Chains of Divinity

Sara's stomach lurched as the ground changed beneath her feet. Not crystallizing like before - this was worse. The earth twisted into angles that made her head hurt just looking at them. Her shields, still adapting to the changes grief had forged in them since Tom's death, strained against whatever divine law had become.

"They're pushing through the eastern gap!" Rica called from her position along the defensive line. Through gaps in the shield barrier, Sara watched divine warriors advance. Their armor rippled strangely, like it couldn't decide what shape to hold.

Three hundred yards back, behind the main defensive position, runners carried reports to the command tent where Lysara coordinated with the war council. The scholar had only just discovered how Icarion's power was evolving - they needed her insights close to the front lines, risks be damned.

"Pull back from sector four!" The order came as another patch of ground transformed. Two squads barely made it before the earth simply stopped being earth. Sara looked away as geometric patterns claimed the slower soldiers.

Then the air changed.

Divine light erupted from the sky as Icarion descended, reality warping around him in a display of raw power. Sara's shields cracked against the assault - not just divine energy anymore, but divine law itself twisted into new forms. Golden geometric patterns spread from where his feet touched the ground, each step a deliberate show of how he could reshape existence.

The divine warriors moved in perfect synchronization, their formations creating a living frame for their leader's entrance. This wasn't just an attack - it was theater. Icarion wanted them to see what divine perfection had become.

"Each wave transforms more!" A runner shouted, racing back toward the command tent. "Lady Lysara says the pattern's building to-"

The air split open.

Kael emerged from the tear, his presence calculated rather than showy. Sara recognized the signs of preparation - their forces had shifted position, void-marked veterans trying to coordinate with regular troops who were still learning to fight alongside them. The alliance was new, but necessity made for quick adaptation.

"Look how far you've fallen." Icarion's voice carried all the bitterness of a god's son who'd watched a mortal receive his father's favor. "The divine champion turned void-touched rabble."

Kael didn't answer. His void-marks pulsed with controlled power as reality buckled between them.

The clash sent cracks through the air itself. Where Icarion's transformed divine law met Kael's power, existence simply gave up. Sara's shields flowed into shapes she'd never attempted before, the raw edges of recent grief letting her adapt in ways her old barriers never could.

"He's forcing change too quickly!" Lysara's voice carried from the command position. "The divine law's structure can't hold!"

Sara saw it now - wherever Icarion's power touched, things didn't just transform. They became something divine law was never meant to allow. But the change strained against itself, like reality was fighting its own transformation.

Void-marked veterans called instructions to the regular troops fighting beside them. The alliance might be fresh, but they were learning to work together, protecting each other from the worst space-warping effects. Sara's squad held their section of the line, shields adapting to each new assault.

Icarion's next attack carved impossible angles through the battlefield. Everywhere his power touched, existence tried to become more perfect, more ordered, more wrong. But when this transformation met Kael's void-marks, it found something that refused to change.

"They should have made me their champion!" Icarion's rage erupted in waves that made reality scream. "Not some mortal who spurned their blessing!"

"They didn't make me anything." Kael's counter-attack turned divine patterns against themselves. "That's what you never understood."

The battle's first phase revealed the true danger - not just Icarion's power, but how that power strained against divine law itself. Sara held position, watching impossible geometries spread across what had once been normal ground. Behind her, runners carried urgent reports to where Lysara worked to understand what divine law was becoming.

And somewhere above, the gods watched their creation evolve beyond their control.