The ruins of Valtheris stretched beneath them, a graveyard of a kingdom lost to time. The weight of Orien's words still hung thick in the air.
You weren't trying to destroy it. You were trying to save it.
Seraphine's breath came unsteady. The shattered stone below, the broken towers swallowed by vines—all of it felt familiar, yet foreign.
Her fingers curled into the fabric of her cloak.
"I don't understand," she whispered. "If I was trying to save it… what happened?"
Orien watched her carefully. Then, after a long pause, he spoke.
"There was a war."
The words sent a jolt through her body.
"A war you fought," he continued, "but did not win."
A war.
The word itself was enough to make her head spin.
Seraphine pressed a hand against her temple, trying to remember—but all she found were scattered fragments. Fire. Blood. A voice calling her name.
She clenched her teeth. "Who was I fighting?"
Orien's gaze darkened. "The gods."
---
The War of the Divine
The wind howled through the ruins as Seraphine stared at him.
She must have misheard.
"The gods?" she repeated, disbelieving.
Orien nodded. "Your kind—the Starborn—were born from divine blood. You were meant to be rulers, blessed with power beyond mortal understanding. But that power…" He paused, his golden eyes flickering. "It was never truly yours to keep."
Seraphine's heart pounded.
Something deep inside her stirred, a buried rage.
She didn't know why.
"I don't…" She swallowed. "I don't understand."
Orien's voice was quiet, but heavy with something that felt like grief.
"The gods did not create the Starborn to rule. They created you to serve."
The words sent a sharp, searing pain through her skull.
Echoes of something old.
—A throne bathed in moonlight.
—A voice whispering: "You are ours."
—A silver blade, dripping with divine blood.
Seraphine's hands trembled.
She stumbled back. "No. That can't be right."
But even as she denied it, something inside her knew the truth.
Orien sighed. "It wasn't supposed to end the way it did."
She looked up sharply. "Then how did it end?"
For the first time, Orien hesitated.
Then, finally, he said it.
"You killed a god."
---
The Murder of a Deity
Silence.
Seraphine's pulse roared.
She shook her head. "No."
Orien's gaze did not waver.
"You struck down a god, Seraphine."
The world spun.
She couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.
Her fingers curled into her cloak as she tried to process the impossible.
She had killed a god.
No.
Not just a god.
The one who created her.
Flashes of something horrible erupted in her mind—
A temple in ruins.
A hand outstretched, reaching for her.
A voice, echoing in the dark: "You will regret this."
Pain sliced through her skull, and she collapsed to her knees.
The memory was there—waiting for her, just beyond her reach.
Orien moved to her side, steadying her. "Breathe," he murmured.
But Seraphine couldn't.
She had killed a god.
And the world had burned because of it.
---
The Betrayal That Started It All
When her breathing finally steadied, Seraphine forced herself to speak.
"Why did I do it?"
Orien's jaw tightened.
She could tell—he already knew the answer.
And he had known it for a long time.
After a moment, he said, "Because they betrayed you first."
Her breath caught.
Orien's gaze was steady. "The gods turned against the Starborn. They called you their chosen, their children—but in the end, they feared what you could become."
Seraphine's fingers dug into the earth.
She didn't remember the details.
But she remembered the feeling.
That suffocating, crushing betrayal.
Like the world had turned against her.
She exhaled shakily. "So I fought back."
Orien nodded. "And for a moment, you won."
She swallowed. "But not for long."
A shadow passed over his face.
"No," he murmured. "Not for long."
Because if she had truly won—if she had truly broken free—then why had she been sealed away?
Why had the gods buried her existence?
What had she done to make them fear her so much?
---
A Name in the Dark
Seraphine forced herself to her feet. Her mind still spun, her body still ached, but she wasn't going to collapse again.
Not when she was so close to the truth.
She turned to Orien, meeting his gaze.
"There's more, isn't there?"
Orien's expression was unreadable.
Then, after a long silence, he said, "Yes."
Seraphine squared her shoulders. "Then tell me."
His lips pressed into a thin line.
But he did not refuse.
Instead, he turned toward the ruins below and gestured for her to follow.
"There is one last thing you need to see."
Seraphine hesitated only a moment before stepping forward.
She didn't know what she would find waiting for her.
But she was no longer afraid.
Because no matter what truth lay ahead—
She would face it.
M