Chapter 7
The sky churned like a boiling ocean, dark clouds folding into themselves. Below, the land bore the scars of divine conflict craters stretched for miles, shattered mountains bled molten stone.
A god with flaming wings hovered in the air, arms crossed, smirking.
> "This is the one they fear? Zereth Kaine? The so-called Void Sovereign? Where's the fury? Where's the terror?"
Another joined in, a tall one draped in chains of light.
> "He looks human. Fragile. Diminished. The myths must've been exaggerated."
The crowd mortals, lesser spirits, even demi-gods whispered, confused.
> "Is that really him?"
"He… doesn't look like a god."
"Wait… I've seen this before. In the eastern war he stood still while stars fell, and not a scratch touched him..."
But their voices were swallowed by the booming laughter of the gods above.
> "Bow, relic. Your time is over."
Zereth Kaine stood at the edge of a broken cliff. Black hair untouched by the storm, clothes clean despite the destruction around him. He raised his eyes sharp, ancient, bored.
He didn't reply. He didn't need to.
A gust of wind passed.
The laughing god blinked. His wings ignited themselves, feathers burning into ash.
> "W-what...?"
Another took a step back, trembling.
> "W-why… why can't I move?"
Zereth finally opened his mouth calm, but impossibly cold.
> "You speak like you understand power. You mock what you cannot fathom."
The ground trembled with every syllable.
> "You stand before me and measure yourself with broken scales. But know this…"
He raised his hand just one finger.
> "If I lifted even a finger with intent… you would vanish. Not from this realm, not from existence… but from memory itself. No one would even recall you ever lived."
Gasps. Screams. Silence.
One mortal, frozen in fear, muttered:
> "He's not angry. He's disappointed..."
The mocking gods, once towering, now hovered lower sweat dripping from their brows, unable to breathe right, like the air had betrayed them.
The chains-of-light god clenched his jaw.
> "Y-you're bluffing! You're weakened, hiding behind words!"
Zereth's expression didn't change.
> "Is that what you believe? Then come. Speak one more word… and cease to be."
For a moment, time paused. Even the storm quieted. The gods said nothing.
They couldn't.
---.