifted his head.
And answered.
"Yes."
Fate god stared at him for a long moment.
Then nodded.
"So be it."
---
Years passed.
Jade grew beneath crimson skies.
The cage became memory.
He became the eldest among the abandoned children Fate had freed.
They lived within the Blood Legion—an ancient kingdom hidden between worlds.
Warriors of blood.
Shadow.
Bone.
And stars.
Jade grew quickly.
Stronger than all the others.
He hunted monsters in black forests.
Walked through seas of red mist.
Climbed mountains where storms screamed like beasts.
And every battle made him stronger.
The younger children followed him like shadows.
They called him Brother.
Protector.
King.
He carried all of them.
Fed them.
Trained them.
Bled for them.
If monsters attacked at night—
Jade stood before them.
If famine came—
Jade starved before they did.
If war arrived—
Jade marched first.
And never once looked back.
Years became decades.
The children became warriors.
The Blood Legion rose stronger than ever.
But above all of it—
one prophecy remained.
The Void Baby.
The creature Fate had spoken of.
A being destined to devour stars and erase worlds.
And Jade—
was meant to kill it.
---
He found her beneath the dead moon.
He had expected a monster.
A creature of destruction.
Something ancient and monstrous.
Instead—
he found a woman.
She stood barefoot on the shore of a black sea.
Moonlight silvered her pale skin.
Long dark hair flowed behind her like liquid night.
Her eyes were endless void—
deep enough to swallow galaxies.
Yet inside them…
there was sadness.
Jade stepped onto the black sand.
Sword drawn.
She turned to face him.
Neither moved.
Wind howled between them.
"You came to kill me," she said.
Her voice was soft.
Beautiful.
Tired.
Jade tightened his grip.
"You're the Void."
"Yes."
Silence.
Then she asked quietly:
"Do I look like something that wishes to destroy the world?"
Jade said nothing.
He had fought beasts.
Demons.
Nightmares.
But standing before her…
he felt no evil.
Only loneliness.
A loneliness so deep it hurt to look at.
Night after night Jade returned to the black shore.
At first with sword in hand.
Then without it.
They spoke beneath dead stars.
About war.
About fate.
About loneliness.
About being born for a purpose neither of them chose.
She told him her name had been forgotten long ago.
Only Void remained.
He told her of the cage.
Of his siblings.
Of the Blood Legion.
And somewhere between those endless conversations…
the warrior sent to kill the void…
fell in love with it.
---
Years passed again.
Jade did not kill her.
Instead…
they built a life together.
Far from prophecy.
Far from Fate's gaze.
And from their union came children.
Eight.
Each born carrying divine power beyond imagination.
The first child opened his eyes and the beasts of the mountains bowed.
Beast God.
The second child cried and stars trembled.
Star God.
The third was born wrapped in darkness deeper than night.
Shadow God.
The fourth touched time itself before learning to speak.
Time God.
The fifth laughed and oceans rose toward the moon.
Ocean God.
The sixth burned with living flame.
Flame God.
The seventh ruled storms and heavens.
Sky God.
The eighth carried mountains in his tiny heartbeat.
Earth God.
Eight children.
Eight gods born from love.
Jade held them in his arms.
And forgot war.
Forgot prophecy.
Forgot Fate.
For the first time…
he was happy.
Truly happy.
He watched his children run across endless valleys beneath starlight.
Watched the Void woman smile as she held them close.
He laughed beside fires.
Built a home.
Taught them to fight.
Taught them to love.
And deep inside—
he knew.
He had betrayed Fate.
But he did not regret it.
Not once.
---
Then Fate came.
The sky split open.
Golden threads descended across heaven like chains.
Stars shattered.
The earth screamed.
Jade stepped from his home with sword in hand.
His children gathered behind him.
The Void woman beside him.
And above the world—
Fate God appeared.
Massive beyond imagination.
Eyes burning like suns.
Voice cold as law itself.
"You were given a purpose."
Jade looked upward.
"And I chose my own."
The heavens trembled.
"You were meant to kill the Void."
Jade gripped his blade.
"I refused."
Fate's voice became fury.
"You chose love over destiny."
Jade answered without fear.
"Yes."
Then war began.
Golden chains fell from heaven.
The Blood Legion was slaughtered.
Warriors Jade had raised for decades were torn apart beneath divine wrath.
Cities burned crimson.
Mountains split.
Rivers turned to blood.
Jade roared and rose into the sky.
Shadow and blood exploding from his body.
He fought Fate like a beast driven mad.
His children fought beside him—
the Eight Gods shaking creation with their power.
Beast God shattered mountains.
Star God broke constellations.
Shadow God drowned heaven in darkness.
Time God froze armies in place.
Ocean God flooded kingdoms.
Flame God burned worlds.
Sky God split the heavens.
Earth God raised continents like weapons.
Yet Fate was stronger.
Too strong.
One by one—
they fell.
Beast God.
Star God.
Shadow God.
Time God.
Ocean God.
Flame God.
Sky God.
Earth God.
Jade watched them die screaming.
His children.
His blood.
Erased before his eyes.
The Void woman cried out in agony as Fate's chains pierced her heart.
Jade reached for her—
too late.
She died in his arms.
Her final touch against his face.
Then silence.
Jade knelt amid ruin.
Everything gone.
His children dead.
His people dead.
The Blood Legion destroyed.
The world burning around him.
Fate descended before him.
Golden eyes staring without mercy.
"You failed."
Jade's body shook.
Blood streamed from countless wounds.
Yet he still lifted his head.
And spoke.
"No."
Fate looked down upon him.
"You abandoned destiny."
Jade held the Void woman's lifeless body close.
His voice broke—
but remained steady.
"I chose them."
Fate raised one hand.
A spear of golden law formed.
"Then perish with them."
The spear pierced Jade through the chest.
Pain exploded through him.
His blood rained upon the ruined earth.
His knees gave way.
His vision blurred.
He collapsed beside his dead family.
Holding the Void woman with his final breath.
The world burned.
Ash fell like snow.
And as darkness consumed him—
Jade smiled through tears.
Because if given the choice again…
he would choose them.
Every time.
---
Jade opened his eyes.
He was back in the void.
Breathing hard.
Trembling.
Tears still on his face.
Before him stood the beast gods.
Silent.
Watching.
For the first time…
they did not look upon him like a trial.
They looked upon him with acknowledgment.
One ancient beast lowered its enormous head.
Its burning gaze locked onto Jade.
And slowly—
power began gathering around it like a blessing descending from the heavens.
Jade stood motionless.
Blood still pounding through his body.
Soul shaking from the dream.
The beast god opened its jaws—
And the void trembled.