When Kael emerged from the Ice Tombs of Vareth, the world itself reacted. Earthquakes rippled across distant kingdoms. Oceans receded before surging back with fury. The sky dimmed, casting twilight even at noon.
Mira watched him approach, her breath caught in her throat. The Kael who descended into the tomb was a man. What returned was something else entirely.
His presence pressed against reality. Snow melted beneath his feet. Air shimmered with silent power. The Ninth Chain now pulsed alongside the others, forming a halo of dark radiance around his body.
"We leave," he said.
Mira followed, though her gaze lingered on the tomb behind them. The path they took had changed everything. Not just for themselves, but for the entire Astral Continent.
Word of Kael's ascension spread faster than any scout could ride. In the high temples of Orlath, priests wept. In the shadowed halls of the Iron Circle, lords cast down their banners. Even in the hidden city of Thal'Vireth, where dragons once whispered secrets to kings, a silence deeper than death settled.
Kael returned to the capital he had forged from ash and stone. Black spires reached into the heavens. Thousands lined the streets in silence as he passed, too afraid to cheer, too awestruck to kneel.
In the throne room, now reformed with obsidian and fire, Kael sat upon the new seat of dominion. Not just a throne, but a conduit. A vessel for divine will, forged by mortal hands.
Mira stood beside him. Her loyalty had never wavered, though her heart had grown heavy.
"You have all the power this world can offer," she said quietly. "What now?"
Kael looked down at his hands, wrapped in light and shadow. Each chain whispered differently now. Pride. Wrath. Ambition. Loss. Hope.
"There is one law left to break," he answered. "The law of the gods."
A storm gathered outside the palace, not of weather, but of faith and fear. The people watched their emperor, not as a ruler, but as a question.
Was he their salvation or their reckoning?
Kael rose.
"Prepare the legions. We march at dawn."
"For where?" Mira asked.
He looked to the sky.
"To the heavens."