The two gods in golden armour dragged me through the sky, their grip like iron bands around my arms. Below us, the divine clouds parted in streaks of white and gold. Behind, the other gods followed, silent, distant, watching from their floating platforms like a jury that had already decided the verdict.
After what felt like an eternity of wind and light, they dropped me.
I hit the marble floor hard enough for the impact to echo through the vast empty air. When I lifted my head, the golden city shimmered far away on the horizon, untouchable, distant. Above me hung a massive mirror suspended in the sky. Its centre churned with a storm of green energy that twisted and folded on itself, pulsing like a heartbeat.
Even from this distance, it made my scalp tingle. My pulse quickened. The thing wasn't just power, it was hunger wrapped in light.
The other gods didn't come closer. They lingered far behind the invisible boundary, floating on their clouds, murmuring among themselves.
Then, the red-haired god broke from the group and descended toward me. His expression was cold, professional, like a doctor about to make an incision. He carried a short golden rod that gleamed faintly in his hand.
Without a word, he lifted it toward the swirling mirror. A thin wisp of that green energy peeled off, coiling down like smoke until it wrapped around the rod. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he guided it toward me.
The air changed instantly, it became heavy, and then whispers slid into my ears.
"Do you want power?"
"We can offer it in abundance."
"Kill them. Why do you let them bind you?"
"They're afraid of you… afraid of what you are."
"That one next to you wants to replace you. Will you let him?"
The voices were soft, intimate, and persuasive. I could feel the words crawling through my mind, planting roots. My hand twitched toward the rod before I even realised it.
Every instinct screamed take it.
But something deeper, some quiet, stubborn part of me, refused.
The red-haired god watched me closely. When I didn't move, he tilted his head slightly.
"It seems you don't bear the mark of corruption," he said. "Lucky."
He waved his hand, and the rod flew back into the mirror. The whispers stopped immediately, leaving behind a suffocating silence. The bindings around my body dissolved, and I staggered to my feet as strength returned to my limbs.
"Adam!"
Ramona's voice cut through the stillness. She flew toward me and threw her arms around my neck, holding me tight. Her heart hammered against my chest, fast and uneven.
"I'm alive," I said, trying to smile. "Guess that's something."
No jokes came. No smart remarks. I just felt hollow, like the echoes of those whispers had stolen something out of me.
Ramona grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the others, her expression sharp. "You've seen it now," she said to the gods. "He doesn't carry the corruption of Chaos. Let this end here."
Ludfrick, smiled faintly. "Oh, it ends, yes. But not the way you think."
Ramona's father frowned, but Ludfrick went on, his voice rich and self-satisfied. "That corruption didn't appear out of nowhere. If it emerged in the mortal world, we have to purge it at the root."
I felt my chest tighten. "The farm? That's what this is about?"
Kalrus' expression unreadable, he shook his head. "The farm is far too small. We have no way of knowing how far the taint has spread. The safest choice is to erase the entire kingdom. Before it festers."
The others nodded solemnly, as if they were agreeing to a minor inconvenience rather than the slaughter of millions.
Ramona's father sighed and looked away. Ludfrick snapped his fingers, and three golden-armoured guards broke formation, descending toward the earth like shooting stars.
"You will not do this, you bastards!" I shouted.
"Adam, don't!" Ramona's voice cracked behind me.
Too late.
I drew my spear and slammed it down, the air around me exploding outward. The clouds tore apart under the pressure as I launched forward. The nearest guard swung his blade, but I met it with a sweep of my spear, sending him hurtling backwards through the air.
The second guard lunged, shield first. I spun, used his momentum against him, and kicked him straight through a cloud bank. Lightning arced across the sky from the force.
The third came from above, his sword blazing with holy fire. I raised my hand, catching the blade mid-swing. My grip tightened until cracks ran down the weapon's length. Then I drove my knee into his stomach and watched him plummet, armour scattering like sparks as he fell toward the earth.
They weren't weak. But they weren't stronger than me, either. And that scared them more than anything.
When the last of them disappeared through the clouds, I turned back toward the gathering of gods above. My voice thundered across the heavens.
"If you want to destroy Elren, you'll have to go through me!"
My declaration carried, echoing through the heavens, and for a moment… I felt something.
A pulse. A wave. The faint answering warmth of faith from below.
The mortals had heard me.
"Don't be stupid, boy," said Ramona's father at last, his deep voice cutting through the silence.
Ludfrick laughed. "Listen to the sky lord Adam. You can always make new followers, can't you?"
Kalrus didn't bother replying. He just gestured to one of the gods beside him. "Get him out of here."
The god took a step forward, but stopped when the red-haired one lifted a hand.
He descended to my level, eyes burning like twin coals. With a thought, two swords formed in his hands, flames compressed so tightly they glowed white at the edges.
I exhaled slowly, summoning my armour. Bronze plates wrapped around me, a sword and shield taking form in a burst of pale yellow light.
He smiled faintly. "Come," he said.
And then he moved.
I lunged toward him as well.
We met halfway, his twin swords flashing arcs of molten fire. The air cracked where our weapons collided, soundless for a heartbeat, then deafening. Heat burned across my skin as the shockwave tore through the clouds beneath us.
I swung my sword again, bringing my shield up just in time to block his follow-up strike. The impact sent me skidding backwards, sparks of divine essence trailing in my wake. I barely managed to steady myself before he was on me again, faster than I could think, faster than anything mortal could follow.
He kicked me in the chest, and I flew backwards through a pillar of light. My armour screamed under the pressure, divine energy burning along the seams. My sword and shield dissipated into golden star dust.
Still, I didn't stop.
I surged back toward him, a spear and a shield materialising in my hands now. The red-haired god's expression hardened as he parried a flurry of strikes. Each blow carried more force, more desperation, the kind that comes from refusing to break even when the body is about to.
Our clash lit the sky. Every strike carved golden arcs through the air, every deflection sent tremors down to the mortal world below. I could feel it, the land fracturing, the earth splitting open as stray sparks of divine energy struck the ground. Valleys formed. Rivers boiled. Mountains groaned.
Still, I fought.
He drove his knee into my stomach, sending me tumbling. I caught myself mid-air, spitting gold from my mouth. My lungs burned, but I forced my body to move.
He came again, two blades like burning suns. I ducked under one, twisted, and swung my spear up with everything I had left.
It hit.
The tip caught him across the face, tearing through divine flesh. Golden blood spilt down his cheek, bright as sunlight.
For a moment, there was silence. Then his expression changed. The calm left his eyes. What replaced it was fury, pure unfiltered divine fury.
He was on me before I could breathe. Every strike after that felt like the world ending. His blows rained from all sides, up, down, left, right, each one hammering through my armour and into my body. My shield cracked, then shattered completely. My armour followed, layer by layer, until I was little more than a bleeding figure being tossed through the heavens like a rag doll.
The final strike caught me in the ribs and sent me flying. I broke through a curtain of divine light and saw, too late, where I was heading.
The Well of Chaos.
I slammed to a stop just before it, the energy rippling around me like a living thing. The gods in the distance froze, eyes wide with something I hadn't seen before, fear.
I turned toward the mirror above the well. The green storm pulsed like a heartbeat, the same whispers crawling back into the edges of my mind.
A thought came to me and then… I smiled.
Blood dripped down my chin, golden and bright. My hand rose slowly, trembling, and I reached into the swirling energy.
"Adam, no!" Ramona's scream split the air. She tried flying towards me but was held back by her father.
Darkness then swallowed everything.
For a moment, I floated. No pain, no sound, just the sensation of falling through endless green.
Then my vision came back, tinted in shades of emerald and shadow. My heart beat once, twice as the world shifted. I felt a warmth in my forehead as golden blood trickled down and some of it flowed into my eyes. When I touched the source of the warmth I felt a hard horn protruding on the left side of my forehead.
In that moment as my eyes darted across the skies, I could feel all life below my feet. Their hearts, their breath and the thin, fragile cords of consciousness that held them together. And the only thing I wanted… was to break them.
A wild laugh tore from my throat. It didn't even sound like me. It was a chorus, a thousand voices speaking through one mouth.
The lesser gods that stood next to the major gods screamed. Their eyes glazed over as madness poured into them, their minds unravelling like torn fabric. I could see the strings, some thin, glowing threads connecting their thoughts and of course, I was pulling them.
They convulsed, shrieking as they lost their reasoning. Some even directly started assaulting whatever was close to them.
The red-haired god tried to steady himself, fire flaring around him. I raised my spear, now blackened with green veins of power, and swung once.
There was silence as the spear arched through the air and slid across the god's chest.
He was sent hurtling through the air, crashing into the ranks of the watching gods. The impact scattered them like sparks, divine armour cracking, some wings folding.
For a heartbeat, I stood tall, breathing heavy, feeling that power. I didn't know what I had become, but I could feel it. I was Stronger, had a much heavier presence than before. Maybe I was now a mid-class god.
"More,"
Whispered the voices.
"They are weak. End them."
I took a step forward, my corrupted essence flaring. The sky darkened as dark mist erupted from my back and as I raised my weapon, ready to strike Kalrus moved.
The air bent around his outstretched hand. An invisible force slammed into me like a mountain. My vision shattered into green and gold as I was thrown backwards.
I hit the edge of the Well, pain searing through every inch of my body.
I roared and pushed forward again, but before I could even take a step, Kalrus's eyes flashed. The world twisted once more.
Another telekinetic blast struck me square in the chest. I was pushed into the well, and my clawed hands held onto the golden sides of the mirrored well. The push of the telekinetic force was pushing me harder and my claws were scratching the mirror's frame.
Kalrus pushed me again with another blast and this time, I couldn't resist.
The last thing I heard was Ramona's voice breaking across the heavens, screaming my name
"ADAM!"
Then the well swallowed me whole.