The silence Lucifer left behind was a living thing, thick and heavy. Khaos stood alone on the balcony, the ghost of his kiss still warm on her lips. He was gone, a shadow swallowed by the jagged peaks leading toward Heaven. And he knew. He knew everything.
She closed her eyes, feeling the vast, cold machinery of the cosmos turn. She didn't summon them with a shout or a spell. She simply… opened a door.
The air in the great hall of Devil's Peak shimmered, like heat haze on a summer road. One by one, they stepped through.
Aphrodite appeared first, nearly tripping on a loose rug. "Stars and shadows, Khaos! A little warning?" She brushed imaginary dust from her silk robes, her golden hair slightly mussed.
Hestia materialized beside the hearth, her hand instinctively reaching out to steady the flickering flames. "This is… sudden," she murmured, her calm voice a balm to the disrupted air.
