The storm of fire faded.
James, or rather, the being who had once been James Evans, lay motionless in a world that shimmered like a dream. The air pulsed with strange rhythms, as if the land itself breathed. Every grain of sand, every gust of wind, carried something alive within it.
Slowly, his eyes opened. The world then came into focus.
He was in a valley of obsidian glass, its jagged walls rising like the spines of some ancient beast. Above, two suns burned on opposite sides of the sky, one gold, one was violet, both casting the land in an eternal twilight. Floating islands drifted lazily between them, leaving trails of mist and lightning.
It was beautiful. Beautifully terrifying.
When he moved, the ground cracked beneath him. His body felt impossibly heavy, yet he could feel power humming through every muscle, every vein. He turned his head, and the motion carved a trench into the stone.
Scales, black as midnight. Wings that stretched farther than the width of city streets. And a tail that coiled like a serpent made of storms.
He was a dragon.
A godly one.
"What… what am I?"
The question rolled out of his throat like thunder.
A whisper answered him, not from the air, but from inside his mind.
You are Tiamat. Born of mortal will, shaped by divine flame. The world you stand upon is Aetherion, the realm of the sleeping gods.
The name sent a strange shiver through him. Aetherion. He could feel it vibrating in his bones, as if the planet itself recognized him.
"Aetherion," he murmured. "The world of the gods…"
Once. Now, it is the world of those they left behind.
The voice began to fade, but before it vanished, it left something behind, an imprint, like a burning symbol behind his eyelids. It wasn't a voice now, but a soundless pulse.
And then:
[System Initialization]
Welcome, Incarnate of the Divine Flame.Name: TIAMATOrigin: Earth (Mortal Realm)Status: Reborn Entity — Incomplete Divinity Detected
Primary Attributes Unlocked:
Divine Core (Dormant) – Houses the spark of godhood. Awaken through faith, conquest, or sacrifice.
Draconic Essence (Awakened) – Physical form attuned to primal energy. Regeneration and flight capabilities enhanced.
Faith Resonance (Locked) – Power can be drawn from believers. Currently: 0 worshipers.
Quests Available:
Primary Objective: Survive your first cycle of rebirth.
Optional Objective: Discover the remnants of the God War.
System Note:Warning — divine balance unstable. Host must establish identity and domain before integration completes.
"System…?" he muttered, confused.
It wasn't mechanical, not like the novels he used to read on Earth used to describe it as. This felt alive. Each word pulsed like a heartbeat in his skull, each message resonated with cosmic authority.
He tried to think of another question, and the response was instant.
[Query Received]The Divine System is an automatic mechanism designed to maintain order during the Slumber of the Gods.When gods fell, their domains fractured. The System gathers the fragments, binding them to worthy vessels, mortals, spirits, or fallen divinities, until balance is restored.
"So… I'm a replacement?"
No answer came. Only the sound of distant thunder.
As he began to move, his massive body carved deep furrows into the obsidian stone ground. He could feel the raw life energy of Aetherion pulsing beneath the surface, streams of essence that once belonged to gods now drifting freely. Each step he took made the air shimmer with heat and light.
In the distance, the land changed. A forest of crystal trees stretched toward the horizon, each branch humming with music. Creatures made of mist prowled among them, some with too many eyes, others with none at all.
He could sense them watching.
And beyond that, on the farthest horizon, rose something vast and broken. A city of light, its towers shattered, floating in the sky like islands torn apart. Ruins of a divine civilization.
The Citadel of the Heavens.
Even without the System, he could feel it a power older than creation itself, still slumbered there.
"So that's where it started," he murmured. "The war of gods."
For a moment, James, the human within, peeked through the dragon's gaze. The scale of it all was crushing. On Earth, he'd been a nobody, invisible among millions. Now, he stood in a place where even the air could kill mortals and somehow, he was part of it.
"If the gods are asleep…" he whispered, eyes narrowing. "Then maybe it's time someone new woke up."
Lightning sparked across his wings as he spread them wide. The wind howled, carrying dust and fire into the air. His roar echoed through the valley deep, unending, alive.
Somewhere, deep beneath the land, something stirred in response. Ancient wards cracked, and forgotten eyes opened in the dark.
The System pulsed again, faintly.
[New Objective Unlocked]Begin the Path of Divinity.Choose your Domain.
Available Paths:
Destruction – Embrace the chaos of rebirth and ruin.
Creation – Forge new life and order from divine flame.
Balance – Walk between gods and mortals, binding both.
Tiamat gazed at the twin suns. One gold. One violet. Two opposites, locked forever in the same sky.
He smiled, a dragon's terrible, knowing smile.
"Why not both?"
The air trembled. The System paused, then flickered showing uncertainty, as though processing something impossible.
And far above the twin suns, unseen in their slumber, the gods dreamed uneasily.