Silence had become Kael’s only companion. It stretched across centuries like a soft, eternal shroud, broken only by the whisper of wind through endless valleys of light. The world had healed itself—slowly, deliberately, as if afraid of breathing too loudly after all that had been lost.The skies were clearer now, painted in hues of soft gold and lavender. Rivers shimmered with liquid light, winding through forests that glowed faintly under twin suns. The air no longer carried the scent of ash, but of rain and new earth. Everything pulsed with life, delicate and young.Kael stood at the heart of it all—the Guardian of the Source, the last of the divine blood. His body no longer bore wounds, though he still felt them in memory. His power hummed beneath his skin, bound now to the heartbeat of the world itself. He was both man and myth, god and ghost.He rarely spoke. There was no one left to answer. But every morning, when the first light touched the Valley of Light, he whispered the sam

The valley was bathed in a tender gold, the kind that made the air hum softly and the rivers shimmer like strands of silk. Morning came not as an event but as a breath, a gentle awakening that filled every corner of Kael’s creation.From the ridge above, Kael stood in silence, eyes tracing the shape of the new world. It was perfect—too perfect, perhaps. The sky held no scars, the soil no decay. Everything moved with harmony, every life tied to the rhythm of his will. Yet beneath the serenity, something restless stirred.Beside him, Liora stood barefoot, her hair glinting like sunlight through leaves. She smiled faintly as the first humans—the First Children—gathered around the fires below. They laughed, stumbled, learned, and built. They were clumsy, but there was beauty in their imperfection.“They grow quickly,” Liora murmured, her voice carrying a warmth that soothed the air itself.Kael nodded slowly. “Faster than I expected. They learn language as if they’ve always known it. They

The morning after the awakening was unlike any other. The light that once poured gently over the valley had changed—it was harsher now, fractured into beams that struck the ground unevenly, casting strange, shifting shadows. The humans no longer sang beneath the Tree. They whispered. They watched the roots as though expecting them to move again.Eran stood at the edge of the valley, silent, his gaze fixed on the cracks running along the trunk of the Tree of Beginning. From a distance, it still looked magnificent—eternal and holy—but he could see the truth no mortal eye could: the rot spreading beneath its surface. Gold light bled from the fissures, dripping into the soil like molten tears.Kael appeared behind him, his expression grim. “They’re changing, Eran. Every one of them.”“I know,” Eran replied, his voice low.Kael stepped closer, tossing a small stone into the soil below. It sizzled where it landed, the ground faintly glowing in response. “Their bodies hum with your power. Bu

The days after Aric’s disappearance were not days at all. Time itself seemed to warp. The light above the valley flickered in uneven pulses — like a heartbeat faltering, gasping to continue. The humans no longer prayed at the Tree. They watched it instead, like one might watch a dying fire.The gold leaves were dull now, the hum beneath the roots low and broken. Every breath the earth took sounded like grief.Liora stood beneath its branches, her bare feet sinking into the cold soil. The silence pressed against her chest like a hand. He’s gone, she thought. But the stillness whispered otherwise. He’s becoming.Kael stood a short distance away, arms crossed, his blade buried in the earth beside him. His voice was rough when he finally spoke. “They won’t listen anymore.”Liora turned. “The humans?”He nodded. “They’ve stopped speaking our names. They move in groups now. Watch each other. They don’t trust anyone — not even themselves.”Her gaze drifted to the horizon, where the last line

The rift closed behind them with a sigh that sounded almost like relief. What had once been divine power now dissolved into nothing more than dust and wind. For a long moment, there was silence—no screams, no voices, not even the hum of the Tree’s old energy. Just a breathless world learning how to exist again.Liora stood motionless, staring at the place where Aric had vanished. Her body trembled, though she didn’t feel the cold. It was not from pain, but from the quiet that followed too much loss. Around her, the ground was cracked and blackened, the air heavy with the scent of ash and soil.Kael knelt, resting one hand on the earth. “It’s over,” he said softly. But even he didn’t sound sure.Eran’s light dimmed as he took a slow step forward. His golden glow, once fierce and divine, was now faint and human. “Over,” he echoed, his voice distant. “Or perhaps… just beginning.”Liora turned to him, her lips pale. “He’s gone. Truly gone this time.”Eran didn’t answer immediately. He cro