Chapter 5 - Heaven and Hell.

“Why…?”

The wind shifted — distant, thin, almost afraid to approach.

“Why would you do this?”

The woman’s voice carried no anger.
Only emptiness.
Only sorrow.

Above them, the heavens gleamed —
two silhouettes standing at the very peak of the sky itself.
A man.
A woman.

Far behind them, a black hole pulsed softly…
slowly drawing closer.
Its gravity folded the air, warped the light,
and pulled at the edges of their silhouettes like hungry fingers.

Two chains —
thin, ancient, inevitable —
bound them both to their fate.

A devouring monster.
A silent horizon.
A choice neither wanted.

The man exhaled.

His voice was steady.
Resolved.

“Even if you knew…”
He paused, eyes lowering.
“I apologise.
But I can’t allow you to stand in my way.”

The woman did not look at him.

She stared toward the event horizon as it crept across the heavens —
its pull tugging her tear away the moment it formed.
The droplet stretched, caught by gravity,
and vanished into the sky before it ever reached her chin.

She breathed out a single phrase.

“…I see.”

The world held its breath.

Wind swept across the peak,
cold and bitter and full of mourning.

The heavens darkened.

Her eyes lifted — hollow, shining.

“I guess,” she whispered,
“that I must stop you.”

And then—

As the moment stretched,
as their fates coiled tighter around them,
the world itself recoiled:

Heaven cracked.
Hell split.

The two realms fragmented outward from their silhouettes —
shattering like glass held too long against a storm.
Light and shadow peeled apart,
tearing the sky into two devouring halves
as the event horizon swallowed the distance between them.

The end had already begun.

Enjoying the chapter? Support my work on Ko-fi — it helps me keep writing daily:
https://ko-fi.com/elliensvorein