The training ground was quiet in the way only slaughter could make it.Bodies lay strewn across the packed earth, men twisted where they had fallen, blood darkening the dust into mud. Some still twitched. Others stared sightlessly at the sky. The air reeked of iron and sweat and spent fear.Irinrod stood at the center of it all, unbothered, balanced on the balls of her feet as though she had merely finished a dance. Her dagger gleamed wetly in her hand.Snake took it in with a slow breath. “This,” he said flatly, “is venting?”Blood answered without shame. “Grandmother has her way about things.”Dragon stepped forward, fury finally breaking loose. “I almost died defending you,” he snapped. “I stood between Snake and the Goddess’s blades…and you’re out here, in the land of a god who wants us all dead, enjoying yourself slaughtering his people?”Irinrod lifted the dagger to her lips and licked the blood from its edge.“They were escapees,” she said calmly. “Remnants of the replacement s

The house gradually fell quiet as the servants withdrew and the lamps were dimmed. One by one, doors closed, footsteps faded, and only the low murmur of the fire remained. Snake lingered in the great room, standing before the hearth, its flames reflecting faintly in his eyes.He wondered, not for the first time, how far Evilside’s unrelenting grief had spread through their kind, how many lives it had hardened, how many hearts had been turned to stone in the name of law. And more troubling still, how many among them now carried silent grudges against their own goddess.Footsteps approached behind him.Blood came to stand at his side, a cup of root wine in each hand. He offered one with an easy grin. “Join me for a drink, young killer.”Snake accepted it, the warmth seeping into his palm. “We are all killers.”Blood smiled, unfazed. “Exactly. That’s why we drink.”They stood in companionable silence for a moment before Blood spoke again, quieter now. “I know what you’re thinking. This l

The news came with the morning mist.Cellok.Not Doomsany. Not the shadowed halls where Doom’s word carried weight and Death’s presence bent even the proudest liroid to silence. Cellok, Evilside’s seat, her city of roots and stone, where law was not debated but observed.Snake felt it settle in his chest the moment Heartless’ messenger spoke the name.“This will not be mercy,” he said quietly once they were alone.Dragon leaned against the table, arms crossed. “No. This is her territory. Her rules. Her eyes on everything.”“If she wanted reconciliation,” Snake continued, “she would have let Doom preside. Or Death. Cellok means she intends to watch every word, every breath.”Dragon grimaced. “And Irinrod hates being watched.”“Which is exactly why this spells trouble.”They did not delay. Within the hour, they had sent word requesting formal permission to partake in the trial, not as blades, not as enforcers, but as witnesses bound by root and oath.Heartless’ reply came faster than ex

They took their places as the hall settled into a tense, expectant hush.Creature stood beside Center, his posture rigid, eyes already tracking exits and threats. Phantom moved without sound to Assassin’s side, his presence a quiet promise of violence should the balance tip. Blood remained standing until the very last moment, jaw clenched, refusing to look toward the dais until he forced himself still.At the high seat, Evilside sat carved from shadow and authority, her presence pressing down on the hall like gravity itself. To her right stood Heartless, composed and unreadable, and beside her Darkside, arms folded, gaze sharp as a drawn blade. Further along the semicircle of elders, Death took her seat close to Varun, her expression calm, almost distant, too calm for one who had ordered chains placed on blood of her own blood.Varun sat like judgment incarnate, pale eyes reflecting nothing, his divine aura scraping against the roots of Cellok like a foreign infection. The city did no

It was later that Snake met with Evilside, though Heartless had warned him not to raise the matter again. He went anyway.He descended into what they called the Underground Palace, Evilside’s true domain, where her real self resided. At its center stood the Great Tree, vast enough to rival ten houses, its roots spreading endlessly through stone and darkness. Beneath those roots lay Cellon, her former home, buried by her own hand in fury and grief. All that remained of it was ash, shattered walls, and the memory of what had once been.Very few were permitted to see her in this state.Snake was one of them.She appeared to be asleep, the tree still and breath-like pulses moving slowly through its bark. But the moment he laid his hand against the trunk, the wood stirred, alive, awakening, responding to his touch.The roots shifted at his touch, slow and deliberate, like a beast waking from a long, uneasy sleep.The great tree inhaled.Bark groaned and folded inward, reshaping itself with