Son of the Hero King

Chapter 787: Dawn and Karma

Karma sat on the edge of space and time, his legs dangling over an abyss of pure possibility. In his hands, a lyre rested, and he plucked at its strings idly, each note creating ripples in the fabric of reality.

This place was a nexus, a void that existed between the realms — a connection to everywhere and nowhere at once, a paradox of existence. In this place, time and space were meaningless. He could find himself anywhere in the Mortal Realm with just a thought.

Few people besides him could access this place, and now he was facing another who could.

"You're a hard woman to find," he said without looking up.

"I did not want to be found." Dawn materialised beside him, her golden hair catching light that had no source in this utter void. Her blue eyes were calm, but there was a wariness in her posture as she met her sibling for the first time in eons.

"And yet, here you are."

"Because you're Karma. If you want to talk to someone, they don't really have a choice now, do they?"

Karma laughed, the sound high and childish, a note of ancientness beyond any concept still flashing in the voice, making it exceptionally jarring, disorienting even. "You flatter me. I'm just a coward who plays songs and watches the world burn." He paused his hands, playing the lyre, contemplating. "Though speaking of burning, congratulations on stealing Love from Euphoria. That was supremely elegant work."

"I only took a power someone unworthy stole. Amora's concept should never have been in that woman's hands."

"Amora, Euphoria— twin sisters, one betrayed by the other. Funny how that keeps happening with you, old gods. Thanatos and Vita, Euphoria and Amora." Karma plucked another string. "At least Thanatos found a more interesting solution to the twin problem."

Dawn's expression did not change in the least by the knowledge that Thanatos had fused with her twin sister’s concept; perhaps, she already knew. "You didn't find me to discuss history or morality." Her voice was not a question; it was a statement as she looked at Karma.

"No. I found you because you found something." Karma finally looked at her, his childish face suddenly seeming far older than the most ancient being. "You found your territory. Your old Divine Kingdom, or what's left of it."

Dawn said nothing, which was answer enough. Yet, Karma did not need an answer; he already knew. He knew most things.

"How does it feel? Being so close to your old power?" Karma asked. "You have mastery over Day and Night now. With Love added to the mix, you're more complete than you were even during the Twilight. And once you reclaim your territory, you'll have a foothold to regain the full breadth of your divine powers."

"Why does this concern you? You made it clear you won't take sides."

"I won't. But I am curious." Karma resumed playing, the melody shifting to something darker, sinister even. "Light and Darkness. Opposing forces, unified in one being. You've spent how long mastering that balance? Centuries? Millennia? And now you add Love, which exists outside that duality entirely."

"I'm managing."

"Are you now?" Karma's eyes gleamed with amusement. "Because from where I sit, it looks like you're gathering power for something specific. Territory, concepts, secret knowledge. You're preparing for war, Dawn. Or should I call you Aurora now?"

"Call me whatever you want."

"Who are you planning to fight? Sol? The other gods? The goddesses?" Karma tilted his head. "Or is it something else entirely? Something only you seem to know."

Dawn was quiet for a long moment. When she spoke, her voice was soft but firm. "I'm preparing to survive. That's all any of us can do in the age that's coming."

"Survival." Karma nodded slowly. "Yes, I suppose that is the wisest choice. Though it's funny how survival often looks identical to ambition from the outside."

"If you're trying to figure out my intentions, you'll be disappointed. I don't know what I'll do yet. It depends on how things unfold."

"Smart." Karma's fingers stilled on the lyre. "I like you, Dawn. You're honest about your uncertainty. Not like Hypnos, who pretends he has everything planned. Not like Thanatos, who thinks power alone will be enough. You understand that this new age isn't following the old rules. It has never followed the old rules that make our siblings feel oh so comfortable with everything."

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"The old rules burned to cinders and ashes with the Twilight of the Gods."

"Indeed, they did. And you are the smartest of us all to acknowledge and accept that." Karma chuckled. "Well, I've satisfied my curiosity. I'll let you get back to your territory. I imagine you have a lot of work to do, preparing to reclaim your divine power and all that. As for me? I will just observe.”

“Playing both sides again, little brother?" Dawn asked, her voice carrying neither judgment nor surprise.

"Always," Karma replied cheerfully, his fingers never stopping their nimble dance across the strings. "It's the only way to ensure I'm on the winning side, after all. Though I must say, your intervention was unexpected. I couldn't see it coming, and that's... quite rare for me."

"Some things exist outside the web of karma, after all," Dawn said, studying the crystallised Love in her hand. It pulsed with warm light, so different from the twisted version Euphoria had wielded. "Some secrets are as old as fate itself."

"Like your connection to the boy?" Karma's young face split into a knowing grin. "Oh, don't look so surprised. I am not able to decipher his threads, but this is exactly why I can guess who he is. Adam loved you, truly loved you. And now Sol is—"

"Is not Adam," Dawn interrupted firmly, her voice changing for the first time since she was here, warning, wrathful. "Sol Luxuria is his own being, shaped by his own choices and life. Of course, things might change when he becomes stronger. That's why I will ask him once again who he truly is when we meet at the edge of the world.”

“And what if he cannot answer you? Or what if he declares he is indeed Adam?”

“I do not know what I will do. What I do know is that his answer will determine everything."

Karma's melody shifted, becoming something melancholic. "You know, Thanatos has absorbed the Authority of Life. She's becoming something new. Something similar to Mother Eve. If she succeeds, she might actually reach the Mother Goddess level."

"I know." Dawn's expression remained serene. "Change was always inevitable once the Twilight ended. The question was never if the old order would fall, but how the new one would rise."

"And you think that Sol will be the architect of that new order? Like Father once was?"

Dawn was quiet for a long moment, her gaze distant, unreadable. "I think he has the potential to be something none of us expected. Not just another God-King like Adam, not just another wielder of the End, but something... different. Something that might break the cycle entirely."

"Break the cycle?" Karma's fingers stopped playing for the first time, genuine surprise flickering across his features. "That's impossible. The cycle of creation and destruction, Beginning and End— it's the fundamental truth of existence. Father could not escape, and it drove him insane. For all his potential, Sol does not even come close to his past self, come close to Father.”

"Is it really impossible ?" Dawn asked softly. "Or is it simply the only truth we've known or dared to know?”

“How intriguing. All stories have a Beginning and an End. The only difference is how they start and how they reach the End. Refuting this makes you even more delusional than Hypnos himself.”

Dawn shrugged and turned to leave, shadows already gathering around her form. "Keep playing your games, Karma. But know this— when the real war comes, when Thanatos makes her move, and blood flows like rivers, neutrality will become a luxury none of us can afford."

"A warning? How unlike you."

Dawn paused at the edge. "Not a warning but rather a kindness. You were always the smartest of us all, even if you were also the most cowardly. That intelligence might be the only thing that saves you when everything falls apart."

"And if I chose to warn them of your plans? To tell Sol everything?"

Now Dawn smiled, and it was an expression that held both infinite sadness and terrible hope. "Then you would prove that even cowards can become heroes when the narrative demands it of them. But we both know you won't. Not yet. Not until you're certain which way the wind truly blows and who would reign supreme."

Dawn fell silent, refusing to answer any more questions, leaving Karma alone with his lyre, his strumming fingers echoing between eternity and oblivion, and his wisened thoughts older than the ancients.

Karma sat there for a long time, his hands had stopped now, fully immersed in his thoughts. He gazed at his eldest sister, eyes old, ancient, and tired as he seemed to peer into her soul.

Even in her mortal body, there was an unmistakable aura of power. She was growing fast. Though she was also reckless. Adding the power of Love to the precarious balance of Day and Night was not the smartest move.

How fun!

He plucked a single string once more, sending a note rippling through reality that vanished into the edge of it and entered oblivion. A cycle, the way it had always been, but now… perhaps it would also change. Just like them.

"I know a war is coming," he said to no one in particular. "A war that will make the Twilight of the Gods look like a child's quarrel. And I..." He laughed, but there was no humour in it. "I will watch it all unfold from the best seat in all the realms."

Karma laughed one last time as he disappeared completely, leaving only the fading notes of his lyre behind. "Good luck, goddess of Light and Darkness. I suspect you'll need it."

Dawn stood alone in the void, staring out at the infinite oblivion and the edge of eternity, mixing into a chaotic swirl of paradox. In the distance, she could feel it— her territory calling to her, ancient and powerful, waiting to be reclaimed.

She had mastery over Light and Darkness. She had stolen Love. Soon she would have her territory back, and with it, her divine power.

But Karma was right about one thing. She was preparing, but even she was not entirely sure yet what she was preparing for.

The Age of Gods was returning anew, and this time, the story would be written differently.

She would make sure of it. That was her role in this new narrative.