The wind had turned cold.
The forest no longer sounded alive; it listened.
Yohan walked slowly through the darkening trees. Every step felt like treading inside a heartbeat that wasn't his. The elements inside him were restless — burning, trembling, whispering warnings he couldn't quite understand.
Fire hissed: Run.
Water pleaded: Hide.
Earth groaned: Too late.
Wind murmured: He's watching.
Aether said nothing. But its silence pressed against his chest like a hand.
The air split open.
It wasn't light or shadow — it was both, folding around each other like oil and ink. From within stepped a figure made of half-remembered shapes: a crown of ash, a body of mist, eyes like dying stars.
Yohan's breath caught. The presence wasn't merely powerful — it was ancient. He felt the elements inside him recoil, recognizing their source.
"You carry what was once mine," the voice rumbled, echoing through the trees without sound.
Yohan's mind flared with pain. "Who are you?"
"I was the first equilibrium," it replied. "Before balance. Before names. I am what your world forgot when it learned to separate fire from water, air from earth. I am what they buried… to make order."
Yohan clenched his fists. "Then why appear to me?"
The being smiled — a fracture of light in darkness. "Because the order they built is dying. The five cannot remain apart. You are the unmaking… and the bridge."
The ground split open beneath them, roots twisting into sigils. Visions bled into his mind — cities collapsing, oceans boiling, skies filled with five clashing colors. And at the center of it all stood him, eyes glowing white, hands outstretched as the world broke and re-formed.
He gasped, dropping to one knee. The voices screamed inside him, each trying to tear free.
Fire: "Burn it!"
Water: "Save it!"
Earth: "Bear it!"
Wind: "Break it!"
Aether: "Accept it."
And then — silence again. The being faded like smoke. Only its words remained, whispering through the trees:
"When the fifth dawn rises, they will call you destroyer. Remember — creation was born from ruin."
Yohan looked up at the empty sky, chest heaving. The sun had vanished. Night had come without warning.
He wasn't sure if he'd met a god, or if he'd just glimpsed the truth of himself.
Either way, the world had changed.