Chapter 21: Birth of the False God
In the days following Kael's unification of light and shadow, creation itself began to dream.
Cities no longer slept; their skies shimmered with twin suns that rose and fell in perfect symmetry. Rivers sang to the moons. Mountains whispered memories of what they once were. The Dominion had evolved yet beneath the perfection, a new unease stirred.
Kael felt it first.
It began as a faint echo in the back of his consciousness like a heartbeat that was not his own. Each night it grew louder, pulsing through the fabric of his realm.
Then, one night, the stars went silent.
Kael opened his eyes in the throne chamber, sensing the disturbance ripple through every Monolith. "Something's awake," he murmured.
Draven burst in, his expression grim. "My lord the northern veil fractured. A being appeared from it. It bears your essence."
Kael stood slowly. "Show me."
They arrived at the edge of the Veillands a region of unstable existence where reality bled into the void. The ground was ash and glass, glowing faintly with paradox energy.
At its center stood a figure.
It looked like Kael same build, same eyes but its presence was wrong. Where Kael radiated calm, this reflection bled chaos. His aura devoured the light around him, turning it into shifting, screaming forms.
The being smiled when Kael approached. "So, you are real," it said, voice smooth and mocking. "I wondered if the echo that birthed me was a lie."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "You're the fragment. Erethis's remnant."
The double tilted his head. "Not a remnant. A refinement. When you absorbed the paradox, you couldn't contain it all. What was left became me."
Varis raised his blade. "Name yourself, abomination."
The being's grin widened. "Names are cages. But if you need one… call me Kaelith."
Kael stepped forward, the air trembling around him. "You carry my power, but not my purpose. Return to the void before I make you."
Kaelith chuckled. "You think you can command me, creator? You merged with chaos and called it balance. I am what you denied. I am the will to surpass even gods."
The ground split beneath them. Lightning of black and gold cascaded into the sky.
Kael summoned his blade a weapon of twilight fire and crystal shadow. Kaelith answered with a weapon of raw paradox, a living edge that shifted between states with every breath.
Their first clash tore the world apart.
Reality bent like glass. The Veillands disintegrated into spirals of collapsing energy. Every living soul across the Dominion felt the impact and fell to their knees, clutching their hearts as divine pressure consumed the air.
Kael's strike carved through Kaelith's defense, but the fragment only laughed as his wound healed instantly. "You can't kill me, because I am you. Every strike you land feeds me."
Kael's eyes flared. "Then I'll erase what makes you real."
The battle spiraled into the upper skies, where they fought across collapsing constellations. Kael's will forced stars to kneel, but Kaelith devoured their light, turning it into fuel.
With every moment, Kaelith grew stronger.
"You built the cosmos to be perfect," Kaelith taunted, "but perfection is a prison. I am freedom from your law."
Kael drove his blade into Kaelith's chest, pinning him to the dying light of a shattered sun. "Freedom without balance is ruin."
Kaelith grinned through blood made of starlight. "Then let's see which the world chooses."
He vanished dispersing into thousands of fragments of paradox energy that rained down upon the mortal realm like falling stars. Each one landed in a different world, birthing seeds of his will.
Kael descended back to his throne, his armor cracked, his aura flickering.
Draven approached cautiously. "What was that thing?"
Kael stared into the distance. "Not a thing. A future."
He closed his eyes, feeling the countless sparks of Kaelith's essence ignite across creation.
The balance he had built was breaking again.
But this time, it wasn't from beyond it was from within.