Chapter 7: Whispers Beneath the Throne

The palace pulsed with Rael's presence. Though the throne of the fallen war god had only recently been claimed, the divine energy radiating from it had already begun to reshape the ruins. Obsidian walls were knitting themselves back together, the broken mosaic floors whispering with old songs now sung in Rael's name. A new domain was being forged—one not just of conquest, but of legacy.

Selene stood by the balcony, arms folded as she gazed over the darkened horizon. "You've stirred the nest," she said, her tone light but edged. "I can feel it—other powers watching."

Rael sat atop the throne, golden eyes gleaming beneath the flickering torchlight. "Let them."

The woman who had appeared at the end of the prior battle remained kneeling below the dais. Though she had introduced herself with reverence, her name still hung unspoken in the air.

Rael regarded her in silence. "You knelt. Now speak."

She rose slowly, regal in every motion. "My name is Caelaris," she said, voice smooth as polished steel. "I was once a guardian to the God of Nightfall—one of the last rebel gods who stood against the Pantheon. He fell. I survived."

Her silver gaze met Rael's without flinching. "And now, I see in you what I saw in him—but stronger. You will not fall as he did."

Selene raised an eyebrow. "Flattery, or foresight?"

Caelaris smirked faintly. "A bit of both."

Rael stood, descending the steps with slow deliberation. "You followed a failed god. Why follow me?"

"Because you broke the Abyss," she said simply. "Because I watched you crush a decree of the Supreme Pantheon. That is no longer rebellion—it is inevitability."

He studied her. "Are you pledging yourself to my cause?"

"I am offering my strength. But I do not kneel twice."

Rael nodded once. "Then stand and walk beside me, not behind."

Selene let out a low whistle. "She's dramatic. I like her."

Caelaris moved to join Selene at the edge of the balcony. "There are murmurs in the wind. The Dormant Court to the east has stirred. The draconic clans in the Skybone Ridge have been sighted in flight again. The world knows a throne has been claimed."

Rael nodded. "Then we press on. Before fear becomes resistance."

She looked at him then, with something else in her eyes—an unspoken recognition. "You remind me of him," she murmured.

Rael turned his head. "The God of Nightfall?"

Caelaris nodded. "He too stood against impossible odds. But he lacked the weight of fate you carry."

Rael said nothing, but the air thickened around him.

That night, as the palace settled into eerie quiet, Rael remained alone in the grand hall. Shadows stretched long from the torchlit pillars. The divine pulse of the throne still echoed in the stone.

He closed his eyes.

And in the silence, he heard it: a voice.

Not spoken aloud—but within. Whispered, ancient, broken.

"Unseen... below... chained... not dead..."

His eyes snapped open.

The hall remained unchanged. But something was different. He could feel it in his bones—beneath the very foundation of the palace.

Rael descended the staircases below the throne, the torches flickering unnaturally as he passed. Deeper and deeper, past the cells that once held divine prisoners, into a sealed vault crusted with divine wards and runes. Each step grew colder, the shadows deeper, as if even the light itself feared what was imprisoned here.

He raised a hand.

His energy flared golden, and the runes shattered.

The doors groaned open.

Inside lay a vast circular chamber, its walls lined with broken chains and fading murals of the war god's conquests. Some depicted him battling winged serpents, others showed temples razed by divine lightning. But at the center was something that made Rael pause.

A single coffin of obsidian crystal, floating mid-air, suspended by writhing tendrils of divine suppression. Its surface was cracked. From within, faint pulses of crimson light blinked like a heartbeat.

Selene's voice cut through the quiet. "You just can't resist ancient sealed things, can you?"

Rael turned slightly. She stood at the chamber's edge, arms crossed, yet her expression was more serious than usual.

"This was sealed for a reason," she said. "I felt it the moment you did. Something old. Dangerous."

Rael approached the coffin. "Then why was it left beneath the throne? Why guard it with divine wards unless even the Supreme Pantheon feared it?"

He reached toward the surface.

Selene stepped forward. "Rael—"

The coffin cracked open.

A wave of pressure swept through the chamber, forcing both of them back. The chains shattered completely. The crystal casing fell away like ash, disintegrating into trails of shadow.

And from within rose a woman.

Naked but wrapped in swirls of dark mist, her body bore ancient runes etched into her flesh. Her hair flowed like liquid night, her eyes glowing a deep crimson laced with gold. She floated, silent, hovering just above the platform.

The divine suppression still hissed off her skin like steam.

Selene braced herself. "Who in the hells—"

The woman opened her mouth. Her voice echoed like a chorus of the damned.

"I am Aelthaea. Daughter of Void. Slayer of the Sixth Pantheon."

Her gaze fell upon Rael, and for a moment, the chamber's pressure condensed like a singularity.

Rael didn't flinch. His presence pushed back.

Aelthaea's crimson eyes narrowed. Then slowly, she lowered herself to the ground—not in submission, but as an equal descending to meet another.

"To you, I speak," she said. "For your power sings with the Abyss... and something more. Something ancient and unclaimed."

Rael stepped forward, golden aura flaring. "Were you sealed here willingly?"

Her smile was slow, amused. "Willing? No. But I waited. Not for salvation. For opportunity."

She took a step closer, her mist curling around her like sentient smoke. "The Pantheon feared me because I knew what they buried. You are not the first to rise from darkness, Rael. But you may be the last they ever see fall."

Selene crossed her arms. "She's definitely dramatic."

Rael kept his eyes on Aelthaea. "Then speak plainly. Will you oppose me?"

"No," she said. "Not today."

He held her gaze for a breath longer, then turned. "Selene. Begin preparations."

She tilted her head. "For what?"

"For war."

The chamber fell into silence again.

And Rael knew that whatever path he had chosen, the world would never be the same.

Two powerful beings had risen within a day.

But neither belonged to him.

And that made them even more dangerous.