Inside the high sanctuary of gethion, a place not bound by nor touched by time or decay. The gods gathered in a ring of light. Their thrones floated above the floor, arranged around a core. A faint hum of divine music filled the air. Each throne was Thirty-Six in total, each for a god.
At the center of the ring was Ira, the Goddess of Fertility, stepping forward. Her eyes shimmered with fear, and her voice echoed across the room.
"I felt it," she exclaimed. "The essence of Arithmos, flowing… through a mortal."
The ring of gods was in an uproar.
Luminara, the Goddess of Chronokinesis, and Arithmos's wife, tilted her head. Her silver hair moved like a wave in the ocean. Hands around her shoulders. "That's impossible," she responded. "No mortal can contain his power."
Ira nodded. "I agree. But it wasn't just a trace. It was strong. It resonated across the plains. It happened in my city, IRA."
Gasps, curses, and murmurs echoed through the ring of light.
"He fought there," Ira continued. "He killed my Path-Knight. And worse… he took my Celestial Navigator."
The god of storms slammed his hand down the ring. Lightning cracked in the air him. "He killed a Path Knight?"
"Alone?" asked Calvius, the god of flame. "No weapon forged by a mortal should be able to do that."
"I saw it with my own eyes," Ira replied. "Through the eyes of my avatar. He moved like no mortal should. Didn't hesitate. Fast. Agile. And before he left… he said something."
"What did he say?" Luminara asked.
"He declared…" Ira exhaled deeply. "He said he would kill the gods."
Silence.
Then the council erupted.
Shouting, disbelief, threats. Some laughed. Others stood in rage. A few looked troubled.
Luminara raised her hand. The room froze. Time bent slightly around her as her essence pulsed outward. The chaos faded instantly.
"What of Arithmos?" she uttered calmly. "Has anyone checked his seal?"
Ira gazed around before replying. "I was going to ask someone to..."
"Don't worry," Luminara interrupted. "I'll go myself."
The God of War, Arithmos, had been sealed in the celestial graveyard for more than a millennium. If his essence was truly leaking, And if a mortal had accessed it… that's something terrible.
"That mortal is dangerous," Luminara implied. "No ordinary mortal can channel a god's essence and still keep his mind."
"Where is he now, This mortal?" questioned Solmira, the goddess of justice.
Ira stepped forward again. "Someone who saw the battle in IRA claimed the mortal vanished into a portal. The Navigator must have opened it.
"Any hint where they might have gone?" Luminara pressed.
"the trail was weak but..."
Yes, great news, my celestial navigator, got in contact with me in the mortal morning, she spoke of the tree of longevity.
Murmurs rippled through the gods again.
"That tree still exists?" one god whispered.
"The giants won't let him pass," another muttered.
Luminara stood. Her body glowed faintly with golden time runes.
"Send someone," she ordered. "Someone expendable, fast. I want eyes on the forest. If the mortal reaches the tree, he might regain enough strength to do something reckless."
"Reckless like what?" asked the god of poison.
"Like entering the Divine Realm," Luminara responded flatly. "And if he does… we won't be able to hide what we did."
Some gods stiffened. Others looked away.
"Any questions?" Luminara asked, her voice colder now. "Any objections?"
None spoke.
"Then the meeting is over."
One by one, the gods vanished, fading into light or shadow, returning to their domains.
Only Luminara remained.
She glanced at Ira. "You're sure he had Arithmos's essence?"
Ira hesitated. "It felt like his fury. His essence. His anger. It wasn't full power, but the pattern was too familiar to deny."
Luminara narrowed her eyes. "If the seal on Arithmos is weakening, that's one disaster. But if someone found a way to steal his powers from it…"
"We'll be dealing with something much worse than a mortal," Ira uttered.
Luminara didn't respond. She vanished in a flash of silver and gold light.
Leaving lra behind.
Upon arriving at the celestial graveyard…
Luminara stood at the edge of the blackened crater that was once a battlefield between gods. Dust and bone fragments twirled around her. In the center stood the ruins Samuel entered, Arithmos's prison.
She reached out with her hand
Time rippled.
The ruins responded to her command. The stones shifted, creating a narrow path downwards. She stepped forward, descending into the darkness. The air was heavy. The walls of the passage were cracked.
Samuel's doing.
She followed the path silently until she reached the lowest hall.
The doors were already open.
In the center of the hall, knelt a towering figure, Arithmos the God of war, bounded by thick chains that pierced through his flesh. Golden blood dripped from his wounds, soaking the stone floors like molten lava.
His eyes, once full of rage, now burned with satisfaction.
He looked up and smirked.
"Well, well," he uttered, In an intense tone. "Look who came to see me after all these years. I was starting to forget how you looked, Luminara."
She stood still, arms crossed. "Spare me the flattery."
He glanced at her intensely. "Wasn't flattery.
"I didn't come for memories," she responded coldly. "I came to ask you one thing."
He raised a brow.
"Did you give a mortal your essence, Did you make him your Awakened Vessel?"
Arithmos chuckled, low and deep. "So that's what this is about. Let me guess, he's tearing through your order already?"
She didn't answer.
Arithmos grinned wider.
"Yes. I did. He now carries my power… and my will."
Luminara's eyes narrowed, her tone intense.
"Why?"
Arithmos leaned forward, and the chains tightened.
"Because he reminds me of myself. And Because he sees the gods for what they are. And because," he paused, "we both want the same thing."
"To end you," Arithmos declared. "To tear down this false order. To burn the lies you've wrapped this world in."
"Is that what you fed him?" she asked. "Told him we're all tyrants? That we deserve death?"
Arithmos laughed intensely and echoed through the hall.
"I didn't need to tell him anything. Samuel came to me with blood on his hands and rage in his soul. I saw it in his eyes. I played my part, by giving him what he already craved, vengeance."
Luminara's jaw clenched slightly, her tone demeaning.
"So… Samuel is his name."
Arithmos leaned back, resting his head against the cold stones.
"He's more than a name. He's a reckoning. He'll come for you too, in time."
Luminara didn't blink.
"I'll look forward it, my dear."