The Goddess in Chains
It was not a temple, the Sanctum of Flame.
It was a wound.
A huge crack had opened in the mountains, with streams of luminous gold pouring from the cliffs, as if they were made of liquid sunlight. Obsidian pillars lined the chasm, thrumming with power, each covered in ancient runes that resembled warnings more than prayers.
Kanji trailed with Lyra down a hall of heat and silence. The guards here didn't wear armor—they wore robes sewn with fire, and their eyes burned like dying stars.
Lyra didn't say a word.
That alone made Kanji uneasy.
He'd gotten used to her sharp tongue. The silence felt wrong. She moved with a frozen grandeur like the sound of her footsteps might rouse a creature that should have been left to sleep.
[Area Unlocked: Flame Sanctum — Divine Realm Borderline]
[High Magic Field: All passive regeneration activities are suspended]
[Warning: +120% Soul Core Reactivity]
They finally walked into the chamber."
An immense open dome filled with sunlight, a crystalline throne hovering over a pool of bubbling glass. And sitting upon it was Aurelia — goddess of fire, harmony, and order.
Her beauty was undeniable.
Hair of white flame poured down her back. Skin that gleamed like living marble. Her eyes—closed at first—opened when Kanji stepped forward. Golden. Blinding.
But chained.
Two huge ghostly chains bore her wrists, ankles, and neck. The throne wasn't a seat. It was a prison.
Kanji stopped. "What the hell is this?"
[Divine Presence Detected — Sync Initiated…]
[Connection Blocked.]
[ERROR: Signature of the Divine Corrupted.]
[Aurelia — Status: Fading. Class: Pantheon of the Supreme Core.]
[Warning: Unmoored Entity]
The goddess smiled weakly. "You're nothing like what I asked for."
Kanji folded his arms. "I hear that a lot lately."
Lyra was standing at the edge of the chamber, quiet.
Aurelia looked Kanji over. "No purity. No piety. No loyalty to the divine. You're… broken. Dangerous."
Kanji raised a brow. "You're chained. I think we've moved beyond the whole 'this is divine judgment.'"
She didn't flinch. "You think I'm the one who's in danger?"
A wave of heat swept through the chamber. Kanji's instincts flared. His Soul Core throbbed like a living heartbeat.
[Soul Core Distortion: Sensed Divine Layering.
[Fragment Detected — Goddess Bound to Failsafe Protocol.
[System Note: This entity is not being honest.]
Kanji stepped closer. "If you didn't call me … why am I here?"
Aurelia's voice dropped. Softer. Sadder.
"I did. But not like this. I wanted a vessel of light. A pure enough soul to bear the Flame of Order. What I have been given… is a blade hewn in ruin."
Kanji stared. "So reject me."
"I can't," she whispered. "Because the world has sunk too deep into depravity. "Even a broken sword can slay a god."
Lyra's glance shot over to her — oh, just for a second. "Some things … were never meant to wake up."
Lyra didn't react.
Kanji caught the look. "What's she to you?"
Aurelia said nothing.
[System Conflict Detected.]
[New SideQuest Unlocked: "The Secret of Lyra Veyne"-World Events Locked]
[Access Restricted. Requirements Not Met.]
Kanji stepped back, uneasy. "You're not giving me the whole truth."
Aurelia looked tired. Ancient.
"I can't," she said. "Because if I name it… it's real. And then it comes for us."
He didn't like riddles. But something about her tone was not divine decree. It was fear.
[Quest Update: Take the First Flame — Aurelia Contract Optional Binding]
[Warning: The contract is irreversible. Terms Hidden.]
Kanji laughed bitterly. "Yeah, no. I don't sign blank checks."
The goddess actually smiled. "Then there's hope for you yet perhaps."
[System Prompt: God Signature Temporarily Embedded — Talent Tree: "Sell" Opened (Locked)]
[LORE FRAGMENT UNLOCKED: THE SHACKLED GODDESS]
[FYI: You're now being tracked, gon' head.]
Kanji turned and walked away.
Lyra didn't follow at first. She stared at Aurelia. Some knowledge passed between them — unspoken and weighty.
Then she turned as well, heels ringing behind her as she caught up to Kanji.
"You can't trust her," she said reluctantly.
Kanji glanced sideways. "Funny. She said the same about you."
Lyra's smirk reappeared — as sharp as ever. "Then we're both right."
…..
He was told the mission was a simple one.
A "cleansing." Some renegade cult in the wreckage under the old city. Perilous sorcery, unauthorized magic, maybe deal with The Devil.
The sort of job the Church dispatched paladins and zealots to deal with."
But this time they sent Kanji — with Lyra lurking in the shadows.
They were curious about what he would do.
The downward plunge into the catacombs was steep and airless. Crumbling stone. Faded sigils. The torchlight flickered as if afraid to shine too bright.
Kanji stepped forward of the Church's escort team — six armored knights of gold and red, all with their visors down and their voices tight. They didn't like him.
Good. He didn't like them either.
"Why do they want these people to be dead?" They reached a sealed stone arch and Kanji asked,
"Because they're heretics," the knight-captain said.
"Heretics how?"
"They worship the false gods."
Kanji stopped. Turned. "That's it?"
"They wield forbidden power." They refuse to kneel."
Kanji didn't move.
Lyra crept up next to him from the shadows, voice cool. "Orders are orders. You're not here to think. You're here to execute."
[System Ping: Side Mission Initiated — "Ritual Purge"]
[SUB OBJECTIVE: Learn the Dark Secrets of the Cult]
[Bonus XP: +1,000 | Famous Align. Shift Possible]
[Warning: Unknown Magic Detected Ahead.]
They breached the arch.
And what Kanji was about to see made his blood run cold.
Not monsters. Not demons. Not blood rituals.
Families.
Dozens of men, women, and children huddled together in a broad stone chamber, surrounded by glowing blue crystals. They wore tattered old robes sewn with stars, not blood. In the middle, a blindfolded woman chanted over a floating piece of light.
It looked divine.
Beautiful.
Not evil.
The knights surged forward.
Kanji didn't.
[SOUL CORE ALARM: Emotional Disturbance Identified.]
[Memory Surge Triggered -- Processing …]
[Memory Echo Loaded: "The Kethari Massacre — Life #17"]
[Replacing "Instinctual Combat" with "Memory Rebind: Kethari Sword form"]
A lance of pain shot through his skull.
And suddenly, he was somewhere else. A battlefield. Burning trees. A child crying behind him. Blood on his hands. His voice screamed, "They said they were heretics — why are they just children?"
The flash dimmed — but the rage broiled.
Kanji placed himself between the knights and the cult.
"I'm not killing civilians."
The captain sneered. "They're not civilians. They've rejected the Flame."
Kanji raised a hand. "You want to kill them — you'll have to go through me."
[Alert: Hostile Status Party Changed — Combat Imminent.]
[Memory Echo Dash: +10% Speed / +15% Blade Mastery]
[Unlocked New Skill "Echo Step: Kethari Severance"]
The first knight lunged. Kanji moved like lightning.
His sword blurred once. The knight's weapon was shattered. His leg buckled. He collapsed, unconscious, onto the floor.
Another charged.
Kanji ducked low, spun, and cut clean through the gap in the armor at the neck joint.
[Enemy Defeated.]
[Soul Gauge: +6%]
[XP Gained: +120]
[Alignment Shift: +1 Chaotic Neutral]
His cult didn't applaud.
They watched him — quietly, warily — as if he were some strolling oxymoron.
Then he heard a whisper.
From the shard.
It throbbed and winked, and an ancient—not divine—voice whispered in his head.
"Breaker. Born again."
[Lore Fragment Obtained: "Shard of Null Memory"]
[You Have Been Seen.]
Kanji turned to Lyra.
She lingered in the doorway without moving.
He approached her, his blade stained with blood. "You knew this wasn't right."
She met his gaze. "I just wanted to see what you would pick."
Kanji snorted impatiently through his nose. "You want a weapon. I'm not a puppet."
"No," Lyra said quietly. "You're a far more dangerous thing. A weapon that thinks."
She turned away. "The Church (will not) be happy."
Kanji cleaned his blade. "Then next time tell them to send someone who matters."