Raen knelt in the ruin of his own thoughts.
Ash drifted through the still air like snow falling in a dead world. The sky had cracked open above them, revealing a shifting aurora of bloodred threads—each one pulsing like veins in the skin of the gods. Where Lyra had stood—where her soft voice had once reminded him he was still human—now hovered a different presence entirely.
Aevia.
Or rather, the god that had once been Aevia, now awakened in Lyra's body.
Her hair was silver fire. Her eyes twin abysses, deeper than death. And around her hovered fractured sigils—symbols that Raen instinctively knew should not exist. Forbidden glyphs that predated gods and demons alike.
"You should not be here," her voice echoed, layered and distant. It was Lyra's voice—but stretched, distorted—like a memory called back from the brink of annihilation.
Raen stood. Slowly. His blade scraped against the broken stone as he rose. His demonmark pulsed beneath his skin, reacting violently to her divine presence.
"I didn't come for you," he said, his voice low, hoarse. "I came for the truth. But now I see—truth was always laced in madness."
Her smile was sorrowful. "Then you've finally begun to understand."
In a flash of light, the ground beneath them tore open like paper. Tendrils of crimson thread burst forth, forming an ever-shifting battlefield of floating platforms—shattered architecture of a forgotten plane. The Threadrift Zone had fully manifested.
Raen leapt, his foot hitting one of the floating platforms. The fabric of space bent beneath his step. Here, in this realm, reality was subjective. Time bled backward. Swords aged to rust mid-swing. Thoughts shaped matter.
And worse—memories fought back.
As he charged toward her, the world screamed.
Aevia raised one hand.
Raen's past shattered open.
His dead brother appeared before him, eyes hollow, bleeding from a wound Raen had delivered.
"Monster," his brother whispered. "You were always meant to burn."
Raen faltered.
"No," he growled. "You're not real."
But his blade wouldn't move.
Until—
A flare of fire split the vision.
Lyra's voice—her voice—pierced through the divine mimicry. "Fight it, Raen. Don't let her overwrite you."
Just for a second, her true self had surfaced.
And in that second, Raen stabbed forward.
The blade caught Aevia's shoulder—divine ichor spilled, hissing into the air.
The goddess screamed—not in pain, but in recognition.
"You still resist," she whispered. "Good. Then perhaps there's still time to unmake the throne."
The threads of the world snapped. The platform crumbled. Raen plummeted—but instead of stone, he landed in a cocoon of whispers and shifting colors.
The Threadrift had swallowed him whole.
And with it, something awoke inside him. A piece of a greater design. Something… waiting.
Waiting for him to break free.
---
[Lord Appendix: The Threadrift, Godmarked, and The Shatterborn Power System]
THE THREADRIFT:
An unstable dimension between divinity and death, created when the first god was slain. It feeds on broken truths and forgotten timelines. Inside the Threadrift, memory, identity, and reality are fluid, making it the perfect prison—and the most dangerous battlefield.
GODMARKED:
Individuals who bear the remnants of divine power, willingly or otherwise. Each mark ties the bearer to a deity's legacy, often mutating their body, mind, or soul. Most go mad. The few who survive become living anomalies, cursed to carry the screams of gods within.
SHATTERBORN: The Unique Power System
In a world where truth itself can be fractured, power doesn't stem from talent or bloodline—it comes from breaking what binds you.
Fractures: Each warrior gains power by shattering fundamental concepts—such as fate, mortality, or memory. Every fracture allows manipulation of reality itself—but each one costs a piece of sanity.
Echoes: When a god or powerful entity dies, echoes of their will remain. Shatterborn can absorb these echoes to gain skills, memories, or abilities—but too many and they risk becoming something inhuman.
Willsmithing: Advanced Shatterborn can impose their own will upon reality in short bursts—changing physics, rewriting injuries, or turning a single thought into a weapon. But the backlash can destroy their very existence.
The system rewards sacrifice, identity, and pain. The more one suffers and survives, the stronger they become—but the thinner the line between self and monster becomes.
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To be continued