“How dare you?! How dare you, you insignificant beings, defy your Creator?!”

  The voice tore the sky apart — trembling with fury… and then, suddenly, it fell silent.

  And with it, so did the world.

  Silence draped over the ruined landscape. Where a battle once raged, now only wind remained, carrying the scent of ozone and ashes.

  “Did we do the right thing?”

  “What now?”

  “What are we supposed to do?”

  “What’s the point…?”

  The questions hung in the air, echoing in the minds of each Lord.

  All except one.

  He stood motionless at the edge of a massive crater — left behind by a clash that had torn open the sky. His hair, dark as the void, danced in the sea breeze. He didn’t move. Even his breath seemed still.

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  But he saw everything.

  Every pine bent by the shockwave, still clutching the earth in defiance. Every mountain peak trembling beneath, yet holding its quiet majesty. Even the dust settling on the wounded land — he saw it all.

  Though his eyes stared into nothingness.

  “…live,” he finally said.

  Quietly. Piercingly.

  And that one word was enough.

  The other Lords — of Flame, Sea, Wind, Stone, Ice, and Beasts — all turned toward him at once. And the world stopped. Time itself, afraid of what came next, hesitated. The silence grew deeper. As if Darkness itself gripped the land.

  He stood on a hill, overlooking the crater left by something impossibly heavy. His gaze met theirs — not as a general to his soldiers, but as a father to his children.

  “Thank you,” his voice grew warmer. “Thank you for following me. We made the right choice. Now we are free. Live as you wish.”

  They didn’t know what “wishing” meant.

  They had never chosen anything.

  They were created without choice.

  “But… what do we wish for?”

  The question rang through each of them — flavored with fear, and… hope.

  “…Lord of Darkness,” Flame finally broke the silence.

  “You gave us something important, something that we were deprived of from birth — the right to live. We’ll have to learn what that means, and understand its essence.

  The Creator’s Will no longer binds this world. Humanity is… remarkable.

  Like you, I believe in them. But, Dan… what about you? What will you do?”

  Dan looked into the distance.

  In his gaze — something new.

  Almost imperceptible.

  But unimaginably important.

  “…Live.”

  That word warmed even the coldest hearts — those born of fire, frost and void.

  “Then we’ll live too!”

  “Yes!”

  “We will!”

  “Thank you!”

  It was as if the Seven-Day War had never happened.

  In their voices — life. Real life.

  “My friends,” Dan looked at them once more. “Our paths diverge now. But I know… one day, we will meet again.”

  A faint smile touched his lips. Barely visible.

  He knew this wasn’t the end.

  Only a calm before the next storm.

  A battle would come again.

  The only question was — when?