Rebirth is not redemption. It's the start of a deeper ruin.
---
The sky screamed without sound.
Aetherion—this new world—was not kind to the uninvited. Where their bodies fell, the earth blackened, scorched into glass. A crater thirty meters wide now marked the location where two souls fell through the veil of death, dragging with them every scar they'd ever known.
They were small now—children, barely five years old in flesh—but monsters in every other sense.
Silas Creed woke first.
The white-haired boy opened his golden eyes beneath a gray sky. He didn't blink in confusion or cry like a child might. Instead, he exhaled slowly. Calmly. As if rising from sleep in a familiar room, not reborn in a world of magic and gods.
His fingers moved with surgical intent as he pressed them to his chest. Heartbeat steady. Muscles intact. New flesh, but the same mind. The same hunger.
His smile didn't reach his eyes.
"Still me," he whispered to the sky.
Beside him, Naomi Kisaragi gasped awake, her back arching as breath rushed into her lungs. She turned violently, coughing up ash and blood. Her long black hair was tangled, her skin pale. The moment she opened her violet eyes, she wasn't asking where she was.
She was checking to see if he was still alive.
And then she saw him.
"Silas," she hissed. Her voice was small—too young for the weight it carried.
Silas stood slowly. "Welcome back."
Naomi's hands clenched at her sides. "You killed me."
"No," he said, tilting his head. "I freed you."
And she slapped him. Hard. Her tiny hand cracked against his face.
He didn't react. Didn't flinch. He just stared at her.
"You're still violent," he said.
"You're still a monster."
He smiled again. "You say that like it's a flaw."
---
They stood at the edge of the crater, two children born of ritual, covered in soot, and already enemies. The air here was different—thicker, humming, charged with a magic neither of them recognized.
Naomi looked up. The sky pulsed faintly with shifting light.
"This isn't Earth," she whispered.
"No. But it's ours now."
Silas knelt beside her and scooped a handful of ash from the soil, letting it sift through his fingers.
"We're going to burn it too," he said.
Naomi stared at him for a long time. "Why did you bring me?"
"You know why."
"I need to hear it."
Silas turned his golden gaze toward her. "Because you're the only one I don't want to kill."
She didn't respond.
Not out of fear. But because part of her believed him—and that terrified her more than anything.
---
A soundless vibration passed through the earth.
Then came the interface.
> ❖ [Initializing: Transmigration Protocol]
❖ [Ritual-Born Detected – Rank: Forbidden]
❖ [World Type: Aetherion – Tier 2 God-Seated Realm]
❖ [User Count: 2]
❖ [Message Incoming… From: THE CREATOR]
The sky split open—not physically, but perceptually. Their vision blurred. Their thoughts staggered. And then He appeared.
A being made of logic and flame. No face. No voice. Only presence.
When it spoke, it did so through them, not to them.
"I am the one who made the Ritual."
Silas narrowed his eyes. "So you're the reason Earth died screaming."
"No," the Creator said. "You are."
A pause.
Naomi stepped forward. "Why are we here?"
"To fulfill the truth of your actions. Twenty-six worlds were created. Each has a god. Each governs a reality. Your world was godless. Empty. A test bed."
"So you gave it a key to hell and waited for someone to turn it."
"I gave it a chance to be the first."
"To what?" Naomi asked. "To suffer?"
"To conquer."
Silas grinned. "Now that's a word I like."
The Creator continued: "The Ritual exists in all twenty-six worlds. The first to complete it earns the right to challenge the gods of the remaining twenty-five. If all are destroyed or absorbed, the victor gains one wish: to return to the moment of divergence."
Naomi's heart stopped.
"Time travel?"
"Reset. Redemption. Revenge. Whatever you choose."
Silas whispered, "God-killing first. Sentiment second."
Naomi shot him a glance. "And you'll help me get back?"
"No," he said. "I'll watch what it takes for you to want to stay."
---
The light vanished.
The interface dissolved.
They were alone in the crater once more.
Naomi sank to her knees.
"I didn't ask for this."
Silas sat beside her. "Neither did I. But we both made the choice."
She didn't respond.
Instead, she stared at the sky. A godless child with blood still in her teeth.
"I won't let you destroy everything," she whispered.
Silas smiled, leaning closer. "Then you'd better keep up."
For a moment, she felt the echo of a heartbeat that wasn't hers. Close. Dangerous. And inexplicably human.
She hated it.
But she didn't walk away.
---