“Who are you?”
Theron awoke from his slumber and looked toward the two Primordial Gods studying him, his consciousness clouded with lingering drowsiness.
This was the first time he had encountered another living being in this world.
He could no longer remember how long he had existed here.
All he knew was that he had always drifted within the boundless expanse of Chaos.
He possessed neither body nor form—only a formless consciousness suspended in the endless void.
With nothing else to do, he spent countless ages in unending sleep.
The last time he had awakened was when Chaos itself had begun transforming from disorder into order, giving birth to the Primordial Gods.
As they were born, Chaos changed.
Matter took shape, and the authorities they embodied gradually manifested.
The world was no longer an empty void but now contained the Earth, the Abyss, the stars, darkness, and even love and desire—the forces that symbolized life itself.
Yet the newborn world developed at an agonizingly slow pace.
The Primordial Gods had only just come into existence, and everything remained in its infancy.
Finding nothing worth witnessing, Theron fell asleep once more until the two figures before him awakened him again.
One was a woman dressed in flowing green robes, the other a man clad in blue.
Both radiated immense, mysterious power, their very presence seeming to contain endless divine authority.
As they observed Theron, their eyes held equal measures of curiosity and caution.
It was the first time they had ever encountered such a weak god.
His divine power was so insignificant that he could not even form a physical body, making it impossible for them to determine what divine authority he governed.
Theron, however, recognized the woman’s identity immediately.
After all, he had witnessed her birth with his own eyes.
She was one of the Primordial Gods—the Earth Mother, Gaia.
He had watched as she forged the world itself, using mountains as her bones and oceans as her veins, shaping the elements of earth, water, air, and fire from the raw Chaos into a tangible land.
Within her breast slumbered the unhatched stars, waiting for the day they would awaken.
As for the man standing beside Gaia, Theron did not recognize him.
He could only tell that he was not one of the Primordial Gods.
Theron had witnessed only the births of the great Primordials.
Once he confirmed that the world had begun evolving, he had returned to his endless slumber, so he knew nothing of the gods born afterward.
Still, judging by how close the two appeared, their relationship was clearly extraordinary.
“We’re speaking to you.”
The young man frowned, displeasure evident on his handsome face.
“What is your name?
And what divine authority do you govern?”
“Uranus, don’t be so rude.”
Gaia gently interrupted him before turning her gaze toward the invisible consciousness before her—a mysterious existence with awareness but no physical form.
She did not look down on Theron simply because he was weak.
From the moment of her birth, she had sensed an ancient gaze upon her.
She knew that whatever this being was, it had existed long before she herself came into being.
What truly intrigued her was why such an ancient existence possessed so little divine power—and what authority it represented.
That curiosity was why she had approached alongside Uranus while passing through this region of Chaos.
Uranus…
Gaia’s son.
And also her husband.
The first King of the Gods.
Theron instantly understood the young man’s identity, and countless emotions stirred within him.
As the first conscious being in existence, he had waited for this day for longer than he could remember.
Perhaps because he was a soul from another world, this universe had never truly accepted him.
He had been unable even to create a body of his own.
Worse still, he had arrived far too early.
So early that nothing yet existed—not heaven, not earth, not even light or darkness.
Throughout the entirety of Chaos, he had been the only conscious existence.
There had been nothing for him to do except sleep.
Yet because he had arrived before everything else, and because he retained clear memories of how this world was destined to unfold, his very existence had subtly influenced the evolution of Chaos.
As a result, he had obtained a divine authority.
Fate.
Everything he knew was destined to happen.
Nothing could resist it.
Nothing could alter it.
Not even he himself.
He merely perceived the future before it arrived.
Everything that was meant to occur would inevitably come to pass.
And every prophecy he spoke would eventually become reality.
Thus, he was also the God of Prophecy.
For prophecy was, by its very nature, a part of fate.
The only thing Theron could not understand was why such an exalted authority possessed so little divine power.
His authority should have been among the greatest in existence.
Yet his divine power was pitifully weak—not even equal to a single strand of hair belonging to these Primordial Gods.
However…
When the Primordial Gods had been born, the threads of fate surrounding them had finally begun to move.
At that moment, Theron clearly sensed his dormant divine power, which had remained unchanged for countless ages, begin to grow.
The increase was unimaginably slow.
Compared to the overwhelming might of the Primordial Gods—beings born as incarnations of power itself—it was like the glow of a firefly before the moon, or a single drop of water within the endless sea.
But it was growth nonetheless.
For the first time, something had changed.
His only true advantage was that he embodied Fate itself.
As long as fate continued to exist, so would he.
He could never truly perish.
Only if this world itself were completely destroyed would fate vanish alongside it.
His existence had long since become inseparable from the world.
Theron gradually reached a conclusion.
Perhaps only when more living beings were born—when countless individual destinies came into existence—would his divine power continue to grow.
In other words…
The more prosperous the world became, the stronger he would become.
As for why he was so weak now…
It was because the world was still barren.
Only a handful of gods existed, and even their destinies had only just begun to turn.
If he wished to gain greater power, he would have to accelerate the unfolding of those destinies.
With that realization, Theron finally broke his silence.
Though he lacked a body, he projected his thoughts directly through his consciousness.
To Uranus and Gaia, it felt as though an ancient, distant voice echoed within their minds.
Its speaker seemed neither male nor female.
Neither joyful nor angry.
Its emotions were impossible to discern, as though concealed behind an eternal veil of mist.
The voice spoke calmly.
“I am the God of Prophecy.”
“I can glimpse fate.”
Uranus and Gaia exchanged glances, their eyes filled with doubt.
Neither could believe that a god so weak he lacked even a physical form possessed the ability to see the future.
At Gaia’s subtle signal, Uranus restrained the contempt in his eyes.
Rather than openly questioning him, he asked,
“Then, honored one…
what have you seen?”
Theron’s voice remained as calm and emotionless as ever.
“You, Uranus, King of the Sky, will become the King of the Gods of this world.”
“And you, Gaia, Earth Mother, will become its Queen of the Gods.”
“You shall rule this world together.”
“You will conceive divine offspring.”
“In the near future, twelve children will be born from your union.”
“They will embody the fundamental laws of the world and mark the next stage of its completion.”
Silence followed.
Both Uranus and Gaia stood speechless, stunned by the astonishing prophecy.
After a long moment, Gaia finally spoke.
“Honored one, thank you for your prophecy.”
“If events truly unfold as you have said, it would be our greatest honor.”
“But please forgive our skepticism.”
“Such a future is simply too incredible for us to accept so easily.”
Despite her courteous words, disbelief remained unmistakable.
In their eyes, Theron was simply too weak.
How could a god incapable of even forming a body possibly perceive such a magnificent destiny?
Theron paid no attention to their doubts.
A faint chuckle echoed through the surrounding Chaos.
“Then…”
“Why don’t we make a wager?”
“If everything unfolds exactly as I have foretold…”
“You will grant me one request.”
“But if I am wrong…”
“The same shall apply.”
Uranus and Gaia looked at one another.
After a brief silence, Uranus gave a slow nod.
“I accept.”
From beginning to end, Theron had remained perfectly calm.
Perfectly confident.
Because the instant he spoke those words…
He felt the divine power within him grow once again.
Which meant only one thing.
The fate of the two beings before him…
Had already begun to turn.