Babylon – 2:28 A.M.
The ground split apart, swallowing the ruins beneath it. Nathaniel barely managed to grab onto a broken column before the earth beneath him gave way.
Lucien wasn't as lucky.
"Lucien!" Nathaniel lunged, catching his partner's wrist just as he began to fall into the abyss.
Lucien's eyes widened as he looked down—only darkness below.
"Pull me up, man. Now!"
Nathaniel gritted his teeth, straining against Lucien's weight. The air around them was thick with sulfur and something worse—a force neither of them could see but felt creeping into their bones.
Above them, Rahim stood at the edge of the crumbling ground, watching in amusement. His crimson cloak barely moved despite the chaos around him.
"This is pointless," Rahim said casually. "You fight for a world that has already been judged. You think you could prevent disaster?" He laughed softly, shaking his head. "No one can."
Nathaniel ignored him, focusing on Lucien. One last pull. He grunted, using all his strength—
And then it happened.
A sound unlike anything they had ever heard.
The Seven Thunders spoke.
The air rippled with an unseen force. The ruins of Babylon shook violently. Even Rahim's smirk faltered as the sound reverberated through reality itself.
Nathaniel barely had time to react before his mind was flooded with something beyond words. A voice—no, voices. Layered, ancient, each speaking in strange language.
His vision split apart.
---
The Vision
Nathaniel saw seven scrolls, each unfurling before him. But the words—they burned. He tried to read them, but his eyes couldn't hold the knowledge. It was forbidden.
A city of gold, crumbling into fire.
A woman crowned with twelve stars, weeping blood.
A beast with many heads, devouring the nations.
The sky itself fracturing, revealing something beyond.
And then—
A name.
A name whispered by the thunders.
The name that started it all.
Nathaniel gasped as he was yanked back into reality, collapsing onto the rubble.
His hands were trembling. His heart hammering.
Leah was at his side in an instant. "Nathaniel! What happened?"
He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. The words—the prophecy—were sealed within him.
Because no one was allowed to speak what the Seven Thunders had revealed.
Not even him.
---
Rahim's Revelation – 2:33 A.M.
Rahim watched Nathaniel with something between fascination and amusement. "Ah," he mused. "So you heard them."
Nathaniel's gaze snapped up. His breath was still ragged, but his grip on reality was returning. "You knew this would happen."
Rahim nodded. "Of course." He stepped forward, kneeling beside Nathaniel like an old friend. "The Thunders are not prophecy. They are correction. They rewrite what has been written. And you, my dear Nathaniel, are now their vessel."
Nathaniel's blood ran cold.
Leah stood, drawing her pistol. "Back away from him, Rahim."
Rahim sighed. "Such hostility." He looked at Nathaniel again. "You don't understand yet, do you? The reason I released the Four Angels wasn't to bring about destruction."
Nathaniel forced himself to his feet. "Then what was it for?"
Rahim's golden eyes glowed.
"To undo the end."
Silence.
Even Lucien, who was still catching his breath, froze.
Rahim tilted his head. "You assume I seek to bring about Revelation. But what if I told you it has already happened?"
Nathaniel's heart pounded. "That's impossible."
Rahim smirked. "Is it?" He extended a hand toward the ruins around them. "Look around, Nathaniel. The seals were broken long ago. The Beast has already risen. The nations are already drunk on the Whore of Babylon's wine."
Leah's grip tightened on her gun. "Then what do you want?"
Rahim's gaze darkened.
"I want to rewrite the prophecy."
Nathaniel's breath caught in his throat. "You're insane."
Rahim exhaled, almost disappointed. "And yet the Thunders spoke to you. Do you think that was a coincidence?"
Nathaniel's pulse pounded in his ears.
He had to get out of here.
Now.
---
The Sky Fractures – 2:37 A.M.
A sudden boom shook the heavens.
Nathaniel's gaze snapped upward. The sky—it was cracking.
Like glass.
Light spilled through the fractures, not the warm glow of dawn but something colder—brighter than the sun yet void of warmth.
Lucien scrambled back. "Okay, that is definitely not normal."
Leah shielded her eyes. "What the hell is happening?"
Rahim simply smiled. "The Seventh Trumpet."
The cracks widened.
And from beyond them, something stirred.