Chapter 39: "The Awakening of Damnation"

This is how the power of a God looks in all its splendor. How magnificent, how sublime.

A roar drowned by centuries of confinement. Xeroth began to unleash the Plague in uncontrollable torrents. Reality itself within the Crypt fractured, showing black fissures across the walls of the void around us.

“It has worked. Finally, after so long.”

“Aurethys nears its end, and with it, the fulfillment of our vengeance.”

“A new era shall begin for mortals, one where the sky will hold no distinction between day and night.” The souls cried out.

As his prison broke, the Plague burst forth with immeasurable violence. The cathedral was torn apart from its very foundations: the walls and stained glass dissolved in an instant.

I was hurled toward one of the floating islands surrounding what was now the ruins of the seat of the Order of the Undefeated Sun. Along with me, a golden harp fell to the ground, shattering into a thousand pieces.

Among the vestiges of the temple and the screams, the Lord of Flagellum broke his seal and returned to the world.

Xeroth will devastate Aurethys for the crime its Goddess committed: stealing his life.

On the nocturnal horizon, a reddish sun emerged, a blasphemous star that bathed the crumbling city with its profane light.

The Plague constantly flowing from Xeroth’s horns reached the Order of the Infected. Those who languished, who withered away from the loss of their God, were filled once more by the return of the Plague. What had been an emptiness was restored: corruption once again flowed through their veins, returning strength and vitality.

“Nothing shall remain standing.”

“Nothing shall endure.”

“Nothing and no one will be able to oppose the will of the Gods.”

The Knights of Neryuth cheered the return of their God. That was why they fought—for salvation for their nation, and with it, a future filled with hope.

Thus, Xeroth released the Plague like a dark sea advancing upon Aurethys. The Order, swollen with renewed power, marched forth in a frenzied battle against the Knights of Aurethys.

“What do you think, Zenith?” I shouted to the four winds. “Look at your Knights extinguish, look at your citizens suffer, look at your religion crumble. This is what happens when you underestimate someone you have shattered.”

Swords and bodies clashed amidst the chaos, while the city sank into ruin and the fate of its inhabitants was sealed by despair.

Aurethy, between the red sun in the sky, the Plague spreading like an unstoppable fire, and the war being fought in its streets: the city was trapped between collapse and damnation.

It is what I have longed for: to hear their screams of suffering, to see how the people who despised me for so many years sink into agony.

The return of Xeroth did not only mean the rebirth of a forgotten god, but the beginning of an era of devastation.

“Damn you, what have you done? This act is unforgivable. You dare destroy my city?” Shouted a familiar voice, desperate. Its angry tone, full of hatred and rancor, filled me with an unparalleled satisfaction.

Zenith rose before me with uncontrollable rage. His lilac hair, beautiful, floated around his head, tossing about him in his fury. He clenched his fists until his nails dug into his flesh with such force that blood welled between his fingers.

I once thought he was untouchable. And now? Now who begs for mercy?

“Are you insane!? Reviving a God is not something a human is allowed to do! Don’t you understand what you did? You crossed a line that only The Genesis or The Ruin would dare to cross.”

“What did I do? I am a redeemer and I came to redeem your sins.”

Xeroth raised his long arms and struck them against Aurethys, lifting a wave of Plague. The city trembled, buildings split, and the Knights had fewer heads with which to defend their loved ones.

The souls materialized, clinging to Zenith with the constrictive force they used on me when we first met.

“You experimented on us: you assigned us a suicide mission and then discarded us.” One of the souls reproached her.

“Now, we will complete our vengeance. But it is not enough for us to merely see you suffer.”

“First we will raze everything you love and, only afterward, will we end your misery.” Sentenced the oldest soul.

“Why did you do it? What did you need from us? Justify that you made us suffer so much, enough to now want to raze Aurethys. These are the just consequences of your actions.” I asked, indignant, consumed by rage.

The screams, the pain, the despair — I feel how they fill a void in my spirit, one that will never be filled, but feeling it fill is comforting. It is not a void; it is the Silence, which will never cease to nullify everything.

She fixed her gaze on me. In that instant, the Wound struck me with a stabbing pain, a pressure that maddened my head and split my skull in two.

“The humans who had been rejected by the other Gods built this city, but they needed a deity. That is why I was created out of their beliefs. They gave me everything: a life, a purpose.”

The streets of Aurethys were covered in blood. The Infected ripped open bellies with their corrupted spears, while the knights of the Order clung to their broken swords.

“But my existence is fragile, bound to mortals. If they die, I will perish too. That is why I sought a new horizon, a refuge that would transcend my weakness.” She continued.

She could not avoid succumbing to ambition, to greed.

“In my research I found the Silence, an element forbidden even to the Gods. I reincarnated their souls, I cultivated them. I even experimented with Zera. I tore her away from her parents to draw closer to my goal.”

The red sun granted no respite: every shadow burned as if alive.

The river of Aurethys turned into a thick, purple stream. Drowned children were dragged among fragments of armor, and above them floated tattered banners.

From Xeroth’s horns, the Plague descended like rain, raising columns of greenish smoke that devoured lungs.

“Then I discovered the secret: with the Feather, and a reincarnated bearer, the Son of Silence… I could rewrite my story. I could become a World God.”

“So that’s what you planned to do with me? Use me as a lackey so that I would pull the strings in your life?” I yelled in despair, finally understanding the purpose she had given my life.

“That’s right. The other Gods, born of The Genesis or of The Ruin, could never attempt it. They are chained to their essence. I am not. I was created out of humans, and the nature of humans is greed.” She replied without a breath of remorse.

Neither creatures nor Gods can outwit their nature—it is the sacred law that rules this world. That is why, unlike the others, she lacked mercy.

“That is why I aspire to more, much more than I should. And though my power may not reach, my will transcends everything. Is that not what makes me worthy of still being your Goddess?” She declared.

Without saying another word, without looking me in the eyes, without hearing my complaints, ignoring my pain, she flew toward Xeroth to stop him, scorning me as trash.

The bells of the Cathedral, twisted by the heat, collapsed upon the refugees who begged for protection. Each agonizing note of metal resounded among the ruins, as if the very city were being tortured on a scaffold.

The burning of the Wound intensified, inflicting upon me an unparalleled torment that grew with every breath, every heartbeat.

Killing Zenith before the Wound annihilates me not only guarantees my survival, but I will also be able to behold the dusk of a new future where my vengeance will have been fulfilled.

In the distance, upon one of the floating islands, Zera stood tall and steadfast, as if all the air around her obeyed her presence.

Her face had changed completely: her features hardened, her gaze sharper, reflecting the strength she had cultivated in silence.

Her hands were now covered by golden gloves that gleamed under the light, and from them emanated yellow threads, thin and luminous, dancing in the air like tentacles of living will, binding the space around her.

That is her will, the Sacrum element.

At her side, Jix watched me with disdain, his silence laden with judgment, while Zera remained unshaken, the epicenter of an absolute control that made even the distance tremble.

She is no longer the girl I once met in the mansion. Now she has become Zenith’s vilest minion.