The air crackled with divine fury as Kael Arkaeth plummeted from the heavens. His body, once invincible, now battered and broken by the very gods he had sworn to serve. The world below him was nothing but a blur of distant lands and shifting shadows. His fall seemed endless, the ground below a promise of doom. He had been cast down, betrayed by the beings who had once been his comrades—his family.
"Kael..." The gods' voices echoed in his mind, cold and detached. "The time of your reign has passed. You are no longer worthy of our favor."
His memories were hazy—whispers of battles won, victories celebrated, and a life that now seemed like another man's story. What had he done to deserve this fate? What betrayal had led to his downfall? The questions churned in his mind as the world drew closer. The only thing that remained clear was the burning rage that coursed through him. He would survive this. He would make them regret casting him out.
With a violent crash, Kael hit the ground. His body tore through the earth, crashing into a dense forest, the impact leaving a crater around him. For a long moment, all he could hear was the pounding of his own heartbeat, as though his soul was still trying to grasp its new reality. He was alive, but for how long?
Groaning, Kael forced himself to his feet. His muscles screamed in protest, but his will was ironclad. He wasn't dead. That was all that mattered.
Pushing aside the wreckage of trees and earth, Kael stumbled forward, every step filled with raw pain. He reached down to touch the ground, feeling the pulse of the world beneath his fingertips. Mortal. Primitive. It was nothing like the Celestial Realm. The gods' power, their divine influence, was absent here. His own strength, once godly, now felt weak, distant, like a fading dream. He needed to regain it.
But for now, survival was the only thing that mattered. He would endure. He would rise again.