The journey to the Temple wasn't just hard.
It was cursed.
We traveled through the Obsidian Wastes, where the stars didn't shine and the sand whispered secrets we weren't supposed to hear. Aeris led the way, her lightning occasionally flaring to keep the shadows back. I followed close, sword drawn, every step feeling heavier than the last.
My divine blood stirred restlessly.
Something was pulling us forward. Not just the temple.
Memories.
Buried ones.
"They'll come for us soon," Aeris said without turning around.
"They already have," I muttered. "Silas won't stay hidden long. And the gods won't forgive what we did to Auron."
"Good," she said simply.
Hours passed.
Then we saw it.
A massive doorway carved into a cliff of black crystal. Twin statues stood beside it — one wielding a sword of light, the other a spear of storm.
They were us.
Literal statues of Aeris and me, older versions, crowned and armored like rulers of a forgotten age.
I frowned. "What is this place, really?"
Aeris placed her palm on the door.
"It's not just a temple. It's a tomb."
The gates opened with a low groan.
Inside, the air changed.
Not cold.
Still.
No dust. No insects. Just silence — thick, heavy silence like we were walking into a place time had abandoned.
Carvings lined the walls.
Images of gods falling.
Of mortals rising.
Of a man with burning eyes standing between two thrones — one of flame, one of thunder.
"That's Father," Aeris said quietly.
"And her?" I pointed to a woman with silver hair, wrapped in stars and shadow.
"Our mother," she whispered. "Goddess of forbidden knowledge."
We walked deeper until we reached the heart of the temple.
A chamber shaped like an eye.
And in the center — a mirror.
Tall. Black. Rimmed with divine symbols.
"This is the Mirror of Roots," Aeris said. "It shows you the blood that birthed you. Not just the names… but the sins."
I hesitated.
Then stepped forward.
The mirror shifted.
A face appeared.
My face.
But older. Crowned in flame and shadow. Surrounded by ruin.
Then the image changed.
A battle in the heavens.
My mother — standing alone against the Conclave, torn and bleeding, but still casting spells that shattered dimensions.
My father — cleaving gods in half with a blade made of time.
Then I saw me, as a baby, wrapped in chains, handed off to a cloaked figure.
A voice echoed in my skull.
"To protect the world, we must give up the world. Our son must never know who he is until it's too late to stop it."
The mirror shattered.
I fell to my knees, gasping.
My vision blurred with pain and clarity.
Everything was real now.
No more doubts.
I wasn't just the son of gods.
I was the last weapon they made to destroy the entire divine order.
"They made me to end the gods," I said aloud.
Aeris nodded. "And I was made to make sure you don't lose yourself doing it."
Before I could reply—
The ceiling exploded.
A figure dropped through the roof like a meteor.
Dust and stone scattered.
We stepped back, weapons ready.
When the smoke cleared, she stood tall.
Clad in robes of silver feathers. Her face covered with a mask of pearl and bone. A massive scythe hovered behind her, spinning slowly.
A symbol burned on her chest — a single glowing teardrop.
Aeris tensed. "No..."
I turned to her. "Who is she?"
Aeris' voice dropped to a whisper. "Naelith. The Tear of the Skies. She's the Conclave's last resort. When the gods want something erased completely… they send her."
Naelith floated slightly above the ground, untouched by gravity.
She spoke, voice cold as icewater.
"You should not exist. Either of you."
Then she raised her hand.
The scythe spun once — and time froze.
Again.
Aeris stood still, eyes locked mid-move.
Even the dust in the air stopped.
I was the only one moving.
Why?
The crown on my head glowed faintly.
Not with power.
With warning.
Naelith stepped forward. "You are an anomaly. A corruption of fate. Your blood disrupts all timelines."
Her eyes burned through the mask. "But even fate bends to my will."
She raised her hand again.
The scythe began to hum.
I swung my sword.
It moved like it was trapped in glue. Each motion took a lifetime. She saw every one before it happened.
Naelith flicked her wrist.
The air cracked — and I flew backward, body screaming with pain.
She appeared above me instantly, scythe coming down.
I blocked.
The impact blasted the chamber apart.
Walls shattered. Pillars collapsed.
The temple groaned under the weight of divine battle.
Aeris broke free of the time lock.
Her spear flashed — lightning struck.
Naelith didn't even flinch.
She twisted, redirecting the bolt with her bare hand, then slashed at Aeris with a wave of energy that carved through solid stone.
I dove, pulling Aeris out of the blast zone.
We landed hard.
"She's not a god," I muttered.
"No," Aeris replied, eyes fierce. "She's worse. She's what gods made to kill each other."
Naelith rose again.
Her voice echoed across the chamber.
"You do not deserve last words."
Her scythe lit up.
The entire temple collapsed inward — folding reality like a page torn from a book.
Then I saw it — her power wasn't just strength or speed.
She was erasing space.
The entire battlefield was shrinking into nothingness.
"She's deleting the zone," Aeris gasped.
I looked at the ground.
We were standing on the mirror's shards.
And I got an idea.
A stupid one.
"Cover me."
Aeris didn't question it.
She launched into the air, spinning her spear, launching lightning in every direction. It lit up the ruins, crackling across Naelith's mask. The assassin raised her scythe to block—
And that's when I moved.
I grabbed a shard of the divine mirror.
Sliced open my palm.
Blood hit the mirror surface—and the symbols lit up.
The shard screamed.
It pulsed with a light not of this world.
A voice echoed in my head again.
"You carry the truth. Wield it."
I stood, clutching the mirror shard like a dagger.
Naelith turned toward me, annoyed.
She dove down, scythe-first.
I didn't block this time.
I met her.
Her scythe came crashing down—right into the shard.
It shattered.
So did her blade.
Naelith's body flared with divine backlash, spiraling through the air like a comet.
She crashed through the temple wall.
I stood there, blood dripping, the broken shard glowing in my chest like an embedded gem.
Aeris landed beside me.
"Is she dead?"
"No," I said, breathing hard. "But she won't risk fighting again without reforging her blade."
The temple cracked again. The collapse was getting worse.
We ran.
Out into the night, panting, broken, alive.
And more dangerous than ever.
Behind us, the Temple of Twins crumbled into the sands — but the truth was now inside us.
And the gods?
They had just run out of safe options.