Chapter 6
> "The higher you rise, the more ancient eyes begin to turn your way."
The silence after Zereth Kaine's decree lingers longer than any storm or scream.
Far beyond the fractured skies of the Divine Battleground, the Realm of Skyreach—home to the proud Celestial Pantheon—quakes beneath its own weight. The gods once worshipped as ultimate forces now sit in uneasy quiet, their thrones colder, their pride broken.
But not all gods bowed.
Not all realms stood revealed.
And far beneath the stars… the forgotten begin to stir.
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The Awakening Begins
In the deepest voids of reality, a realm long thought sealed begins to breathe once more.
Abyssoth—the Forsaken Realm.
A land of darkness, of discarded gods and unspoken truths.
From it, a shrouded emissary steps into the world of the living. He carries no blade, no weapon—only a whisper.
> "He has awakened. And the Unseen Sovereign walks once more."
Those who hear it... fall to their knees.
Not from worship.
But because their bodies forget how to stand.
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The Blind Seeress Appears
In a quiet, decaying shrine where even gods dare not tread, a mortal woman lights a silver flame.
Her name: Seris Vael.
Blind. Marked. Cursed by sight and gifted with the ability to see what others fear to believe.
> "The world isn't afraid of Zereth Kaine. It's afraid of what follows after him."
She holds a silver relic, etched with a forgotten language—Zereth's true name in the tongue of the First Flame.
She does not seek to worship him…
She seeks to warn him.
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The Aura That Defies Reality
Beneath the remains of a shattered world tree its branches once touching realms divine and demonic Zereth Kaine sits.
He does not meditate. He does not move.
He simply is.
And yet, aura forms around him like a maelstrom.
Black lightning coils along his arms.
The ground hardens, mountains quake, and the air itself screams to be still.
He is not farming aura.
> The aura is farming him.
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The First Challenger Emerges
Far above, in the Council of the Veiled Circle gods whose names haven't been uttered since the First Collapse—panic brews.
They send their enforcer.
> Valgoron, the God of Cataclysm.
A walking calamity.
His fists are forged from collapsing stars.
His presence alone ends civilizations.
He believes Zereth is bluffing. That the Sovereign is weakened. Afraid. Hesitating.
He descends from the sky like a burning meteor…
...and the heavens hold their breath.
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Zereth's Eyes Open
For the first time since the day the gods fell, Zereth Kaine opens his eyes.
And with a single breathless whisper:
> "You will kneel."
The skies split.
A black ring expands across the realm.
Sound disappears.
Time forgets its direction.
And Valgoron, who thought himself divine trembles.
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