Chapter 1: Regression
The rust-laden wind carried ash particles over the battlefield as the scarlet light of the sky tinged the inert bodies with a false warmth.
The moment Kael Medici tried to breathe, he coughed violently and gasped. Again and again, he expelled puffs of blood that stained the grass at his feet. Only after coughing did the pressure in his chest ease slightly.
It seems that in the end... thought Kael, contemplating the blood red sky.
Around him lay mutilated corpses, rivers of blood, and ruins. The air smelled of iron and death. A raven perched on the empty helmet of a knight, sinking its beak into an eyeball half-buried in the mud.
The place was an absolute disaster.
Cities and kingdoms had fallen. Heroes, villains, demons, elves, and other races lay dead, forming mountains of bodies and lakes of congealed blood.
"...So I’ve failed, have I?"
But there was no answer. Kael was the only one alive, yet he continued to talk to himself.
"I was so close... Just one more step."
The Calamity War. The final and most devastating tribulation would decide who would occupy the Divine Throne.
The conflict had ravaged the five regions and the seven heavens of the Immemorial era, but, for some reason, Kael had survived.