The first thing Kael heard was the sound of rain.Soft, real rain — not forged from code or magic, not summoned by divine will. It fell gently on his skin, cool and refreshing, each drop a reminder that he was finally alive.He opened his eyes. The world was new again — not perfect, not vast, just alive. The earth was dark and fertile, trees swayed in the wind, and a pale dawn stretched across the horizon. There were no thrones, no temples, no whispers in the sky.Just silence.And peace.Lira sat a few paces away, leaning against a fallen tree. Her hair was damp, her cloak torn, her eyes distant. When she noticed him stirring, relief washed across her face.“You’re awake,” she said softly.Kael tried to speak, but his throat felt raw. “How long?”“Two days, maybe three. I lost count.”He sat up slowly, wincing at the ache in his body. It felt strange — heavy, human again. His veins no longer glowed, his heartbeat no longer echoed with divine rhythm. For the first time in what felt li

The morning air smelled of iron and fire. From the cliffs above the valley, Kael could see smoke spiraling from distant towns. The horizon shimmered with a strange red light, flickering like embers scattered across the sky.Lira stood beside him, her hair tangled from sleepless nights. “It’s spreading faster than before,” she said quietly. “That light… it’s in every direction now.”Kael didn’t answer. His jaw tightened as he stared at the distant glow. Every flicker of that light carried a rhythm — a pulse that matched his own heartbeat.He didn’t need to guess what it meant.He already knew.The world was remembering him again — but not him.The other Kael.In the heart of the old empire, the False Kael stood atop a vast marble dais. The city below him was a fever dream of rebirth — towers made from living stone, rivers of molten code running through the streets, and people kneeling in worship beneath his shadow.He watched them with cold fascination.“Rise,” he commanded, and thousa

The silence after battle was worse than the noise.Aethern no longer shone. The sky above the city burned a dull red, the spires cracked, and the air shimmered with broken light. Every mirror in sight was fractured, but still somehow watching.Kael stood among the wreckage, the chains of his power dragging across the floor like whispers of thunder. His reflection stared back at him from every shard — sometimes calm, sometimes screaming.He ignored them all.His mind was on one thing only.Lira.He reached the spot where the floor had swallowed her. The glass was smooth again, glowing faintly with the False Kael’s power.“Lira!” he shouted, his voice breaking the silence. No answer. Only a low hum beneath the surface — a pulse that beat like a heart.He struck the ground. The force rippled through the entire spire, sending cracks racing outward. But the surface held, mocking him.Kael’s breath came heavy. “He took her,” he whispered. “He took her into the mirror.”He looked up at his r

The city of Veyra was built on bones — not the bones of men, but of worlds.Its towers rose from the ruins of the old Spire, shaped by hands that no longer remembered what they feared.Centuries had passed since the storm that swallowed Aethern. The gods had vanished, the old systems had fallen silent, and yet their remnants still pulsed faintly beneath the surface — invisible threads woven into the veins of the earth.The people called it Ether, the last trace of divine code that gave birth to magic, technology, and prophecy alike. They no longer worshiped gods. They worshiped power.And in that city of neon towers and endless light, power had a name.The Church of the Source.They claimed to preserve Kael’s teachings — twisted, rewritten, and buried under centuries of interpretation. They called him the God of Dawn, the savior who brought freedom by destroying the divine. But the truth had long been lost.The Church controlled the flow of Ether, rationing it to the masses while hoar

The hum of machines echoed through the underground vaults of the Church, a low metallic heartbeat that never stopped. The air was cold and sterile, tasting faintly of rust and ozone. Rows of suspended capsules stretched endlessly across the chamber, glowing faintly blue like frozen stars. Inside each one, bodies slept in manufactured silence—sacrifices, subjects, the remnants of forgotten divinity.Among them, one capsule began to flicker.The light inside pulsed faster, irregular, alive.Seren gasped as her lungs dragged in air for the first time in years. Her chest heaved, and the gel that encased her drained away, leaving her trembling and cold. The first sound she heard was the hiss of the locks releasing, the metal groan of the capsule opening after centuries of stillness.She fell forward, catching herself on trembling hands. Her skin glowed faintly gold beneath the grime, runes of divine energy shifting across her veins. Each symbol burned briefly before sinking back into her f