Crimson Shardlands — a place once bathed in divine fire, now reduced to a wasteland of broken obsidian and silent, blood-red winds.
Elyos, Valen, and Kairen stood at its edge. No birds. No beasts. Only the faint whispers that clawed at the soul. Each step in the Shardlands wasn't just physical—it was emotional. It dragged up grief, fear, pain… things long buried.
"He's here," Kairen said, eyes narrowed. "I can feel him. Still refusing to die."
"Nareth, the Deathless One," Valen muttered. "The one who refused even the cheat code… and took something worse instead."
🧿 Character Focus: Nareth, the Deathless One
Once human. Once mortal.But when death came, he bartered his end with the god of endings.
In exchange for a soul that could never truly pass, Nareth gave up his humanity.Now he wanders between life and death, cursed with memories that no living mind should hold—and abilities that bend resurrection, not just survival.
He was one of the Five Mirrorborn. Once a brother to Elyos.
Now? No one knew.
As they traveled deeper into the shard dunes, strange visions clawed at them.
Valen saw her own corpse, smiling at her.
Kairen felt himself age rapidly, then rewind.
Elyos… saw nothing.
Nothing. No illusions. No fears. The land couldn't touch him anymore.
"The Deathless One fears you," Kairen said. "He's showing us our ends, but you—""He doesn't know how you end."
"Because I already did," Elyos answered quietly."And I broke it."
They found Nareth in a cathedral made of bone and black stone, surrounded by silent statues—each one modeled after those he failed to save.
He sat atop a twisted throne, skin pale as chalk, eyes hollow.
When Elyos entered, Nareth didn't rise.
"You've returned. But not as Riku."
"I remember now," Elyos said. "I remember all of it."
"Then you know what we gave up," Nareth said."And what we were cursed for."
🩸 World Focus: The Pact of Mirrors
The Mirrorborn weren't born—they were chosen. Five humans, each given a fragment of Elyos' true power before the gods shattered it. They were mirrors, designed to reflect what he lost in each death.
Kairen held his storm.Nareth held his soul.Others held time, memory, and will.
But the gods corrupted them—twisting each fragment into isolation.
Now they were scattered. Alone. Dangerous.
Nareth finally stood.
His presence warped the air, like life was being siphoned into a void.
"If you've come to reclaim what I hold, you'll have to take it from me," he said."Because this pain? It's the only thing that's kept me alive."
Valen stepped forward. "You're not surviving, Nareth. You're trapped."
"Good," he whispered. "Because if I move again… I might become something else."
Elyos walked to the center of the cathedral, hand raised.
A memory glyph formed in the air—one that pulsed with both their signatures.
"You trusted me once," he said."Let me prove I deserve it again."
"How?"
Elyos closed his eyes… and let his second death replay in open light.
The betrayal.The chains.The gods' laughter.The moment he first lost faith in everything—even himself.
Nareth stepped down from the throne.
Silence.
Then:
"If you want me back… then promise me one thing.""When we fight the gods again—we finish it."
Elyos nodded once.
"We don't stop at survival. We end their rule."
As they left the cathedral, the statues cracked.
And in the far skies above, a golden chariot of flame descended.
The first god had arrived.
End of Chapter 18