The Mark of the Hunted
Kael stood in the broken remains of the ancient city, his mind still reeling from the memories forced upon him by the Archivist. His very existence had been a lie—one that he had willingly accepted in his human form. He was no mere warrior, no lost god searching for meaning. He was the last of his kind, the final entity standing between the universe and its devourers.
Seraphine placed a hand on his shoulder. "What did you see?"
Kael's jaw clenched. "The truth. And it's worse than we imagined."
Above them, the sky trembled. The heavens themselves felt the weight of Kael's awakening. The other gods—those that remained hidden, those that had chosen to slumber rather than fight—would feel it too.
And the hunters would come.
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The Awakening of Old Powers
Far beyond mortal comprehension, on the shattered remnants of a celestial battlefield, they stirred.
The Eternal Reapers, beings older than creation itself, turned their gaze towards the realm of man. They had feasted on gods before, draining their essence until nothing remained.
One of them, a towering figure wrapped in shifting voidlight, let out a guttural sound. "The last god has awakened. The feast begins anew."
A rift tore open in the fabric of reality. The hunt had begun.
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The Gathering of the Forgotten
Kael and Seraphine wasted no time. If the Reapers were coming, they needed allies—those who had survived the last war. The Archivist had spoken of a lost city, hidden beyond time, where the remnants of the divine still lingered.
"It's a gamble," Seraphine warned. "If they were too afraid to fight back then, what makes you think they'll stand with us now?"
Kael's eyes burned with golden light. "Because this time, they won't have a choice."
They set off towards the Veil of Eons, a place where reality twisted and the past bled into the present. It was there that the forgotten warriors of the divine slumbered, awaiting a call they had long abandoned hope of hearing.
As they walked, the world around them seemed to change. The sky shifted, as if memories of an ancient war tried to resurface. Kael could hear whispers in the wind—echoes of voices long silenced.
Then, the first shadow fell.
A massive form crashed before them, the ground trembling beneath its weight. It was unlike any beast of the mortal world—a fusion of darkness and raw entropy, its very presence eroding reality.
Seraphine drew her blade. "One of the Reapers? Already?"
Kael flexed his fingers, golden energy crackling between them. "No. A scout. And that means the real battle is coming sooner than we thought."
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The First Battle of the End
The creature lunged, a blur of nightmarish speed. Kael met it head-on, his fist slamming into its core. The impact sent shockwaves rippling across the landscape, but the creature barely staggered.
It reared back, a void-born maw opening to consume him.
Kael's power flared. Time bent to his will.
For a fraction of a second, the world froze. Kael shifted, his movements so precise they defied logic. His next strike shattered the beast's form, sending ripples of divine power through the air.
But the victory was short-lived.
From the tear in reality where the beast had emerged, more figures began to appear. Dozens. Hundreds. An army.
Seraphine exhaled sharply. "Looks like the feast really has begun."
Kael smiled grimly. "Then let's make sure they choke on their first course."
He raised his hands, calling upon the divine forces that had once shaped the cosmos.
And the battlefield erupted with light.
To Be Continued…