*{ a few hours later }
*
*
The "backdoor" provided by Axiom was not a door at all, but a weeping crack in reality, hidden behind a waterfall of liquid shadow within her sanctuary. Aki stood by the edge of the rift, his massive light wings trembling with the urge to follow, but the Serene God,still in his small, golden eyed child form,held up a tiny, commanding hand.
"Stay, my champion," the child god said, his voice dropping the playful chirp for something cold and crystalline. "The artifact I seek is in the Vault of First Breaths, located in what used to be our nursery in the God Realm. It's now the heart of the Architect's palace. Only a twin of the same spark can bypass the security. If you enter, the alarms will scream before you even breathe."
Aki watched, heart heavy, as the small figure vanished into the shadow crack.
.....☆...
The Serene God emerged into a hallway of twisted white marble and bleeding obsidian. He moved with a predatory silence that belied his small stature. He wasn't just sneaking; he was blending. Suddenly, his golden aura flickered and died, replaced by a cold, jagged shadow that mirrored the Architect's own energy. His eyes lost their warmth, turning into hard, polished coins of amber. This was his hidden dark side, a fragment of the primordial chaos they were both born from, a mask he wore only when the world needed to burn.
He reached the Vault, his small hand hovering over the lock.
"You were always a terrible thief , brother," a booming, resonant voice echoed through the chamber.
The Architect stepped from the shadows. He looked monstrously beautiful, his dark hair floating as if underwater, his purple eyes glowing with a triumphal light. He wasn't distracted by the ritual; he was waiting. "I never lose focus. I knew the moment you stepped into my garden. Did you really think Axiom's little burrow could hide you?"
The Serene God didn't flinch. He let his "dark side" flare, his small face twisting into a sneer that perfectly matched the Architect's. "I didn't come to hide, twin. I came to see if you'd finally grown out of that hideous throne. It's a bit... 'try-hard,' don't you think?"
The Architect's eyes widened. He let out a low, dark chuckle, his gaze sweeping over the Serene God's small, beautiful form. Seeing his twin reduced to a child vulnerable, yet radiating that fierce, dark defiance , that sent a jolt of over excited malice through him.
"You look so much more...destroyabel like this," the Architect hissed.
In a blur of shadow, the Architect closed the distance. He grabbed the Serene God by the front of his oversized robes and pinned him violently against the marble wall. The impact cracked the stone, but the child god didn't make a sound.
The Architect leaned in close, his face inches from his twin's. "I have spent eons building this empire of pain because you were the 'Sun' and I was the 'Spot.' I am going to tear that golden hair from your head and watch your 'Serenity' turn into a scream that lasts a billion years."
He was venting his ancient anger, his grip tightening until the child god's small feet dangled off the ground.
The Serene God didn't struggle. Instead, he let his dark mask slip for a moment, replacing it with a fake, deep blush that crept up his neck. He fluttered his golden eyelashes and looked up at the Architect with a mock bashful gaze.
"Oh, brother," the Serene God whispered, his voice dripping with honeyed sarcasm. "Are you flirting with me? Because I have to tell you, you're exactly my type, dark, brooding, and desperately in need of therapy . But I should warn you, my heart is currently occupied by a very handsome mortal with wings."
The Architect froze. He recoiled slightly, his grip loosening as alarm flashed in his purple eyes. He remembered now, the one "flaw" in his brother's perfect divine nature. The Serene God had always had a notorious obsession with handsome males, a trait that had led to countless scandals in the God Realm.
"You... you're doing it again," the Architect growled, his face contorting in disgust. "Even now, in the face of your own annihilation, you're playing your disgusting, shallow games?"
That moment of hesitation, that second of genuine distraction fueled by the Architect's disgust, was all the Serene God needed.
The child god's smile turned from a tease into a razor, sharp grin. "Gotcha."
From the sleeve of his robe, the Serene God produced a small, humming crystal, the Shard of True Reflection, the artifact he had actually hidden on his person before the Architect arrived. He hadn't been breaking into the vault; he had been baiting the trap.
He slammed the crystal into the Architect's chest.
"I didn't come for a weapon to kill you, twin," the Serene God whispered as the crystal began to glow with a blinding, prismatic light. "I came for the weapon that shows you the truth."
The Architect screamed as the artifact began to forcefully pull the "Architect" persona away from his soul, reflecting back all the love he had rejected and all the pain he had caused. The palace began to shake as the twin gods were engulfed in a pillar of absolute, shattering light.
The Serene God held on tight, his small body acting as a lightning rod. "Time to see what's behind the mask, brother!"