Stillness settled in his chest. Thoughts darted like sparks through dry grass. Could this be the one they called the First Celestial Sovereign?
Only he believed it possible - to bend time like clay. Yet here stood another, face hidden, voice cracked by centuries, saying they'd walked that path long prior.
"You lie."
A low laugh came, rough as gravel underfoot. Truth stirs there, deep in your veins - can't you sense it?
Fists tight, Kael stood still. Pieces of memory returned, yet none hinted at someone earlier. Should these words hold truth, then what else vanished without trace?
"Then tell me," Kael demanded, silver eyes burning. "Why have I never heard of you?"
The masked warrior tilted his head. "Because I was erased just as you were."
A chill ran deep inside Kael when he heard those words.
"There was a time before your rule, Kael," the warrior continued. "Before the Tribunal. Before Aetherion. Before the gods feared what we could become."
A hush passed between them as the memory-fight dissolved into nothing. Back they were, among broken stones. Watching without sound, the Titanborn dropped to one knee. Above, the torn heavens throbbed - raw from Kael's return - as if space itself had been cut open.
"What happened to you?" Kael asked.
A pause came before the warrior moved. After that stillness, off came the mask.
Kael staggered back.
Underneath, the features stirred memory - too close for comfort. Not quite him, but aged, carved deep by years and battle without end. One who'd seen dying so often it no longer felt strange.
"I was like you," the man said. "But I failed."
His chest froze. "You mean it didn't work?"
A single ruler's eyes held glimmers of distant stars, buried deep within shadow.
"I sought to master time, to shape destiny itself. But I was betrayed. And when the gods could not kill me they did worse."
"They rewrote history."
Fists clenched tight, Kael stood still. Only now did it occur to him they might have wiped out more than just himself.
If this man told the truth, others must have existed too.
If failure came his way.
Could Kael meet the same end?
A heavy foot touched ground ahead. The initial ruler moved without hurry.
"You have awakened," he said. "And now, they will come for you again."
A shadow pulled across everything. Darkness settled like a held breath.
"The Tribunal knows you live, Kael."
"And this time they will not allow you to rise."