The transformation of the creature into a god made the very air tremble. Everyone froze, eyes wide open, unable to comprehend what they had just seen.
Everyone... except Sakolomé. He kept that enigmatic smile, as if he had expected this moment all along.Ares, now radiant, rose to his full stature. His imposing presence crushed the space around him, yet his eyes gently rested on Nehan.
She seemed tiny before him, a fragile flame facing an ocean.The god looked at his own hand, open, crossed by radiant sparks. His smile became proud, almost triumphant.
— I have regained my status as a primordial god...Sakolomé, surprised despite his apparent calm, raised an eyebrow.
— You were... a primordial god?Ares slowly nodded, his gaze cast far away as if contemplating millennia of lost history.
— Originally, yes. But I was downgraded... twice. Fallen, humiliated. And yet...His gaze returned to Nehan, and his voice softened.
— You, Nehan... you freed me from my curse.The words struck Dan like a blow. He clenched his fists, torn between confusion and relief, while Wendy approached slowly, still in shock.
— So... you really are... a god?Ares closed his eyes for a moment. The deities floating above them remained silent, mute witnesses to this revelation. Then he reopened his eyelids and gently placed a hand on Wendy's head.
His fingers brushed her hair with almost paternal tenderness.
— Yes, little human. Gods do not lie. We can deceive the perception of reality, twist what you believe you see or feel... But the truth, I have given it to you as it is.
He withdrew his hand and his smile darkened slightly.
— You were right to doubt. Who would believe the words of a creature as hideous as I once was? No mortal would have had that faith.His eyes then turned piercingly toward Sakolomé.
— But the fact that Sakolomé could believe me proves he is not a mere mortal. You said you were a pseudo-Deviant... and that explains everything.Wendy blinked, puzzled.
— A... pseudo-Deviant? What is that supposed to be now?Ares crossed his arms, his tone becoming professorial, charged with ancient authority.
— If a Deviant is a being neither god, nor demon, nor dragon, but who carries divine attributes within, then the pseudo-Deviant is different. It is a being both mortal and divine. It has not crossed the limits of causality, but it is not prisoner of its chains either. Its essence approaches that of Deviants, without fully embodying their nature.Wendy frowned and shook her head.
— I... I don't quite understand...Sakolomé stepped forward a few paces, his gaze fixed on Ares.
— Neither do I, to be honest. I have always had difficulty grasping the link between this name "Deviant" and these mortals who seek to ascend by acquiring divine skills.Ares nodded gravely.
— The term does not come from their ambitions, but from their acts. A Deviant is, by nature, a mortal who has deviated from the order of the gods.
By breaking the established rules, by straying from the path traced by fate, they bear this name. They are called thus because they have deviated the order... and the very logic of existence.Wendy, struck by these words, brought a hand to her mouth, eyes wide open.
— Wait... so that means a Deviant is... a mortal evolving toward divinity?
— That's somewhat it, replied Ares with a slight smile. They rise, but by cutting themselves off from the gods who reject them.
The silence that followed was heavy with meaning. Wendy slowly turned to look at Sakolomé. She looked at him differently, as if discovering him for the first time.
The man she was close to, whom she thought she understood, might not be so human after all. The idea that he was near that level chilled her as much as it fascinated her.
And Sakolomé, true to himself, simply kept that mysterious, elusive smirk.Ares knelt slowly to come down to Nehan's level.
His eyes, usually so severe, were bathed in unexpected softness.
— You have broken my curse, he said in a deep voice vibrating with gratitude. I am infinitely indebted to you.His hand shone with a golden clarity, and he delicately placed his fingers on the little girl's head. The light penetrated her fragile body, warming her from within.
— I offer you my blessing. From now on, you will never fall ill again. My divine aura will protect you at every moment. And... if ever you feel the need to cross the mortal limit to become a Deviant, know that I will be your god, and you will become my apostle.Nehan lifted shining eyes toward him. She did not understand all the implications of his words, but what she felt was simple and pure: pride, and silent gratitude. She smiled tenderly, as if to seal a pact whose full scope only the future would reveal.Ares stood tall again and walked toward Sakolomé. His steps echoed like waves of power.
— Very well. I will rise again with the other gods. But before that, let me tell you something.He placed a heavy and firm hand on Sakolomé's shoulder.
His face came near, and in a low whisper belonging only to them, he said:
— You are close... very close to becoming a full Deviant. But know that you are watched. Creatures from places no mortal imagines already cast their gaze upon you. Stay on your guard... because what you face will not always be understandable.His lips curved in a discreet smile.
— Fortunately, Saiko lives in you. His presence is enough to repel many abominations.He turned, ready to join the other deities waiting for him in the heights. But Sakolomé's firm voice stopped him.
— Wait. I have a question.Ares froze, without turning around.
— I have heard that Meta-Concepts come from Madhurya, resumed Sakolomé.
You, the primordial gods... are you of that nature? Are you meta-conceptual beings, transcending a domain you embody?
A heavy silence fell.
Ares slowly raised his head to the gods hovering in the sky. They all gave him enigmatic smiles, as if they knew a truth too vast to be contained in words.
Finally, Ares turned, and his gaze plunged into Sakolomé's eyes.
— That is an excellent question. But no... Primordial gods are not meta-conceptual beings. We are... pre-origin. We exist upstream, before the slightest concept forms.
We are superexistences.The breath of his words made the air shiver, as if the universe itself bowed to the truth pronounced.
Sakolomé slightly lowered his head, his memories rushing.The meta-conceptual entities... they are not mere powers.They are the very condition of all things, the silent foundation on which the entire existence rests. Nothing is allowed, nothing is thinkable, nothing can even be named without their acceptance, or rather... without their permission by their essence.They do not destroy reality as a force or weapon would. No. Their scope is far more absolute. A super mortal can stop time: then time freezes, like an iced river.
But if a meta-conceptual entity denies time... then that river has never flowed. No one can remember having seen it, because there has never been "time" to remember. The very idea of a before or after dissolves, swallowed into a void older than the void.Do you understand? They do not reign in creation. They set the parameters that make creation possible. They define whether law can exist, whether thought can have a support, whether the real can be real.
Their action does not change the world: it erases the possibility that a world ever existed.Ares marked a long pause. The wind itself seemed to have stopped, suspended in a silent expectation, as if nature refused to disturb this unveiling. His smile faded, tinged with gravity, almost sadness.
— But we Primordials... do not misunderstand me, Sakolomé. We are not such beings. We are not meta-conceptual. We are something else: superexistences, pre-origin presences.
We are fragments of Zeus himself, torn from what lies beyond Madhurya, where even identities have not yet sprouted. We exist outside any forms of meta-conceptual entity.
Sakolomé listened to Ares's words, but in truth, a part of him already knew. His own path had led him to cross—and survive—against beings such as Zelongue or Isissis.
He had understood a terrible truth: confronting a meta-conceptual entity is not fought with brute strength, but on a level of compatibility.
Only a being whose essence can condition can affect another of the same order. Otherwise, it is an impossible clash: a fundamental incompatibility. Because what is conditioned always depends on what conditions for existence. If this chain is broken, the fight is nonsense.Meta-conceptual essences were not simply powerful: they were the condition of all things. That is also why Sakolomé began to understand why gods were forbidden to fight fully among themselves. Because if two entities of that order crossed swords without restraint in one reality, they would not merely crack it: they would invalidate it.
With each exchange, their essence would rewrite the very perception reality has of itself, until it could no longer sustain itself.He still remembered Isissis. When that entity dared to manifest too vast a part of her true nature, all lower planes shook. Time trembled, laws were inverted, and existences dissolved into pure incoherence. Meta-conceptual beings are not dangerous because they strike: they are dangerous because their very affirmation of power cancels out the possibility of a stable world.Superexistences, on the other hand, were something else.
A radical break, outside this logic. Their pre-origin nature placed them beyond the need to condition anything. Detached from the chains of possible and impossible, they existed as remnants of what precedes all language, all framework, all concept.And yet, this revelation raised other questions. If the Primordials were those pre-origin fragments, then what of the dream of the Father God? Was the domain of the primordial gods truly the beginning of the pure dream? Or was that merely an imperfect comparison? Perhaps the word "dream" is used only to distinguish it from the domain of the original gods... But the truth, Sakolomé thought, must be far more unfathomable.