The silence of the divine realm was never truly silent.
Above the clouds, where light bent and shimmered unnaturally, where time passed differently and space rippled with holy resonance, Rizz Almaus floated, his wings unfurled—one bathed in divine golden radiance, the other dripping with ethereal shadow.
This realm was called Seraphis Verge, the borderland between the celestial dominion and mortal world. It was a place angels came only when called by higher command—or, in rare cases, when sent on missions few others could survive.
Rizz had come alone.
Not because he chose to. Because the Soul Seal demanded it.
Ever since the encounter with the false archangel in the desert, his powers had not settled. His light had grown stronger, more refined, but his darkness had… deepened. It whispered in his thoughts. It moved in rhythm with his heartbeat. And when he closed his eyes, he didn't just hear it.
He saw others.
Two souls in particular.
One with silver eyes and a mirrored iris.
One with void-dark hair and a burning scar along her wrist.
He didn't know their names. Not yet. But their energy felt like keys—keys to the lock buried deep within his soul.
> "Isaac… Aethra…" the names came unbidden, as though written into his being.
As he descended toward the floating citadel at the heart of Seraphis Verge, Rizz could feel the eyes of the realm watching him.
Guards in radiant armor stood back as he passed, saying nothing, offering only a respectful nod. Not because they respected him—but because they feared what his presence meant.
An angel with a Soul Seal.
A Nephalem with balanced duality.
A divine weapon... with no leash.
He reached the Spire of Ordinance, the temple where divine missions were sealed into angelic commandment.
Inside, a figure awaited him. His father's old rival—Archangel Caelum, one of the High Four, his robe etched with ancient runes of judgment and his six wings folded in a perfect V behind his back.
"You've come," Caelum said without turning.
"I was summoned," Rizz answered.
Caelum turned slowly. His silver eyes narrowed at Rizz's mismatched wings. "You're unstable."
"I'm evolving," Rizz replied evenly.
"Hm." The archangel circled him once, inspecting him like one might examine an incomplete weapon. "Your aura's different than last recorded. Not just divine. Not just demonic. You've touched something older."
Rizz remained silent.
"You purified a Fallen one, didn't you?"
"I did more than that," Rizz said, his voice low. "I resonated. I awoke."
At that, Caelum stopped.
His gaze sharpened. "Then this mission is more urgent than even we thought."
A holographic sigil bloomed between them, spinning with maps, locations, and multiple soul signatures blinking red. At the center: a broken tower deep in the borderlands between realms.
"The Shard of Veritas," Caelum said. "A beacon between worlds. It's been dormant for a thousand years. Until now."
"What changed?"
"A surge. A pulse from the shard, reaching not just across this world, but into others. It connected three signatures—yours, and two unknowns."
"Isaac and Aethra," Rizz whispered.
Caelum tilted his head. "You know them?"
"I feel them."
"Then perhaps fate isn't as blind as it pretends to be," Caelum muttered. He waved his hand, and the sigil focused in on a trio of interlocking glyphs—light, shadow, and mirror.
Rizz reached out and touched the glyphs. As he did, the room around them darkened, revealing a spectral vision.
Isaac—walking out of a containment seal, silver fire flickering in his eye.
Aethra—standing in a broken cityscape, eyes glowing with voidlight and starlit defiance.
Rizz—his own reflection hovering above the two, wings spreading across the skies.
The glyphs pulsed once.
And then shattered.
The room snapped back to light.
"What does this mean?" Rizz asked.
Caelum's answer came slowly. "Three souls born of disruption. Three fates mirrored across planes. You are not enemies. But the world might make you so."
He turned away.
"Go. Find the shard. Find them. And whatever you do, Rizz…"
He looked back with rare solemnity.
"…don't let the world decide who you are. Or you'll become what we once feared you'd be."
Rizz clenched his fists, a new resolve forming.
"I won't let fate choose for me," he said. "This time, I'll choose my own side."
And with that, he turned.
His wings spread, his seal pulsed.
And as he launched skyward, a whisper echoed from the soulthread he didn't know he had:
> "We're waiting, Rizz…"
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