Kael stood at the edge of a lake that reflected nothing.
Not the sky.
Not the clouds.
Not even his own face.
Just stillness — cold and dark.This was the Mirror Lake, hidden deep in the Divine Veins of the upper world. Here, even thoughts were stripped of names.
Here, he waited.Because the god had whispered only three words:
> "She walks near."
And Elun came.
Not cloaked in flames.
Not surrounded by disciples.
Not even armored in qi.
She came alone, barefoot, as always, and knelt before the mirror lake. Kael did not speak.Elun closed her eyes. Then opened them.
> "You were the first to betray Lumen." Kael's voice was quiet.
>"No. I was the first to understand him."
The lake began to ripple, though no wind stirred it. Kael's shadow fractured into seven, each one flickering like a separate soul.He stepped forward.
> "He built the Nine Paths to lift the world.
But they began to burn the sky itself. He had to be stopped — even by his own remnants."
Elun tilted her head slightly.
> "So you sided with the god who forged the seals that enslave every soul?"
Kael's expression did not change.
> "I created order. I saved millions from madness. From losing their minds in pursuit of something they were never meant to hold."
The air began to vibrate. Kael's aura unfolded — not with power, but precision. He activated his domain: The Mirror of Judgement. Suddenly, around Elun shimmered dozens of reflections: One showed her dying in fire. One showed her begging the god for mercy.One showed her embracing Kael as a savior. One showed her burning the world.Each image whispered with her own voice.
> "You are no savior."
> "You are a lost girl holding an ember."
>"You will destroy everything."
But Elun simply looked at the mirrors — and smiled. Then she stepped into one. And it shattered. Then another. And another. Each mirror she walked through collapsed, not from force — but from truth. Because her soul held no lies.
Only the Flicker.Kael's expression finally cracked.
> "You… you erased the false paths. Without even summoning flame."
Elun's voice was soft. Almost sorrowful.
> "You built prisons from possibility. I carry the fire that was never meant to be bound."
Kael raised his hand.A single spear of light formed — Condensed Law, the god's divine weapon. Made to pierce soul, memory, and karma alike.
> "Then burn, Elun. And let the world forget your echo."
He threw it.The spear crossed the distance in silence. And stopped. One inch from her chest.Not because Elun blocked it. But because it remembered.The flame within the spear flickered. Then dimmed.Then turned away, dissolving into motes of ember that fell like snow.Kael staggered backward.
> "What… what are you?"Elun stepped forward, not in anger — but with compassion that burned without heat.
> "I am not power."
>"I am what came before power."
>"And you still have one chance to remember."
She reached out her hand. Kael looked at it — trembling.And then…He turned away.
> "I cannot go back."
>"If I stop now, none of it will mean anything." Elun nodded.
> "Then the god has already won in you."
The Mirror Lake shattered.
Not with sound.
But with stillness — as if it had never been there at all. Elun vanished into flame. And Kael stood alone in the emptiness he had shaped.
Far above, in the god's throne-temple of voidlight and silence, a storm began to form. And the god, who had no eyes, watched.
> "Then fire it shall be."