Back in the Rift, Kael stood between gods and oblivion.
Two had appeared. But the third—the most dangerous—had yet to act.
Ko'Thar, the Root of Law, hovered in silence. Its body was a black pillar laced with every rule that defined reality: gravity, identity, death, time.
And then it spoke—but not in sound.
Kael's limbs froze. His heartbeat stopped. His breath reversed.
"You are not Kael," Ko'Thar declared. "You are a corruption of form. A cluster of decisions that broke sequence."
Kael fell to one knee. His soul strained.
[System Intervention: Origin-Shard Integrity Below 20%]
The law was unmaking him.
But Kael clenched his teeth. He reached inside—the core of his rewritten soul.
He remembered the child in the pod. The erasure. The fight. The pain. The choice.
And he rewrote the law again.
[Manual Override Engaged: Core Directive Updated]
[New Command: EXISTENCE = CHOICE]
A surge of defiance pulsed from him like an EMP of will.
The ground cracked. The Tribunal staggered.
Ko'Thar faltered. "You should not be able to—"
Kael rose.
"I'm done asking what I'm supposed to be."