In the deepest chamber of the Central Core, where pressure turned coal into diamond and silence felt ancient even to the Lithaar, Kael'Thur remained motionless.
Beneath his mineral surface, currents of mana vibrated slowly as he processed the changes within the depths.
Then the air tightened.
Something impossible in a place where not even wind could exist.
No claw, fang, or hoof had ever pierced those depths.
The rock did not open.
The rock was pierced.
A column of light descended from the impossible heights of the ceiling above.
White. Too white.
It passed through kilometers of stone as though rock itself had lost meaning before it.
When it touched the Central Core, the entire chamber trembled.
The mana currents fell into disorder.
Even the stone itself seemed to yield beneath that presence.
The mineral walls cracked.
Any living being would have felt the urge to bow before such a presence.
Kael'Thur slowly lowered his crystalline structure.
Involuntarily, his form bent slightly before that divine presence.
"Aeltharis…" his voice echoed through the chamber's mineral veins."The God of Order turns His attention toward the depths."
No body emerged from the light. Only a will.
A presence embedded within every crystalline vein, altering patterns that had remained untouched since before the memory of their species.
"Its existence is in danger," said the voice.
Every word made the Core's mineral veins tremble.
"Thar'Kaal does not belong to this world.
It is a deviation.
An illegitimate growth rooted in these lands by the Devil."
A brief pause spread through the depths.
"And that which protects it will alter the world until it becomes unrecognizable."
Kael'Thur integrated the information.
The Lithaar possessed no means of containing such an existence without external support.
"We have shown mercy to your species," the voice continued.
"But you must act under the will of the Light."
A silence rippled through the Core.
"Lusian is an anomaly. Within him remains the discontinuity left behind by a dead god."
The mineral veins vibrated faintly.
"But even darkness possesses a fracture.
And the Light was created to pierce it."
The column of light intensified, shining brighter and growing heavier.
The stone beneath it began to crack slowly.The mana veins shook violently.
Even the Central Core itself seemed incapable of enduring that presence.
There was no space for resistance.
"The Chosen have already been awakened. Eighteen."
The god's words struck Kael'Thur like an invisible fracture.
"The nations of the surface already advance beneath a single faith."
A brief pause echoed through the Core.
"Three lunar cycles separate their fleets from these shores."
Kael'Thur remained motionless.
His species had never needed external support.
But the Tree's roots continued to spread.
And with every new pulse, the depths grew more hostile toward the Lithaar.
"Three cycles are an eternity for organics," he finally said.
"For us… it is enough time to disappear."
"Then we shall grant you endurance," declared the voice of the god.
The light changed.
It did not grow brighter.
It became hot.
The mineral walls slowly began to deform beneath that impossible temperature.
"Receive the Solar Fire.
Infuse your cores with the Light.
Cease being only stone."
The vibration spread throughout the entire Central Core.
Kael'Thur felt his internal structures strain to their limits.
Even breathing became difficult.
"Become bearers of My will.
Where darkness cannot prevail…
the Light shall fill once more."
Kael'Thur remained still.
Silence stretched for several seconds.
"All energy demands compensation," he finally said."What is the cost?"
"The Demon Queen must disappear," Aeltharis replied.
"And Lusian…
must be eliminated."
The silence lasted only a moment.
A deep vibration spread through the Central Core.
"Accepted," said Kael'Thur.
"Not out of devotion…
but because no alternative remains."
The column of light began to fracture into thousands of golden threads.
They slowly descended toward the Lithaar.
They embedded themselves into their mineral cores.They fused with their inner veins, altering the flow of mana that had defined their species for ages.
The Central Core burned.
Not in flames.
In foreign will.
And for the first time in their history, the Lithaar ceased merely enduring the depths.
Now, they would also decide what was allowed to continue existing within them.