Narrated by Kimiha
I could still smell the scorched magic and fresh blood in the air. The vision we had just witnessed tore something inside us. It felt like we had ripped open a wound in reality — and it bled all over us.
Fahur trembled. So did I. That wasn't an illusion, or some fatigue-induced hallucination. It was real. The cube still glowed with a bluish light, as if laughing at our fear.
"That… was the future?" I whispered.
"It was the truth," Fahur replied, his voice hoarse, still kneeling.
Before any of us could fully recover, we heard the crack of branches behind us.
Gumi vanished. A second later, he returned, dragging one of the Heretic Alliance members by the hair. The bastard had tried to run.
"We've got a survivor," Gumi announced, tossing the man at our feet like a sack of meat.
The guy spat blood but kept smiling. Damn fanatic.
"Speak," I demanded. "Who are you people? What do you know about what we just saw?"
He stayed silent. Just stared at us with defiant, almost triumphant eyes.
"Not talking, huh?" Gumi ran his scythe's blade near the man's neck without touching it. "Pity."
That's when Fahur stumbled toward the prisoner and, without warning, whispered a spell.
The man's pupils dilated. A strange light shimmered over his skin. For a moment, he looked caught between sleep and panic.
"Metatron… is in charge…" he mumbled.
"Come again?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.
"The… Architect… is dead." The words pierced the air like a spear.
We fell silent.
"The Alliance's plan," he continued, "is to expose the lie. To show that the priests are hiding the truth. Metatron has taken the throne, and the angels… they obey."
"Lies," Kirin whispered, shocked. "That can't be…"
"It's true," said Fahur. "I saw it. When the cube touched me. He's up there. Metatron. On the throne. And the weapons… the weapons of creation are hidden. God didn't want any angel to even look at them."
"Then… what does Metatron want with them?" I asked.
"He can't use them," the prisoner explained, eyes unfocused. "The essence of creation doesn't answer to him. That's why he's masking the war that's coming. He knows only the prophesied knights can wield them."
The silence was deafening.
Fahur stood, dust clinging to his cloak. His voice was strangely firm.
"What if… what if we are those knights?"
We all stared at him.
"You're joking, right?" I said, half-laughing, half out of breath. "Us? The temple's four disasters? The rejects, the nobodies?"
"That's exactly why it makes sense," he said. "No one would expect it. No one would even look at us. But… we were chosen. The cube… it came to us for a reason."
Kirin had gone pale. "This is madness. We need to return to headquarters. Report this. They'll know what to do."
"No!" Fahur turned, his eyes glowing with defiance. "If we go back, they'll take the cube, burn the scroll, and lock us in cells for magical heresy. Have you even thought of that?"
I didn't want to admit it, but he had a point.
Fahur stepped forward, arms wide as if addressing a crowd.
"Come with me to the Temple of Jall. Let's find out how to reach the heavens. Let's seek the Architect's weapons and return the essence of the universe to where it belongs! We can change everything. We can be the most powerful mages in the world!"
That word echoed in my mind: powerful.
It was tempting.
I remembered the laughter, the mocking stares, the failed tests, the instructors whispering that I was only there by luck. That my magic was unstable. That I was just another error in the system.
But now...
"I want that," I murmured. "I want to prove them wrong. That my magic isn't a mistake. That I'm not a mistake."
Fahur looked at me, and I saw in his eyes the same fire burning in mine.
Kirin stayed silent, clutching her hands to her chest.
Gumi just nodded. "If there's fried fish involved, I'm in."
And so, under the ashes of battle, with a celestial cube and a whispered prophecy echoing through visions of the world's end, we began to forge our new path.
We were no longer the temple's rejects.
Fahur's spell had left the heretic unconscious — for now. As we debated our next move, he lay by the fire, his face flickering in the dim coals. He looked harmless.
Looked...
"We have to act fast," I murmured. "We can't just wait for the heavens to fall on our heads."
"I agree," said Fahur. "But if we head straight for the main temple, they'll stop us before we even reach the gates. We don't have the priest."
That's when the prisoner's body moved.
He woke with a jolt, like something inside him had been triggered — or awakened.
Gumi reacted first, scythe already in hand. Kirin looked up, trembling, grimoires in hand.
Then, the fanatic smiled. A sick smile — one that looked more like a prayer than madness.
"You… shouldn't… know."
He raised his hands. Something gleamed beneath his robes — a blood spell, an ancient seal carved directly into his flesh.
"He's always watching," he whispered. "Metatron… sees all."
"Shields!" Kirin shouted.
Golden light burst around us seconds before the blast.
The man's body became fire. A muffled but intense explosion hit Kirin's barriers. The shield trembled, hissed — but held.
Silence.
Smoke settled slowly, as if ashamed to face us.
My heart pounded. Fahur coughed. Gumi, still gripping his scythe, stared at the place the man had been. Kirin... she trembled, but had protected all of us.
"That… was a curse," I whispered. Fahur nodded. "He destroyed himself to keep from leaking information, but the confusion spell is silent. He doesn't even know he talked."
Fahur brushed the dust from his cloak and stood. "Then we're on the right path."
I smiled — for the first time since it all began. A humorless smile, but full of fire.
"Then that's it. We go to the Temple of Jall. But we go with more than courage. We go with a plan."
Everyone looked at me.
"I'll craft a fake chest. A replica. We'll put a decoy inside, seal it with illusion spells. While we hand that over to the priests, Fahur sneaks into the temple's central library. That's where the records of the celestial portals are — the paths between the living world and the Realm of Heaven."
Gumi nodded slowly. "Not a bad plan."
Kirin breathed deeply, steadying herself. "It's risky. But…"
"And after what we heard," I added, "we're the only chance this world has to learn the truth."
The group fell silent. A silent pact. From that moment, there would be no turning back.
That night, we didn't sleep.
And just before dawn, while we packed supplies and stitched fake runes onto the illusionary chest, Fahur stopped. He went rigid. His eyes opened wide with shock and dread.
"Fahur?" I ran to him.
He staggered, clutching the cube, which pulsed with frantic energy.
"He… he's awake," he said, breathless. "Metatron… sensed something. Something's drawn his attention. He knows."
We all exchanged looks.
"Metatron… will hunt us," Fahur murmured, voice hoarse. "We have little time. We must reach the Kingdom of Heaven before he closes the portals. Before… everything ends."
I swallowed hard. For the first time, fear outweighed anger.
"There's something waiting on the other side," said Fahur.
"Metatron?" I asked.
He shook his head.
"Something… older. Something not even he can control."
No one replied. But we knew. Whatever awaited us beyond the gates of heaven… might be more than salvation.It might be the end.