Somethingvast.
The light dims. The wind dies. The world goes quiet in a way that makes my ears ring.
A figure emerges from the Gate.
Not monstrous. Not what I expected.
He looks… old. Human, almost. A man with weathered features and eyes that hold the weight of millennia. His robesare simple — dark fabric that seems to shift and move like living shadow.
But thepresence.
The presence is wrong in ways I can’t describe. Like standing next to a star. Like drowning in an ocean that’s also the sky. Like every ending and beginning compressed into a single point of awareness.
The God of Chaos.
He steps fully through the Gate, and realitybendsaround him. Not breaking — adjusting. Making room.
Alekir falls to his knees.
“My lord.” His voice is reverent. Trembling. “At last. After all these centuries—”
The God doesn’t look at him.
The God is looking at me.
His ancient eyes — human and not, mortal and endless — fix on my face with an intensity that steals my breath.
“Valkyrie,” he says.
His voice is quiet. Almost gentle.
But it echoes through my bones like thunder.
He wasn’t looking at Alekir.
He was looking at me.
Chapter 40
Finn
I can’t breathe.
I can’t think.
I can’t fuckingjoke.
The God of Chaos stands twenty feet away, and my magic is screaming inside my skull like it’s trying to claw its way out of my body. Every instinct I have — every survival mechanism, every defense I’ve built — is just… gone.
There’s nothing funny about this.
There’s nothing funny abouthim.
He’s still looking at Kaia. Those ancient eyes fixed on her face like she’s the only thing in this entire godforsaken plateau that matters.
He’s looking at the one he’s about to destroy.
The thought slams through me, and I want to move. Want to throw myself between them. Want to dosomethingother than stand here with my chaos magic writhing uselessly around my fingers.
