The figure wore as the night wore bck, his steps heavy with the burden assigned upon him. He approached the river, green with death. For a moment he paused, thinking upon his duty, who bestowed such upon him, and how little power he truly possessed to plete it. He stepped into the river, feeling how cool it was against his legs, and waded through the river, and after a hundred or so steps, he climbed up the bank and found the fields of Damnation, a greyed gold, spanning across the entire horizon. He inhaled deeply, taking in the crisp air, almost smelling the ash.

  He didn’t t the tens of thousands of steps as he made he way through the region, finding another river, before he followed it towards the nearby mountain rahat which had been carved out of grief and darkness. As he approached the summit of the mountain, a figure adorned in shadow greeted him, standing tall and proud, still as a statue. The oppressive gre burdened his shoulder greater, and though he held a simir title of its master, the figure would have found himself struggling to face the creature with his own curved bde, formed from raw divinity.

  He reached up to pce his open hand upon his heart, owing respect to another whom held a simir title as his own, and its master. The shadow stepped aside, allowing him to step through, towards the rge garden, which greeted him with thousands upon thousands of different flowers, no two flowers the same. He followed along the path, which wound around the mountain top, the gentle breeze flowing through him, the warmth of the sun above, closer to an e than it was yellow.

  He did not stop and smell the roses, instead approag the back of the throne, which was made of jagged bones. He stopped an appropriate distance away from the throanding at attention, like a soldier waiting for his ands.

  “Do you remember your father?” the boy asked, still turned away from the armoured figure behind him.

  “My father herded goats,” Zadhin replied. “He bred many great goats, those which were gifted to the guards of our town.”

  “I have vague memories of my mother,” Sozain said, opening his eyes, taking in the sight of the flowers, the memories of these flowers almost taking his vision. “I was too young to remember that time. I spent muy time with Eveil, she watched over me as I grew. Noor, he often took mother’s attention away, so I’m told, and as I grew, I spent more and more time with my siblings. Noor would often py with me, and so would Kus. I remember all my siblings, save for one. As I try to recall him, I find a tension upon my forehead, but it is not the same for when I try and recall father. When I recall father, I recall only death. Death. An all ih. Then, a warmth. A warmth that is se to me, but it eases my heart. It must be that feeling, I am certain. The warmth of my father’s affe.”

  “I have e to request their souls,” Zadhin said. “You have domaihose of the Iyr, those who die within its nd. I have domaihe souls of all others.”

  “I refuse,” Sozain replied simply.

  Zadhin remained silent for a long while. Even until that point, Sozain had yet to turn to face him. However, what could he do? If it were not for Sozain, Zadhin would have been one of the many workers within the field of Damnation, rather than the Lord of Souls.

  The third figure approached, following along the winding path, before stopping before the pair, the heavily armod of Souls, and the boy upohrohe God of Death. He dropped the helmet of the shadow who stood watch over the garden.

  “I have e to maintain Order,” the Lord of Order said. “You must surr-,”

  Sozain lifted a hand, dismissing the Lord’s words, his throne lifting above the ground. “This garden is my most precious pce. I do not wish to ruin it.”

  “I have not e to fight,” the Lord of Order stated.

  The boy floated aon his throne, he who was the you child of the Goddess of Life, showing no respect to the Lord of Order, a Major Divine who held ion to them, as far as the Major Divine knew.

  “You must listen to my words,” the Lord of Order stated firmly.

  “I do not o look to listen,” Sozain replied, still floating away, towards Damnation.

  As the darkness followed the boy, the distant inhabitants of Damnatioreated away from the fields and to their homes, save those with tattooed foreheads. Even as Sozain passed through Damnation, passing it long by, the inhabitant did not return to their fields.

  “You mu-,”

  “You will not stop unless I surrehe souls?” Sozain asked.

  “That is correct.”

  “Okay.” Sozain raised a finger, and bess shot from his throrapping the Lord of Order within an orb. The boy let out a soft sigh, feeling the slight annoyance rising within him, doing his best to tain the rage, and the grief within his heart.

  “Does it still hurt to accept such souls?” Sozain asked.

  “Yes,” Zadhin replied.

  “It does not grow any easier.”

  “I would hope not.”

  Sozain bowed his head lightly. “This may take some time, since he is so stubborn.” He could already feel the light within the orb beginning to slice through the darkness. “You should return, and fot about these two souls. You have o worry, for they will remain under my care.”

  Lord Zadhin sighed, for it was difficult to fay of the Major Divine, especially since he had held the position for only a millennium, a newborn babe among venerable elders.

  “Lord Zadhin,” Sozain called.

  “Yes, Lord Sozain?”

  “My deepest apologies,” Sozain said, his eyes gng aside towards the Lord of Souls he had personally forced into the pantheon during the Demonic Devastation.

  Zadhin remained silent for a moment, unsure if he was able to accept the burden of the Lord of Death’s apology. “I uand. Thank you for your time.”

  Once Zadhi, surely uain of whether he had offehe Lord of Death, the orb of bess began to crack as beams of light broke through, and a single bde pierced through the orb, exploding the bck orb as the Lord of Order revealed himself, adorned in the whitest of whites and the lightest of lights. There was a darkhe Lord of Order carried upon him as he wielded his bde of white, though it was unseen, within the heart and mind of the Lord.

  “Now that he is gone, we may begin,” Sozain said, raising a finger, ing a single bck thread around the Lord of Order’s hands, and the hilt of his bde, feeling the struggle of the Major Divine who was not a sibling of his. “If you wish to surrender, just drop your sword.”

  The Lord of Order flexed, trying to force apart the thread that had ed around his hands and the hilt of his bde, for even if he dropped his bde, it would not fall to the earth, not that he had any iions of surrendering. He would o remind the boy just who and what he was.

  Except, Sozain had no iions of allowing the Lord of Order to drop his bde, not that he would, thankfully. He flung the Lord of Order through the air, smming him between the mountains, while beams of light tried to pierce through his barrier, which blocked out evei of needles of light.

  “I do not care that you are not one of my siblings, I allowed you to plete your tasks, as were assigo you by forces I could not dare to recall,” the Lord of Death said, keeping much of his annoyance short, not wishing to waste his breath for this fool. “How dare you? How dare you e to my domain, and kill one of the precious children I raised. Since you are so ignorant, I will show it to you, a father’s rage.”

  For a moment, Sozain’s heart skipped a beat, as the heat spread through him like wildfire, p through the depths of his body. During which, he o shut himself to the world for a short moment, a moment which was far too long, and would cause great trouble for his sister, and his protege.

  He could not even accept the prayer of a grieving father.

  The moment was felt throughout Damnation, throughout the Celestial Realms, and even the realms ected to it, in one way or another.

  The Lord of Chaos, bit into an apple, pausing for a moment as he felt the pulse. ‘Yoho? There’s fun I’m missing?’ Yet, he could feel the cold son the back of his head. ‘”Ah, I’ll go save you ter?”

  While the Lord of Chaos plotted to annoy the Lord of Order, Lady Eveil, who was expeg her niey time now, paused. It had been so long since she had felt such a rage, aion her you brother had sworn off in order to plete his role. She stood from the table she had prepared, feeling the duty of keeping anyone from panig, which would surely fuel the Lord of Chaos, and strode towards the throne.

  As she sat upon it, she felt the surge in her power, reag dangerous levels, but she smmed her staff onto the ground beside her, her scales bang. If her you brother had allowed such a moment to pass, it must have meant that someone had made the mistake of killing one of the children her brother had raised, meaning the Lord of Order had e to cause trouble about a particur matter.

  She could only hope the Lord of Time would be willing to assist her in this matter, not that she had the time to message him. Hopefully he would be of sane mind enough, or someone else, other than Fae or Kus had goo speak with him, though, knowing just how much Chaos had seeped into the world, she was certain her sibling, or brother, had goo meet with him.

  You really shouldn't have killed his children.