The fires of the Dawnfire Plains still burned when the survivors gathered.
Ash fell like snow, and the air shimmered with the fading echoes of celestial power.
Arhaan stood at the center of the ruined field, the Oathbreaker thrust into the ground. Chains of crimson light coiled around it, flickering like dying embers.
Kael stood beside him, his once-golden armor now tarnished and scarred.
Behind them, mortals, angels, and jinn — enemies who once slaughtered each other without hesitation — now stood together, uncertain but united by a single truth:
Heaven had declared war upon all of creation.
---
A young woman stepped forward, her dark hair streaked with silver light — Selara, the last Oracle of the Mortal Kings.
"You called us here," she said softly. "But why should we follow you, Oathbreaker?"
Arhaan looked up, his eyes weary but resolute.
"Because I don't want to rule Heaven," he said. "I want to free it."
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
Kael watched him — the conviction in Arhaan's voice resonated through the air like a living thing.
Arhaan continued, "We were all chained — angels by obedience, mortals by faith, jinn by their oaths. But what if we could break them all?"
Selara frowned. "And replace them with what?"
"Choice," Arhaan said simply. "The one gift Heaven took away."
---
That night, as the fires dimmed, the three races formed a circle around Arhaan.
He raised the Oathbreaker high; its runes glowed with a blinding light that merged crimson, gold, and violet — the colors of their combined essence.
"I ask no worship," Arhaan declared. "Only a vow — to fight until the chains of Heaven are broken, or until our souls are ash."
The crowd knelt. One by one, voices rose:
"For the fallen."
"For the forgotten."
"For freedom."
The ground trembled.
A sigil of unity burned into the earth — the mark of the Covenant of the Fallen.
---
Far above, in the shining city of the Seraphs, the High Arbiter stood before the sleeping colossus known as The Divine Annihilator — an ancient weapon born from the first dawn of creation.
Its eye flickered open, casting a beam of light that pierced the firmament.
"The world unites against Heaven," the Arbiter whispered. "Then Heaven shall descend to end the world."
---
Below, as dawn broke over the ashes, Arhaan looked to Kael.
"Are you sure about this?" Kael asked quietly.
Arhaan smiled faintly. "No. But that's the point."
They clasped wrists — light and fire intertwining.
The war for Heaven had begun.