Arkenhall had fallen.
But the world was only beginning to understand the magnitude of what had been broken.
Kael stood atop the highest spire of the Grand Cathedral, the wind brushing past his cloak like a whisper from the old world. Below him, thousands knelt in reverence—not to the gods they had once served, but to him.
Their faith, shattered by divine silence, had not been extinguished.
It had been reborn.
Redirected.
Selene stood at his side, her golden eyes scanning the city with a quiet intensity. The banners of the old gods lay in tatters, shredded and stomped into mud by those who had once wept beneath their altars. Fires of rebellion still crackled in the distance—celebrations of heresy.
But Kael knew this was not victory.
Not yet.
This was only the first movement of a symphony he had composed from ashes and defiance.
Far beyond mortal sight, within the towering celestial monolith known as the Spire of Eternity, the gods stirred.
A dome of radiant light stretched across the realm, where constellations drifted through air like living sigils, each whispering ancient songs of authority.
The Great Council stood beneath a fractured dome where a single rift had begun to pulse with corruption. Divine energy flickered.
The mortal world had become unstable.
Archon Lythael's presence cut through the chamber like a blade. Clad in radiant silver armor etched with runes of judgment, her wings shimmered with fury.
"The balance is broken," she spat. "A single mortal has undone what took eons to preserve."
Azareth, elder among them and the last voice of patience, drifted forward. His form was serene, his beard flowing like starlight.
"Kael is no longer merely mortal," he said. "He stands on the threshold of something greater. We ignored him too long."
Lythael's grip tightened on her blade. "Then we correct our mistake."
One by one, divine beings murmured assent.
The Covenant had been broken. Kael's defiance was not merely heresy.
It was war.
Arkenhall – Nightfall
The first crack did not sound like thunder.
It was quieter—like the shattering of glass across the fabric of the cosmos.
Kael looked up as a line tore through the heavens. A vein of celestial fire spread across the night sky, pulsing with divine hatred.
He did not flinch.
"I expected them sooner," he murmured.
Selene's sword was already drawn. The divine energy in the air made her bones ache. "They were gathering strength. Or arguing."
Kael smirked. "Let them. Debate is the luxury of the dying."
The rift above widened.
A spear of pure light, forged from divine wrath, descended like a star being hurled by the hand of the cosmos itself.
When it struck the heart of the city, the earth screamed.
Stone erupted. Buildings crumbled. The shockwave ruptured the foundations of temples, flinging divine relics into the streets like broken toys.
Divine fire swept outward—hungry, holy, and merciless.
And from the inferno emerged a figure wreathed in radiance.
Archon Lythael.
She floated just above the ground, her wings spread like the wings of judgment itself, her face unshaken by mortal awe. Her voice rang across Arkenhall—not shouting, but resonating within the soul of every listener.
"Kael of Mortalis," she said. "You have trespassed upon the dominion of the divine. You have stolen what was never yours."
The crowd below trembled.
Some wept. Others whispered prayers—not to Lythael, but to the man who now walked forward, unafraid.
Kael descended the cathedral steps slowly, each footfall commanding silence.
"Stolen?" he echoed. "No. I simply took what you abandoned."
The divine fire licked toward him.
And died.
Around Kael, the flames snuffed out, recoiling as if they feared what he had become.
Lythael's gaze sharpened. "You stand upon sacred ground."
"I made it sacred," Kael replied. "When your gods fled, I remained. When your light failed, I kindled fire from belief."
Her fingers twitched. "Your arrogance blinds you."
"No," he said, smiling. "It illuminates them."
He gestured to the crowd. Thousands watched in silence—not with fear, but with hope.
"They have seen your power. Now they see its limits."
The skies split again.
This time not with one, but a thousand lights. Wings of flame and thunder descended. Divine warriors, adorned in golden armor, rained down like falling stars.
The Celestial Host had come.
They landed across the city, wings folded, swords drawn. Each bore the sigils of forgotten judgments—the wrath of a pantheon that had never been questioned until now.
And still, Kael stood unbowed.
Beside him, Selene stepped forward. Her voice, quiet but full of conviction, said:
"They're not gods. They're relics. And relics break."
Kael raised his hand.
From the shadows of alleyways, rooftops, and underground catacombs, his own forces emerged. Not merely soldiers—devoted, fanatics, sorcerers touched by forbidden rites.
And behind them… the people of Arkenhall. Farmers. Merchants. Scholars.
They stood beside Kael.
Not because they were commanded.
But because they believed.
Lythael drew her blade. It shimmered with divine essence, forged in the breath of the first star.
"Then let judgment fall."
Kael extended his hand toward the broken sky, and the flames of the first spear reassembled, bending to his will.
He caught the divine fire in his palm—and crushed it.
The heavens gasped.
Lythael charged.
The clash between Kael's will and Lythael's blade unleashed a shockwave that cracked the sky anew. The city shook as divine steel met mortal defiance, and in that moment…
The first battle of the Godwar began.
To be continued...