1500 years later, the Second Dominion, magic is no longer divine, magic belongs to mortals now. It is studied, cataloged, abused and traded like currency. The gods that once dictated who gets magic and who doesn't are distant myths, their temples hollowed into museums, their name spoke without fear. Magic did not disappear when the gods died, it simply stopped asking for permission.
In the city of Ilyrion, spells were casted before breakfast, streetlamps glowed with bottled fire. Children learned containment sigils, something their ancestors prayed and fought over.
The protagonist Kairo Hale stood beneath an Archive Spire and watched teachers arguing about spell efficiency, not meaning or origin, Efficiency. The Archive stood like a blade that was driven into the city's heart, it's stone were etched with runes that no longer invoke anything beyond themselves. They were once requests to the gods but now they're just scribbles on walls.
Kairo had spent most of his time in books, where he read of powerful deities, deities that are nothing more than a footnote. The history books spoke of a divine age where gods governed humanity and embarrassed our ancestors. Inside the archive, the forbidden wing waited, it always waited. Kairo passed the ward lines with ease, No lighting, no voices, just doors opening because they were told to. At the center of the chamber, laid an object the world itself did not want to exist. The Chronal Reliquary.
It's surface is inscribed with symbols that are no longer in use, similar to those on the Archive Spire, name no one worshipped. The air that surrounded it felt light, as though time itself did not want it. He reaches out and his fingers brush the surface, "Halt!" he hears, Kairo looks back to see the Primordial Minister, Izan Ledger. The Primordial Minister handles any matters that involve magic, runes or dungeons because of that has ever held the position tends to be corrupt. He apologizes, as to not make a fuss, he tries to leave, "Do you know what it is", the minister asks. Kairo replies, saying that they are many records of it but an unexplained incident occurred that left only few in the world. The minister is surprised, he tells Kairo to open the box and tell him what he sees, He tells Kairo that box is said to grant whatever the wielder at the time desires.
Kairo perplexed at this information, he had never heard of such power, even in a world where miracles are an everyday phenomenon. Nevertheless, Kairo attempted to open the box, thinking he would receive an undiscovered Grimoire or an ancient artifact. Empty, there was nothing inside the box, he was angry but not surprised, he had already told himself that the minister was bluffing. As he proceeded to close it, the reliquary responded, not with light but with Recognition. A world echoed through his mind, spoken in a language that he did not understand, a language that had not been used since the sky answered back.
Borrower, the world folded. There was no pain, only displacement, like stepping on a stair you thought was there. He opened his eyes, "where is this", "where am I", he looked up to see the sky was wrong, it was too close, too aware. The clouds moved as if they were being controlled, the air carried weight, the weight of preying eyes. Voices rose in the distance, the sounds of chanting, a prayer. Kairo went to investigate. What he saw, he could not describe. A figure descended from the sky, wrapped in authority so dense it bent light around it, made air heavy to the point that all were on their knees. Except Kairo, he remained standing, not because he was brave, because he did not know how to kneel anymore.
The god's gaze found him immediately, curiosity and disgust flickered across a face many would kill to have, a face shaped by belief. "You" the god said, it's voice was resonating with power, "You carry power from which god. Kairo replies "My power is restricted to no god, it belongs to me" and so begins a tale that will shape two worlds and one man".