The ash had barely settled when the sky broke.
It wasn't thunder, not even the roar of collapsing stone. It was a sound deeper than the world itself — a cracking, groaning noise like the bones of reality being split open. The clouds above Axis split apart in jagged seams of light, and the air grew heavy, crushing, suffocating.
Lucien's head snapped upward. His chest seized under a pressure that wasn't wind, wasn't weight, but something older, something divine. His sword slipped from his fingers as his knees buckled.
"What… what is this?" Reinhardt gasped, his voice hoarse. His armor rattled against itself as he fought just to stay upright.
Sid stirred faintly where he lay in Lucien's arms. His fractured arm glowed, veins of gold and black running wild beneath his skin. His body convulsed as if something inside him was being ripped apart.
Nox's feathers flared, every plume bristling. His eyes widened, the usual sly calm replaced by rare alarm. "So soon. The gods do not wait. They descend."
The sky tore completely open.
From the rift spilled light so bright it seemed to bleach color from the world. Towns in the distance dimmed to pale outlines, mountains looked like sketches. The ground cracked beneath their feet as if it, too, bowed beneath the new presence.
And then — a figure stepped through.
The god's arrival was not fire, nor storm, but being. He did not glow, yet the air around him shimmered. His face was veiled in radiance, features blurred as if the mortal eye refused to comprehend. A cloak of stars trailed from his shoulders, stretching across the sky. His feet did not touch earth; rather, the earth rose beneath him to offer footing.
Mortals within miles collapsed. Some wept, some screamed, some simply lay still, unable to bear the pressure.
Reinhardt pressed his forehead against the cracked ground, teeth gritted. "A… a god. Here. In flesh."
Lucien's arms trembled, trying to shield Sid even as his lungs felt like they were being squeezed shut. "Why now? Why descend now?"
The god's voice rolled across the battlefield, soft but inescapable, a whisper that became thunder inside their skulls.
"The balance is broken. The vessel stirs. The demon flame breaches its chain. We descend to mend what was severed."
Nox tilted his head, a bitter smile tugging at his beak. "You mend nothing, O Divine. You tear."
The god's unseen gaze turned toward him. For the first time, Nox flinched.
Sid's body convulsed harder, his breath ragged. His daemon core thrashed like a beast in chains. He could feel it even in unconsciousness — something inside him screamed, gnawed, raged.
"Stop it…" he groaned weakly, his voice cracking. His hand clawed at his own chest. "It hurts… it—"
The god's presence pressed tighter. Sid's body arched in agony. Golden light burst from one side of his fractured arm, black flame from the other. The two forces hissed violently against each other, searing the ground where they touched.
Lucien panicked, clutching him. "Sid! Stay with me!"
But Nox spoke grimly, "He cannot. Not while divinity walks here. A mortal body cannot house both demon and god under a god's gaze. He is being torn apart."
The god raised a hand, and space cracked like glass. Shards of nothingness fell upward, vanishing into the rift. His voice deepened.
"Seal the demon core. The vessel cannot remain unbound. If we allow this to continue, all realms collapse."
The words stabbed through the air like verdicts, final and absolute.
Reinhardt, despite the weight crushing him, snarled up at the figure. "You speak of him like he's a tool! He's Sid! He's one of us!"
The god did not answer.
Sid's eyes snapped open. Gold and black fought in his pupils, clashing like storms. His breath came in shallow gasps as he whispered, half-conscious: "They… they know… not just the core… They know what else is inside me."
Lucien froze, gripping his shoulder. "What do you mean?"
Sid's gaze flickered to the sky, as though he could see through the god's veil. "They see it. The spark. The other fire… they know…"
The god's radiance pulsed in silent confirmation.
Nox's feathers shook, scattering ash. His voice was low, unreadable. "So, they've already sensed it. Aureon's spark."
Lucien's heart lurched. "Aureon…? You mean—"
"The Primordial of Eternity," Nox cut him off. "And yes. His essence slumbers in your friend. That is why the gods descend now — not for Ravh'Zereth alone, but for what burns beside it."
Sid screamed, clutching his head as two voices roared in his skull. One, deep and endless, like stone grinding forever: Ravh'Zereth. The other, distant yet clear, like a bell tolling through time itself: Aureon.
The sound of them together nearly split him in half.
Lucien held him tight, shouting over his cries. "Then help him! If you're a god, save him!"
The divine figure gazed down, unmoving. "He cannot remain both. He must be cleaved. Chosen. One flame sealed, one flame spared. That is the law."
"No!" Reinhardt roared, forcing himself upright on shaking legs. "He's fought too long to be carved apart like a beast!"
The god's presence bore down, silencing him with sheer pressure. But Lucien did not stop. His voice cracked with fury and desperation. "He's not a vessel, not a law, not your pawn! He's Sid!"
The god did not reply. Instead, he raised his hand again, and beams of radiant chains began to form, weaving out of the air, arcing down toward Sid's body.
"Run," Nox hissed, "Now!"
Lucien's head whipped toward him. "Run? Against a god?"
"Especially against a god." Nox's eyes flared red. "Their presence here is unstable. They cannot hold themselves fully in this realm without breaking it. If you can flee the radius of their descent, their reach weakens. Move, or Sid is lost before his war even begins."
Lucien clenched his jaw. He glanced at Reinhardt, who was pale and trembling but nodded fiercely.
"On three," Lucien whispered. He pulled Sid tighter against his chest, the boy's body burning like a furnace.
"One…"
The divine chains spiraled closer.
"Two…"
The air screamed as cracks opened across the sky.
"THREE!"
Lucien and Reinhardt surged forward, every muscle screaming under the divine weight. Nox launched upward, scattering shadow-feathers like smoke bombs. The battlefield filled with black mist, buying them a heartbeat.
The god's chains slammed down, searing through the earth, missing Sid by inches.
Lucien ran, Sid's body burning in his arms, Reinhardt shielding his back with ragged roars. Nox streaked overhead, crying out like a warning bell.
Behind them, the god's voice followed, calm but immense, echoing across the fractured world:
"The vessel cannot flee its judgment. Eternity waits."
And as they stumbled away into the cracked ruins, Sid's half-conscious whisper rasped in Lucien's ear:
"They… they know everything… Aureon… Ravh'Zereth… both inside me… I… I don't know if I'm even me anymore…"
Lucien tightened his grip, refusing to falter. "You're Sid. You're my brother. And as long as I breathe, no god will take that away."
Above, the rift widened. More light poured down, more voices gathering. The descent had only just begun.
The war of forgotten gods was no longer coming.
It was here.