Prologue - The Choice 8 children died in the flash of a nuclear explosion-swallowed whole by the roar of fire and silence. But death wasn't the end. They awoke in a place beyond comprehension, floating in a vast, weightless void. Before them stood a figure-towering, radiant, and unknowable. A god? A deity? None of them could tell. The being pulsed with power, and though it never moved its mouth, its voice rang in their minds like thunder whispered through silk. It offered them a choice: fade into the afterlife... or begin again in a new world-one of swords, magic, and ancient power. A world called Genodus. The children, broken and hopeful, chose rebirth. They dreamed of second chances. Of fun. Of freedom. They were wrong. As the eight began to drift away, toward reincarnation, the entity-a being of galaxies and sorrow-let a single tear fall. Not of joy... but of fear. It stopped two of them, holding them back. "I must show you the truth," the being said. And it did. A truth so terrible, so profound, that one of them-Ish-would never forget it. The other-Wanted-would. The god touched their foreheads, blessing them with power. Then, with a flash of light, all 8 were gone.