“It seems to have worked. You are the best, Windhil.”

Lekas VALAHAL. The emperor, the ultimate slayer. His appearance has reverted to that of his younger self now that he is a soul. In front of him is a portal. A golden gate decorated with sculptures of sun rays and angels. The gate is so huge Lekas looks like an ant in front of it. The door of the gods’ realm. An absolute space where the gods are enjoying themselves while watching over on the mortals.

Lekas had always dreamed of reaching this place, hoping to find the one who ruined his life. The god who forced him to kill the one he loved, forced him to become the hero of the world, made him fight countless times, and abandoned him when he didn’t need him anymore: CALD’H.

Yes, Cald’h was the reason why Lekas became emperor, he used him ever since that day, that fateful day when he couldn’t resist his command.

“I will find you and give you a taste of my fist at least once.”

Lekas is not stupid nor arrogant. He naturally knows that defeating a god is impossible. But he is sure of at least one thing.

‘Gods have too much pride, after all.’

If there is one thing that he notices while being controlled by Cald’h, it was that he hated it the most when Lekas was questioning the reason why he was using him instead of doing his work by himself.

“Do you think a mere mortal can question my great wisdom?!!!”

He still remembers very clearly the anger behind those words.

Lekas shakes his head lightly and starts walking. He is sure that the gate won’t open but he still advances, ready to fight anyone who would cross his path. But to his surprise, the gate opens with a loud and heavy sound, like they hadn’t been opened for a long time.

The heavy and creeking sound of the door opening shakes Lekas a little. But he rapidly regains his confidence.

“Inviting me inside, huh…”

Lekas smiles and jumps forward, running as if the gate will close soon. As he is passing through the gate, a pillar of light suddenly appears and strikes him. It was so fast that he couldn’t react. Lekas falls to the ground and soon after, looks at his body with surprise, there is no pain from the attack. when he tries to stand up again, he cannot anymore. His hand and feet are now bound with chains made of light.

“A human soul entering the realm of our fathers... Are you possibly lost?”

Suddenly, as he is checking the chains on his hands, a voice resounds in front of him. A man with a blindfold on his eyes comes down, two pairs of wings on his back flapping elegantly.

“Vanguard angel…”

Lekas had often received the help of angels because of Cald’h. he knows most of the different types of angels that exist in the gods’ realm.

“I suppose you aren’t lost since the gates opened. Let’s see. You are a human from Veradom…Lord Cald’h must be expecting you then.”

The vanguard angel speaks with a serene voice and when his feet touch the ground, the scenery completely changes. The empty white space where they became a forest. Birds are singing, the wind passing through the trees is making a gentle sound. Heaven in its most beautiful form.

“Lord Cald’h. I have brought your guest.”

The vanguard angel bows to no one. There is nothing in front of him nor to the side.

“A guest?”

“Yes, my lord. It is a-“

“I am here to punch you in the face, old fuck!!!”

Before the angel can finish his sentence, Lekas speaks, no, screams at the voice which just resounded throughout the forest.

“Lekas? Why are you here?” The voice’s tone changed a bit, becoming sour and angry. It is a clear expression of surprise.

“You!! You have angered a God! Apologize immediately!!”

The angel brings out a sword made of light out of thin air and places it on Lekas’s neck.

“What?! Are you too afraid to come out?! Fucking shit!!!”

“You!!!”

The angel couldn’t support any more insults to be heard in the sacred place and he sees in the eyes of the human in front of him that he is not afraid of death at all.

As he raises his sword, ready to send the dirty and foolish soul to oblivion, the voice speaks with a regained calm.

“Let him come.”

“What?!!”

The angel, taken aback by his Lord's decision, cannot say anything. The gods are too wise to be questioned after all. He releases his sword, making it disappear, then starts walking. Lekas follows him quietly. Checking left and right in case of an ambush. Cald’h is a cunning bastard and he knows that all too well.

After a minute of walking, they reach a meadow with stone seats in the center. The meadow was illuminated by a different kind of light. A brighter and purer light than any other Lekas had ever seen. At the center of the ten seats, a small black puddle, with white cracks here and there emitting an ominous light. In front of each seat, a sort of globe is turning slowly.

“How did you reach this place, Lekas? You don’t have any godly essence.”

At the other end of the meadow, on the seat facing Lekas and the angel, somebody speaks. He is looking at Lekas while resting his chin on his hand, sitting like everything belongs to him. His fiery orange hair and eyes contrasted well with his brown skin. He is wearing more than ten golden bracelets on each of his hands

“We are more resourceful than you think, shithead!”

Lekas not showing any respect to the gods is making the angel angrier and angrier.

“Oh. You would even insult me here. Brave but foolish.”

Cald’h releases his powerful godly aura. Making the air hot and steamy. Anyone seeing that could easily guess his nature, the god of fire.

“I said I would punch at least once and I intend to do it.”

But even his aura release didn’t scare Lekas. His resentment was that great.

“Stupid.”

Raising his other hand, a red and fiery dot appeared in front of Cald’h’s hand. Just like it appears, it disappears instantly. Lekas knows that he wouldn’t be able to avoid it so he jumps forward, ready to take the blow and hoping that the chains restraining him would be broken, releasing him. But right as the dot should have hit him, a white and blue shield appears, blocking the powerful attack. The dot explodes when touching the shield, creating a powerful explosion that projects Lekas ten meters away.

“MIOL!!” Cald’h looked to his left. There, a woman, more beautiful than the sun and more gentle than the moon was sitting with her legs crossed, her blueish hair emphasizing her white skin and pointy ears. Her chest sticking out proudly is proof of her voluptuous body.

“You want to kill a soul here. Please, do respect this place, brother.”

“You have no say in this matter. Stay out of it.”

“I will as long as you will act inappropriately here.”

“I don’t need your permission to-“

“Ahhh!”

While the two gods were talking, Lekas had started moving towards Cald’h. He doesn’t know what is happening, but he knows one thing

‘This was his only chance to reach the unreachable.’

When Cald’h and Miol realized, however, Lekas is already crossing the gods’ seats and passing between two seats. One of them was empty while the other has a man sitting on it. Lekas didn’t bother to look at him as his objective was in front of him. But as soon as he passes between the two seats, his legs stop working and he falls to the ground. It was not because of the angel’s chains since he got blown away by the explosion and the chains disappeared from his hands but because of the pressure exerted by the gods.

“I will! I must!”

Pushing with everything he had, he manages to stand up again, making the god behind him raise his eyebrow slightly.

“Human, tell me. why do you resent my brother like so?”

Miol, who intervened to save him asks while looking at the god behind Lekas.

“Why, you ask? Don’t you know?!! Aren’t you his accomplice?!!!”

“No, we do not intervene in each other’s affairs. Each of us manages his world as he sees fit.”

That declaration somehow calms down Lekas, allowing Miol to speak once again.

“So can you tell me?”

“Because of him, I killed the woman I love, that’s the only thing I regret in my whole life.”

“I see. Such hate could be understood but for it to bring you here is a bit surprising. But that can’t be the whole story, right?”

Miol now looks at her brother, Cald’h. He looks away like he didn’t want to answer for a moment then sighs as Miol’s gaze becomes more intense.

“The girl in question was one of the keys. I had to get rid of her and he was the best candidate for that. I granted him immense wealth and fame as a reward but the stupid fool doesn’t understand any of it.”

“I see.”

“What do I care about treasures and fame?!!! I never wanted any of it!!! You bas-“

Waving her hand, Miol locks Lekas’s mouth before he can say anything else.

“I understand your point, human. But please do know that you are in the most sacred place of heaven. Such language is not acceptable here. Now there are things that you don’t know and we can’t tell you about openly. But I have a question for you. If you were ever given the chance to redo everything, would you take it?”

“Yes, for god’s s-Hmm!!” Lekas is forced to bite his tongue as he was about to say another forbidden word.

“I said to mind your language. Think hard and deeply. Would you really take it? Even if it means destroying your world? Even if hundreds, thousands, millions of people are sacrificed in the process?”

“Yes, I will. Because I will protect them as well.”

“You didn’t think about it.”

“I don’t need to.”

“I see. I will grant your wish then. But in exchange, you will have to do something for us as well.”

“As long as she is alive then, I don’t care.”

“I see. Cald’h, please.”

“What? I never agreed to it.”

“Stop being a child.”

“I am not! He is the annoying one here!!”

“Cald’h…”

“Okay, okay, fine!! If it is like this, then you won’t receive my blessing. Let's see how long you will survive without it.”

“I never wanted that f…blessing in the first place. Keep it.”

“You foolish-”

“Cald’h!”

Miol’s voice resounds with such force all their seats shake. Lekas’s ears ring like crazy as well even though he is just a soul.

‘If I had a body right now, this would have killed me for sure.’

“Tch!” Cald’h clicks his tongue and extended his hand toward Lekas. A red light starts covering him right after.

Then suddenly, while he is disappearing, the god behind him also speaks.

“I will give him my blessing. He is interesting.”

“What?!! No!! Why?!!”

Lekas’s soul disappears while hearing the conversation between an unknown god and the one Cald'h.

***

“Miol, you do realize that this could weaken the seal even more, right?”

“It is already weakening anyway. We won’t be able to hold her down for much longer. The war will come, undoubtfully.”

“Is that why?”

“Perhaps. Maybe a new god will appear. That would greatly help.”

“Tche!! Like h-“

“I said to mind your tongue.”