In A Year's Time...

In the aftermath of Malachi's declaration, only silence persisted among the deities in attendance.

Malachi had done the unthinkable.

He had actually demanded that the lives of not one god, but two be forfeited.

And to make matters more inconceivable, one was the ruler of an entire pantheon, and the other was a primordial unbound by the laws of reality.

To ask for their lives above all others, was maddening.

Not to mention incredibly insulting.

And Zeus, more than anyone else, does not do well with insults.

The god's eyes began to glow as his entire body crackled with blue lightning.

From somewhere in the distance, the distinct sound of thunder rumbling could be heard.

"How… DARE YOU!"

From his hand, Zeus hurled a bolt of electricity larger than any that mortals had ever dreamed possible.

Malachi's vision was filled with white as his body was bathed in lightning, and he lost all of his personal autonomy.