Velara, Lucanis, and Althéa struggled to their feet.
The sand still trembled beneath them.
Velara screamed, her voice broken by panic:
“What did you do, Kael?!”
Kael had not moved.
Not a single inch.
He had remained upright, even before the presence of the Primogene.
Even before one of the most powerful entities in the universe.
The outcast.
The insignificant.
The Ombrevu.
And yet…
the only one who had not bent the knee.
He was staring at his palm.
As if nothing else existed.
The key.
He instinctively understood its function.
And the King piece… a symbol of terrifying weight.
The voice echoed in his mind:
((PRIMORDIAL SHARD: DECRYPTION IN PROGRESS.))
His thoughts raced faster than normal.
I was blessed by the Primogene of Doubt…
And I received a Primordial Shard…
A month ago, I was still weaving in the workshop… and now…
…now I’m blessed by a god.
The full weight of mental exhaustion crashed down on him.
Vertigo.
Then a sharp, unbearable pain.
A headache… no.
A fire behind his eyes.
“Why… why do my eyes hurt…?”
Breath short, he brought his hands to his face.
Then the pain exploded.
Unbearable. Indescribable suffering.
Kael dropped to his knees and screamed.
Images, shapes, fractals burned across his retinas.
An infinity of spirals layered over his vision.
“What’s… what’s happening to me?!”
The voice continued, implacable:
((PRIMORDIAL SHARD: …))
He spread his fingers in panic.
And felt… a warm liquid.
Thick.
Viscous.
He forced his eyes open.
Blood.
Mixed with tears.
And… golden spiral particles
drifting over his fingers.
He fell backward, panicked.
Crawling through the sand, eyes open yet blinded by pain.
Althéa rushed to him, panicked but lucid:
“Kael! Kael, open your eyes! Let me see!”
He managed to speak, voice shattered:
“I… can’t! I see… spirals… everywhere…!”
((The Samson’s Ladder.))
Althéa threw herself at his side, holding him, trying to calm him.
The pain gradually subsided.
Kael opened his eyes.
Slowly.
And he saw…
the spirals on Althéa’s face.
He understood.
“It’s… it’s the Golden Ratio… I see… the Golden Ratio EVERYWHERE…”
Althéa stared into Kael’s eyes.
They were no longer simply black.
They were ink-black
streaked with gold.
Deep as an abyss.
Vast as an endless sky.
An entire galaxy rotated within his irises.
Althéa let out a scream of pure terror.
Her body went rigid.
She fell backward.
Her eyes rolled back.
She began convulsing.
Kael raised a trembling hand to his bloodied eyes.
Velara rushed to Althéa, trying to hold her down.
“A HEALER! NOW!” she screamed.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Then she cast Kael a murderous glare.
“WHAT DID YOU DO?!”
The King vaulted over the railing.
He rushed forward, abandoning the Queen to the care of the Revealed who were beginning to flood the Coliseum.
Without hesitation, he lifted Althéa into his arms and ran toward the exit in search of a healer, followed by Dean Ford.
Kael remained on the ground, as if in a trance.
His vision still overflowed with countless golden spirals.
((Samson’s Ladder: metaphysical structure linking the world to absolute truth. Each step corresponds to an Axiom.))
Althéa continued convulsing in the King’s arms.
Kael, meanwhile, stared into the void, a smile of ecstasy plastered across his face.
“The world… is so beautiful…”
That was too much for Velara.
She grabbed Kael by the collar and lifted him like a doll.
“WHAT DID YOU DO?! ANSWER ME!”
Kael was no longer listening.
The voice drowned out everything.
(( (Φ) — The bearer perceives harmony in all things.))
Mad with rage, Velara hurled him violently to the ground.
Kael rolled in the sand.
Lucanis, frozen, watched him.
“The… the Golden Ratio… what is that supposed to mean…?”
Velara trembled with rage and incomprehension.
“Why… why does a Ombrevu receive a Primogene’s ANOINTMENT?! And THE MOST ELUSIVE OF THEM ALL! And a PRIMORDIAL SHARD! And… AND HE DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A TRAME!!”
Kael lay in the sand, half-conscious.
His breathing was slow, almost calm…
while chaos reigned around him.
He was no longer listening to Velara.
Nor Lucanis.
Nor the screams.
Nor the panic.
He listened only to the voice.
The voice in his mind.
Implacable.
Cold.
Methodical.
And he already knew what it would pronounce.
He was waiting for it.
The next step.
The next truth.
(( (Perfect Shadow Theorem) — the bearer sees every hidden truth within a closed system.))
Kael began to laugh.
A broken laugh, warped, vibrating with ecstasy and madness.
His black-and-gold eyes lifted toward the star-filled sky.
And in that sky, he saw…
the complete harmony of the world.
The structure.
Pure geometry.
The spirals.
Everything.
He was delirious.
The voice did not stop.
(( (Cogito Ergo Sum: Altered) — the bearer erases himself from existence.))
Kael then repeated, frantically, voice trembling:
“1.618… 1.618… 1.618… 1.618… 1.618…”
Without pause.
Without breath.
Like a mathematical prayer.
Velara and Lucanis watched the scene, incredulous.
Velara, furious:
“What the hell is this?!”
Lucanis trembled like a leaf.
Everything that spilled from Kael’s mouth was delirium.
A torrent of numbers, broken words, violent ecstasy.
Then, suddenly…
His murmurs ceased.
And were replaced by a scream—
an animal scream,
brutal,
rending,
inhuman.
Kael writhed in pain in the sand.
“AAAHHH—!!”
The voice, implacable, continued to resonate within his mind:
(( (Velasquez Limit) — the bearer identifies a cause and breaks it.))
Lucanis rushed forward in panic, dropping to his knees beside him.
“Kael! Kael! Damn it, answer me!”
He searched his body for a wound…
…and saw the blood.
A lot of blood.
Flowing down his back.
He tore Kael’s shirt open in one sharp motion.
And what he saw…
It terrified him.
“V… VELARA!! COME HERE, NOW!!”
She arrived in a fraction of a second.
And she went pale as well.
Kael’s back was…
engraved.
Incomprehensible writings, carved as if with a blade,
ran from the base of his spine up to his neck.
A larger symbol surrounded everything:
A serpent devouring its own tail.
An Ouroboros.
Encircling the inscriptions.
Another symbol rested at the nape of Kael’s neck, above the other engravings.
Velara, still incredulous, glanced at the sign— a mere reflex.
Instantly, she was struck by atrocious pain.
A mental shock.
A burning wave.
Her skull exploded with agony.
“Ahhh…! I… I can’t… I can’t look at it!!”
She nearly fell to her knees, one hand clutching her temple, unable to withstand the sight of the symbol.
It was not merely unreadable.
It was a truth she was not meant to perceive.
Other serpents were carved into Kael’s skin:
One on his neck.
One over his heart.
One along his ribs.
A final one on his shoulder.
He was covered in blood.
Covered in symbols.
And the voice in his head then pronounced
the final verdict:
(( (Cause) — the bearer returns to the origin of all things.))
Kael screamed again, twisting on the ground…
Then the voice changed.
It took on a tone no being should ever hear.
But Kael…
heard it.
((You, the Causeless One… Know that your actions have consequences.))
His eyes rolled back.
His body went limp.
And Kael lost consciousness
in the blood-soaked sand.
Lucanis screamed:
“HEALERS! NOW!!”
Althéa floated within a vast black abyss.
With every exhale, a bubble left her lips…
and rose toward a surface that did not exist.
She murmured in a weak, wandering voice:
“Where… am I?”
The next instant, the darkness dissolved.
She stood within a vast cavern illuminated by an ethereal, bluish glow.
Soft, almost luminous grass covered the ground.
A pond of ghostly blue water rested at the center,
its smooth surface ringed by immaculate white stones.
And in the middle of the lake,
as if born from light itself,
stood a flowering tree,
its branches heavy with blue and pink petals.
Before the pond, back turned to her, stood a brown-haired man,
his hair tousled,
his build athletic, perfect,
his hands extended before him
as though holding something invisible.
He wore a simple brown tunic, unadorned.
A calm presence.
Peaceful.
At his side stood a woman of radiant beauty.
Long brown hair cascaded down her back like a river.
She wore a white dress, light, almost unreal.
Her eyes — amethysts streaked with gold —
looked at the man with infinite tenderness.
A gaze of pure love.
Then a child’s laughter rang out.
Two figures burst forth—
a little girl with white hair,
and a young boy with brown hair—
and leapt onto the man.
They knocked him down with a surprised cry.
He fell into the grass with an amused grunt,
a faint smile stretching his lips.
The woman laughed, sincere and bright.
The children threw themselves onto him, burying him beneath clumsy embraces.
He pretended to grumble,
but immense tenderness betrayed every gesture.
He tilted his head slightly toward the woman.
Althéa finally saw him from the front.
A man with a fine beard,
clear, pure features.
A quiet beauty.
Serene.
And above all…
His eyes.
Black as ink.
Streaked with gold.
Deep as an endless sky.
Bearing infinite wisdom.
The same eyes
she had seen an instant before her convulsion.
The same eyes
that had terrified her entire being.
The eyes…
…of Kael.
The world shattered.
Everything vanished
in the blink of an eye.
End of Volume I: The Depths of Ignorance.
AXIΦM this far…
Thank you.
Truly.
The Depths of Ignorance — is now complete.
Causes and consequences are only beginning to awaken.
Promise of Rain — will rise higher and delve even deeper into the structures hinted at here: the Axioms, the Primogenes, debts, and the question of responsibility.
