Six Centuries Ago — The Ceremony of DoomsanyThe throne room had emptied for the night, but the people were having a feast in the dining room. Music was endless, lamps dimmed to amber glows, and the palace of Doomsany pulsed with the slow heartbeat of ancient stone.Doom had insisted on checking the room personally, in search of Trina, on discovering she was pregnant.She disliked Trina. And she disliked secrets even more.But the door she opened now froze her cold:Trina. Alone. In Snake’s Former chamber, she was folding ceremonial cloths to calm her nerves.Trina startled, quickly rising to bow. Her face painted innocence. Her hands were trembling just enough to look convincing.But Doom Liroid was not fooled.Not then.Not ever.She shut the door behind her.“Well,” Doom said, voice like a blade. “The little demon is with child.”Trina swallowed hard.“I am. But please… I beg you, I love Snake...”“Stop acting.” Doom’s lip curled. “I have ears in every court, even Tan’s filth-ridde

The torches in Tan’s obsidian war chamber flickered like dying souls as he traced a line across an ancient map, a route straight into Freya, the Dogs’ capital. He didn’t look at Trina when he spoke.“A battle is approaching. The world will bleed again. And you…” He said, gesturing toward her, “will not stand in the front lines. Not yet.”Trina, numb and hollow, merely frowned.“And where will I be?”Tan folded his hands behind his back.“Hidden. Waiting. When the chaos begins… when Liroids and Dogs and Warriors are all distracted…”He turned to her, eyes cold as frost.“…you will go for Snake.”Trina’s breath stopped.“So that’s it?” she whispered. “You expect me to deal the death blow?”Tan didn’t blink.“It is not up for negotiation.”Her voice cracked, rage, grief, guilt, everything all mixed.“And whose fault is that? Who isolated me? Who made me a monster so no one would ever accept me?”Tan gave a small, cruel smirk.“They were never meant to accept you. You were made to kill th

The evening in Freya was cold, unusually so. Snake stood alone on the balcony overlooking the training field where Liroid children chased one another, laughing, free as the wind.The world below him glowed with life.A life he felt slipping from his hands.A soft shift of wind announced her presence.Evilside stepped beside him, her robes whispering against the stone, her power dimmed only out of respect for his grief.For a long moment, they simply stood in silence.Then, softly, almost motherly, she spoke.“Do you remember,” she asked, “how many times I asked you about Glass’s prophecy?”Snake did not turn.He did not blink.He only answered in a tired, hoarse voice:“You asked me hundreds of times… and I always told you the same thing. That I would go with the flow of things.”Evilside exhaled, the sound almost a sigh.“And now look at you.”Snake finally lifted his gaze.At the field below.The children chasing fireflies.In the bright, fragile world that did not yet know war was

The first thing Snake felt was warmth.Hands on his arms.A weight against his shoulder.The perfume of lily oil incense drifting through the air.He opened his eyes slowly.And saw his family.Dark sat at his right, eyes red around the edges but chin held high, stubborn as ever.Glass knelt at his left, wiping the dried ash from his jaw with a soft cloth.Rage sat close, palms pressed together in prayerful gratitude.Dragon crouched at the edge of his mat, relief flooding his sharp features.But near the entrance, half in shadow, sat Doom, unmoving, watching.A silent guardian.A silent judge.A silent mother.Her presence grounded him more than anyone else’s.Rage spoke first, her voice trembling.“Brother… I’m so happy you’re back.”Snake’s voice was hoarse but steady.“Shiver made sure of it.”Dark inhaled sharply, then whispered, “You need time to recover. The memory tents… they consume too much.”Snake shook his head slowly.“No. Shiver left something for me. A gift.”Dragon huf

The ground of Cellok trembled as beams of gold, blue, red, and silver light tore open the horizon.The Old Gods descended.Any other race would have fallen to their knees.But the Liroids…They only glanced up.Then went back to what they were doing.It was so typical of the Liroids that even the gods exchanged looks.Cion, Cirax’s son and husband to Love Liroid, daughter of Blood, stepped forward and bowed politely.“Welcome,” he said, as if greeting travellers on market day.Artes, god of fertile lands, grunted.“It is so like the Liroids to see us as nothing.”Before he finished, Carnage, Rage’s niece and daughter of Chaos, strode up, waving at Moon, the god of night and day.“Welcome, Father-in-law. Your face is one I am actually glad to see today.”Moon smiled.“I am happy to be of help.”Blood Liroid bowed to Cirax, but Armageddon, son-in-law of Ilia and brother to Rage’s line, scoffed loudly.“It is so like the Old Gods to come down from their fancy palaces only when it suits t