Even the Divine Shall Kneel
The world was no longer watching Coker Vale.
It was fearing him.
The death of a Judge echoed like thunder in the heavens.
Temples across the continent fell silent.
Priests wept.
Kings locked their gates.
Prophets clawed out their eyes to escape the visions.
Because they had all seen it.
A mortal had killed a god.
And worse—he didn't regret it.
But Coker was dying.
They didn't tell the others.
Only Kaela and Brax knew.
His body was failing—too much curse, too much strain.
Every time he drew on the power, it chewed his soul like paper.
"He won't last," Brax muttered as they rode through the red forest.
Kaela didn't answer.
She was too busy watching the boy at the center of their rebellion—the rankless mage who had brought kings to their knees—coughing blood behind a smile.
The rebellion now had thousands.
Former slaves.
Outcasts.
Criminals.
Healers.
Wanderers.
Even knights.
They came from every broken corner of the empire with only one belief:
"If he can fight, so can I."
But they didn't come for hope.
They came for revenge.
And they would need it.
Because a second Judge had arrived.
This one wasn't like the first.
It didn't speak.
It didn't glow.
It whispered.
And wherever it walked, people forgot their names.
Forgot their families.
Forgot who they were.
Judge of Silence.
Kaela and Brax fought it at the mountain pass.
They almost died.
If not for Coker…
He arrived late. On foot. Alone.
He was limping, his hands trembling, a fever behind his eyes.
But when he saw what the Judge had done—
the people on their knees, blank-eyed, lost—
He snapped.
The curse didn't awaken this time.
Coker did.
He stepped forward, raised both arms—
—and shattered silence itself.
The sound of every forgotten voice in the valley rose at once.
Mothers. Children. Soldiers. Friends.
And it all hit the Judge.
The whispers became screams.
The screams became names.
And names have power.
The Judge vanished.
Not killed.
Unmade.
The people who had been lost suddenly gasped, eyes wide, as if waking from death.
Brax looked at Coker like he was seeing a ghost.
"How… how did you do that?"
Coker collapsed.
"I remembered what they took from me."
They carried him back to camp on a litter.
That night, Kaela sat beside him under the stars.
"You're burning up," she whispered.
He smiled, eyes closed.
"Better to burn than fade."
"Don't say that."
"It's true."
"No. You don't get to die yet."
"Why not?"
"Because if you go…" she paused, tears welling. "Then we'll all fall apart."
He opened his eyes slowly.
Then said softly, "Then don't let me be the only reason you stand."
Later that night, Brax approached.
"The scouts found something."
"What?" Kaela asked.
He didn't answer.
He just led her to the cliffside.
Below, across the dark valley, a city floated in the air.
Not built.
Not carved.
Willed into being.
A divine sanctuary.
The home of the remaining five Judges.
The war wasn't coming anymore.
It had arrived.
And this time…
The rebellion would bring it to heaven's gates.