HEAVENBREAKER
Chapter 4: Ashes Before Thunder
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The checkpoint was a tower of silver and song.
Suspended midair by glowing scripture and divine pylons, the structure hovered above the Lower Ring like a floating execution block. At its core—The Lattice, where the chained were held. Dissidents. Heretics. Humans who dared question the gods.
Kaien stood atop a broken clocktower, his cloak flapping in the sour wind. Riven crouched beside him, blades gleaming under the cloudlight. Below, their small team waited in the ruins, masked and ready.
"This'll go sideways," Kaien said casually.
"It always does," Riven replied.
Ashar's voice crackled in their earpieces. "Move. You have six minutes until the Celestarch patrol cycles."
Kaien rolled his neck, breath fogging.
"Let's break something divine."
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The Infiltration
The descent was surgical.
Using old grapplers and shadow-thread cables, the rebels latched to the underside of the floating tower, avoiding the radiant beams that swept the air like searchlights. Riven moved like a whisper, Kaien like a smirk dipped in recklessness.
Inside, the checkpoint was all silver scripture and humming crystal walls. Divine Sentinels floated silently, faceless things wrapped in gold and artificial light. But the rebels were trained. They moved through the cracks, disabling guards with needles to the spine and prayers stolen from forbidden books.
Then they found them—the chained.
Over two dozen prisoners bound in suspended rings of runes. Eyes hollow. Skin scarred. One girl, no older than twelve, reached toward Kaien weakly.
He hesitated.
Then the alarms screamed.
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Light collapsed into itself above the tower.
A single point of gold tore through the clouds and slammed into the platform with the force of a falling sun. The structure cracked. Screams erupted. Sentinels froze.
And standing in the crater of divine fire… was it.
A Celestarch.
Ten feet tall. Armored in white gold. No face—just a crown of burning halos where a head should be. Its voice, when it spoke, made Kaien's bones hum.
> "You desecrate the will of heaven."
Kaien stepped forward instinctively. Fellchain pulsed at his back.
"Yeah?" he said, eyes narrowing. "Then let's rewrite it."
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Riven screamed something. The others ran. But Kaien moved.
He drew Fellchain in one fluid motion—the blade roaring to life with black fire, its cursed edge dragging sparks across the floor.
The Celestarch didn't flinch. It moved with impossible grace, striking with a spear of light faster than thought.
CLANG—
Fellchain met the spear. For a moment, time froze.
Then it shattered.
The impact flung Kaien across the platform. Blood poured from his mouth. His lungs collapsed. His heart stopped.
He hit the ground hard. Vision darkening.
The Celestarch turned to the prisoners.
> "Judgment—executed."
It raised its spear toward the child.
And Kaien's body twitched.
---
Inside the silence of death, something moved.
A brand hidden beneath his ribs—an ancient mark born not of magic, but of something older. A curse. A legacy.
"Break."
"Rise."
"Burn them all."
Kaien's heart beat once.
Then again.
Then a third time—louder than thunder.
His body lifted from the floor, crackling with black tendrils of energy. His eyes opened—completely pitch, save for a faint red glow at their center.
Fellchain reformed in his hand, piece by piece, links of cursed metal reweaving themselves with fire and rage.
He exhaled.
> "You killed me once."
The Celestarch turned—hesitation in its stance now.
Kaien stepped forward.
> "You don't get a second chance."