About what are they asking one another?
About the great news—
That which brings pleasure to their faces.
But they do not know.
And they are going to know.
The Mirror has been placed.
And its truth is absolute.
***
A throne of stars. A hall without walls.
The peak of the ever-expanding universe belonged to them. The gods were nothing but mere ants, and the immortals could only revere them. Thirteen figures—each an empire unto themselves—gathered where the void didn't even dare to exist. Their mere presence reshaped reality, their wills intertwined with the very essence of creation.
They had conquered all.
There was nothing left to fight. No more thrones to seize, no more unclaimed eras. They had traveled to the very edge of time and back, its existence long since surrendered to them.
And for the first time in eternity, they gathered.
For the one question no one could ignore.
"What now?"
***
Silence fell over the thirteen. A silence heavier than dying stars, deeper than the abyss they had long since tamed. It was the silence of finality—the silence of those who had reached the peak and found nothing beyond it.
T.K. shut his book, the colossal tome vanishing into the endless void at his whim. He adjusted his thick, round glasses, his ever-calculating gaze scanning the others. "We stand at the peak," he mused, his voice carrying across the cosmos. "And yet, we are shackled by our own greatness."
Jack scoffed, leaning against a throne sculpted from the ruins of fallen deities. His arms crossed, his smirk as sharp as ever. "You say that like it's a bad thing. We've won, haven't we?" He gestured vaguely at the infinite cosmos stretching beyond them, worlds and galaxies bending to their presence. "Everything kneels before us. The gods, the titans, the very laws of existence. What more could we possibly need?"
Cain tapped his fingers against his knee, his expression unreadable. "Purpose," he answered simply. "For all our power, all our glory, we have become... stagnant."
A murmur rippled through the group.
Naama, her obsidian-black wings draped around her shoulders like a regal cloak, spoke next. "We have long defied fate. We have crafted our own destinies. And yet, the question remains... What now?"
A tense pause.
Then—
"There is something."
All gazes turned toward Amira, the one who spoke. She sat upon her throne, her ethereal golden hair flowing like a river of light, her violet eyes gleaming with a knowing weight.
"A mirror," she continued. "A fragment of something greater than even we can comprehend. It is said to lead to an existence beyond our own, a realm unlike any we have ever conquered."
T.K.'s eyes narrowed. "A mere legend."
"Perhaps," she admitted, a cryptic smile playing on her lips. "But one woven into the very fabric of time itself. It does not bow to us. It does not acknowledge our rule. It simply... is."
That caught their attention.
Deena, draped in silver threads that shimmered with the echoes of forgotten worlds, tilted her head. "And where is this mirror?"
Amira stood, the stars bending around her movement. With a wave of her hand, space itself parted, revealing an image—an enormous, fragmented mirror, its countless shards reflecting worlds upon worlds, stretching beyond comprehension.
"It has been waiting," she whispered.
A slow, dawning realization spread across their faces. A challenge. A truth untouched. A world beyond their own.
Alkine leaned forward, his silver eyes gleaming. "So, we are to step into the unknown?"
"Yes," Amira confirmed. "And we will not enter it as we are now."
The air grew heavy.
"What do you mean?" Gowgu Meg asked, his colossal form tensing.
Amira exhaled. "The mirror does not allow power to pass through. Whatever awaits on the other side... we will not enter as conquerors, but as wanderers. As challengers. Stripped of everything."
A dangerous silence.
Then—
Jack grinned. "So we start from the bottom again?"
Cain smirked. "We ascend once more."
T.K. adjusted his glasses. "Interesting."
One by one, they stood.
The greatest beings in existence.
The only ones left unconquered... were themselves.
They stepped toward the mirror.
And one by one—
They fell.