The God's killer

Embers of the Skyforge

Chapter 23: Embers of the Skyforge

The journey to the Skyforge began in silence, but not peace.

They moved between realms, threading through rifts in space left behind by the collapse of the old divine networks. The cosmos shimmered around them, frayed edges of once pristine realms now eroded by neglect, war, and betrayal. Ghosts of ruined worlds passed silently by, each one bearing scars from the gods' old conflicts.

Kael stood at the edge of their vessel, windless starlight catching in his hair. His wings remained furled, heavy with thought. Despite reclaiming his divine essence, he seemed… incomplete.

Because something still remained beyond his reach.

His blade Ashbringer, forged in the Skyforge from the first breath of soulfire was more than a weapon. It was a piece of himself, severed in the betrayal and sealed away.

And they were flying straight toward it.

The Skyforge

Set upon the edge of time itself, the Skyforge hung in the void like a frozen heart. Its golden platforms spiraled out around a molten core suspended in emptiness, guarded by rings of dead titans long turned to stone. Stars refused to shine here. Space warped as if holding its breath.

“This is where you first tempered the flame,” Nysera whispered. “Before the gods knew fear.”

Kael nodded. “It remembers me.”

As they landed, the Forge responded, massive chains withdrew, and the heat intensified, not with danger but recognition. Lira stepped beside Kael, her gaze wary but calm.

“I feel your pain here,” she said softly.

Kael turned to her. “And I feel your presence softening it.”

She smiled but there was something in her eyes. A truth she’d held back.

A Moment Between Flames

That night, as the others rested, Kael wandered alone through the Skyforge's memory-gates. He stood before the pedestal where Ashbringer once blazed, its absence a wound across eternity.

Lira found him there, wrapped in silver light, her silhouette reflecting eternity.

“You’ve changed,” she said.

“I’ve remembered.”

“Not just that,” she stepped closer, brushing her fingers against his gauntlet. “You’ve begun feeling again.”

Kael looked at her truly shocked, The warrior. The goddess. The one who stood beside him even when all others faltered. Her immunity to Xeruun's whispers wasn't just strength it was devotion, carved into her soul long before she could name it.

“I remember what we were,” he said. “Before they erased us.”

Lira’s breath caught.

“You remember us?”

“I remember the garden between worlds. I remember you, reaching for me in the dark. I remember your voice the last thing I heard before they struck me down.”

Tears glittered in her eyes, but she didn’t look away.

“I never stopped reaching.”

He cupped her face, gently, as if she were made of starlight. “Then don’t stop now.”

And there, in the quiet cradle of the Skyforge, Kael leaned in. Their lips met—not with fire, but with warmth long withheld. The kiss was deep, aching with memory, softened by the ache of centuries lost and found.

Ashbringer’s Return

The next morning, Kael stepped into the heart of the forge, his armor gleaming with light reflected from Lira’s silver glow beside him.

The pedestal opened as if exhaling after a long breath.

And from within rose Ashbringer.

Forged from pure soulfire, its edge shimmered with threads of reality itself. Symbols older than the gods pulsed along its blade, and in its hilt beat a living ember, the fragment of Kael’s soul taken in his sealing.

As he grasped the hilt, his wings exploded open, huge white-gold and blazing. Ashbringer ignited, echoing through the entire forge.

And Kael whispered:

“I am whole.”

But Not Alone

As they prepared to leave, Lira lingered.

“The gods will come faster now,” she said. “They’ll sense this.”

Kael looked at her. “Let them come. We face them together.”

She smiled faintly. “You say that now. But I’ve seen the prophecy.”

“What prophecy?”

Her voice was low. “The Mirror breaks when the Flame burns too bright.”

Kael stepped toward her, placing his hand over her heart. “Then I’ll never burn beyond what you can reflect. I choose you.”

“And I choose you,” she whispered.

Their foreheads touched. Soulfire and silverlight merged, binding not only gods, but lovers reborn.

Far Beyond: The Divine Council Crumbles

In the fading halls of the gods, panic spread.

“He has Ashbringer!” a voice shouted.

“We must move now!”

But among them, dissent took root. Some gods began to question. Some fled. Some looked to Kael not with hatred, but hope.

In the shadows, Xeruun smiled.

Because not all flames burn clean.