Wind rustled through the pine trees.
The crater—once a battlefield—had faded into the distance, swallowed by the rising mountains. Ava and Megumi had hiked in silence, away from the wreckage and eyes of the divine. They climbed for hours until the path vanished and all that remained was the sky above them—clear, endless, and unaware of the weight pressing on their backs.
Leonidas had whispered a single word before disappearing:
"Hide."
So they had. Deep in the mountains, far from gods and demons and battles that cracked the sky.
A small cabin waited there.
Old. Abandoned. Maybe even forgotten by the world.
But prepared.
Inside the Cabin
The door creaked open.
Dust danced in the light of the setting sun, shafts of gold piercing through boarded windows. A single bed sat in the corner. A fireplace of rough stone. Wooden beams worn with age.
Ava stepped in first, hand on the hilt of a blade she'd taken from one of Erebus's scattered fragments. She scanned every corner before nodding back to Megumi.
He followed her inside, shoulders slumped, wings long gone.
He looked… human.
But the black halo still shimmered faintly above his head.
He didn't speak much. Just sat against the wall, knees drawn up, hands trembling lightly as if trying to ground himself in reality.
Ava lit a fire. Cooked what she could. The silence wasn't awkward—it was sacred.
Finally, after they'd eaten, she asked the question that had burned in her chest since the moment he collapsed in that crater.
"Megumi," she said softly. "What… are you now?"
He didn't answer right away. His eyes stared into the flames.
"I don't know," he finally said. "I'm not who I used to be. That boy died when Chloe did. What's left of me… I don't understand it either."
She moved closer, kneeling in front of him.
"You still cared. You still protected me."
"I almost lost control."
"But you didn't."
He looked at her. "What if next time I do?"
Ava didn't look away. "Then I'll remind you who you are again. Every time. As many times as it takes."
He closed his eyes. A heavy breath escaped him.
And then… the floor creaked.
Not from footsteps—but something beneath the boards.
A soft hum.
A pulsing.
Megumi's eyes opened. They both froze.
The Hidden Tablet
They tore up the floorboard.
Beneath it, buried under layers of dust and dried roots, was a stone tablet. About the size of a small window, smooth and black as obsidian, but with gold filigree running through its veins like lightning sealed in rock.
Megumi touched it—and it pulsed faintly.
He turned it over.
Words. Ancient. Etched in glowing gold.
Ava whispered them aloud, reading slowly, her voice barely louder than breath.
"When the halo darkens and the wings split, the Fallen King shall rise from sorrow's pit."
Megumi's blood ran cold.
There was more.
"The gods will fear him. The world will mourn him.
But he shall stand between ruin… and rebirth."
Silence.
Ava looked at him, eyes wide. "What is this?"
Megumi's voice cracked. "A prophecy."
He didn't know how he knew—but he knew.
Ava traced a finger along the final words, carved deeper than the rest.
"Beware the one with the darkened halo—the one named in silence."
And then she whispered it.
"…The Fallen King."
Megumi's head snapped toward her. His breath caught.
She didn't say it with fear. Or awe.
She said it with sadness.
Like she knew what it meant.
"…That's me," he said softly. "Isn't it?"
Ava didn't answer.
Because she didn't need to.
Olympus – Council of the Gods
Athena stood before the divine council, her robe caught in soft wind that wasn't of this world.
"The prophecy is resurfacing," she said. "Someone—likely Leonidas—has placed fragments of it across the realms."
Zeus stood silent, hands folded behind his back.
"The boy's power grows," said Apollo. "Even Erebus fell."
"He wasn't supposed to fall," Hera snapped.
Poseidon tilted his head. "Then perhaps the boy is more than prophecy. Perhaps he is purpose."
"He is chaos," Ares growled. "And he needs to be eliminated."
Zeus finally raised a hand.
The room fell quiet.
His voice was quiet. Deadly.
"If he claims the throne of the Fallen King…"
He paused.
"…we will burn it from under him."
Back in the Cabin
Megumi stood under the stars now, alone.
The tablet rested at his feet.
He looked up—at the endless sky above.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" he whispered.
Ava walked out quietly behind him. "Whatever you choose."
"What if my choice dooms everything?"
"Then we'll fight it together."
He turned to her.
She was glowing faintly in the starlight. Her eyes full of fire, of sorrow, of hope. The only person who still saw him beneath it all.
"Do you believe in me?" he asked.
"I always have."
They stood in silence a moment longer.
And then, behind them… thunder echoed softly in the distance.
But this time—it didn't come from the sky.
It came from above Olympus.