My name is Kha'Zex. I am an aspect of Talos, as well as his prisoner.

Since my creation, I have only ever known life in Axium. Other Kaeli get to roam and travel around the world. They experience worship and praise from the mortals, yet they’re undeserving of any of it. I have seen how the Kaeli treat those weaker than them or those at their mercy. I have experienced their pretension firsthand.

I am determined to bide my time and wait for my chance. I often wonder what I mean or what I’d do if given the opportunity to leave these nacreous walls.

Axium is beautiful and unlike any other domain within Heaven. Talos provides each of his aspects a chamber made from his iridescent veil, which structures the whole of Axium. The veil appears as an endless number of strings in a spectrum of color above each aspect’s chamber; it serves at the ceilings, walls, and sometimes the floors.

I once loved Axium and the feeling of limitless creation within my chamber. I spent years arranging the veil in a number of patterns and images. The works that I exhausted so much effort to create once brought me comfort. The beautiful colors and the way they flow with such relaxed energy calmed me. I was once proud of what I could do.

"Usuros Major, you have guests," said Aegrebolos as she floated into the room. She was a being of suspension. Carved with three different heads, she always seemed to be adrift in her thoughts, hardly ever coming down from her own imagination. I had the utmost respect for her.

From afar, I admired Aegrebolos’ sapience. I would never approach her directly with my thoughts. While she had multiple heads, she exuded a rare sense of unity or oneness about her. Aegrebolos’ heads spoke the same thoughts at different intervals. The tone and speed of speech were dissimilar, but the thoughts expressed were clear and communicated effectively. I adored Aegrebolos for her aloof nature as well as her hellacious sense of identity. She seemed detached from the present moment, yet she maintained an obvious wisdom.

In a way, I saw myself in her. A severed identity had been inflicted upon me. I was divided so that I could survive Axium. I am Usuros Major, the proud and single sovereign over Gemini, the third and largest state of Axium. I was born from Talos, the Primordial Light, and Lazarus, the Epitomal Life and Death. I maintain the highest station possible in Axium, second only to Talos himself.

By donning Usuros Major, I was foregoing Kha’Zex. I had to be Usuros Major. Heaven did not give me the ability to choose who I would be or where I would go. The Gods commanded that I remain in Axium, so therefore I would be who Talos told me to be.

Lyros entered immediately after Aegrebolos, offering me a reassuring smile before the guests stepped into my chamber. Her onyx jacket filled with tiny twinkling lights matched her chest coverings and skirt. She had beautiful dark skin that glowed at all times. I was never sure if she was infused with Talos’ light, or if her skin did that because of her other parentage. I felt it unnecessary to ask. She glowed because she was beautiful, and as she once told me, “all beautiful things glow, simply by pride.”

My two assistants Lyros and Aegrebolos were assigned to help me keep track of Axium’s most important and extensive operation, which spans across all three states. Pisces and Ares both maintain operating offices, but the central operations for the Axium Archway take place in Gemini’s altar. Once I was created, I was imperiously assigned to lead the Axium Archway, a system much older than myself.

“Dear Usuros Major, we have urgent business and it is imperative that you respond truthfully. Heaven’s fate may rest in the honesty of your answers,” the tall man said. Evgeny wore similar things all the time: a black suit covering his unnervingly tall frame, a floral fascinator that tucked his hair behind his pointed left ear, and black applicator on his sharp nails.

They had returned. I would be subject to more brutal criticism and interrogation against my existence.

“Evgeny, the Major is busy with the Archway. His duties he-,” Lyros was abruptly silenced by one of Evgeny’s toys, Polis.

“My master protects the interests of Heaven,” Polis dissented, saunteering behind Evgeny. “The prophecy takes precedence over anything that concerns even you lot. Now hush.”

Evgeny, Polis, and Glafira were all a ghastly pale complexion by time they entered the Gemini altar. Their forms conflicted with Axium. Light bent and warped around them, and this abyssal space only grew thicker with darkness as those three sucked the energy from the room. I preferred for the iridescent veil to maintain a strict pattern across the ceiling of my chambers. Their presence somehow upset the veil, causing it to warp and bend out of shape. The colors washed away and bled into Evgeny and his two whores. The bleeding veil dulled as it poured down into them, matching their subfusc complexions. They were clearly not meant to survive in such a lustrous environment. Despite the apparent difficulty to maintain their forms while in Axium, they would not be stopped from coming here and burdening me with their disparaging interrogations.

"Little aspect of light,” Evgeny paused as he bent forward, hovering over me, “you disappeared. Not for one day, or two, or even three. For a whole week, you were nowhere to be found.”

Polis and Glafira circled us both, refusing to even look at me. Lyros and Aegrebolos watched from the edge of the room. Even as the altar became darker, Lyros and Aegrebolos glowed, reminding me to keep focus. I refused to lose my head in the face of these low-class Gods.

Evgeny glanced over to Lyros before speaking again. He spoke slowly, but each word was laced with poison. He was not a slow thinker, but a careful speaker.

“Once the aspects of light failed to locate you through the Archway, others in Heaven got involved. I led a small-scale but thorough search for you, and we found nothing!”

A bite. When he jerked forward, biting the air and exposing his long fangs, I knew I was in for a long one. Evgeny was smart enough to always hide his anger while here in Axium. While he acted to intercept the prophecy, he and all others knew that Talos could not be crossed. Despite my feelings about being locked in Axium, it was because of moments like these that I appreciated my father’s shelter. Evgeny may have slipped, but it was just that: a slip. He would hide his fangs and return to prudency. Not out of respect for me, but out of fear for Talos, who was undoubtedly aware of this meeting in the thickening darkness.

Evgeny slightly straightened his back, a most cautious retreat as he grounded himself and subdued his fangs.

“Not a single trace of you anywhere throughout Mohemia. Here is my question for you: where did you go? who did you see? what did you do?"

"That's more than one question. Which one should I answer?" I patiently asked. When he furrowed his brow, I realized he didn't appreciate my patience.

"You intolerable brat!” Polis turned on me with a pointed finger as he began his verbal lashings. “How disgraced you are. An aspect that should not exist in the first place. What were they thinking, creati-"

"Polis, QUIET!" Glafira quickly checked the chatty Polis about his uncontrollable anger.

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Yes, my parentage is strange. To be born from a Primordial and a Convergent God was unheard of in Heaven. I am the first aspect of my kind.

As a Primordial God, Talos has existed much longer than other Kaeli. Talos promulgated light throughout Mohemia and the Heavens before even Pluto, the Primordial Moon existed.

I have limited knowledge about my other parent, Lazarus. I study Heaven as it is recorded here in Axium. To my understanding, the first aspects of light were created more than five-thousand years ago. They were responsible for taking all the knowledge Talos possessed and inscribing them in various methods. Their recordings have become some of the only archived materials capable of detailing Heaven and Mohemia’s existence.

No other God would admit this, but I find it fascinating: mortals initiated the practice of recording events and preserving details in such a way that they might be studied. Talos adapted the mortal’s habits of record keeping and made the whole of Axium responsible for maintaining detailed journals concerning everything that happens within the breadth of his light. Due to the nature of our practice, accounts of events vary among the differing journals.

What I know of Lazarus comes from the sense and sensibilities of my kin who are usually not fond of the dark, or anything associated with it.

I hesitate to address the image I have of my other creator. My vision of Lazarus has been manifested as a stitch-work of varying voices. Each presumptuous description of Lazarus blots my mind’s eye. That image of a fearsome God of Death has been informed by terror and ignorance. If I address Lazarus as the tyrannical and lecherous God others have described him to be, then I would forsake him.

I would be lacerating my own being if I allowed such an image to emerge out of my fears and to the forefront of my mind. What would I make of myself if I were to be created from a trifling God who sought Heaven’s demise?

I would be no more than a mark on the path to raze Heaven.

When I think of Lazarus, I speak of his pantheon.

Lazarus belongs to the Convergent Pantheon. The five Gods created in the first era all possess incredible strength. Kios, the God of Time who dictates the concept of history and divination. Feloris, the first dragon, the supreme sovereign of the skies and the depths. Fomalhaut, the Great Mirror, God of the Cleaved Moon; Fomalhaut once cleaved the God Zato, producing the Gods Thunder and Lightning. Yxia, who passed during the War for Heaven. She was the hero of the Antekuam, and the youngest Convergent God.

Lazarus is the second oldest, his elder being Kios. He uses his power over mortality to breathe life into Mohemia. Lazarus’ priests have been responsible for nearly every mortal life conceived into the world after the annihilation. His priests rely on a practice of Lazarus’ own construction to combine the wills of two mortals and create something new.

I don’t know the details, but I understand that mortals seek out Lazarus’ priests in their temples when they desire to conceive a child. If I could, I would visit and discover more.

Yet, I am stuck here in Axium, assailed with others’ fears about myself and my conception.

“You are humble visitors in one of Heaven’s most important domains,” Lyros reminded our three pale guests. “Have some couth when speaking to Usuros Major. If you cannot control yourselves, I will be forced to revoke your passage through Axium. You will never be able to return again.”

Polis and Glafira regained their composure, but remained stagnant. They did not circle me anymore. The two now maintained a piercing judgment fixed directly against my own eyes. Every malicious thought was focused into a blade sent forth from their stares.

Regardless of their clear hatred of my existence, they had fallen in line.

Evgeny sighed. “Where did you go?”

I hesitated to answer. I remained silent, battling with myself. Should I be truthful? Should I create a lie that would be more readily accepted by the other Gods? If I answer his questions with honesty, I am bound to further incur the wrath of Heaven.

Despite these fears, I choose to believe in myself.

“I do not recall,” I said very simply.

Evgeny, Polis, and Glafira’s eyes widened at my response. It was unthinkable that I would seemingly gesture to dodge their questions altogether.

I knew what they were thinking, and what my response would mean to them:

He’s trying to assert his dominance over us. If we allow him to make a fool of us here, he will win. This disgrace to Heaven will realize his power and proceed to upend all sense of structure between the Kaeli.

Evgeny shut his eyes. The iridescent veil surrounding my chamber sped into a frenzy as Evgeny’s fury raged, hidden behind a darkened expression. The colors bled into him at a more swift pace now. He was quickly losing his patience.

“Usuros Major,” Evgeny began, “I know you understand the possible consequences of lying to us.” When he opened his eyes, I involuntarily jumped away from him. All the color from the veil had apparently been soaked into his pupils. He had absorbed the veil’s light and trapped it there, now fixing that power on me.

“I represent the interests of the Kaeli at large. I do not seek you out of malice, young aspect. I come to you out of duty. Death will come in three. You know this already, and it pains me to repeat it, but Usuros Major, you are that third aspect of death. I must remind you again that this prophecy was divined by Kios himself. I lastly remind you that any contact between you, your kin, or Lazarus has been strictly forbidden by the Gods. Jhota, Talos, and Kios have all agreed to the necessity of this rule. For you to act against it would be an offense to three of Heaven’s most exalted powers. So I implore you to be honest, Usuros Major. Who did you see? Was it Slyrex? Did she put you up to sneaking away?”

“I saw no one, and leave those three out of it,” I retorted defensively.

“And why should we? Silex has been too forgiving with that one,” Glafira offered.

I had seldom heard the names of my two kin aspects, Slyrex and Zagarex. Their names are all I know of them.

The questions continued, and I answered them all the same. That week that I went missing was a blank spot in my memories. I was hardly aware that I had left. I would be doubtful that I had truly stepped foot out of Axium if it were not for one thing. I would never mention this to anyone else, and thankfully no one discovered it while I was away.

I had developed the Kha’Zex Lightwave Arc, a secret travel system that could take me anywhere without the usage of Talos’ Archway. It was an amazing accomplishment. With the Axium Archway, each time a God uses it to enter and exit Heaven, their actions are time stamped and recorded by an aspect of light. We maintain the Archway, which allows Gods to travel through Heaven and Mohemia at incredible speed, and we record the always busy use of it. In a way, we keep track of all movement throughout the realm.

The Lightwave Arc is meant to avoid Axium’s tracking methods. That week was my first time testing out my system. I don’t know what happened, but that first test run ended with me losing an entire week.

Of course, I would never share that. Instead, I only admitted my lapse in memory.

I remained grounded as I pleaded my case with repeated assertions that I could not recall that week. They grew tired of questioning me and prepared to leave, doubtlessly reporting to some higher authority. Before they left, Evgeny turned to offer me one more warning.

“When Heaven returns for answers Kha’Zex, they will not be as,” Evgeny paused, considering his words, “restrained as we are. I hope you are more decisive next time.”

They spoke their Archway access word and in a flash of light, they had disappeared.

In his words, he slipped a grave reminder, a warning more terrible than the whole of his statement. He called me Kha’Zex, the name given to me by Lazarus. I only knew it because Talos had shared it with me after my conception. It was a name I said to myself in private, away from any other ears. It was my solitary link to Lazarus.

To be recognized so formally as an aspect of Lazarus was horrifying. It felt as if a boundary had been marked and that I had been seen through. My desire to be with Lazarus and away from Axium. My fear for the consequences of my desire.

I had surely pissed Heaven off.

Evgeny believed that I secretly met with Lazarus or the other two aspects of death, but I don't know where they are! If I did, I'd run to them. I'd beg Lazarus to take me with him. I’d leave all of this behind, and maybe even destroy some Kaeli along the way.

“Usuros Major, Marcel - I mean Knix requests permission to speak with you,” Aegrebolos said.

It was always something.

“I…I can’t at the moment. Please go, in my place, to see Knix.” I replied, exasperated from my own thoughts.

“I shall return with a full report,” Aegrebolos said, as she floated out beyond the veil.

"Lyros, is this all I'll ever know? Will this be my existence? Forever guilty of a crime I cannot take back?"

“Describe the crime Major,” Lyros answered in her rich voice, pitched with golden remorse.

“My life. Living.” I turned away from her, ashamed of the crack that threatened to break me.

The sudden warmth of her hand on my shoulder somewhat soothed my raging anxieties.

"I'm sorry, my stjärna."

"If so, living hurts."

I looked up and watched as the veil reconstructed itself. The colors swam into place, recreating the patterns and images I had made all that time ago. Constructed from the mind of a Primordial, no one being could imagine the veil’s expansive nature, nor the amount of Gods who resided within Axium.

Was it accurate to call this place a home? Was it peaceful? I wish I could still appreciate Axium’s beauty.