The rain in the Middle Layer—the world of mortals—did not taste like water. It tasted of rusted copper and forgotten prayers.
Elias sat in the corner of a dimly lit tavern in the Sunless District, his fingers tracing the jagged edges of a clay tablet he had unearthed from the ruins of ancient Sumer. To the world, this was a relic of a dead civilization. To Elias, it was a heartbeat.
The world of the "Heptarchy" was a cruel hierarchy. Above, in the Seventh Hanging (Aether), the Greek and Egyptian pantheons feasted on human ambition. Below, in the Zero Layer (The Void), the "Old Ones" rotted in silence. Elias was caught in the middle, a man born without a "Mythic Spark," a "Blank Canvas" in a world of divine graffiti.
"You shouldn't touch that, boy," a raspy voice whispered.
Elias didn't look up. He felt the air grow cold. His vision flickered, the tavern's walls bleeding into a vast, sandy desert for a split second. This was the first symptom of Stage 1: The Echo.
"He... who... saw... the... Deep..."
A voice, deeper than the ocean and older than the stars, vibrated within his marrow. It wasn't in his ears; it was in his DNA. It was the Echo of Enkidu, the forgotten beast-king of Sumer.
[System Alert: Mythic Entanglement Initiated]
[Subject: Elias Thorne]
[Source: The Tablet of Destinies (Fractured)]
[Synchronization Rate: 0.01%]
[Current Sin: Defiance (The urge to rewrite the Natural Order)]
Suddenly, the tavern door burst open. Three men in white silk robes—the "Council of Eternity"—stepped in. Their eyes glowed with a faint, golden hue, the mark of those who served the Olympian gods.
"Elias Thorne," the leader said, his voice echoing with the authority of Ares. "You possess a fragment of the Forbidden History. Relinquish it, or be erased from the Scroll of Life."
Elias looked at the clay tablet. The runes were glowing a sickly violet. He felt a violent surge of energy crawling up his arm, turning his veins into obsidian.
"The gods didn't leave us," Elias whispered, his voice cracking as the Echo grew louder. "They trapped us in their cage. And I've just found the key."
He didn't run. He didn't cower. For the first time in twenty years, the "Blank Canvas" began to draw.
As the Council member raised a hand to summon divine fire, Elias felt the Mythic Entanglement jump to 1%. The shadow of a massive, horned beast loomed behind him, its claws tearing through the fabric of the tavern's reality.
The War of the Heptarchy had begun.