Satoru and I stood frozen, our eyes wide as we took in the destruction around us. This was supposed to be the divine realm, the place we had once imagined as untouchable and magnificent.
I had thought it would be filled with towering golden spires, endless skies of light, and a serenity that only the gods could create. But what lay before us was nothing short of a war zone.
The land was broken, vast cracks splitting the earth, and ancient structures were reduced to rubble. The air was thick, not with the sacred calm I’d expected, but with tension and the faint sound of clashing metal and distant roars.
My heart pounded, and I found myself instinctively clinging to Satoru’s arm, seeking the comfort of his presence.
"Is this... really the realm of the gods?" Satoru whispered, disbelief lining his voice.
"I thought it would be beautiful," I muttered, my voice barely above a whisper. "What happened here?" I turned to the goddess, my eyes wide with confusion and fear. This wasn’t the heaven we had imagined, not the divine sanctuary we thought we’d be brought to. There was nothing divine about it.
The goddess, standing calmly beside us, seemed untouched by the chaos around her. Even in this place of destruction, her beauty was beyond mortal comprehension—otherworldly and serene. But there was a shadow behind her eyes, a weight in her voice as she answered. "You are in the right place," she said quietly, her words lingering in the air. "But the realm is no longer what it once was."
My heart raced as I tried to make sense of her words. "What do you mean?" I asked, my voice trembling. "Why is everything... destroyed?"
She glanced over the ruined landscape with a sorrowful expression. It was as if the weight of centuries of grief pressed against her, even though she stood so still and poised.
"The god of war," she began, her voice carrying a deep sadness that sent a shiver down my spine, "is responsible for much of what you see here. He is one of the three titan gods, and the twin brother of the goddess of chaos."
"The god of war?" Satoru asked, his confusion evident as he took a step closer to the goddess. "Why would he destroy his own realm?"
Her eyes darkened as she spoke, though her voice remained calm. "He is not acting alone. He and his soldiers protect the divine order, but his sister—she has become a force too powerful, too chaotic to contain."
The words "goddess of chaos" sent a chill down my spine. I remembered hearing about her before. She was a being of discord, born out of grief itself.
But as the goddess explained, it became clear that this was far more serious than I had realized. The destruction before us wasn’t just collateral damage; it was the direct result of chaos itself unleashed upon this realm.
“The goddess of chaos—what exactly has she done?” I asked, my mind racing. “For her to charge into such a divine realm, a place fortified by ancient power, she must be certain of her victory. But what gives her this kind of confidence?”
The thought troubled me. Confidence in war comes from an assurance of power, a certainty that one's strength surpasses that of their opponents. In her case, it had to be something more—something beyond brute force.
Had she uncovered a deeper flaw in the divine order, a vulnerability the gods themselves had failed to see?
"Whatever the reason, her boldness spoke volumes of the threat she now posed to not just the divine but the very essence of existence itself," Satoru added.
“She had consumed the Fruit of Life," the goddess answered without throwing them a look. "It isn’t like anything from the mortal world,” she said, her voice heavy with the weight of divine knowledge.
“It was born in the early days of creation, before time and matter as you know it came into being. It was meant to be safeguarded, to remain hidden from all—divine or mortal. It’s not merely a source of immense power, but a living force that binds together the essence of life and existence itself. To consume it is to gain dominion over the very fabric of reality—life, death, creation, destruction. The goddess of chaos now holds this power.”
I swallowed hard, trying to comprehend the sheer magnitude of what she was saying. The goddess of chaos had become more than just a force of destruction; she was now a living, breathing threat to the balance of everything.
"And... no one can stop her?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
The goddess shook her head slowly. "Not easily. The gods of war and death are powerful, yes. But with the fruit’s power, she has surpassed even them. She can bend reality to her will, reshape life, even alter time itself. Her power has grown beyond what any single god or army can handle. That is why the realm looks like this—her wrath is being felt everywhere."
I glanced around us again, at the crumbling ruins and the eerie silence that hung over the battlefield like a shroud. The land once divine, bathed in glory and splendor, had been reduced to a war zone.
Every broken structure, every smoldering ruin, spoke of a battle far beyond human comprehension. And yet, here we were—two mortals standing amidst the wreckage of gods.
"So, what exactly are we supposed to do?" Satoru asked, his voice tight with barely suppressed frustration. "We’re just humans. We don’t have powers, we don’t have armies. How do you expect us to fight something like this?"
The goddess turned her gaze to him, her expression softening ever so slightly. "I don’t expect you to fight. Not directly. You have already disrupted the flow of time once before, and that is where your strength lies.
The goddess of chaos found her way to the Fruit of Life because the balance of time was disturbed. What I am asking of you is not to wield swords, but to set things right—to use the same force that allowed her access, to deny her control."
"But we don’t understand how we even did that in the first place," I interrupted, my heart racing. "We were just trying to find each other," I grimaced a little, in my case, I actually tried escaping, but who cares about it? "We didn’t mean to disrupt anything."
"That doesn’t matter now," the goddess said, her voice filled with an urgency I hadn’t heard before. "What matters is that you’re the only ones who can undo it. You, more than anyone else, know the value of time. You’ve felt the weight of losing it, and you’ve experienced what it means to defy it. The goddess of chaos has corrupted that balance, but you still hold the key to restoring it."
I felt a lump rise in my throat. "But... we have children now," I said softly, glancing at Satoru. "We can’t just leave them behind for something we barely understand."
Satoru nodded, his face tight with conflicted emotions. "We owe our extended time to the gods, yes. We’ve lived twelve happy years together because they showed us mercy. But risking our lives—leaving our children behind—I don’t know if I can do that." His voice wavered slightly, and I knew he was thinking about the life we had built, the family we had fought so hard to keep.
The goddess’s eyes softened, and for a moment, she seemed more human than divine. "I understand your fears," she said gently. "But know this—if the goddess of chaos succeeds, no one will be spared. Not your children, not the world you’ve built. Everything will fall into ruin. The gods are fighting, but they cannot win this battle alone. You both have a part to play, and while I cannot force you to help, I ask you to consider the cost of doing nothing."
Satoru’s hand found mine, and we stood there in silence, the enormity of what was being asked sinking in. I looked up at him, searching his face for some kind of answer, but all I saw was the same fear and uncertainty I felt. "What do we do, Yukine?" he whispered, his voice breaking slightly. "How can we leave them?"
I shook my head, tears pricking at my eyes. "I don’t know," I admitted. "But I think... I think we have to try."