The night after the Choir's fall stretched long and strange.
No wind, no fire, no stars — only a soft hum in the air, like the heartbeat of the world waiting to begin again.
Arhaan sat cross-legged in the middle of the field where Althriel had fallen. The ground was blackened, but from every crack sprouted faint lines of light, spreading outward in elegant spirals.
It wasn't destruction — it was rebirth.
Kael stood a few paces away, arms crossed. "You've been like that for hours."
Arhaan didn't open his eyes. "I can hear it."
"Hear what?"
"The song," he said quietly. "The one before Heaven. Before gods. Before everything."
Kael frowned. "You're scaring me again."
Arhaan smiled faintly. "Good. That means I'm still human."
---
Then it happened.
The Oathbreaker, resting on his lap, began to hum — not the usual metallic vibration, but a sound.
Soft. Layered. Ancient.
The chains around it lifted and danced, glowing with shifting colors that no mortal eye had seen. The sound became a melody — and then words formed within it, not spoken, but felt.
> "I was silence before the first breath.
I was light before the first flame.
I am the song that shaped the void."
The melody washed over the land, and every being — mortal, jinn, and angel alike — stopped what they were doing. The wounded felt their pain fade. Flowers grew in scorched earth. The sky cleared, the stars returning, brighter than ever.
Selara fell to her knees. "He's… changing the laws of the world."
Kael whispered, "He's rewriting them."
---
Inside Arhaan's mind, the world unfolded into pure music.
He stood within a vast expanse of light and sound — constellations forming from harmonies, galaxies swirling from chords.
At the center stood a figure made entirely of melody — the First Singer.
> "You carry what I left behind," the being said, voice both man and woman, child and elder.
"The Arbiter took my silence and called it law. You carry my voice and call it hope."
Arhaan's heart thundered. "Why me?"
> "Because you listened."
The First Singer extended a hand, and a single note — bright as a star — drifted toward him.
> "Take it. The final verse. The Song of Creation."
When it touched him, the universe bloomed.
He saw the first gods forming out of chords of will.
He saw Heaven built not as a place of judgment but as a sanctuary of harmony.
He saw the Arbiter rise — not born of light, but of envy.
The First Singer's silence became his power.
And now, the melody sought to return to its source.
---
Arhaan's eyes opened. The world glowed faintly with the same light as his heart.
Kael stepped closer, awestruck. "What did you see?"
Arhaan looked up at the sky — the broken cracks of Heaven faintly shimmering above.
"The truth," he said softly. "Heaven was never the enemy. The Arbiter was."
Selara approached, voice trembling. "Then the war—?"
"It's not about gods or mortals anymore," Arhaan said.
"It's about returning the world's voice."
He stood, the Oathbreaker glowing gold and white now, its chains flowing like ribbons of light.
"Tomorrow, we march on Heaven."
---
Far above, in the Holy Citadel, the Arbiter felt the song ripple through the realm.
Angels trembled. Some dropped their weapons. Others wept.
The Arbiter struck the floor with his staff, shattering the sound around him.
"Silence!" he screamed. "No song but mine shall echo through creation!"
But even as he shouted, he could hear it — faint and distant — the harmony of life returning to the hearts of his angels.
And for the first time in eternity… Heaven doubted.