Time passed differently in Everlock. Days blurred into weeks, weeks into months, but growth came with every rising sun.
Rhea stood in the training yard, sweat steaming off her body in the cold morning air. Her enchanted armor, once her crutch, now lay cracked and discarded in the corner. Ember crouched by her side, flames licking off his fur in defiance of the frost.
Kuromi's blade came down fast—too fast for the old Rhea. But this Rhea wasn't the same. She ducked, pivoted, and landed a palm strike to Kuromi's ribs. It didn't do much, but Kuromi smirked all the same.
"You're not flinching anymore," Kuromi said, stepping back.
"I'm not scared anymore."
Kuromi nodded. "Then maybe it's time I stopped going easy."
Lucio knelt beside Kuromi later that day, adjusting the scope on a rifle he'd forged from scraps and parts.
"You're aiming too hard," he said, repositioning her stance. "Let the gun do the work. Breathe. Pull on the exhale."
Kuromi rolled her eyes but followed his guidance. The shot rang out and struck clean through the center of a distant target.
Lucio raised an eyebrow. "Told you."
"I still like knives better."
"Good. Just don't bring a knife to a god fight."
Nathan stood alone in the cave beyond the edge of the city, watching time rewind itself around a wilting flower. Petals uncurled, frost vanished, and life returned.
He exhaled. Reached out. Reversed it again.
There was a time he feared his powers. Now, he feared what he'd become without them.
"Everything ages," he muttered. "Even gods."
Jalen hadn't eaten in three weeks. He hadn't noticed.
His skin had changed—smoother, denser. His muscles ached only when he willed them to. He bled less. Slept less.
But he was still Jalen.
"Yo, Lucio," he called one afternoon, walking through camp with a ridiculous scarf wrapped around his head like a crown. "Tell Kuromi if she's gonna glare at me like that, she better start buying me dinner."
Lucio didn't look up from his weapon cleaning. "You've had one protein bar in the last month."
"Exactly. She's gotta treat me better."
Despite the changes—the evolving body, the godhood creeping in—he held on to his sarcasm like armor. What he didn't say out loud was how weird it felt. How far away everything felt now.
When Kuromi asked how he was holding up, he smirked and said, "Still sexy."
Kullen moved like a ghost through Everlock. Always watching, always working. He spoke with citizens, resolved conflicts, handed out food when rations ran thin. He trained lightly—nothing flashy. Just enough to stay sharp.
But when Jalen pushed himself too far, it was Kullen who pulled him back.
"Even gods break," he'd said once. "Don't wait until you do."
One night, with snow just starting to dust the kingdom, Jalen, Lucio, Nathan, and Kullen sat around a fire on the rooftop of Everlock's old tavern. They said nothing for a long while. The wind howled. The stars blinked.
Then Lucio spoke. "Do you ever think about... before?"
Nathan nodded. "Yeah. I remember your mom's awful spaghetti," he said, pointing at Jalen.
"Hey! That spaghetti was fire," Jalen shot back. "You just have weak taste buds."
Kullen grinned. "Remember when we tried to camp out that one night in the woods and a raccoon stole Lucio's boots?"
Lucio rubbed his face. "I still think that thing was possessed."
They laughed harder than they had in weeks.
They didn't talk about how they died. Not directly. But the silence after the laughter said it all.
They'd known each other before all this—before the powers, the pain, the gods. They'd been friends. Brothers.
And now, somehow, they were again.
Present Day — Winter in Everlock
Snow blanketed the kingdom. The sun barely rose. Fires burned in every hearth. Armor clinked in the streets. The scent of steel and frost filled the air.
The group stood together atop Everlock's outer wall. Changed. Sharper. Stronger.
Ready.
Jalen's eyes scanned the horizon. His eyes flickered from gold to violet.
"We're close," he muttered.
Lucio adjusted the rifle on his back. "To what?"
Jalen's grin returned. "To whatever's dumb enough to stand in our way, and I don't know about you guys, but just the thought of it has every nerve in my body jumping in excitement."
Kullen turned to the group, his face serious. "Can you all excuse me and Jalen for a moment?
"Why so glum, chum?" Jalen poked at Kullen, laughing.
"Kuromi and Rhea aren't coming. They are gonna stay here in Everlock to guard the kingdom. And since you're basically Rhea's guardian, I needed to ask you for permission to do this."
Jalen's eyes flashed red momentarily before turning back gold. "Kullen, you know I can't do that. More than that, she won't even agree to it."
"But Jalen, where we are going, I can't promise that you'll be able to save her. We are going to fight GODS! G-O-D-S! We cannot guarantee that we'll be able to protect them!"
"And that's why they are training to be able to protect themselves, Kullen."
"You know damn well that this training was more for us that it was for them... Jalen, I already told Kuromi I'm addressing the Kingdom tonight, and you will tell Rhea, or I will..." Kullen's eyes flashed an emerald green.
"See the reasoning in this, Jalen."
"Get the fuck out of my head." Jalen stared at the sky before taking in a deep breath. "I'll talk to her, but I know the answer already. SO we leave tonight."
"Done."
Later that night, in the palace courtyard torches burned along the stone balconies. Snow drifted gently from the sky, coating armor and cloaks alike. The courtyard was packed—soldiers, civilians, elders, children. All watching the central platform where Kullen stood beneath the ever-burning sigil of Everlock's crest.
The silence was thick as he stepped forward, eyes scanning every face.
"I know what you all must be feeling right now," Kullen began, voice calm but firm. "We've had peace for months. We've grown, trained, and rebuilt together. But peace is not the end of our story."
He let that settle, the crackle of torches filling the pause.
"There's a storm coming—worse than any we've seen. And some of us… we have to meet it head-on. Beyond these walls. Beyond anything we've ever faced."
He looked toward the balcony where Jalen, Lucio, and Nathan stood, cloaked in the dim light.
"We're not abandoning you. Kuromi and Rhea will remain. They'll guard Everlock with everything they have. But the rest of us must go. Because if we don't stop what's coming, there won't be a kingdom left to protect."
He stepped closer to the edge. "You trusted me once to bring order to this city. I'm asking you to trust me again—to trust us. Because I promise you this… whatever we face out there, we do it not just for ourselves, but for all of you."
He raised a fist over his heart. "Everlock endures."
And across the courtyard, hundreds returned the gesture.
"Everlock endures."
After the speech, under the flickering torchlight of Everlock's keep, Rhea stood near the war table, arms crossed, eyes burning.
"You're leaving me behind?" she asked.
Jalen stepped inside, quiet for once.
"I didn't choose this," he said. "But I'm not gonna risk you dying for something you're not ready for."
"I've trained! I've fought beside you! You don't get to decide this!"
Jalen walked closer, sighing. "I know. That's why this hurts."
She opened her mouth to speak again—
—and Jalen tapped her forehead with two fingers.
Rhea's eyes rolled back as she collapsed into his arms.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "You're strong… but not for what we're about to face. Keep growing, and stay alive for when I return."
Ember let out a low growl from the shadows.
"Take care of her," Jalen said softly.
That morning, the snow fell hard and fast. The wind whipped around the kingdom almost as if it was telling the four men not to leave.
Their destination: the mountainous domain of Veyruun, the God of Ruin and Judgment. A place of broken stone and eternal twilight, where fallen statues of both gods and kings line the path like warnings.
The air grew heavier with each step, a silence filled with judgment.
Jalen didn't look back.
"Let's go meet a god."