The rain didn't fall straight.
It moved in circles, spinning in the air like it was being pulled by something invisible. Felix watched it from under his hood, water dripping off the edges. The sky above was dark, full of thick clouds that looked too heavy to float. Lightning flashed now and then, lighting up the world in white for just a second.
He was standing at the edge of some old ruins deep in the forest. Stones lay broken and covered in green moss. Trees had grown through what used to be walls. Everything smelled like wet earth and forgotten things.
Felix's left hand itched.
He pulled off his glove and looked at his palm. The black mark was still there, stretching like small branches under his skin. It had appeared two months ago, after he woke up from a terrible fever that almost killed him. No healer knew what it was. No spell worked on it. Some people even thought he was cursed.
But since then, strange things had started to happen.
He could hear voices no one else could hear. Sometimes he saw shadows that didn't belong. And once, while dreaming, he saw a place made of stars and darkness, and something huge watching him from above.
Every time the voices spoke to him, they said the same word:
"Descendant."
Felix didn't know what it meant. Not yet.
He stepped deeper into the ruins, pushing aside long leaves and broken stone. He had a map in his bag, but he didn't need it now—he felt like he was in the right place.
At the center of the ruins, there was a round stone altar. It had strange symbols carved all over it. Most people wouldn't understand them. But Felix could. Ever since the mark appeared, the symbols made sense in his head.
They said:
"Here lies the body of the Usurped One. His blood remains. His will endures."
Felix read the words out loud, barely a whisper. "The Usurped One…"
Suddenly, the ground shook beneath his feet. Just a small tremble, like the earth was holding its breath.
Then a voice spoke. Deep. Calm. And old.
"You came too early, blood of the First."
Felix spun around, his heart racing. A figure stepped out from the shadows behind the altar.
It wasn't human.
It had no eyes. Its skin was smooth and pale, like stone, with cracks glowing softly. It didn't have a mouth, but Felix could hear its voice, clear in his head.
"W-What are you?" Felix asked, backing up.
The figure tilted its head.
"I am the Key. I open the path. I test the blood. And you, Felix… are the beginning of the end."
Before Felix could say another word, everything went black.
He felt like he was falling—but not through the sky. It was like falling through water, through dreams, through something even deeper.
Through the space between gods.