"The gods forged the thrones to last until the end of time. But time has a habit of bending… especially when a forgotten god begins torise."
Up in the Upper Realms — past the Skyfold, beyond the Breathless Stair — alarms sounded in a language older than sound. Glyphs shimmered in divine patterns across the sky, and one by one, the Twelve Thrones of Dominion flared.
Then one cracked.
The sound was like a planet shattering from the inside out.
Solmari, the Warden of Thrones, stood before the Mirror of Unbroken Will. But his reflection was gone. All that stared back at him now… was a ripple of static and a burning spiral.
"Impossible," he murmured. "He's not ready. He shouldn't be able to—"
But denial was a hollow shield. Kael hadn't just taken the Third Fragment — he had fused with his own Wrath. And in doing so, he'd triggered an echo that shouldn't have existed.
Something older than Aeon. Older than the gods.
Solmari turned from the mirror and spoke to the empty throne beside him — the one no god dared sit on.
"It's happening again."
Meanwhile, Kael stepped out of the Hollowed Moon's fracture gate, the remnants of the Citadel of Still Flame collapsing behind him in slow, weightless ruin. Kara was waiting on the other side, bruised, bloodied, but alive.
Ress helped steady her. Shadow runes flickered on his skin, pulsing like a second heartbeat.
Kael's form shimmered as he returned to his mortal state. The weight of Wrath's power still lingered in his bones. Not pain… not quite. But something heavier.
A burden accepted.
"You alright?" Kara asked, brushing dust off her shoulder.
Kael didn't answer right away.
Because he wasn't sure what he was anymore.
Inside his mind, he could still feel the Third Fragment humming. But deeper than that… there was a message. One buried in Wrath's memory. One Aeon himself had sealed away.
Kael sat on a nearby rock, fingers clenching unconsciously.
"I saw something when I fused with him."
Kara knelt beside him. "What did you see?"
Kael's voice was low. Almost reluctant. "A memory I wasn't supposed to have. Aeon—my past self—left it as a failsafe."
He glanced up at the swirling eclipse sky.
"He said: Don't trust the Pantheon. We made them to protect the realms… but they chose to rule instead."
Kara's eyes narrowed. "So the gods are—"
"False kings," Kael finished. "And they're hiding something. The fragments aren't just power. They're keys."
That was what chilled him the most.
Each fragment he recovered didn't just make him stronger. They unlocked. Doors. Memories. Locks inside his own soul that were never meant to be broken again.
What was sealed behind them… wasn't just divine.
It was something more dangerous.
Something primal.
Back in the Celestial Core, the other Thrones stood silent. But one — the Throne of Silence — vibrated, ever so slightly. As if something ancient stirred beneath it.
And far beyond the gods' reach, in the Forgotten Realms — a slumbering entity opened one eye.
Black. Infinite. Curious.
Kael stood up. The silver dust on his shoulders slid off like snow. Kara was watching him, waiting for the next move.
Ress leaned against a rock, staring at his own shadow like it might betray him.
Kael's voice broke the silence. "Where's the fourth fragment?"
Kara reached into her cloak and unwrapped an obsidian shard covered in glowing runes. "Here."
She tossed it to Kael.
The runes burned into his palm as soon as he touched it.
"The fourth Grave isn't in this realm," she said. "It's in the Veiled Path — a realm that doesn't technically exist. A place even gods can't fully perceive."
"Then how do we find it?" Ress asked.
Kael stared into the obsidian shard, and for a moment, he didn't blink.
Because he saw something.
A door made of mirrors.
A lock made of bone.
And a voice whispering from the other side:
"Come home, Kael'thaeon. The others are waking."
[End Of Chapter 15]
And deep beneath the divine realm, something ancient took its first breath in ten thousand years… and remembered Kael's name.
Next Chapter Preview Teaser:
Chapter 16: The Memory Flame
Where gods dare not walk, shadows dance. In a realm unmarked by time, Kael must seek the Fourth Fragment — but to find it, he must surrender one truth… and forget another. And not all memories wish to remain buried.