Terror was written in Rivhiamë's eyes.
She shook Niyus frantically, hoping, praying that he would open his eyes, speak to her again. But no. His gaze was black, emptied of all life-as if he were completely dead.
Tears streamed down Rivhiamë's cheeks. Weak, desperate, broken by the sight, she whispered in a strangled voice:
- Why... why protect me? I'm just a mere demon... I didn't deserve this...
Standing not far from her, Zramë watched the scene. Impassive. Silent.
Torn apart by pain, Rivhiamë continued to call Niyus with all her strength, screaming his name, still hoping for a sign, a miracle. But his eyes remained empty, extinguished.
Was he really dead?
Was there no hope left?
No... no... she repeated to herself, refusing to accept the unacceptable.
The sky, echoing her distress, rumbled. A violent storm broke out, rain falling again with rage.
In a cold tone, Zramë broke the silence:
- The rain has returned to normal... just like the natural course of things.
He crossed his arms behind his back, slowly turned away, and walked off, leaving behind the macabre scene he himself had orchestrated.
Rivhiamë stood frozen, disoriented, unable to move.
Then suddenly, a sneeze made her jump.
She turned sharply.
It was Niyus.
He was not completely dead.
Zramë, too, had heard. He stopped, back turned, alert to any sound.
- Niyus... Niyus... you're still alive?! Rivhiamë cried out.
But Niyus's gaze remained empty. His body was cold.
Were these really his last moments?
Was he about to fade away forever?
Weakly, in a breath:
- Rivhiamë... why... why are you still here? You must flee...
Zramë gave a cruel smile and mockingly said:
- It's clear you won't survive, poor thing.
Without waiting, he looked up to the sky and snapped his fingers.
This snap was no accident: it was a signal.
Immediately, the gods, suspended until then in the heavens, sprang into action.
Chaos erupted.
Explosions thundered everywhere, fires ravaged the earth, screams of agony pierced the air.
The world plunged into destruction.
And amid this cataclysm, Rivhiamë remained motionless, clutching Niyus's cold body against her.
Even the end of the world no longer frightened her. She wanted to die here, with him, hoping to join his soul in the beyond.
Her tears had calmed; a gentle smile formed on her face, lost in the memories she cherished with him.
Then, like a spark in the darkness, she remembered.
A phrase, an echo from the past, resonated in her mind:
"Live for both of us..."
These words swept through her soul like a burning wave.
Her eyes lit up, filled with new determination.
She whispered:
- Live for both of us...
Looking at Niyus tenderly, she affirmed:
- Not all is lost yet!
Niyus was still breathing... weakly, very weakly.
Then Rivhiamë closed her eyes.
A blinding white light enveloped them both.
Then the world tilted.
---
Niyus opened his eyes.
He stood naked, alone in infinite nothingness.
- Where am I? he asked, voice trembling.
- Am I dead?
Suddenly, Rivhiamë appeared before him.
She too was naked, her white hair flowing like silver waves, her red eyes shining with a soft light, and a soothing smile illuminated her face.
She approached slowly, gently rested her head against Niyus's chest, and whispered:
- Until we meet again...
Their bodies began to merge into pure light.
Then nothing.
---
In reality.
Niyus suddenly opened his eyes.
He sat up hastily, gasping, looking around.
The rain was still falling.
Chaos reigned.
The universe was collapsing.
He sighed, then stood up, still dizzy.
Suddenly, he froze.
Looking at himself, he realized with astonishment: he had no wounds left.
His body was intact.
Only his clothes, in tatters, still betrayed the violence he had endured.
- How is this possible? he whispered.
And inwardly, he called:
(Rivhiamë?!)
Niyus looked around, bewildered.
Flames devoured the horizon, the earth split into wide chasms, and above, lightning-riven skies bled torrents of reddish light. The gods, figures of shadows and flashes, unleashed their fury, dancing in the apocalypse they had triggered.
Yet, amid this chaos, Niyus felt a strange serenity, as if a warm breath protected him from everything. He placed his hand on his heart and felt something beating. Not just his heart... something else, vibrant, alive.
- Rivhiamë..., he whispered.
He understood then. She was there, within him.
Zramë, farther away, suddenly stopped, struck by a bad premonition.
He slowly turned, his cold eyes falling on Niyus, who stood upright, alive and bathed in a pale light that neither ashes nor black rain could tarnish.
Zramë, in a dry tone:
- Impossible...
Around them, the gods halted their attacks, intrigued. Even the lightning seemed to freeze mid-sky, petrified by the incongruity of the scene.
Niyus stepped forward.
His gaze was no longer empty or weak. It burned with a new strength-a calm, deep force, like an ocean that had learned to contain its storms.
Then a gentle, warm inner voice echoed in his mind:
"Don't forget... live for both of us."
The world seemed to bend to this whisper.
Winds swirled around Niyus, the rain parted from him, and even the ashes hesitated to touch him.
Zramë stepped back, wary:
- You're not supposed to exist anymore…! Your flame was meant to be extinguished!
Niyus closed his eyes briefly, and when he reopened them, two scarlet flames shone deep within his pupils.
He had not just come back to life. He had mentally transcended what he was.
Without a word, Niyus raised his hand.
A white light burst from his palm, pure and gentle, sweeping the air around him, forcing the gods to retreat.
The ground beneath his feet reformed. The earth's wounds healed under his step.
Zramë gritted his teeth, furious.
He made a sudden move, summoning a black spear that shot toward Niyus, swift as death.
But Niyus simply looked up at it.
The spear shattered into a thousand particles of light before even reaching him.
A stunned silence fell over the field of ruins.
All eyes fixed on this resurrected being, this impossible survivor.
Niyus murmured:
- It's not over... I am here... for Rivhiamë... for all you have broken...
His gaze settled on Zramë.
He advanced, slowly, without haste, with the quiet power of an inevitable storm.
And far behind him, in the skies, a white form appeared-a feminine silhouette, ethereal, luminous, gazing down tenderly on him.
A soft voice cut through the torn air like a breeze over a field of ashes.
- Don't overdo it, said the white silhouette. You're still not strong enough to defeat him… Especially since by merging your existence with Rivhiamë's, you have become weaker.
Niyus's eyes widened, stunned, and he whispered:
- Mü... Mü Thanatos?!
Indeed, it was her.
Barefoot on the ravaged earth, Mü Thanatos walked slowly.
Her mere presence made the gods shudder.
Under the pouring rain, her slender pale body seemed almost unreal; her piercing red eyes, like bottomless abysses, were enough to chill divine souls.
Zramë stepped back involuntarily, exhaling incredulously:
- How is this possible...?
Mü Thanatos advanced without haste, passing Niyus, still petrified by surprise.
Her voice, devoid of emotion, snapped through the air:
- Zramë. You are truly stubborn. Must I repeat myself how many times?
Then suddenly, she cast a cold look, as sharp as a blade of truth:
- You have no right to destroy my creation!
A murmur of panic ran through the gods gathered in the heavens.
One of them, braving the fear, shouted:
- By Ares's will, your presence should be destroyed if you oppose our work!
Mü Thanatos burst out a brief, cruel laugh.
- What? You will destroy me if I stop you from annihilating what belongs to me? What a farce.
Zramë, voice harder:
- Doesn't the death of your black angel affect you?
Mü Thanatos, in a distant tone:
- Allow me to answer with another question: what business is it of yours?
Zramë growled, offended.
But Mü Thanatos continued, unshaken:
- Ares was cursed by Ñout. He regretted his actions... He apologized, nonetheless. If you don't want to end up like him-and all the gods who followed-you should stop immediately.
Zramë shouted, outraged:
- That's absurd! Ares would never apologize!
Mü Thanatos shrugged and simply replied:
- Yet...
She then addressed all:
- I forgive you for what you have done to my creation. And I ask you now to leave peacefully.
But another god shouted from the troubled clouds:
- We don't believe you!
Mü Thanatos sighed, weary:
- What a pain... Do you really think gods can lie?
The god replied:
- Certainly not. But they can distort the truth.
A sad smile slipped over Mü Thanatos's pale lips.
- Very well... she murmured. So what do you intend to do?
Answers flew, fierce, sharp:
- It's obvious...
- We will attack and defeat you!
- We bear Zeus's authority: we can ignore the logic of states of existence against you!
Mü Thanatos slightly tilted her head, as if tired of childish quarrels.
- You're really considering fighting a god... as gods? It's forbidden, you know.
Zramë roared, raising his crackling sword:
- So what? LET'S GO!!!
The sky darkened suddenly.
The earth screamed under the assault.
Thousands of deities, in a chaos of light and screams, descended upon Mü Thanatos.
She remained impassive.
With cold eyes, she simply extended her hand before her.
Her voice, this time, became an almost sad whisper:
- What a pity...
With a fluid gesture, Mü Thanatos pierced space itself.
A drop of black blood, thick and gravitational, fell into the void.
She pronounced in an unyielding voice:
- Voracity.
Then the unthinkable happened.
A force of absorption, beyond any physical or metaphysical definition, unleashed.
The black drop exploded into a transcendent void-a hole of annihilation beyond narrative realities, existential foundations, conceptual states, and the laws of worlds.
Mü Thanatos's Voracity spread like a black tide from before the ages.
It devoured not only the gods:
it consumed everything that made them what they were.
Their powers woven into the very veins of reality, capable of bending dimensions and standing outside the flow of worlds,
were sucked in, dissolved without a trace.
Their existences, built on infinite layers of broken causality, unalterable narratives, pure abstractions,
were swallowed, as if someone had blown on the dust of a dead star.
The Voracity dug deep into their foundations,
devouring not only their souls and stories,
but also the invisible roots where clung their immortality, divinity, cosmic authority.
What made them inaccessible to ordinary laws,
what allowed them to reign above life, time, and even nothingness-
all that was torn away, erased, like a dream collapsing upon waking.
The gods' screams were lost in a night without memory.
Their brilliant figures dulled, then disintegrated without sparkle, without ashes,
as if they had never been woven into the very fabric of existence.
When the last trace of their being disappeared,
nothing remained.
Even the idea of their passage seemed to have been sucked away,
leaving behind Mü Thanatos a poorer, quieter world-
a world emptied of a part of itself it no longer even had the capacity to regret.
Calm, Mü Thanatos lowered her hand.
She looked at the empty heavens with a neutral eye.
Mü Thanatos stood, gaze lost toward the forgotten sky.
In her heart, a mixture of regret and relief silently wrestled.
A shiver ran down her spine, strange, unprecedented.
"So... this is... killing, destroying...," she thought inwardly.
It was the first time she plunged her hands into total annihilation.
And this new feeling seemed almost too vast for her own being.
Behind her, Niyus remained frozen, incapable of any movement.
He had seen the unthinkable: Mü Thanatos erase with a gesture gods so powerful that one of them, Zramë, had nearly annihilated him.
Faced with this force that abolished all existence effortlessly, he could not suppress a dull terror.
And, in the oppressive silence, he wondered if his turn had come now.
Without turning, Mü Thanatos spoke in a soft, distant voice:
- Are you afraid of me?
- Do you think I will kill you too?
Niyus jumped.
Hesitating, he raised his eyes to her.
And he was seized.
Mü Thanatos's gaze was neither cruel nor merciful.
It was a fusion of incomprehension, coldness, danger-and yet within it shone a captivating beauty, a light so pure it became almost unbearable.
A brilliance nourished mutually by terror and admiration.
Swallowing, Niyus lowered his eyes.
Then, gathering his courage, he bowed deeply as a sign of respect.
- I am... very impressed by your power and grace, he said in a trembling voice.
- And I am infinitely honored to be your creation.
Mü Thanatos remained still for a moment, troubled.
As a goddess, she had never seen one of her children address her with such words.
She looked deeper into Niyus.
She felt that strange pride emanating from him-a sincere, almost proud gratitude to have been born of her.
Without a word, she turned on her heels and walked away.
Her steps were heavy with a weighty silence, as if the world held its breath at her passing.
As she gradually disappeared into the rainy darkness, Mü Thanatos softly murmured:
- From now on... I will be sealed.
- Thank you for honoring me, at least once.
Then her shadow melted into the pouring rain.
Niyus remained alone, still bowed in his reverence.
He slowly raised his head, rain streaming down his face.
- Sealed, she said...? he murmured, incomprehension painted on his features.
And only the sound of the rain, heavy and endless, answered him.