Chapter 45: The War of Great Severance (2)
The moment Akasha sat upon the throne; the golden flames roared violently around him.
A deep, ancient voice echoed directly into his mind — heavy, resonant, and detached, as if it had been waiting for countless ages to speak.
"To the one who one day finds the Dawn Citadel..."
The voice carried the weight of forgotten eons.
"You have uncovered the records of the Great Severance... the war that broke the balance of not only Kalpa, but the entire Orin Star System."
Before Akasha could even process the words, the grand hall vanished.
He was suddenly pulled forward at terrifying speed, as if his consciousness had been violently yanked into a tunnel of pure light and memory.
The world around him twisted into a swirling vortex of gold and shadow.
Images flashed past him like an intense slideshow, each one forcing knowledge directly into his mind with overwhelming clarity.
Akasha’s eyes widened as the first wave of information slammed into him.
"The Orin Star System..." He muttered as all the knowledge the Celestial Sun Pantheon had on the place became clear as he looked ahead.
In front of him appeared an image of six worlds hanging in a vast cosmic framework — the Orin Star System.
Each world was bathed in light from its own collection of suns; some had only one, while others boasted more than ten.
Yet all of these worlds and their suns revolved around a single, massive white sun at the center, its brilliant energy sustaining the smaller suns that illuminated each distant realm.
Two mighty Pantheons ruled over this system: the Celestial Sun Pantheon, beings of light, fire, and prosperity, and the Dead Sun Pantheon, entities of shadow, death, and corruption.
The two Pantheons had existed in a fragile balance since before Kalpa was born, which to be exact... was 120 Eras.
Then the vision changed as another rush of information poured into his mind.
He could see the structure of every world, each one split by an unseen boundary—a delicate veil dividing the Topside from the Underside.
The Topside was a realm bathed in light.
Akasha was currently looking at an ancient Kalpa, far younger but it was more magnificent than the one he was familiar with, brimming with Dragons, Phoenixes, Angels, and other radiant beings gliding through skies of the shimmering light of the suns.
"So, this is why those oceans and lakes were so heavily guarded?" he muttered, recalling how on his first day here, during his travels, he had noticed that every large body of water was under tight watch.
Back then, he couldn’t quite figure out the reason, but now it all made perfect sense as the images shifted before his eyes once more.
This time he saw the Underside — the dark mirror of the Topside.
Seven black suns hung in a blood-red sky, casting long shadows across twisted lands filled with Demons, Devils, Horrors, and other races attuned with Darkness.
The image felt cold and stifling, a weight in the air that sent a slight shiver racing down Akasha’s spine.
Then, almost seamlessly, the very thing he had just whispered about revealed itself in the next frame.
Vast expanses of water — oceans, seas, and immense lakes — stretched out like shimmering thresholds, serving as the natural gateways between the Topside and the Underside.
He also saw that one could enter a world from its highest point or its lowest point to cross between sides.
"If the two sides were separated.... then just how are there vampires and other races on the topside?" He muttered to himself as it was clear something went terribly wrong somewhere.
As he was a clear outlier since he chose his own race, but Liliana?
She was a clear hybrid of Topside and Underside races, at least he figured she was.
He was pulled further down the tunnel of light and memory, the images flashing faster and faster until everything blurred into a single, intense scene.
At the end of the tunnel, Akasha found himself standing in the middle of a grand celestial war council.
----
The room was vast, floating in what seemed like the heart of a star.
Golden pillars held up a ceiling that showed the swirling cosmos above.
Around a massive round table sat figures he could barely make out — powerful beings whose forms shimmered with divine light, though he could see each of them with clarity.
Except for one....
The most important figure sat on a throne of pure golden flame at the head of the table — a woman, a Sun Kami whose power was so immense that Akasha could only see her as a radiant silhouette of light and fire.
It was almost like some unspoken rule was shielding her, keeping her identity hidden.
Her presence alone made the air feel heavy and sacred.
In this moment, the voices of war generals and gods echoing with the fate of multiple worlds hanging in the balance.
BANG!!
One of the figures slammed a fist onto the table, his voice echoing with raw frustration.
"We can’t just keep giving in to the Dead Kami!" he shouted.
"Every millennium, they push for more—more land, more souls, more sway over the Orin Affairs. All this so-called diplomacy is just buying time before the inevitable catches up to us!"
Another voice, calmer but no less intense, countered.
"If we push for war now, we risk breaking the balance completely."
As Akasha watched, he couldn’t help but wonder.
’Just... what’s so important about this balance?’ he thought, noticing the same recurring image appearing again and again.
Yet, the true meaning of the balance remained unclear to him.
"The Dead Pantheon grows stronger with every death in the Star System. Perhaps offering them more concessions in the Underside could buy us time—"
A third general suddenly interjected, his figure shimmering with the blaze of solar fire.
"Time for what? The balance is already falling apart!" he demanded, shaking his head in frustration.
"The Dead Kami grow bolder with every passing millennium... every damn Era! Even now, the underside races have been seeping onto the topside!
If we don’t act now, the Land of Yomi will swallow everything whole!"
The debate raged on, voices rising and falling like thunder as the fate of the Orin Star System hung in the balance.... quite literally.
Some pushed for immediate war, others for desperate diplomacy, the tension in the celestial chamber thick enough to choke on.
Finally, all eyes shifted toward the woman on the throne.
The radiant Sun Kami — Goddess Amaterasu — slowly opened her eyes. Her voice rang out, clear, ancient, and filled with unyielding authority.
"It is time."
The hall fell silent.
"The Land of Yomi will fall for good."
In that moment.... she declared war on the Dead Pantheon.
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