The world changed when they stepped through the veil Selene opened.
One moment they were inside a crumbling cathedral surrounded by blood and shadows—then they were standing in a place that shouldn't exist.
A floating garden, suspended in the sky, wrapped in silver mist and ancient silence. Towering obsidian trees stretched toward a lavender sky, and petals glowed faintly under their boots like bioluminescent stars. The air was heavy with magic, and time felt... slower.
Lucien whistled low. "Okay, I'll bite. Did we die and go to a really aesthetic hell?"
"No," Selene said without turning. "This is the Garden of the Oracle. One of the last neutral places left between realms. No gods, no demons. Only memory."
Cain's hand hovered near his blade. "Then why bring us here?"
"Because your real story started here," Selene replied. "And the Oracle is the only one left who remembers it."
From the heart of the garden, a soft hum began to rise. A sound like a lullaby sung by someone centuries old. And then, through the flowers and fog, she emerged.
The Oracle.
She didn't walk—she floated—her long white hair trailing behind her like threads of fate. Her eyes were blindfolded with a strip of shadow, yet she moved like she could see every soul ever born. She had no wings, no crown, no weapons. Just presence. An overwhelming sense of knowing.
"You have returned," she said, her voice like wind through reeds. "Three pieces of a cursed soul."
Ayden's brows furrowed. "You know us?"
"I knew you before you knew yourselves," the Oracle said gently. "Cain, Ayden, Lucien… or, as you were first named—Asmodiel, Velthros, and Kainar."
Lucien blinked. "The hell are those?"
"Your original names," the Oracle said. "When your soul was whole. Before it shattered across time and rebirth."
Cain stepped forward. "We've heard pieces. Whispers. Show us everything. Who we were. Who our father really was."
The Oracle raised her hand, and the garden responded. The flowers bent backward, revealing a glowing pool beneath the ground, smooth like glass.
"Then look," she whispered.
Each of the brothers stepped to the edge—and the water pulled them in.
They saw a kingdom made of starlight and flame. A world not like their own. Floating cities. Blood moons. Magic that shaped entire continents. And in the center of it all—a throne carved from the bones of fallen gods.
Sitting on it: the Devil King. Their father. But not the monster they'd imagined.
He was… young. Barely older than Cain now. Eyes full of grief and fury. Wearing the same cursed sword Cain carried now.
He ruled a world built from pain. And standing beside him were three souls. Three generals. His sons. Loyal. Brutal. Loved.
One bore Cain's fire. One had Ayden's fury. One had Lucien's charm.
Then betrayal.
The gods came, not to destroy the Devil—but to seal him. They feared killing him would fracture reality itself. So they tricked the sons. Lied to them. Told them their father had already turned.
And they believed.
Lucien saw himself raise a blade.
Ayden screamed in disbelief.
Cain—Asmodiel—delivered the final blow.
A shattering scream echoed through the memory as the Devil King fell. Not in rage. But in heartbreak.
The moment he died, the world cracked—and the sons were cursed to reincarnate endlessly, always seeking what they destroyed.
Cain gasped and ripped himself from the vision, falling to his knees beside the glowing pool. Ayden was shaking. Lucien stood frozen, jaw clenched.
Selene knelt beside Cain. "Do you understand now?"
"We… we killed him," Cain whispered. "We killed our father before he became the Devil."
"No," the Oracle said, stepping close. "You killed him because you believed he already was."
"And now?" Lucien rasped. "What now?"
The Oracle turned, and her voice dropped lower. "Now… you must decide whether to break the curse or fulfill it."
Ayden stood, fists tight. "And what happens if we refuse both?"
"Then the Eye will awaken fully. And he—your father—will return in you, Cain. Not as the man he was, but the monster the world believes him to be."
Cain looked down at his hands, fire curling at his fingertips. "So either I become him… or end him again."
Selene nodded. "Unless… you change the story."
Lucien lifted a brow. "Rewrite a prophecy?"
"No," the Oracle said. "Burn the book it was written in."
Suddenly, the garden shuddered.
A pulse of dark energy tore through the trees. The Eye was calling. It had sensed the truth—and it hungered.
"Time's up," Selene said, wings flaring. "Whatever choice you make… you'll have to make it while fighting."
Cain stood slowly, his brothers behind him.
"Then we go home."
Far beyond the garden, in the ruins of the Black Citadel, a boy with silver hair opened his eyes.
Not just any boy.
The final shard of the Devil's soul.
The one the gods forgot.
And he was smiling.