The skies above the Null Horizon split with golden fire.
In the wake of devastation and loss, Raizen found himself once again staring into the abyss — but this time, something stared back… and reached out. From the edge of nothingness emerged a being long thought erased from existence, a myth whispered in ancient temples and forbidden texts:
Solas the Hollowfire — a Fallen God who once sought to unmake the Crown of Shadows.
The encounter began not with battle, but with light.
Solas descended in silence, cloaked in embers and fractured divinity. His form shifted with each breath, both beautiful and broken — a god who had once defied the throne, and been cast down for it. His wings were torn, his crown shattered, but his eyes burned with clarity.
"You seek to destroy what cannot be destroyed," Solas said."But perhaps... you can understand it."
Raizen did not kneel. But he listened.
Around a flickering fire on a desolate isle where stars refused to shine, Solas told the truth no mortal had yet heard:
The Crown of Shadows was not born of evil, but of desperation — a weapon crafted by gods to bind what they could not kill:A primordial force known only as The Vowless Flame, a sentient hunger that devoured creation.
To contain it, the gods poured their essence into the Crown.
It worked.But it cursed them.
And when mortals found the relic, they mistook it for divinity — never knowing they were chained to something far worse.
Solas had tried to destroy it. Centuries ago, he waged war against his fellow deities, believing that death was better than eternal control. For that heresy, he was cast into the Void, stripped of his rank, and condemned to watch the cycle repeat — again and again.
Now, he saw something different in Raizen.
Not just rebellion.
But resolve.
"The others fear what the Crown can become," Solas said."I fear what it already is. But with you… there is a sliver of choice."
The crew did not trust him. Not fully. A god was still a god, fallen or not.
But Solas offered guidance — not commands. He showed Raizen the Veil Compass, an ancient relic that could chart a course to the heart of the cosmic storm, where the first gods fell and the truth behind the Crown's final purpose still lingered.
There, Raizen would find the Heart of Flame Unnamed — the source of the Vowless Flame.
To stop it, he would need more than strength.
He would need to understand the burden of godhood — and reject it.
As the ship sailed into lightless waters, stars began to blink out above them — one by one. The universe knew what they were doing. And it was afraid.
Raizen stood beside Solas at the bow, wind curling through his hair, the Crown heavy on his brow. There was no triumph in their journey, only truth and the choice that lay ahead.
"If I fall," Raizen said, "what happens then?"Solas, without flinching, replied:"Then I take your place… and burn the world clean."
But Raizen didn't plan to fall.
Not yet.
As the dark swallowed the last flicker of starlight behind them, a new light flickered forward — not divine, not pure… but earned.
The Light of the Fallen would guide him.
And in that glow, Raizen took his next step toward the end.
END OF CHAPTER6