Micheal was the last to enter Hephas’ forge as the stars shone overhead. His brother looked exhausted as he ushered Micheal in, his massive muscles quivering and his eyes dropping. Even his aura was fluctuating. Micheal looked deeper, into his cracking essence and sighed.

He quickly grabbed Hepahs’ arm and led him into the forge. It was a massive mess, with tools and materials splayed all over the place, illuminated only by the still-burning forge, but he led Hephas to take a seat in the corner, something caught his eye. It was a piece of cloth, laying across the table, a mosaic of azure and gold. It was a mantle fit for a king.

And it took his breath away.

He walked over as if in a trance and picked it up, running his fingers over the intricate woven fabric, feeling the threads of gold and lapis spun through it. His own mantle flared in response, drifting towards it as if to merge with it.

Hephas’ cough in the background interrupted him, and suppressing his desire, he turned back to his brother. “Are you sure you're good to do this?”

He coughed again and closed his eyes. “My work is done. I created the vessel. It's up to you to infuse its power.”

“And how do I do that?”

Hepahs’ eyes stayed closed. “Envision what you want it to be. What parts of yourself, of your path, you want it to contain. Let them flow out. Let them envelop it. Let them become it. It will become a part of your body, a part of your soul. Perfectly compatible, and undeniably powerful” He coughed again.

“Are you ok?”

Hephas opened his eyes, spearing Micheal with brilliant orange eyes. “No. And you know that.”

Indeed, to his sight, Hephas’ soul flickered feebly, his essence fluctuating uncertainty.

He sighed. “I'm not very good at fighting, Micheal. These weapons are my contribution. These weapons are my power. As for my well being,” he smiled sadly, “Perhaps I will pull through.”

Micheal knew the chances were small, but such was the situation they had found themselves in.

Sighing, he picked up the mantle once more, Closing his eyes, he focused. Immediately, his path came into focus, or at least his conception of it. A silhouette towered over all, crowned with a ring of black rock, and anointed with a mantle of azure-gold. The world bent before him, all things yielding before their king.

With an effort he brought the mantle to hand, feeling the power within it. Once, long ago in a moment of enlightenment, he had created this mantle himself, weaving it from his skin of grief and apathy. He still didn't understand it in full, but as he gazed upon it, truth wormed its way into his mind.

A king was more than a crowned being. All beings were crowned, in one way or another. All beings could force the world to bend to their will. What differentiated a king was that they needed no force to make the world do their bidding. The world obeyed by virtue of their very essence. They were anointed in the eyes of their subjects, and that anointment was their authority.

The more he gazed upon his mantle, the more he saw. When he had woven it from his despair, even below the level of his conscious mind, he had hungered for more. His mantle was meant to bear the anointment of everything, from the furthest stars to the smallest pebbles.

That made it heavy, heavier than anything he had ever seen before. He lacked the strength and understanding to manifest it, and even if he could, he was unsure if he could even bear such power. It was a creation of such ambition, Micheal wasn't sure it was even possible.

But he still had to try.

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Hopefully, Hephas’ creation could help him take the first step.

Slowly, he guided his path to the mantle Hephas had painstakingly created for him. Immediately, the woven mantle began to unravel under the power of Micheals.

Hephas shot to his feet, eyes wide and bloodshot, and Micheal desperately tried to slow the transfer process to give the mantle time to acclimate to his power.

Hepahs rushed over and began frantically examining the mantle. He reeled back when he touched upon Micheals mantle, and watched in blank shock as his pinnacle creation unraveled under its weight and turned to dust.

For a moment there was silence.

Then Hepahs turned to Micheal. “What was that?!”

Micheal sighed, disappointed but unsurpised at the failure. “The end of my path. Or perhaps the beginning.”

“That was… That was… I don't even know how to describe it. Like everything was contained in there. Everything.”

“It's the epitome of my understanding. The zenith of my power. The apex of my path. If i could just manifest it… then this war would be over. Humanities survival would be ensured. But” he clenched his fists. “I can’t. It's too heavy. I lack the understanding and power to do so.”

“And now you lack a weapon.”

Micheal nodded.

Hephas closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them, they burned with new light.

“I can’t make a mantle for you, but I can make something else. You need time. I can give it to you.”

Micheal’s head snapped back to his brother. “Hepahs” he said urgently, putting a hand on his shoulder “that will kill you.”

He chuckled, “I know. I know. But I cannot let you go unarmed. And I don’t have much longer either way. I am the Lord of Creation, and in creation the way I choose to go out.”

Micheal hesitated for a moment before withdrawing his hand. “Are you sure?”

“How do you defeat an opponent far greater than you?” Hepahs asked in return.

When Micheal was silent, Hephas answered his own question. “You go further than them. Sacrifice more.”

Micheal just nodded silently.

Hephas smiled. “I have already given my legacy to my children.” His smile widened. “I always knew this is where it would end. A creation greater than anything that ever came before it. This will be my pinnacle.”

His soul began to burn, and with a gesture his forge rearranged itself. He grabbed a chunk of black metal from a stand in the corner.

“I found this in a crater decades back” –he said conversationally as he began to heat it with iridescent flames, flames that consumed his essence to burn– “It comes from the stars. It is more durable than anything I've ever seen, and it's only now, burning away in a blaze of glory that I can truly use it. It will make a fine net.”

As he worked, hammering concepts of unbreakability and binding into it, more of their siblings began to show up, silently witnessing Hephas’ last moments.

They watched as he created the chain links, one by one, working his heart and soul into them, and as he bound them together into several long chains of iridescent light. Hours passed and Hephas began to bind the chains into a complicated net.

When he struck the final hammer blow, a shockwave rippled out and blew the forge apart. As his siblings contained the damage, the first of dawn’s rays began to touch upon the net, piercing through the starry twilight to be absorbed by its voracious appetite..

Hepahs turned to his siblings one last time, the joy of creation apparent upon his face. His once mighty muscles were shriveled, and his aura weak, but he stood tall and proud.

“The net will shrink when grasped.” he told Micheal “To use it, simply throw it at Dargonth. It should buy you some time. Use it well.”

Then he turned to the rest of his siblings.

“Don’t mourn me. I lived. Is that not enough?”

Artemis was the first to step forward. “Die well, brother.”

The rest quickly chimed in.

Hephas chuckled, but then his smile faded as he turned to Saraswa.

“I-”

“Don't” she put a finger on his lips, “Die well, my love.”

He nodded, and turned back to the net. He grasped it with a shriveled hand, and immediately a brilliant flare of iridescent fire consumed them, raging for a full minute.

And just like that, when the light cleared, another child of Adam was gone..

Micheal waked forward, and picked up the net, feeling its power. Like promised, it shrank down and wrapped itself around his wrist. He looked at it with a complicated expression.

Then he turned to the rest of his siblings, seeing his expression mirrored on their own.

The first rays of rosy dawn caressed them, alleviating some of their pain.

But not all.

“We leave in an hour. Prepare everyone.”