A sourceless, never-ceasing chorus of shrieks echoes out from all directions in the depths of darkness. Pitch-black ash falling from high above covers the landscape as thick fog shrouds the sky, denying light's salvation. Tentacle-like tendrils undulate and swirl from shallow holes in the ground, revelling in the symphony of screams. This is the absolute territory, the deepest of the depths, the Abyss—where even the strongest mortal beings fail to remain sane and survive. The Abyss stretches far and wide as if mocking the gods themselves, daring them to conquer it. In this landscape kneels a figure chained to the ground. Tenebris, the Goddess of Darkness. Her hands are stretched out wide towards the ground on both sides as the shackles lock her in place. A brilliant light like the sun emits from convoluted runic engravings covering the chains, and the air around them shimmers. The falling ashes cover Tenebris’ body in this desolate wasteland. A thick layer of ash shrouds her figure and makes her seem like a statue, unmoving and quite unnerving. She speaks to herself in a quiet voice, but the echoing screams drown out her faint whisperings.

  [Eighty-six thousand three hundred and ninety-eight… Eighty-six thousand three hundred and ninety-nine… Eighty-six thousand four hundred… And that makes…? Three million and six hundred and fifty thousand…]

  As Tenebris’ count comes to a halt, she clenches her fist. She raises her right knee and puts her foot on the ground. She begins to put strength into her arms and pull at her bindings as she slowly stands up. The chains’ glowing runes begin to intensify severely. At its apex, a blinding light surges outward, utterly banishing the Abyss’s darkness for a full kilometre in every direction. The falling ashes and the ground are cleared, revealing a pure, blemishless white surface. An ethereal silence replaces the never-ending screams. That silence is broken by a heavy thud as the shackles binding Tenebris fall to the ground, followed by a long, satisfied sigh. Her body, cleared of ashes, reveals a reflectionless pitch-black armour that perfectly outlines her exquisite form. She stretches her legs and arms as if she had just taken a short nap. Her long black hair settles as she fixes her posture and stops moving. Her crimson-red eyes begin to scan the landscape. The Abyss has begun retaking the light-conquered territory meter by meter, and the silence is soon replaced by the familiar sounds of agonized howling. Her mind begins racing as she picks a random direction, leaving the chains that once bound her for ten thousand years behind.

  Gaia will be thrown into greater chaos than ever before. A calamity the remaining Pantheons cannot fathom is fast approaching the world of Gaia. The Sun Pantheon’s leader, Luminous, is in grave danger. So were Ra, Sol and Helios; they will be the first to fall if nothing is done. The crisis that ended Pantheons across the cosmos will soon awaken from its slumber and the world of mortals will fall. One might despair knowing these facts. Dwarfed by the scale of the enemy they might plead and join them to ensure their own survival. Pathetic. Tenebris knew one thing without a sliver of a doubt, ten thousand years of captivation did not break her resolve. She will achieve her goal no matter what. If she has to sacrifice everything, then she will. If she has to perish in the pursuit of her dream, she will. She will live to see the cosmos reunited. With that in mind, she begins to contact the mortal realm, hoping to find an apostle candidate.

  To her surprise, there is absolutely no one there. Not one person is qualified to be her apostle.

  ‘Is Gaia already gone? Was I too late? …no, that shouldn’t be the case at all. I was sealed before the calamity, but I know the surviving Pantheons succeeded. There should still be time...’

  The purity caused by the runic chains is quickly reclaimed by darkness, and the Abyss stretches on without end yet again. As Tenebris leisurely walks in the void, her thoughts reach one conclusion. Luminous was responsible. Tenebris begins taking off pieces of her armour using her mana as if looking for something on her skin. As her gauntlet quickly floats off with a red-coloured energy, her eyes widen. Across her right forearm, a runic precept in the form of a tattoo reveals itself.

  I shall make no mortal my apostle.

  [DAMN YOU LUMINOUS!]

  After a frustrated shout, she grabs the floating gauntlet and roughly puts it back on her right hand with a loud ‘clink’ sound. The nature of a precept is to make one stronger if one follows the precept. The strength gained from it is equivalent to the severity of the precept. If it is broken, the power of it is lost and the person suffers greatly. With especially powerful precepts, there have even been cases in the past where a mortal’s body could not handle the retaliation of the oath breaking. However, that only applies if the precept was done to oneself willingly. It is a form of self-imposed constraint that one resolves to upkeep, a promise that one makes to themselves. It is much different if an immortal being imprints one onto a being. If a God, Goddess or any other immortal being imprints your skin with a precept, it becomes a compulsion. In other words, you will not be able to do anything that would break that precept. It does not give you strength as opposed to a regular precept. It is imprinted onto your soul, even if you try to break free from it, you cannot.

  It has been called many things: a geas, a promise, a rule, a binding, or a precept, but ultimately if it is unwilling placed upon someone, it is a curse. With the curse of Luminous, she has no way of recruiting any mortals to her cause as her apostle, making everything she has to do much more difficult. To physically get out of the Abyss, she would need a connection to the mortal realm. Luminous, the leader of the Solar Pantheon, will surely know that Tenebris has escaped from her bindings if she were to do that. They have no way of knowing when her exact release is, as the Abyss is a territory not even Deities dare dabble in. However, once she shows herself on the mortal plane it is a different story. Her interference with the mortal realm will be even more difficult in the future; the time to act is now while they are unaware of her escape.

  With that in mind, Tenebris forms a new plan instantaneously and begins to peer into the mortal realm yet again, searching for Solar Pantheon divinity. If she cannot make anyone her apostle, she has to make a single mortal being hers and hers alone. She had just seen the solution on her own forearm. With absolute control over a mortal, she can give them the power they will require to overcome every hardship, even if it costs them multiple lifetimes. She does not know if the Loom is still active, but she has to bet everything on a fool’s hope that it is.

  Her astral form jumps from location to location hoping to find anyone she can get her hands on while her physical body is in the Abyss. After searching for a few minutes across the vast plains and forests of Gaia, she feels divine power emanating from the Solar Capital, Lux. She peers deeper into the capital and finds a gargantuan cathedral adorned with symbols of the sun. This is the last place the Solar Pantheon would expect her to appear, the very heart of their empire. Within the cathedral, children are lined up to take turns making an oath to the Solar Pantheon at the altar. After a black haired girl completes their oath, a young boy with hazel brown hair, emerald green eyes and an alarmed expression upon his face walks up to the altar. The boy kneels and begins his oath.

  Tenebris uses her divine power to peer into the existence of everyone present, the guards, priests and even the lined-up children. This is her only chance; she needs someone within the mortal realm. Time is of the essence, after all, she is in the place where the Solar Pantheon’s divinity is the strongest, but she can use that to her advantage. They already know she will be free from her prison soon, so her presence will soon be known either way. With a twisted smile on her face, she concludes that she should at least make a grand announcement. This would undoubtedly make her poor agent’s life an absolute living hell, but if they cannot get through such adversity then that is all their worth. Channelling all of her strength, mana, ki, and divinity, she usurps the divinity to the Solar Pantheon and shrouds the entire cathedral in a brilliant darkness. She removes all sound in the cathedral and projects herself onto the altar, where she hijacked the Solar divinity using her ability, . That's another reason it had to be here. She is not at her full power so she must use some else’s.

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  As soon as she appears, the great cathedral is thrown into chaos. Mortals are unable to see the gods of the Solar Pantheon even if they descend due to the luminous light that accompanies them wherever they go, and the same goes for the Goddess of Darkness. The void of her existence is too much for a mortal to comprehend. As such, whenever mortals see gods without a protective veil or halo, they collapse under the mental burden of trying to comprehend what is in front of them. Everyone falls to the ground, convulsing upon ‘seeing’ the Goddess on the altar. Usually it is bad practice for Deities to do this as it might kill people, but Tenebris knows how to properly manage her halo to a level where people are only knocked unconscious.

  In the darkness, everyone is a mumbling mess on the floor except for one girl. As Tenebris looks around, she confirms something with a smile. She desires the girl with blond hair, near the back of the line of oath takers. She who is only kneeling, maintaining her consciousness, as opposed to convulsing on the floor. Her mana capacity is certainly wonderful, her attributes are fantastic, and her resolve is on another level. The rest of the children have some talent and drive, but none like her. The others would be useless towards her cause. It is a ruthless statement, but she needs the best of the best for her mission. As she leaves the altar and steps past the hazel haired boy who is foaming at the mouth while shaking on the floor. Looking at the boy, she cannot believe that the Empire’s youth are so weak, but then again, peaceful times do make for weaker men. If it lets her agent have an easier time, all the better. As she goes to take another steps, through the darkness, a brilliant light shines through the intricately designed windows of the cathedral from the farthest point of the altar. More light starts spreading out from the grand doors of the cathedral and slowly make their way towards the altar, lighting up the windows as it advances.

  Instantly, her desired target is out of range. Tenebris has no way to reach her, as solar light is only getting closer, and once it is here, she does not stand a chance in her current state. Once it reaches the Goddess of Darkness, she will be unable to resist its power. She got weak over the 10,000 years of waiting, but she could not do anything about that. The time to act is this moment, with the closest person to her. Looking back upon the collapsed boy, Tenebris makes up her mind, I will make this boy mine. In order to do that she must do three things: make the boy submit to her, give the boy a fighting chance, and be able to guide the boy from the depths of the Abyss.

  Her gauntlet releases itself using crimson mana, and her slender right hand with runic engravings stretches forward to touch the boy's cheeks. The convulsing boy’s body becomes still as if soothed by her touch. He lay there motionless, and Tenebris looks towards his chest. The next moment, she tears open the imperial coat embroidered with images of the sun and gold as well as the undershirt to reveal his bare chest. Magic coils around her index finger, and the nail grows long and cruelly sharp. With her armour-clad left hand, she holds onto his upper chest near the neck and starts imprinting a precept of blood, flesh and divinity upon his chest. The boy convulses and agonized screams escape him as he is assaulted by a searing pain.

  I shall follow the will of Tenebris.

  The precept glows with crimson and black energy as blood pours out from the fresh wounds. With step one done, Tenebris long nail retracts, and she quickens her speed. There is still two steps left, and the solar energy is advancing towards the shrouded zone of . Window by window, pillar by pillar the darkness is slowly dispelled. She is running out of time. She channels her magic to open a subspace she has created more than 10,000 years ago. Inside the subspace, a brilliant aqua blue and navy blue orb about the size of an apple shimmers with vigour. Liquid inside the orb swirls as if it's a raging ocean, and streaks of white, aqua and navy blue light dance around the orb similarly.

  Tenebris pauses for a moment and looks at the boy. Although with her superhuman thinking capabilities, that moment is no more than a single millisecond. She has promised herself that she will do whatever it takes to get her goal done, but even that cannot help her heart from feeling the pain of casting someone to their doom.

  What has this boy done with his life prior to this?

  What were the boy’s dreams and hopes that I am cruelly crushing at this moment?

  If given the choice, would he take this burden upon himself?

  All questions she would love to ask the boy himself, but there is no time for that. If she had time, she would have not chosen this boy anyway. He looks weak, and his mana capacity is abysmal. His attribute of spatial magic is quite rare even among the high society of Lux, but the mana capacity of his makes that magical attribute nearly useless. Nonetheless, she needed an agent in the mortal plane, and she needed a way to make sure he lives long enough to get her out. Tenebris reaches into the subspace and grasps the orb. She places the orb onto the boy’s chest. The orb vibrates as if resonating with his body, and it slowly sinks and dissolves into his skin. His body flares up with aqua blue energy, his blood vessels shine in a brilliant aqua and emerald green colour. Ignoring the wondrous sight that would make any mortal exclaim in awe, the Goddess of Darkness moves onto the final step. She needs to keep an ‘eye’ on the boy to help him along.

  While still holding the boy down with her left hand, she raises her right hand and plunges it around her left eye. Crimson blood akin to the colour of her iris flows out, as she rips the eye out from its socket. She lets go of the eye as red mana suspends it in midair. She looks towards the boy with both eyes. Tenebris raises her left hand once again. She dives her hand into his eye socket around his left eye, removing the boy’s emerald green eye. Crimson mana yet again rises to surround the eye, and now emerald and crimson coloured eyes floats side by side. She casts a highly convoluted and complex magic upon them, and the two eyes swap colour. Their properties remain the same, but their physical looks are different. Exactly as she intended. She takes the boy’s eye and puts it into her eye socket. Then she grabs her still floating eye out of the air and carefully puts it in the boy’s eye socket. She casts one final magic upon both of them so they can function correctly as the Solar energy conquers the altar of the cathedral. Tenebris managed to maintain for so long because she was condensing her power onto the altar, as opposed to the whole cathedral.

  Regardless, her time was up, but she accomplished her mission. Should she stay for a little chat with that goddess and her lackeys?

  As she is considering this, the thin layer of the darkness barrier she set up surrounding the cathedral is fully broken. Once all her power was retaken by solar energy, a barrier she set up beforehand lost its power source and collapsed. From outside the barrier lands Luminous, the leader of the Solar Pantheon and her three subordinates, Ra, Sol and Helios, all clad in iridescent armour. After landing gracefully, Luminous lets out an elegant voice that seems to reinvigorate everyone in the darkness.

  [YOU! Bringer of Darkness, Pantheonless Fool, how dare you show yourself here?!]

  [Hey Lumi~! How is it going? :D It’s been a while, why don’t we have a cha-]

  [BEGONE!]

  As the Goddess Luminous shouts out in anger, the entire cathedral lights up. Sunlight surges forth from runes engraved in the cathedral, covering the ground, ceiling, walls, windows and pillars. As brilliant sunlight blinds everyone’s vision, Tenebris’ link to the mortal realm is severed. She disappears without a trace, and the children lining up by the altar lie motionless. The blonde haired girl at the end of the oath line is the first one to look up and avert her gaze as the Solar Pantheon with their halo’s activated stand before the altar. After a few seconds, some of the other kids start regaining consciousness and standing up as the immense pressure of Tenebris’ presence is no more. The bright halo around the Solar Pantheon members stops the children from gazing upon them, so they are forced to look at the ground. No one speaks a word, and as the runic engravings slowly lose their shine, everyone slowly looks toward the centre of the cathedral. There lies a hazel-haired boy by the altar, ripped clothes, unconscious, and with a bleeding eye.

  * * *

  Tenebris collapses onto her hands and knees in the Abyss. Her breath escaping her, she's heaving heavy breaths as if she had just exercised for a week straight. A thin laugh slowly grows in intensity until she flips her body to lie face up on the ashy ground.

  [Hahahaha… haha. haa—-]

  The laughter dies in her throat. She stares up at the falling ash, raising her right gauntlet clad hand and grasps as single piece of ash. She brings that hand close to her chest and embraces it as if it was something precious.

  [To think 10,000 years of captivity would weaken me so.] A bitter exhale. [I suppose those chains not only locked me here but sapped my power also]

  To think that she would lose so much ki and strength just from manifesting her physical form to give the boy the eye. She slowly moves her other hand, not embracing the ash, onto her left cheek.

  [That boy– I wonder what his name was. I could learn many things about him with my powers, but there was so little time I did not even check…] A long pause. [Is he is up for this task?] She shook her head. [No he has to be… for all our sakes]