The forest darkened not because the sun had slowly slipped beyond the horizon or because evening had begun to descend upon the land, but because the sky above the endless canopy of trees began to change with a strange and unsettling certainty, as heavy storm clouds gathered into vast spiraling masses high above the crowns of the forest, twisting around one another as though the heavens themselves were attempting to create a colossal vortex that slowly pulled the world toward the center of a coming storm, and the daylight that only moments ago had filtered through the branches now dimmed and cooled, turning the entire forest into a gray twilight that hung over the earth like the shadow of something enormous awakening after a long and ancient sleep.
Drakar felt it before he saw it.
The runes beneath his skin stirred, not sharply and not violently like they did in battle, but uneasily and heavily, like embers inside a forge remembering that a fire still burned beneath them, and every symbol carved into his body by the power of the runes he had devoured began to pulse quietly, responding to the force that was entering the world from above.
He stopped walking.
Selene noticed immediately, because after the battles they had fought together she had learned to read his movements as carefully as a mage reads ancient spells, and when Drakar froze, her staff slowly lifted, the silver crystal at its tip beginning to glow faintly as it reacted to the tension in the air.
"What is it?" she asked quietly.
Drakar did not answer at once.
His gaze was directed upward through the thick canopy of leaves that barely allowed light to pass, yet even though his eyes could not see the sky, the runes within his body could feel what was happening above.
Something powerful had entered the world.
Something ancient.
And angry.
The ground trembled again.
This time the tremor did not come from the roots of the World Tree that they had felt before, but from the sky itself, and a distant rumble rolled across the forest, slow and heavy, like a mountain shifting inside the clouds.
It was not thunder yet.
Only its promise.
Selene felt it now as well.
The crystal atop her staff ignited with thin silver light that spread through the air in invisible waves of magic, probing the very fabric of space.
"This… isn't Nyxaroth," she whispered.
"No," Drakar answered calmly.
He took a slow breath.
"Something else."
The Root Guardian still stood before them, massive among the towering trees and the stone-like arteries of the World Tree, and his green eyes now burned brighter than before, reflecting the storm gathering above the world.
"You feel it," the guardian said.
Drakar nodded.
"Yes."
The guardian tilted his head slightly, as though listening to something far beyond the forest, something moving across sky and space like the heartbeat of a divine being.
"The pantheons have begun to move."
Selene frowned.
"You already said that."
The guardian's gaze lifted upward.
"But this one moves first."
And in that moment the wind vanished.
Completely.
The forest froze so suddenly that even the leaves which moments ago had rustled between the branches became still, like a painting captured in time, the birds that had flown high between the trees fell silent, and even the ancient roots beneath the earth, which always shifted quietly in the soil, ceased moving as though the world itself held its breath.
For one brief moment the world stood still.
Then the sky exploded.
Thunder tore across the heavens as if a mountain had split in half, and lightning ripped through the clouds, striking somewhere far beyond the forest with such force that the earth itself shook.
Drakar's chains rattled.
His runes flared.
Selene stepped back.
"That was close."
"No," Drakar said quietly.
He slowly turned his head.
"That was deliberate."
A second bolt of lightning struck.
Closer.
This time the flash was so bright the entire forest turned white for a moment, like a silhouette carved from pure light, and the impact that followed was catastrophic as trees shattered like splinters, roots cracked apart, and the ground erupted in a storm of bark, stone, and burning dust.
When the light faded, a figure stood inside the crater.
Tall.
Broad.
Its silhouette was wrapped in living arcs of lightning that crawled across armor and air like serpents made of pure energy.
Selene held her breath.
"Drakar…"
The figure took a step.
And with that step came thunder.
The storm above the forest intensified as lightning crawled across the clouds like burning veins carrying the power of the storm through the sky.
The figure stepped out of the crater.
Golden armor gleamed beneath the flashes of lightning.
A massive hammer rested upon his shoulder.
His beard moved with the rising wind.
His eyes burned like two suns inside the storm.
The Root Guardian lowered his head.
"A god."
Selene whispered the name before she could stop herself.
"Thor…"
The God of Thunder looked at them.
Not with surprise.
Not with curiosity.
But with recognition.
His voice rolled across the forest like distant thunder echoing between mountains.
"So."
His gaze fixed on Drakar.
"The rumors were true."
Drakar did not move.
Thor stepped forward.
The storm moved with him.
"You are the mortal who has begun killing the servants of gods."
Selene tightened her grip on her staff.
Drakar tilted his head slightly.
"And you're the one they sent first."
Thor smiled.
"First?"
Lightning flashed again.
"Boy."
His hammer shifted slightly on his shoulder.
"If the pantheons had truly moved together… the sky would already be burning."
The god studied him carefully.
His gaze stopped on the runes beneath Drakar's skin.
"Interesting."
The wind rose.
The forest creaked.
"You carry their power."
Drakar remained silent.
Thor stepped closer.
The ground cracked beneath his boot.
"And yet you still live."
The storm intensified.
Selene whispered behind him:
"This is bad."
Drakar answered without turning.
"I noticed."
Thor raised his hammer.
Lightning coiled around it as if a living storm had gathered inside his hand.
"You've caused quite a lot of trouble, mortal."
His voice lowered.
"The World Tree trembles."
Drakar slowly crossed his arms.
"So do the gods."
The air froze again.
And for the first time the smile vanished from Thor's face.
The storm darkened.
"You have courage."
Lightning flashed behind him.
"But courage does not make you equal to gods."
Drakar's chains rattled softly.
"I didn't come to be equal."
The runes on his arms flared brighter.
"I came to destroy you."
Thunder shook the forest.
Thor laughed.
His laughter was deep and heavy, echoing between the trees like another strike of the storm.
"Good."
He lifted his hammer.
Lightning gathered around it, merging into a blinding pillar of energy.
"I was hoping you would say that."
Selene stepped forward.
"Drakar—"
Too late.
The storm exploded.
Thor swung his hammer.
And the sky answered.
A pillar of lightning fell from the heavens like the wrath of the world itself.
Drakar moved.
His chains shot forward.
Runes ignited.
And the first battle between the Godslayer and a true god began.