— ORIGINFALL
Part II — The Heavens That Remembered Terror
The single word Vaen spoke — "Return." — did not echo.
It commanded.
It carried no anger.
No hatred.
No emotion.
Because origin did not require emotion.
Origin simply was.
The skies of every realm — mortal, spirit, abyssal, divine — inverted into spirals of collapsing light.
Rivers bent sideways.
Stars flattened into reflective planes.
Mountains dissolved into dust before reforming backward.
Reality obeyed the one truth it had forgotten:
Everything born was his.
Everything that existed was his.
Everything returning… returned to him.
---
THE GODS DESCEND — TOO LATE
In Sol Aetherion, Aether forced himself up from his knees.
He was trembling — the First God, the Lawbearer, the unshakable pillar of the heavens — trembling like a child.
He could barely speak.
"Prepare… the descent…"
His voice cracked mid-sentence.
"…He is restoring what we erased…"
The divine council collapsed into chaos.
Gods ran.
Gods screamed.
Gods burst into golden flame as memories they thought erased clawed their way back into existence.
Visions appeared in their minds without warning:
• A vast throne of silence
• A being made of stillness and infinity
• Aether kneeling
• The lesser gods sacrificing thousands of worlds to bind that being
• The rewriting of cosmic history
• Erasing his name
• Splitting him into two halves
• Sealing one half in the World Seed
• Releasing the other as a "mortal child" who could never awaken
Those memories hit them like divine lightning.
A god vomited blood.
Another clutched his head as flames burst from his eyes.
Aether grabbed the edge of his shattered throne.
"WE HAVE TO DESCEND NOW!" he roared, desperation cracking his voice.
But the moment he opened a descent portal—
It shattered.
Like glass.
Not from an attack.
But because something greater now controlled the realm between realms.
Aether's face drained of color.
"He's already—"
Before he could finish, a black seam tore open above the divine hall.
Not a portal.
A tear in the fabric of divinity.
A hand reached through.
Not large.
Not monstrous.
Not embellished with divine runes.
Just… a hand.
Pale.
Calm.
Human-shaped.
Yet every god in the realm felt their hearts stop.
Aether collapsed onto one knee.
His lips trembled.
"…Origin…"
---
BACK IN THE NEWLY-FORMED VOID
Vaen stood alone in the plane shaped by his merging — a quiet, obsidian expanse with floating shards of existence orbiting him like dying stars.
The serpent lay motionless at his feet, its massive frame flattened against the void-floor, unable to even lift its head.
Every breath it took felt like blasphemy.
Vaen did not look at it.
He was staring outward — not up, not ahead — outward, toward the layers of reality that had been stitched together like broken cloth.
His presence no longer distorted space.
It replaced it.
The floating shards reflected versions of him:
• A child in the World Seed
• A silent boy under the willow
• A void-born existence older than the gods
• A throne-shrouded origin being
• A nameless force that shaped the first breath of creation
The shards trembled as if afraid to reflect too much.
The serpent finally dared to whisper.
"L-lord… what are you now?"
Vaen did not answer immediately.
His eyes — now far too deep, too silent — flicked toward one shard of reality as it spun.
His voice was the calmest it had ever been.
"Awake."
The void shook.
Not because he spoke loudly.
But because the word itself altered the nature of space.
---
THE SEVEN CELESTIAL ENVOYS ARRIVE
A sudden tremor tore through the void-plane.
Seven beams of divine light pierced down, each cracking reality as they arrived.
Seven figures descended:
• The God of Dawn, Seraphel
• The God of Chains, Kyradon
• The Goddess of Blessings, Lumeia
• The God of Storms, Vaelor
• The God of Timeflow, Mirane
• The God of Silence, Athis
• The Fifth Seat of Judgment, Zephryon
These were not low-level gods.
Not middle-level gods.
Not even high-level gods.
These were celestial envoys — direct extensions of the divine hierarchy.
They were not sent.
They were summoned instinctively by the laws of divinity whenever creation itself was threatened.
But for the first time in history—
They arrived trembling.
The God of Chains couldn't even maintain his form.
His body flickered between divine and mortal shapes.
The Goddess of Blessings was crying — actual tears falling like molten silver.
Zephryon, the Fifth Seat of Judgment, was gripping his sword with white knuckles.
The God of Dawn tried to speak first.
"Y-you—"
But his voice broke.
Not from fear of death.
From fear of memory.
He remembered kneeling.
He remembered sealing the First.
He remembered breaking him into two.
He remembered Vaen's original form — a being without form, without limits, without equal.
A being before gods.
A being before divinity.
A being the gods betrayed.
The Goddess of Blessings collapsed to her knees, sobbing.
"W-we didn't want to… It was Aether—… I'm sorry… Please don't— don't— don't awaken the Throne—"
Vaen finally looked at them.
And every envoy flinched like children caught committing a crime.
His gaze alone stripped them of their status.
Their divinity flickered.
Their halos dimmed.
Their cores fractured.
Their names trembled.
Vaen lifted one hand slightly.
Not to threaten.
Just to examine the flow of existence.
The God of Storms instinctively raised his spear.
Vaelor shouted:
"STAY BACK—!!"
Vaen's head tilted slightly, as if curious.
He spoke.
"Return."
Not shouted.
Not commanded.
Not screamed.
Just spoken.
Vaelor's divine spear shattered into dust.
The shockwave traveled into his body.
His divine form imploded — reducing him to a kneeling, trembling mortal silhouette.
The other six envoys stumbled backward in terror.
Vaen lowered his hand again.
As if the act bored him.
The serpent saw this… and its mind collapsed further into worship.
---
AETHER ARRIVES
A second tear ripped through the sky of the void-plane.
This time, golden and cracked.
Aether himself fell through it, landing on one knee.
His whole body broke apart into fragments of divine flame before reforming.
He looked at Vaen.
His voice was barely a whisper.
"…Origin… we… we are not your enemies…"
Vaen blinked once.
Aether flinched as if stabbed.
The Void stilled.
The envoys held their breath.
The serpent curled tighter.
Even the shards of existence froze mid-orbit.
Vaen finally spoke.
"…I know."
Aether exhaled sharply — a gasp of relief.
But Vaen's next words froze him solid.
"You are my creation."
The heavens collapsed.
---