---
> "Before the storm destroys the world,
sometimes the gods kneel…
just to beg the storm to stop."
---
🌠 Scene 1 — The God Who Walks
Midnight.
Aegis Academy slept uneasily.
Lightning crackled across a cloudless sky.
Birds stopped singing. Time itself seemed to pause.
And Aric stood alone in the east garden, where the memorial pillars for fallen students shimmered in moonlight.
A shadow moved between the statues.
Then, a man appeared — robed in robes woven from stars, with no feet, and a face made of golden fire.
> "Aric Vale," the voice said, echoing across dimensions.
"I bring you your last divine favor."
Aric didn't flinch.
"Which one are you?" he asked coldly.
The being inclined its head.
> "I am Sol'tir — Architect of Flame.
Patron of War.
Guardian of the Pact."
---
🔥 Scene 2 — The Offer
Sol'tir extended a silver branch, dripping light.
> "Take this, and I erase your name from the celestial record.
No god will hunt you.
No shrine will bind you.
You will be free."
Aric's laugh was bitter. "I've already died. Freedom's not something you can give."
Sol'tir's flame-eyes narrowed.
> "Then I offer something else.
Knowledge.
Of what waits beyond even the gods."
Aric paused.
> "Go on."
---
🕳️ Scene 3 — What Waits Beyond
The garden melted away.
Reality warped.
Aric now stood on a field of dying stars.
Before him loomed a black monolith, and from it spilled whispers in a language that twisted bone.
Sol'tir's voice vibrated beside him:
> "This is The Hollow That Hungers.
A thing older than time.
Even we fear it."
> "If you burn the divine order, if you tear down the gods…
This will come. It will not see justice.
Only void."
Aric stared at the monolith.
> "And you kept this from mortals?"
> "Because mortals are fire.
And fire invites darkness."
---
🌌 Scene 4 — Aric's Choice
They returned to the garden.
The silver branch still floated in the air.
Sol'tir said, "You can walk away.
Take the favor.
Live your life in peace."
Aric looked down at his hands—cracked with flame, etched with sigils.
He saw Cassia's face. Myles' fear. Lena's betrayal. His mother's letter.
He remembered pain.
He remembered death.
And he whispered:
> "Peace was never an option."
Aric drew his blade and cut the branch in half.
The sky roared with thunder.
Sol'tir stepped back. "Then the divine protection ends."
Aric replied:
> "Let it."
---
🧬 Scene 5 — The Scar of the Sky
As Sol'tir vanished, a scar ripped across the heavens.
Mages across the continent woke screaming.
Temples collapsed.
Prophets convulsed in seizures.
Because for the first time in ten thousand years…
a mortal had rejected divine sanctuary.
---
📓 Scene 6 — Notebook Update
---
"Phase 12: The Gods Blinked"
Sol'tir appeared
Hollow confirmed
No more celestial record
The sky is cracked
> "They came to bargain.
That means they're afraid."
> "I don't fear what comes after the gods.
I fear leaving this world the way they made it."
---