Immemorial Concept
Backlund, Northern Continent
The golden contract crumbled into the void, liberating the gods.
Then everything fell silent, unusually silent. It was as if the very concept of 'sound' had been stripped from reality, silencing it all.
A sense of peace filled the air, enveloping the angels. However, this did not bring them tranquillity, but rather a sense of dread. It was as if an invisible hand had grabbed their hearts, making their breathing heavy by the second.
They could feel it. They could clearly sense what was about to be unleashed on their world.
It was chaos. The chains were cracking. They can hear it ever so clearly. The crawling beast of chaos was waking up, free of the golden chains that had bound it for a century. It has returned, only to soak the lands in between with blood and fire.
Roar!
A mighty roar thundering from the horizon shattered the silence, sending a shockwave that shattered all glasses and ruptured the eardrums of citizens across Backlund.
Dark and vengeful cloud formations began to imprint their mark on the clear-blue sky, dyeing it black from beyond the horizon.
As the blue sky was engulfed by a dark and dense path of clouds, strong gusts of wind were unleashed upon the city of hope. The air became thick and heavy, as if attempting to suffocate the entire city.
Boom!
A flash of white lightning shattered the dark and ominous sky, symbolising the wrath of the Lord of Storms.
The lightning bolt whizzed towards the betrayer on the blood throne, carrying with it the mighty power to destroy the entire world.
Rumble!
The city of hope began to shake violently as cracks emerged and land began to bulge in the centre of Backlund.
Boom!
A pillar of crimson flames erupted from the ground, sending a wave that shattered the faces of most buildings in Backlund, where so many people didn't know what hit them before the debris from the structures around them eviscerated their flesh and bones.
The crimson fire and silver lightning headed for each other, emanating a terrifying aura that began to shake the entire continent.
"Enough, Leodero!"
A mighty voice rang out as a dazzling beam of light pierced through the dark clouds, driving a fraction of the stormy heavens away.
The Eternal Sun surfaced from the darkness of the horizon. It lit up the dark sky and splattered a palette of gold on the surging, stormy clouds.
The rays of light cast a colossal column of light throughout the silver lightning and crimson fire, melting and purifying them in a golden ocean of light.
Boom! Boom!
The illuminated clouds deepened and surged, unrelenting to his words. Gargantuan lightning blots filled the sky, streaming towards the eternal sun in the high heavens, breaking the beam of light in its path.
But, just then, an illusory and massive green tree rose up from the place of eternity and extended into the stormy sky, as though it had encompassed the 'storm' within itself.
"Wither.."
A soft voice echoed, causing the world tree to wither and fall, dragging the 'storm' down with it.
Roar!
A tyrannical aura erupted from an island near the northern continent, signifying the rage of god of the sky.
"This isn't the time, Leodero."
A serene voice suddenly rang out, bringing the peace of the night with it. It dispelled the tyrannical aura while concreting on a stormy island near the northern continent.
The raging island went quiet and serene as deep and thick darkness descended and shrouded it.
The peace finally returned. The Eternal Sun shone a beam of light down into the ruins of Backlund, illuminating the figure seated on the blood throne.
"I, Eternal Blazing Sun, invoke the authority of God to revoke your status as King of the United Empire, Alitsa Tudor, on the charge of betrayal and blasphemy of the Six Gods."
The divine voice of the Eternal Blazing Sun thundered across the world, echoing deep into the souls of all, regardless of their differences.
Alitsa Tudor rose from the Blood Thorne, his mad eyes fixed on the eternal sun. He sneered.
"We'll meet soon, Aucuses."
The eternal sun remained unchanged after hearing his proclamation. Alitsa stopped bothering the sun as he noticed an illusory white tower and a twilight kingdom forming near the sun. Their divine auras united and pressed down on his shoulders.
Alitsa snorted, then nodded solemnly to Adam. Then, the divine gazes of gods all converged on the Angel of Imagination.
Adam bowed slightly in all directions after calmly looking up from the ruined hall.
The figures of Adam, Alitsa, Amon, and Antigonus faded away from the ruined hall, bringing the bloody event to a close.
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Aucuses and Lilith stood on a balcony in the palace of eternity, looking down at the city of hope.
Backlund was in shambles. Almost two-thirds of the city had been razed to the ground. Cries of anguish filled the capital, as blood and fire smeared the ruins.
"Is this all part of your grand plan, Aucuses?" Lilith demanded angrily. "You allowed Alitsa Tudor to become a god just to break the contract."
"It wasn't entirely me." Aucuses corrected her. "Adam played the major part. I simply concealed it."
Lilith approached him, her anger growing stronger as she heard his casual words.
"How can you still be so carefree? Most gods already turned their backs on you. The war of the pillars is about to begin. And you've just added another hostile god to the mix. What on earth are you thinking? ..."
"I will triumph." Aucuses hugged her and whispered in her ears. "I will win, as I always do."
His voice soothed her heart. Lilith walked out of his embrace, her eyes wide with emotion.
"Don't die on me, Aucuses." She finally breathed out.
Aucuses sighed, flicking her brow. "I won't, silly. And how can death get her hands on me when you, the embodiment of life, have my back?"
Lilith chuckled, lightly caressing her brow, her racing heart calmed.
"I am saying it again." She said. "You really have a way with words."
Aucuses laughed, grabbing her hips and pulling her close to him.
The warm and ambiguous atmosphere was suddenly broken by a cough as Trunsoest entered. His face appeared haggard, and his eyes had become dim.
"Your excellencies." He bowed, ignoring the ambiguity in the air. "I have the report."
Aucuses and Lilith separated from each other's embrace. They walked over to Trunsoest and took the report on the Backlund disaster, peering at it together.
"How many people died?" Aucuses inquired, looking up at Trunsoest.
"12,225,672." Trunsoest responded, his head still bowed.
Lilith frowned. "This is Backlund, the empire's capital. At the very least, give it some thought before making such a decision."
"Well…" Aucuses nodded, pulling a pitch-black crown from his divine kingdom. "I was going to reverse it anyway. I didn't expect others to recover their power from the golden order so quickly."
"It appears that they were really afraid of that prospect, huh?" He chuckled.
The six-god contract became null and void. The four gods took away their authority from golden order with it, causing it to lose two-thirds of its power. The influence of the Golden Order also loosened across the empire, while some parts even became devoid of order.
Backlund was the end result of everything. If the golden order was still intact, it would have acted to prevent the destruction from affecting the Backlund. Alas…
"Are you really doing it?" Lilith asked, leaning on him.
"Yes. I'm doing it," Aucuses nodded. "This was never supposed to happen. I can somewhat control uniqueness of Black Emperor, due to my authority of order. After all, polar opposites attract one another."
Trunsoest jerked up, his eyes wide at the black crown.
Aucuses wore the black crown, and his bright golden iris darkened. He eventually raised his hand and pointed to the destroyed city.
With his action, a ripple erupted from the crown, scattering across the ephemeral river of time and gradually shrouding it.
"Rewind." Aucuses declared, twisting his hand.
The ethereal river of time froze as the authority of 'disorder' shrouded it, 'distorting' the direction of flow backwards.
A miracle dawned. The city of hope rose from the ruins once again. The pollution and remnant power of gods faded away from the reality.
The dead rose as their souls were drawn back from the divine kingdoms of gods, returning to life with no recollection of their previous experiences.
The eternal sun in the sky cast a piercing beam of light over Backlund, illuminating every nook and cranny of the city.
The air became vibrant and pristine. It all went backwards, back to before the calamity. It was a true miracle.
Aucuses' hand dropped as the flow of time returned to normal. The city of hope regained its magnificence and splendour.
"That hurt..." He murmured, wiping away the trail of golden blood from the corner of his mouth.
'Time should be the most immemorial concept in the universe.'
"Are you okay?" Lilith inquired, holding his shoulders and supporting him.
"I'm fine." Aucuses nodded weakly, looking over her shoulder at Trunsoest, who was frozen in shock. "Come to my divine kingdom. Your apotheosis ritual should begin as soon as possible."
Trunsoest nodded quickly, still reeling from the miracle.
"Let's go." Aucuses said, looking at Lilith. "I'm going to be very busy in the coming days. Alitsa intends to make Trier his capital.."
Their figures were bathed in light as they started teleporting away from the city of hope.
"And you are allowing him?" Lilith inquired, her eyebrows raised, but Aucuses merely chuckled.
They vanished from the palace of eternity in a flash of light.
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Upto 10 advance chapters on my patron,
Link - https://www.p@treon.com/erenfraser.
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A/N : I just finished reading all of the Sandman comics after watching the Netflix adaptation. It is one of the best stories I have read. It was damn good.