The wind was gentle that morning, rustling the leaves overhead with a soothing rhythm. Ray sat under his usual tree behind the house, sipping from a wooden cup of herbal tea, his gaze fixed on the drifting clouds above. The peaceful quiet was almost meditative—no chores, no trouble, just silence and sky.
But that calm didn't last long.
A faint shimmer sparked in the air before him, rippling space itself. Slowly, a glowing orb formed—wrapped in layers of divine runes that pulsed with a warm, golden light. It hovered motionlessly, then began to speak in a calm, ethereal voice.
>"Ray of the Mortal Plane. You are summoned to attend the Gathering of the Gods."
Ray blinked. His expression remained still, barely reacting to the divine call. Instead, he took another slow sip of his tea.
"A meeting… with those weaklings again?" he muttered.
He leaned back, letting the words hang in the air as he stared into the sky. The thought of attending didn't particularly excite him. Not because of arrogance, but because of truth—he was no ordinary god among them.
He was the one all others feared to speak of. A title whispered only among the divine:
The God of All Gods.
---
Far from the quiet forest where Ray lived, the world stirred.
In a nearby village, farmers paused their plowing as the sky shimmered unnaturally. Children stopped playing, shading their eyes as a beam of golden light split the clouds above the distant horizon.
Within the capital of the Eastern Kingdom, nobles gathered on balconies as the city guards pointed toward the sky. A massive glowing column had appeared in the far-off mountain region—where no nation dared claim territory.
"Is it a sign from the heavens?" someone whispered.
In the northern snowfields, a group of adventurers clashed against a frostborn wyrm. Just as the beast lunged, a brilliant light caught everyone's attention. Even the wyrm froze, distracted. The lead warrior lowered his sword, eyes wide.
"What… in the gods'…?"
Even the emperor of the empire, seated upon his blackstone throne in the obsidian palace, stood for the first time in decades. He looked toward the divine flare on the horizon.
"Something ancient has moved," he murmured.
From isolated monks to distant tribes, from battlefields to banquet halls—the entire world, for a fleeting moment, turned its gaze toward a single point of light.
---
Back in the quiet forest, the source of that light arrived.
A radiant pillar descended from the heavens, parting the clouds as it crashed silently into the earth just a few feet from Ray's resting place. Grass bent from the force, yet not a leaf was burned.
From within the light emerged a figure: a celestial envoy clad in radiant armor, glowing wings folded neatly behind his back. His feet didn't touch the ground. He knelt before Ray with reverence, head bowed.
"Lord Ray," the envoy said. "An Invitation From all the Gods. The Convergence of Realms draws near. Your presence is required."
Ray eyed the scroll in the envoy's hand and sighed. "So dramatic, as always."
As he reached for the scroll, a searing pain flared in his temple. His mind flooded with ancient memory.
---
[Memory – Ages Ago]
A battlefield stretched across the stars. Suns collapsed in the distance. Realm gates shattered like glass.
Ray stood at the forefront, surrounded by a legion of gods—each wielding power incomprehensible to mortals. Gods of time, gods of law, gods of shadow and fate. Yet even together, they trembled before the monstrous thing before them.
It had no true form. A storm of void tendrils, cloaked in swirling chaos and ancient malice. The enemy had no name—only hunger. It devoured pantheons, consumed divine stars, and twisted realities.
Ray stepped forward. His blade—woven from the breath of creation itself—radiated a light that pushed back even the dark void.
"This ends here," he had said.
The gods charged. Reality bent. Light and darkness clashed, tore, collapsed. Worlds died. Stars wept.
And then, Ray struck the final blow—driving his blade into the creature's core and ending the war.
Or so he believed.
---
Ray's fingers tightened around the scroll. His once-calm expression had turned grim.
"That thing… is still alive?" he muttered.
He had felt it. Something wrong, recently. An imbalance. A silence too deep for a peaceful world. And yet his divine senses—finely attuned enough to detect god-tier threats from fifty kilometers away—had sensed nothing.
That unsettled him more than he cared to admit.
"If it can hide from me... then it must be still weak."
He stood, brushing off the grass from his cloak. "Tell the To your leader…" his voice turned cold, "I'll attend."
The envoy bowed once more, then vanished in a burst of light.
---
Back at the house, Ray called out.
"Kael. Little Tin."
Kael poked his head out of the kitchen, mouth stuffed with fruit. The little robot floated into view with a mop and a rag still in hand.
"I'll be gone for a while," Ray said, slipping the black cloak over his shoulder. "A meeting with the gods."
Kael nearly choked. "W-With the gods?! Real gods?!"
Ray gave him a flat stare. "What do you think I am?"
The robot beeped, awkwardly. "Houseguard Protocol 77-A: Minimize chaos in Master's absence?"
"Good. Stick to it. Dont cause any trouble . No experiments. No guests."
Kael slumped. "Ugh… not another no-food punishment if I mess up."
"If I return to disaster," Ray said, tightening his cloak, "it'll be three days."
The robot vibrated with fear. "I-I will polish the ceiling tiles just in case…"
Ray's figure shimmered with divine energy. In seconds, he lifted from the ground, ascending with a stream of light that pierced the sky and vanished beyond the clouds.
---
From the far ends of the world, people continued to stare toward the distant mountain where light had struck. Uncertain. Awed. Fearful.
But above all, one question began to spread:
"Who… lives there?"