The fall felt like an eternity.

​There was no wind in the Void. There was no light. There was only the crushing, absolute silence of a place that existed entirely outside the boundaries of reality. Adonis Kingsbane fell through the infinite dark, his body completely shattered, his chaotic flames entirely extinguished.

​He crashed.

​BAM!

​The impact was brutal. He did not hit dirt or stone. He slammed into a surface that felt like frozen, petrified bone. Every single nerve in his body screamed in agony as the last remaining intact bones in his ribcage snapped.

He lay there in the pitch black, coughing up thick, dark blood. He could not feel his magic. He could not feel the protective warmth of Sirius or Lyra. He was completely hollowed out.

​"Another piece of garbage thrown down by the golden thief."

​A voice echoed in the dark. It was incredibly deep and resonant. It shook the very fabric of the abyss, vibrating through the petrified ground beneath Adonis.

​"How incredibly tragic," the voice continued with heavy sarcasm. "Did you forget to kneel? Or did you just discover his little recycling scheme?"

​Adonis spat out a mouthful of blood. He forced his neck to turn, his violet eyes piercing through the absolute darkness.

​"Who is calling me garbage? Show yourself."

​Heavy footsteps that sounded like falling mountains approached. A colossal figure slowly emerged from the shadows. The entity was gigantic, standing at least thirty feet tall. He had the craggy, hardened features of a primordial titan, with massive horns that curled down like a ram. His eyes burned with a dull, grey fire.

​But he was completely bound. Massive links of blackened star-iron pierced through his flesh, chaining his wrists, his ankles, and his throat to the petrified ground.

​"I am the King of the Forgotten," the titan announced. His voice rumbled with ancient authority. "You are broken meat. Do you wish to beg for a swift end? I can crush your skull with my heel and spare you the eternal madness of the Void."

​"You could certainly try," Adonis laughed, coughing up more blood. "But I would probably break your foot. I am Adonis Kingsbane. Emperor of the Chaos Order. And I never beg."

​The titan sat down heavily. The massive iron chains rattled loudly in the silence.

​"An Emperor?" The titan sounded genuinely amused. "Here in the absolute dark? That is a hilarious joke. Ascalon usually only throws down his failed experiments. Or his political rivals."

​"I am not a rival," Adonis stated proudly, forcing himself to roll onto his back. "I am his apocalypse. I broke his recycling scheme in the lower realms. I smashed his scales. I emptied his divine furnaces. And then I shattered his precious diamond floor."

​The titan leaned closer. His grey eyes widened slightly in sheer disbelief.

​"You broke the First Firmament?" the titan asked. "No mortal has ever breached the Apex."

​"I am not just a mortal," Adonis replied. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to sit up. His muscles screamed in protest, but his sheer willpower refused to let him lie down. "I am the anomaly he could not calculate. Who are you, big guy? Ascalon must really fear you to lock you up with so much heavy iron."

​"Ascalon fears anyone who knows the actual truth," the titan growled, his grey eyes narrowing with ancient hatred. "My name is Emperion."

​Adonis paused. How can he forget the Heri of his story.

​"Emperion," Adonis repeated slowly. "The First Betrayer. The Primordial Villain who tried to devour the heavens before the Golden Light sealed him away. The lore paints you as a mindless, bloodthirsty beast."

​Emperion let out a bitter, earth-shattering laugh.

​"History is always written by the coward who holds the pen," Emperion said. "Ascalon is a master of rewriting reality. I never tried to devour the heavens, Adonis Kingsbane. I tried to save them from him."

​"Save them?" Adonis asked, raising a bloodied eyebrow. "From what?"

​"From complete stagnation," Emperion answered,. "Before Ascalon stole the central throne, the Gloria was peaceful. No conflict, no war, no demon. But Ascalon wanted absolute control. He wanted to build the world as a permanent harvester farm to feed his own divinity."

​"So Gloria was factory to him," Adonis said. "I saw it. It was incredibly ugly."

​"Ugly?" Emperion chuckled darkly. "You care about the aesthetics of damnation?"

​"I care about style," Adonis retorted. "And Ascalon has none."

​"I led the first rebellion against him," Emperion continued, looking up into the empty dark. "I gathered the free titans, the ancient demons, and the unbound gods. We fought to keep the realms free. We were the heroes of the old era."

​"And you clearly lost," Adonis pointed out bluntly.

​"I was betrayed," Emperion corrected him, his massive fists clenching tight. "By the Primus of Death. He promised me the underworld legions for the final assault. But he struck a secret deal with Ascalon at the final hour. They ambushed me. They sealed me here in the abyss, erased my true name from the records, and painted me as the ultimate evil to scare the mortal realms into submission."

​"Primus is a slippery bastard," Adonis agreed, rubbing his newly healed shoulder. "He set me up too. He used me to clear out the lower layers so Ascalon could renovate his domain without getting his hands dirty."

​"Haha, then we share the same enemies," Emperion laughed . "But sharing enemies does not change our current reality. We are in the Void. There is no magic here. There is no escape. We will sit here until the end of eternity."

​"But I dont want to sit," Adonis said as je slowly stood up on his trembling legs. His posture was completely ruined, but his arrogant aura returned instantly.

"I do not accept eternity in a cage. I am going back up."

​"With what army?" Emperion mocked him. "You are one broken man. You cannot even summon a spark of fire."

​