Before she understands why, her breath catches, her gaze lifts.
Seren stands at the center of it…and she is not alone.
They descend behind her like a storm made of light and power and memory, their presence folding into the world with a force that distorts reality. Figures of impossible scale and undeniable, terrible power step into the battlefield as though they have always belonged here—as though they never left. Their forms are ethereal and beautiful and terrifying.
The gods have returned.
Torrents of fire still spew from Tarrakai’s jaws, and Nyrielle holds the line, locked in an unyielding battle with him. Ancient powers facing off against one another.
Kael tries to drag himself to his feet, blood oozing from a gash on his forehead.Alive.
Relief and horror war inside Elyssara’s mind, but she can’t focus her vision, her mind.
Because the fucking Gods of the Known Realms have returned. Not summoned. Not called. She’s tried that before; prayed on her knees, begged at their temples, pleaded with the Stars themselves. But they have never come when she’s called.
This time, the pantheon has been brought back from the echo-plane by Seren Calvatere, full-blooded witch of The Dreaded.Andshe World Walked to find them.
You’d do well to remember that you are able to do so much, little witch.That’s what Lara had said to Seren.She knew. She fucking knew Seren would be the one to bring the gods home.
Seren moves. Not with the kind of grace she usually does. With the savage kind of hurt that only comes with grief. The golden noose snaps forward in her hand, cutting through the chaos with lethal precision, tightening around one soldier, then another, dragging them from their feet and casting them aside with a force that leaves nothing behind but silence. She does not hesitate—she moves like someone who has let grief carve them sharper.
Kael staggers to his feet behind her, stumbling toward Tarrakai with his teeth bared. The Ender of Kingdoms senses the movement and swipes at him again with his tail. Kael sees it coming, but it clips him, sending him skidding across rubble and fractured stone.
Gods, save him.Elyssara prays, begs, pleads, her heart clenching at the sight of her Starbound.
A goddess steps forward, eyes fixed on Nyrielle. A goddess Elyssara recognizes instantly. The stories always said she held undeniable grace and beauty—and the stories were right.
Eltheira.Goddess of Harmony and Balance.
The world seems to settle around her, the chaos bending, acknowledging her presence in a way that feels almost like respect.
Her gaze intensifies on Nyrielle.
“You took this too far, sister,” she calls out over the force of the colliding magic.
Nyrielle laughs, though Elyssara doesn’t miss the way her eyes flare slightly. Almost imperceptible, but real. Undeniable.
The sound is sharp, unhinged, threaded with something that has long since broken beyond reason.
“Not far enough,” she replies. Her gaze flicks past Eltheira, searching.
Her gaze settles on Ravira and Halun, Goddesses of War and Peace. They only snarl, power licking at their fingertips like they’re waiting for a chance to use it.
Nyrielle’s eyes track over the pantheon of gods.
Lukis, God of Luck and Trickery.
Lhira, Goddess of Love and Healing.
Rualia, Goddess of Change and Purpose.
Kiann, God of Nature and Rhythms.
But she does not find who she seeks.
“Where is he?” she screams, the words rasping against her throat.
No one answers, and Nyrielle’s power flares in response to her fury, forcing Tarrakai to groan under the force of it.
