The great ziggurat of Babylon stretched toward the heavens like a mountain of gold and lapis lazuli, its seven tiers crowned with temples that blazed with divine fire. Around its base, the assembled gods of Mesopotamia gathered in a circle—fifty divine beings whose combined presence made the air thick enough to choke mortals.
At the ziggurat's peak, Marduk paced like a caged storm, his eyes blazing with fury that turned the golden stones beneath his feet molten. Each step sent tremors through the divine realm, causing lesser structures to sway and crack under the weight of his rage.
"Gone!" he roared, his voice carrying across the assembled pantheon like thunder from a clear sky. "The Egyptians—annihilated! The Norse—scattered to the void! The Greeks—crushed like insects! And now even the Japanese flee to their realm of the dead rather than face what's coming!"
