The wind brushed through the meadow, carrying the scent of distant rain and blooming wildflowers. The sky above was a perfect blue not like Earth's sky, but something purer, clearer, as if it had been painted by a god who loved peace more than perfection.
Elias sat in the grass, motionless, his mind still caught between disbelief and awe. The stranger's words echoed in his skull. You died… but your purpose is only beginning.
He looked at his hands steady, alive, though his heart no longer beat. The grass felt soft beneath his fingers. Everything was real, too real to be a dream.
Finally, his voice trembled out. "Am… am I dead?"
The man in the suit tilted his head slightly, the faint symbols across his coat glowing as they caught the sunlight. His tone was calm, gentle but precise. "Not exactly."
He stepped forward, offering his gloved hand. "Come, Elias Verne."
Elias hesitated for a moment before gripping the hand. It felt warm human and yet something deeper pulsed beneath the skin, like quiet lightning.
As he stood, the man said softly, "You died… but you were chosen. Not to be a wandering soul but to become something far greater."
Elias frowned. "Chosen? For what?"
The man smiled faintly, turning to walk across the endless grass. "To become a Lawkeeper."
"Law… keeper?" Elias echoed, following him. The title felt heavy, strange, divine.
The man stopped, gazing at the wide expanse ahead the horizon glimmering faintly as if it hid a secret behind the light. "My name," he said, "is Erenel Arkhar. And I am three thousand years old."
Elias froze. His jaw nearly dropped. "Three what?" he stammered. "Three… thousand? What are you?"
Erenel chuckled lightly, his voice low and calm, like a teacher amused by a student's shock. "Once, I was a human. Just as lost, just as mortal as you. I died long ago… and was chosen to serve the balance of all things."
He turned slightly, the sunlight catching on the gold threads of his sleeves, making him seem more like a myth than a man. "I am a Lawkeepers a guardian of the laws that hold existence together."
Elias walked beside him, still struggling to grasp the words. "Balance of the universe?" he repeated. "You mean like… gods, heaven, hell that kind of thing?"
Erenel's smile deepened. "In part. But the truth is wider than anything your world ever believed."
He looked to the sky, his gaze distant. "Tell me, Elias. Do you believe in myths? Do you think there is only one God?"
Elias hesitated, thinking back to late nights when he questioned everything and found no answers. "Not really," he admitted softly. "I always thought… there could be more out there. More than what we're told."
Erenel nodded approvingly. "Good. Because there are."
He lifted his hand, and for a moment, the air shimmered. The world around them seemed to open like a curtain, revealing faint outlines of distant realms in the sky cities made of clouds, burning stars shaped like thrones, oceans that hung upside down above worlds beyond sight.
"There are hundreds of thousands of gods," Erenel said, his voice echoing faintly as if carried by the wind itself. "Each ruling over a fragment of reality creation, storms, dreams, death, and time. Some you know by name. Others are buried in forgotten prayers."
Elias's eyes widened. "Wait… so, what about the old myths? Zeus? Poseidon? Those stories"
"They are real," Erenel said simply, his tone calm as he walked through the glowing grass. "They exist, or once did. Many of them have fallen, others still rule in their corners of eternity. The world of gods is vast, Elias. It stretches across universes, across dimensions you can't yet imagine."
Elias followed, his steps slow, his eyes wandering in disbelief. "So everything we called fiction…"
"Was memory," Erenel said. "Stories of humans who once saw the divine and tried to make sense of it."
The two of them stopped at a small hill overlooking the endless meadow. The light of the sun shimmered brighter here, as if this was a place where all things began and ended.
Erenel turned to him, his expression softening. "And with gods come their opposites. Demons, reapers, entities that devour worlds and rewrite fate. Every being has power but power breeds chaos. That is why we exist."
"The Lawkeepers?" Elias asked.
Erenel nodded. "Yes.Lawkeepers we are many names for the same truth. We are the balance. The judges of the divine."
Elias could only stand there, overwhelmed by the scale of what he was hearing. The sky seemed to breathe, the world alive around him. He felt small but for the first time, he didn't feel lost.
Erenel looked back toward the horizon, his voice soft, almost nostalgic. "I once thought death was the end, too," he said. "But I learned it was simply… the door."
The wind blew again, carrying whispers Elias couldn't understand words from worlds unseen.
He looked at Erenel, his heart quiet, his thoughts a storm. "And now?" he asked. "What happens to me now?"
Erenel turned to him, the symbols on his suit glowing like fading stars.
"Now, Elias Verne," he said with a faint smile, "you begin to learn the laws that even gods must obey."
"Even gods?" Elias asked, his voice unsteady, eyes fixed on the man before him.
Erenel turned slightly, the breeze stirring the ends of his coat. "Even gods," he said calmly. "Are Lawkeepers more powerful than them? In some ways… yes. We hold the Law the balance. Gods may shape worlds, but we ensure those worlds do not crumble under their pride."
Elias blinked, unsure whether to believe or tremble. "The Law?"
Erenel's gaze softened. "Even though there are hundreds of thousands of gods in existence, there is one far beyond them all the strongest, the most powerful, the divine one. The Creator." His tone lowered with reverence. "The one who made everything time, death, creation, even the void between stars."
He paused, as if even saying the nameless being's title required care. "The Creator made the Lawkeepers to preserve the balance of the universe. It is forbidden for any god to touch mortal affairs. To harm, bless, or twist them for amusement is against the Law. And should any defy that rule…"
Erenel raised his gloved hand, and for a moment, Elias felt the air ripple as though invisible chains pulsed in every direction. "Even if they are gods, the Law itself will punish them."
Elias' eyes widened. "That's who you are?"
Erenel smiled faintly, eyes reflecting the horizon. "That is what we are. What you are going to become. You're no longer human, Elias Verne. Not mortal, not immortal, not a wandering soul. You will become a keeper of equilibrium a watcher between light and shadow."
The wind brushed against the grass, carrying with it a hum, like faint whispers of ancient tongues. Elias felt the words sink into him like light through skin. "Balance," he murmured, "it sounds… peaceful."
"It is," Erenel said, "and yet, it is the heaviest burden one can bear."
They walked in silence for a while. The sky stretched endlessly, painted with soft clouds glowing in shades of gold and pale blue. The air shimmered faintly, as though reality itself was thin here fragile, transparent.
Then Erenel stopped.
Elias followed his gaze and his heart nearly stopped.
Before him stood a tower unlike anything he had ever seen. It rose from the endless grasslands like a golden monument to eternity. Its surface shimmered, reflecting the sky in hues of amber and ivory. Layers upon layers of carved runes spiraled up its walls, each symbol glowing faintly, breathing with power.
And yet, despite its brilliance, the tower didn't blind him it calmed him. It felt ancient but alive, as though the air itself bowed in reverence.
High above, its peak pierced the clouds, vanishing into the heavens. Around it, golden rings floated, turning slowly, radiating quiet energy that hummed like music.
Erenel watched Elias' awe with a faint smile. "This," he said softly, "is The Pillar of Concordia the heart of balance, the home of Lawkeepers."