The ruins of Lysros still smoldered.
Kairo stood atop the broken tower, the wind tugging at his cloak. Below, soldiers scrambled to rescue the wounded, while clerics tried to purify the tainted ground. The sky was still cracked from the Reaver's descent—slivers of unnatural red leaking through like blood on glass.
He should've felt victorious.
Instead, he felt watched.
A presence—not hostile, but… heavy. Ancient.
Then he heard it.
A whisper.
> "Come, Godslayer. The truth awaits."
Kairo's eyes snapped to the east, toward a section of the city swallowed by ash and fog.
He didn't hesitate.
---
The streets grew darker the deeper he went, as if light itself refused to follow. Buildings were reduced to charred skeletons, and strange symbols had been scorched into the stone—language he didn't recognize.
Yet it felt familiar.
He stepped into a cathedral without a roof. Ash swirled like mist, and at the far end stood a woman cloaked in black feathers and embers. Her eyes glowed like dying stars, and a crown of scorched bone floated above her head.
> "You are late," she said. Her voice echoed like fire cracking in a tomb.
> "Who are you?" Kairo asked, instinctively gripping his spear.
> "I am the Oracle of Ash. The last voice of the Flameborn Order. And I have been waiting for you, Kairo of the Fracture."
---
He stepped forward warily.
> "You knew the Soul Reaver was coming."
> "Of course. It was the gods' first attempt to erase you before you awakened."
> "Awakened what?"
She stepped down from the altar, barefoot over the ash, eyes never blinking.
> "Your nature. You are not just a man, Kairo. You are a paradox. A flame forged outside their design. A being the gods fear, because you carry choice where there should be only fate."
He frowned.
> "I don't understand."
> "You will."
She raised her hand—and the ash swirled, forming visions in the air. A battlefield littered with the corpses of divine beings. A tower piercing the stars. A throne, shattered. A man—him—standing above it all, his body wreathed in power not of this world.
> "You are the harbinger of the Breaking. The one who ends the reign of gods."
Kairo took a shaky breath.
> "I don't want to be a god-killer."
The Oracle's expression softened, just slightly.
> "That's why you must."
---
She moved closer now, and in her hand formed a book made of fire and bone.
> "This is the Codex Ignis. It holds the memories of the Flameborn. The map to your evolution. But you must understand: once you read it, there is no turning back."
> "What's in it?"
> "Your past. The true source of your power. The next Trials. And the names of the gods who've marked you for death."
Kairo stared at the codex.
His hands trembled—not from fear, but from weight. From the truth pressing against his soul like a dam about to break.
He took the book.
And the moment he touched it, the world around him burned away.
---
Visions slammed into his mind like lightning.
He saw a child—him—standing in a wasteland of stars.
He saw a blade made of dying suns.
He saw a woman screaming as gods tore her from reality.
He saw himself… shattering Heaven.
Then he was back.
Breathless. Knees on the ash.
The Oracle watched him with calm reverence.
> "Now you know."
Kairo stood slowly, fire crawling up his arms, no longer out of control—but harnessed.
> "What happens now?"
> "Now, you walk the path of the Godslayer. But beware… the next Trial is coming. And it wears the face of someone you once trusted."
Kairo's blood ran cold.
> "Who?"
The Oracle turned to ash.
But her whisper lingered:
> "The one who trained you."
---
Kairo clenched his fists.
If what she said was true… then the gods weren't just sending monsters.
They were sending people.
And one of them used to stand beside him.