Where Duty End
Prologue v3 final where madness ends.
"How long will it take?" His voice trembled as he stared into the tear in reality, ignoring the stars folding in on themselves above us.
Around us, astral horrors burned bright, their corpses flaring like blasphemous fireworks, turning the nightmare of darkness into a blazing testament of divine cruelty.
"If I told you, the journey would lose all meaning," I said.
"This… this will be like dancing with death. To call madness your beloved while sanity waits like a ghost you cannot touch.
The stars will collapse more times than new ones are born, and yet even in that struggle, there is beauty — beauty no mortal could ever comprehend."
He placed his trembling hand over his stomach, faltering under the weight of a choice no man could bear. The stars themselves seemed to hold their breath.
His gaze drifted downward, scanning the fire-lit battlefield. "What if I fail?" he whispered.
"What if all of this… all the effort… all the scars, the lives, the years… lead to nothing?"
I be watched the hand tremble, then slowly pull away, a ball of fire trailing behind it. Golden light beat back the encroaching shadows as if even darkness itself feared to corrupt this act of desperation.
"I have carried the Crown of Madness for so long," he murmured, more to himself than to me. "Every choice, every burden, every atrocity I survived… it's all led to this crossroad. Yet I wonder… am I strong enough? Am I worthy of the cost?"
His scars and burns glowed gold. I whispered shadows over the cracks in his flesh, sealing them, casting his fallen brother back into the sea he had once coveted, ensuring the fragile miracle could survive.
"The gods…" he said, voice bitter and low. "Even they send horrors to stop me. Every step is a test, every flame a trial. But… what if this isn't their judgment I fear? What if it's my own weakness that will betray me?"
The stars dimmed in silent witness. His hand shook as it neared the tear, yet the gold of his tears traced their way down his face, marking a line of both doubt and determination.
"I have questioned, faltered, fought madness itself, and survived the impossible," he said, voice hoarse. "But the Crown of Madness… it reminds me that every hesitation carries weight. Every delay risks all I have fought to protect. Am I still the one who can see beyond the chaos? Or have I been broken by it already?"
He exhaled, a long, shuddering breath, and the question reverberated through the cosmos. Darkness seemed to lean closer, acknowledging his fear. Even in that moment, the weight of duty pressed down — heavier than any flame, sharper than any blade.
"I must reset things," he said finally, voice trembling, but firmer now. "Only then… only by seeing this through… can I lay down the crown and rest. Only then can I stop the madness that devours everything I love."
He shoved his hand into the tear. Fire erupted, consuming any horrors that dared approach. I pulled my cloak tighter, feeling the warmth of his will as the stars protested in vain, their divine chorus silenced by my declaration: no god can punish a mortal who dares to bear their own divinity for duty alone.
Without hesitation, he dove into the sea that had driven him mad before. Silence, respect, awe — all were due to this act. Even the gods' horrors could not touch him.
"Does the duty of man truly eclipse the madness of the divine?" I whispered, letting darkness fold around me as I landed beside his sun core. Let them try — the gods may send horrors, may weave nightmares — but I would make them remember the fire of the brightest sun, the will of the one who bears the crown and yet chooses to act.