The weight of centuries pressed down on Kael's shoulders as he gazed across the mortal realm. The crisp mountain air carried whispers of autumn, but he barely noticed the chill anymore. Time had become meaningless to one who had witnessed the rise and fall of countless empires, who had watched generations of mortals flicker like candles in the wind. Their brief lives seemed almost precious now, each one a fleeting spark in the endless darkness of his existence.

Immortality clung to him like a shroud, heavy and suffocating. The gods who had once found such amusement in his eternal wandering had grown weary of his defiance, of his refusal to bow before their divine whims. He could feel their anger crackling in the air around him, taste their displeasure like bitter wine upon his tongue.

The sky above him split open with a sound like shattering glass. Swirling energies of purple and gold tore through reality itself, forming a portal that pulsed with otherworldly power. As the void reached for him with ghostly tendrils, Kael's lips curled into a bitter smile. His final curse to the heavens was lost in the howling wind as the portal swallowed him whole.

Darkness embraced him, absolute and all-consuming. Then came the light—harsh and blinding. A new world stretched before him, wild and untamed. Dense forests of trees unlike any he had known reached toward an alien sky. The air itself felt different here, thick with raw magical energy that made his skin tingle.

His impact with the forest floor sent tremors through the earth. Pain lanced through his body—a reminder that while death could never claim him, suffering remained his constant companion. As he pulled himself to his feet, bones creaking back into place and wounds already beginning to heal, understanding settled over him like a cold shroud: The gods had cast him into a realm far beyond the world of men. Here, where reality itself bent to different rules, they would find fresh amusement in his struggles.

But in their arrogance, they had made a crucial mistake. They had given him a new beginning, a chance to grow stronger than they could imagine. A chance for revenge.