High above the shattered remnants of the divine council, the gods stood in stunned silence. Their celestial thrones, once resplendent with light and order, now flickered in chaotic hues. The world below teetered on collapse. Mortals cried out in desperation, and their prayers were met with nothing but silence—because even the gods had no answers anymore.
Kagetsu had become something beyond comprehension, beyond correction. His laughter carved echoes into the fabric of reality. Cities were leveled by his presence alone. Empires fell in silence, their rulers dying with eyes wide open in eternal fear. Hope itself became an endangered thought.
In that eternal pause, a trembling voice rose among the divine.
"There may be one… still sealed," said a younger god, barely older than a century in divine terms. His words trembled under the weight of the name he was about to utter. "Ayane."
A stunned silence followed. Then gasps, whispers, and even shouts. The name was not one easily forgotten.
Ayane.
The Flame That Rejected Heaven.
"She was sealed for a reason!" thundered Aseron, the God of War, his voice like a blade crashing against stone. "She and Kagetsu walked the same blood-stained path. Two monsters in love with the fire they created."
"But she wasn't like him," the younger god replied, eyes glowing faintly. "She turned against him. She tried to stop him when he first began to descend… and he left her to burn alone."
"She was dangerous even before him," murmured the God of Memory. "But after what he did, she was wrath incarnate."
"We're out of time," the youngest god said simply. "And we have nothing left to lose."
In reluctant agreement, the pantheon prepared the unsealing rite. It was ancient magic—so old even the stars seemed to dim in its presence. They journeyed to the edge of creation, where forgotten gods slept in the void, to a prison sealed with celestial fire and woven time.
There, in the heart of a dying realm, they found her.
Ayane.
Suspended in air, surrounded by black chains glowing with molten symbols, her body shimmered with raw, barely contained magic. Her skin cracked faintly like cooling obsidian, glowing beneath with something far more dangerous than simple flame. Her eyes were shut, but evensealed, her presence pressed against their divine senses like a blade.
She had not aged. She had not changed.
She had only waited.
The seals broke one after another, screeching as if aware of the threat they held at bay. When the last chain shattered like brittle bone, her eyes opened—molten gold, blazing like twin suns.
The gods stepped back.
They tried to speak. One dared raise his voice to command.
Ayane raised her hand—and fire bloomed.
The void trembled.
The gods fell silent.
"I see you've run out of heroes," she said, her voice calm, but edged with embers.
"We summoned you to—"
"To kill him. I know." Her gaze was unreadable. "Don't follow me. Don't presume to command me. I'll do this because I must—not for you, and not for them."
And then she was gone, a trail of ash twisting in the wind.
Far below, in the broken remains of a once-prosperous city, Kagetsu stood atop the fractured spire of a ruined cathedral. Rain hissed against the cursed aura that surrounded him. Lightning split the skies, yet none dared strike him. His slicked-back white hair, sharp and refined, clung with storm-kissed precision to his skull, untouched by time or the downpour. He had just finished watching another kingdom fall to ruin, his laughter still echoing in the distance.
But then—he stopped.
The air shifted. The fabric of space groaned, ever so slightly. The blood in his veins slowed.
He felt her.
Not her power—no, that would've been predictable. He felt her will, her flame, her return.
And he did not smile.
Behind the mask, his golden eyes narrowed, reflecting the flashes of stormlight.
"Ayane…" he whispered.
There was no joy. No anger. No amusement.
Only acknowledgment.
For the first time in over a thousand years, the Eternal Jester paused.
And somewhere, hidden in the veils of flame and vengeance, Ayane walked again.
To Be Continued...