She stood like a storm held together by flesh.
Not tall, not loud—but the energy rolling off her was unreal. Her hair crackled with strands of silver and blue lightning, her eyes glowing violet like starlight reflected in water. The air bent around her, as if nature couldn't decide whether to fear or worship her.
Silas picked himself out of the rubble, blood leaking from his nose.
"You weren't in the prophecy," he spat.
She stepped forward, not running—floating.
"I was born outside it," she said calmly. "A secret seed planted where none of you looked. While gods fought over him, I was raised in silence."
Her gaze flicked to me. "By a mother who hid her pain. And a father who never spoke of the war he started."
I staggered up, holding my ribs. "Who the hell are you?"
She turned to me, voice softer. "Your sister. Aeris."
The name hit something deep in my chest.
A memory I didn't know I had.
A laugh. A lullaby in thunder.
A face I couldn't remember… and yet somehow knew.
Silas didn't wait.
His chains hissed through the air, forming a spinning cage of death. With a snarl, he shot them toward her—faster than thought.
Aeris raised one hand.
The chains struck an invisible wall of lightning and snapped back like broken whips. Electricity arced through the sky, flashing across the mountaintop.
Silas blinked, confused.
Aeris vanished.
She reappeared behind him mid-air, heel crashing down on his shoulder like thunder from heaven.
BOOM.
The mountain cracked. Silas slammed into the rock, a crater exploding beneath him. He rolled, coughing, one arm dislocated.
"Enough tricks," he growled.
Black mist poured from his mouth. His eyes turned pitch-dark.
"I serve death itself. You can't touch me in the shadows."
He sank into the earth, vanishing into black fog.
Aeris stood still. "Wrong again."
She raised her fingers.
The sky split open.
From the clouds descended a spear—forged of stormlight and wrapped in golden runes. She caught it mid-fall and slammed it into the ground.
A pulse tore through the entire mountain range.
The fog screamed.
Silas was flung out of the shadows, body twitching.
"What… is that?" he gasped.
She stepped forward.
"A gift from Mother. Crafted by Father. It has no name—only purpose."
She spun the spear and pointed it at him.
"That purpose is you."
Silas growled, rising again. His body leaked dark energy now, like he'd cracked open a well of rot inside him.
"You think two of you can stop me?"
I wiped blood from my mouth, stood next to her. "We don't think. We know."
He raised his hand, chains dancing.
"You're nothing but the mistakes of gods!"
"Then let's see what happens," I muttered, "when mistakes fight back."
We charged.
I came from the right, blade slashing in wide arcs. Aeris surged from the left, spear glowing brighter than the sun.
Silas blocked my strike with one chain, parried her spear with another. He spun, using momentum, and launched a barrage of tendrils from his back.
I ducked. Aeris twirled through them like wind through trees.
I slashed low—cutting his thigh.
Aeris stabbed upward—piercing his shoulder.
Silas screamed, but instead of falling, his chest opened.
Literally.
A gate of bone and teeth spread from his ribcage—and from it came a beast.
A thing with ten arms, twelve eyes, skin made of screaming faces.
"What the hell is that?!" I shouted.
Aeris spun her spear. "Erethon's gift. He's fused himself with a deathspawn."
The beast roared. The scream was enough to crack stone.
It rushed us.
I met its claws head-on, sword spinning, ducking, slashing. The creature was fast—every limb a blade, every shriek a weapon.
Aeris leapt overhead, lightning crashing from her spear. She struck the beast in the center—but its skin was like armor. The spear bounced.
It punched her mid-air.
She flew back, smashing into a rock outcrop.
"Aeris!"
The creature came for me next.
I screamed, slamming my sword into the ground.
The divine crown on my head pulsed.
Three pillars of light rose from the earth, forming a triangle around the beast.
It froze, twitching, confused.
"Divine Seal," I muttered.
I didn't even know how I knew it. But the forge... it had given me knowledge I wasn't supposed to have.
I raised both hands.
Power surged from my body—not clean, not stable, but wild.
I roared.
And the seal exploded.
The creature was caught in the blast—body ripping apart mid-air in a swirl of black mist and fire.
Silas stumbled out of the smoke, wounded, screaming.
"You'll burn for this! You don't know what you've awoken!"
I stalked toward him.
He backed away, limping. "The gods won't let you live. You're the end of their rule. You're the harbinger."
I raised my sword. "Good."
Aeris landed beside me, her spear crackling.
But Silas… laughed.
His skin turned black.
Chains snapped around his own throat.
He whispered something in a language I didn't know.
Then—
He exploded into mist and bone.
The wind died again.
Aeris frowned. "He escaped."
"No," I muttered. "He sacrificed his body. Went deeper. Hiding in the death realms."
A beat of silence.
Then Aeris turned to me, serious.
"We need to leave."
"Where?"
"To the Temple of Twins. It's where we were born. It's the only place left that holds the truth."
I nodded slowly.
But before we left, I looked up at the shattered sky.
Somewhere above, in that realm of gods and monsters...
They were watching.
And we had just made our first move.