The sun had just reached its zenith over the village of Oakhaven, a lush green valley hidden behind a range of rarely touched mountains. For Erebus, this was the best day of his life. He had just managed to catch the largest fish in the small stream near the forest, and he couldn't wait to show it to Kael, his most loyal friend.
"Look at this, Kael! I'm not the weakling anymore, am I?" Erebus shouted, holding up a silver fish that was still gasping for air.
Kael, who was sharpening a long piece of wood to be used as a toy spear, laughed so hard his eyes squinted. "Just because you got lucky once doesn't mean you can beat me in wrestling, Erebus! Come on, put that fish away. Lina and Mila are already waiting for us in the lower meadow."
The two of them ran down the hill, feeling the cool breeze play with their hair. In the meadow, Lina and Mila, twin sisters and their childhood playmates, were picking wildflowers to make crowns. The atmosphere was so peaceful. The scent of damp earth, the aroma of lavender, and the laughter of children untainted by sin filled the air.
"Erebus! Kael! Look at this crown!" Lina cried out as she placed it on Mila's head. "When we grow up, I want us all to stay like this. Playing here forever."
"Of course," Kael replied with his typical protective tone. "I will become the guardian of this village, and none of you will ever be hurt."
They spent that afternoon joking, talking about simple dreams. Erebus, who was often underestimated because of his small stature, felt completely safe among them. To him, his friends were his world. Kael was his strength, Lina was his joy, and Mila was his peace. They did not know that above them, behind the seemingly pure white clouds, cruel eyes were watching their every move.
Dusk turned to night with terrifying speed. The silence that was usually decorated with the sound of crickets suddenly became deathly still, as if nature itself was holding its breath in fear.
Erebus was sitting at a rough wooden dining table with his mother, Elena, and his father. A small candle was their only source of light. Suddenly, a deafening boom echoed from the center of the village. The earth shook so violently that plates fell from the table and shattered.
"Father? What was that?" Erebus whispered, his face turning pale.
His father didn't have time to answer. The door to their house was blown to splinters by a blast of golden light. A giant man in shimmering silver armor stepped inside. Engraved on his chest was a sun symbol with 15 rays—the emblem of the 15 Gods they worshipped every Sunday.
"Lowly family," the soldier said in a cold, emotionless voice. Without warning, he swung his glowing sword. Erebus's father, who tried to step forward to protect his family, was split in two in a single flash of a blade. Warm blood sprayed across Erebus's face.
"NO! FATHER!" Erebus screamed.
His mother, Elena, with the last of her courage, pulled Erebus roughly. "Erebus, to the kitchen! Fast!"
Elena shoved Erebus into a hidden space beneath the floorboards where they usually kept spare grain. "Don't move, don't make a sound, don't ever come out until the sun rises, do you understand?" His mother's tears fell onto Erebus's cheeks as she closed the wooden hatch and piled dry straw over it to hide it.
Through a narrow slit between the boards, Erebus watched the world he knew crumble into dust. Through that gap, he saw his mother dragged out by her hair. He heard her screams fading into the distance, calling his name in desperation before her voice was drowned out by the sound of collapsing buildings.
However, what truly shattered Erebus's soul was what he saw outside. Through the open doorway, he saw the God's Envoys gathering the women and children of the village. He saw Lina and Mila, his playmates who had been laughing just that afternoon, now chained by their necks like cattle. They were crying, calling for their parents who had already been slaughtered.
And there, in the middle of the village road, he saw Kael.
Kael was kneeling on the ground, his hands clutching the wooden toy spear he had sharpened earlier that day. Standing before him was a divine soldier who was laughing.
"A brave little child," the soldier mocked. "You want to fight a god with a piece of wood?"
"Give them back... give back Lina and Mila..." Kael tried to stand on trembling legs. "You... you aren't gods... you are monsters!"
The soldier stopped laughing. His face turned ice cold. "Death is a gift for those who blaspheme."
The sword of light came down swiftly. Erebus watched as Kael's head was thrown toward the pile of straw where he was hiding. His friend's eyes were still wide open, staring exactly toward the slit where Erebus lay. That hollow stare seemed to ask: Why didn't you save us?
Erebus wanted to scream until his throat tore, but he was too afraid even to breathe. He could only weep in silence, his tears soaking the dusty ground, while outside, his village turned into a sea of white fire that devoured everything. The women and children, including Lina, Mila, and his mother, were taken away into a portal of light leading toward the heavens.
Silence returned to Oakhaven as dawn began to break. But it was not a peaceful silence. It was the silence of death.
Erebus pushed aside the wooden boards covering him. His body was stiff, his heart was dead. He stepped out into the center of the village, which was now nothing but black, smoking ruins. The smell of burning flesh stung his nose, but he no longer felt nauseous. He walked past the corpses of his neighbors, many of whom were unrecognizable.
He stopped right in front of Kael's body. Erebus picked up his friend's head, gently closed Kael's eyelids, and laid it back on the ground. Beside him, he found the remains of Lina's flower crown, now charred and burnt.
Erebus fell to his knees in the middle of that circle of death. He was no longer crying. The sadness had evaporated, burnt away by a fire that ignited a rage so pure it felt cold in his blood.
He picked up his father's rusted dagger lying on the ground. With hands that no longer trembled, he sliced his own palm, letting his red blood soak the soil of Oakhaven.
"Hear me, you arrogant dwellers of the sky!" Erebus's voice was hoarse yet thundering amidst the ruins. "You took everything from me. You took Kael, you kidnapped my mother, you destroyed the smiles of Lina and Mila!"
He looked up at the sky which was beginning to turn blue, where the 15 gods hid behind their magnificence.
"I swear by every drop of blood spilled on this land. I, Erebus, will never rest. I will never be satisfied until I see you fall from your disgusting thrones. One by one... I will tear off your wings. I will shatter your eternity!"
"The first god who attacked this village... I will find you. The second god who laughed at our suffering... I will burn you. And you, the high gods who ordered all of this... you will beg me for death!"
Erebus stood tall. He no longer saw himself as a weak, "cupu" child. He was the remnant of destruction, the fire born from ashes. He began to walk away from the village without looking back. In his hand, he held the charred flower crown as a reminder of the promise he had to keep.
His journey began not with hope, but with a curse. Erebus's wanderings were not to seek safety, but to find a way to kill beings deemed immortal.
The world might know him as a nameless wanderer, but for the 15 gods above, he was the beginning of their apocalypse. The weak child had died on that night of slaughter, and all that remained was the shadow that brought death to paradise.
Erebus walked through the forest, disappearing into the darkness that became his name. He knew he needed strength. He knew he needed knowledge. But above all, he knew he had all of eternity to make sure every god felt the same horror he felt that night.
His steady footsteps marked the start of a new era. An era where humans no longer bowed, but stood tall with swords in hand, ready to bring down the heavens.