(A couple days later, The Eternal Garden, Kaelith’s POV)
It wasn’t long after Kaelith received confirmed news of Helmuth’s death that letters arrived from the Five Great Clan Gods, each bearing their seal and each carrying the same unmistakable intent to sever ties with the Righteous Alliance.
’About time....’
Kaelith thought, as although he had anticipated this outcome the moment Helmuth fell, a small and irrational part of him had still hoped it would not unfold so predictably.
However, unfortunately for him, it had.
’So the snakes finally bare their fangs against their master...’
He thought, as the coordinated timing of their delivery left little room for doubt regarding their intentions.
Even so, ritual demanded composure.
And so, without allowing even the faintest ripple of emotion to reach his face, Kaelith broke the first seal.
*RIP*
The parchment unfurled smoothly in his hand, the script elegant, respectful, and infuriatingly measured.
"Respected Eternal Sovereign.
It is the belief of the Great Clans that without Mauriss and Helmuth to anchor the Universal Government, the purpose of maintaining such an organisation no longer serves the stability it once promised.
In light of recent developments, and given that you now shoulder its responsibilities alone, we find it increasingly uncomfortable to remain bound within a structure that no longer reflects balanced authority.
Therefore, to relieve you of unnecessary burden, we the Great Clan Gods have collectively decided to withdraw from the Righteous Alliance, effective immediately.
This decision is final.
However, out of respect for your position, we will refrain from announcing our departure publicly for one month, thereby allowing you time to respond or reposition accordingly.
However, our course will not change regardless of counsel or persuasion."
Kaelith’s fingers tightened slightly, though his expression remained unchanged as he moved to the next letter.
The wording differed, the tone shifted subtly between formal humility and pragmatic reasoning, yet the essence remained identical.
Each of the five had chosen the same moment.
Each had coordinated the same withdrawal.
Each had agreed to offer him the same insult.
However, amongst all of them, it was Ru Vassa’s letter in particular that infuriated him the most.
"That being said, we would like to extend an invitation for you to join the alliance of the Great Clan Gods as an equal.
Should you accept, you would become the leader of the Sixth Great Clan, and together we may navigate this destabilized era in unity against the emerging threat of the Ancient Dragon Moltherak and the unpredictable ambitions of Mauriss.
We await your response with anticipation.
Your old vassal,
Ru Vassa."
For several seconds, the chamber remained silent.
Kaelith read the lines again, slower this time, absorbing not the courtesy of the phrasing, but the audacity beneath it.
An equal.
The Eternal Sovereign.
Invited.
To join.
As the Sixth.
His grip tightened further as faint cracks formed along the edge of the parchment where his fingers pressed too firmly, divine energy bleeding subtly into the fibers.
They had measured him.
They had assessed his position.
They had calculated the loss of Mauriss, and the death of Helmuth, and they had concluded that he alone was not a match for the five of them.
*Sigh*
Kaelith exhaled slowly.
The five letters hovered before him in midair as he rose from his seat without haste, his long robes trailing behind him as calm settled over his features like a mask carved from marble.
"So this is what changing universal order looks like."
He murmured quietly to himself, as his palm ignited without flame, causing the letters in front of him to disintegrate on the spot.
*FWOOSH*
Ash formed instantly, the parchment collapsing into grey dust that fell between his fingers as if it had never held words at all, however, before it could touch the ground, it was erased entirely, as for a long moment, Kaelith stood alone in the vast chamber, the echoes of Ru Vassa’s invitation lingering louder than any shout could have.
As his anger did not erupt, but instead condensed.
And in that compression, something far more dangerous took shape.
"These fools do not understand who they are meddling with.
They believe I am the Eternal Sovereign only because of the allies I once stood beside, as though Mauriss and Helmuth were the pillars and I merely the ornament placed between them.
However, what they conveniently forget is that I am my father’s son as well, and that in my prime even these so-called Great Clan Gods hesitated to face me alone."
Kaelith’s voice remained low, yet each word carried the weight of a verdict already passed.
"Very well," he continued.
"You wish to abandon my order?
You wish to sever yourselves from the structure that granted you legitimacy?
Then go."
His lips curved faintly, though there was no humor in the gesture.
"I do not need you."
The air in the Eternal Garden began to tremble as invisible currents gathered around him, the tranquil flora bending away from his presence, as petals wilted at their edges beneath the surge of suppressed divinity.
"I will find new allies.
I will forge a new world order.
And when this era is written into the archives of time, it will not speak of the five clans who fractured at the first sign of instability.
It will speak of the Sovereign who endured."
He said, as his aura exploded outward.
*BOOM*
The once serene garden warped as space itself recoiled, marble pathways cracking in spiderweb patterns while the distant sky above darkened as if reacting instinctively to his fury.
For the first time in centuries, Kaelith did not compress his anger.
He allowed it to expand.
The past few months had struck deeper than any rebellion in the previous two millennia.
Mauriss had turned.
Helmuth had fallen.
Soron had died.
Even his own bloodline had been severed.
Each event had chipped away at the illusion of permanence that once surrounded him.
And now, even the Great Clans dared to measure him and find him insufficient.
*Pant* *Pant*
His breathing grew heavier.
"For even though I am wounded," Kaelith whispered, as his eyes burned with something ancient and merciless, "I am not yet finished."
The aura around him intensified further, rising like a storm contained within a mortal frame, as roots tore free from the soil and the tranquil waters of the Garden trembled violently beneath the pressure.
"I will remind them," he said quietly.
"I will remind them why the universe once feared the Eternal Sovereign."
And as the fury condensed once more into a controlled, razor-thin focus, a silent vow formed within him, not merely to survive this fracture, but to ensure that every betrayal of the past few months would be answered in full.
For in his mind, the era of restraint had ended, while the era of reckoning had begun.