Eventually, the discussion ended. Even Divine Beings eventually grow tired of thinking and we had been doing quite a lot of that tonight. So, we decided to rest.
It was less of a formal decision and more of an agreement after Griselda reminded us that leaving the hall after nightfall would lead to immediate death. That was generally a convincing argument for staying put. The treasure room became strangely peaceful after that.
Jack collapsed first. He didn't even try to look dignified about it. One moment he was sitting on a heap of gold coins and the next he simply fell onto the pile like a man who had reached the limit of his ability to process today's nonsense. Within minutes he was asleep.
Griselda tucked her head under her wing not long after. She had chosen a mound of gemstones and she seemed perfectly comfortable there.
Elyonari held out longer. She leaned against a column of treasure with her arms folded. Eventually, though, even she lay down. Her breathing became slow and steady soon after.
Which left only two people awake; Veneri and me.
We climbed onto one of the larger treasure piles near the center of the hall. The gold coins shifted quietly under our weight, creating a strangely comfortable surface. I rested my head on his chest. From there I could hear his heartbeat. It always fascinates me that Divine Beings still had such mortal details.
For a long time we just stared at the ceiling. I traced a line across his chest with my finger.
"Are you okay with it?"
He didn't move at first.
"With what?"
"The destiny you chose."
There was a short pause. I lifted my head slightly so I could look at him.
"You had three destinies to choose from. If you chose the Monarch path, you would have ruled the Dynasty. In that future, your second beloved would have been Adelasta. The first would be me of course."
I continued tracing small circles on his chest.
"And if you chose the Wanderer path, you would have traveled the world with Narisva. You would have had beloveds again. I would be the first and Narisva second."
I rested my chin on his chest now so I could watch his expression.
"But instead you chose the Minafallen path, the most chaotic option."
That one had the most suffering and danger.
"You ended up with five women who love you. So I was wondering, do you regret choosing it?"
Veneri didn't answer immediately. He simply looked up at the ceiling for a moment.
"Not at all. I'm actually very glad I chose this one."
That surprised me slightly.
"Oh?"
"I saved everyone indirectly. And, I got five women who love me. Why would I regret that, Phae?"
Fair point.
"In the other timelines, I know don't have Shimmer or Runner since I don't go to the First Epoch Cycle."
We both understood what that meant. If they didn't exist in those futures, then they must have died before reaching him.
"So I'm lucky. Even if this path has more suffering than the others, I'm glad I chose it."
I stayed silent for a moment before I asked something else.
"What about Edarea Avinaris?"
He immediately shook his head.
"I don't have feelings for her anymore."
His answer came too quickly, which meant there was more to it.
"What worries me is regaining my memories. If my memories return, then the love I felt for her might come back with them. And if I accepted her…"
His gaze shifted toward Elyonari sleeping nearby.
"…Elyonari would be furious."
That was a serious understatement.
"It would also look barbaric."
"That's true. She slaughtered hundreds of thousands of elves and captured Veylonar's wife. So even if my memories returned… It's been more than two decades since I arrived in Spheraphase. I'm not the same person who loved her. I don't even like Greshina… Edarea anymore."
I smiled faintly. He can now corrected the name automatically. That alone said a lot.
"You know…"
He glanced down at me.
"What?"
"You really are handsome."
"I always look good."
I rolled my eyes before I leaned up and kissed him. For a moment the world went very quiet. When I pulled back, I rested my head against his chest again.
"I'm really glad I chose to have a physical body."
That was something I thought about often. For years I had watched from outside existence, never experiencing things the way physical beings did. Sometimes I used to wonder about something very simple.
The time Adelasta had feelings for Darling after their encounter with Stephos, how did it feel? Was it warm? Was it exciting? Did her heart beat faster? Did the world disappear for a moment?
Those were experiences I could only imagine back then. Now I didn't have to imagine anymore. Every time I kissed him, it still felt new.
I wasn't supposed to have a physical body. Entities like me weren't meant to experience the world like this but I chose it anyway. And since then, I have never regretted that decision.
My thoughts were interrupted when Veneri gently tapped my forehead.
"That's enough."
I looked up.
"What?"
"We should sleep."
I stared at him.
"We literally don't need sleep."
"I know."
"Then why—"
"It's a way to endure normalcy."
That was such a strangely abnormal answer. Whenever we try to stay awake, he would always remind us to go to sleep and used the same excuse. Of course we used it against him too whenever he did the same.
"You're ridiculous."
"Probably."
I closed my eyes anyway.
"Fine."
°°°°°°
Morning arrived quietly. At least, it felt like morning. Inside the ancient treasure chamber there's no real sunlight. It's the third day since we came to this fairytale.
I opened my eyes first. My head was still resting on his chest. His heartbeat was slow and steady, exactly the same as it had been hours earlier. For a moment I stayed there, listening to it. I heard someone moving after a while.
Jack was already sitting up nearby, rubbing his eyes and staring around the treasure chamber like someone who still wasn't entirely convinced the previous day hadn't been a hallucination. Griselda was awake too, preening her feathers in a very dignified manner for a goose sitting on top of a ruby pile.
Elyonari was the last to move. She opened her eyes slowly and immediately noticed the position I was in. Her expression didn't change much, but the faint narrowing of her eyes suggested she had opinions.
Eventually everyone gathered near the massive doors of the treasure hall. Jack stretched his arms and yawned loudly before turning toward us.
"Alright, follow me. I'll take you to her."
"You know where you're going?"
"Of course I do, handsome guy. I've been coming here for months."
Then he added something that immediately made everyone pay attention.
"The giant moves around at night. He hunts, patrols, or does whatever giants do. But, he sleeps during the day. So the only time we can move around safely is during the daytime. That's when I visit Luciana."
That makes sense.
He led us out of the treasure chamber and into the corridors of the castle. The place looked even larger in daylight. Massive pillars stretched upward toward ceilings so high they almost disappeared into the shadows. Long hallways twisted through the structure. Jack moved through them with surprising confidence.
Apparently sneaking around a giant's house several times a week had given him a decent mental map of the place.
Eventually he stopped in front of a tall wooden door.
"This is her room."
He knocked once. Then, without waiting for an answer, he pushed it open.
The room inside was enormous and strange. The first thing I noticed was the puppets. There were hundreds of them.
They stood scattered around the chamber in various states of completion. Some were fully formed. Others were missing limbs, faces or clothing. Tools and delicate instruments covered every surface.
Threads, wires, needles, strange glowing tools were on tables on a corner of the massive room. It looked less like a bedroom and more like a workshop belonging to a slightly unhinged genius.
In the center of the room stood a woman.
She was wearing a loose black nightgown that contrasted sharply against her pale skin. Her long dark hair was slightly messy as if she had been working all night. She was standing in front of a workbench covered with incomplete puppets. Her hands were moving delicately, adjusting something inside the chest of one of the figures.
Slowly, she turned around.
Her eyes landed on us. They were a rich brown color as they glowed faintly with the same shade. For a moment she simply stared. Astonishment spread across her face after a few seconds.
"Oh."
She took a single step forward and disappeared.
It wasn't literally of course. She moved so fast that even I couldn't follow it. One moment she was standing across the room and the next, she was right in front of Veneri. I didn't sense her movements at all.
She immediately grabbed both his arms. Her fingers moved quickly over the structure of his prosthetics, tracing the joints and engraved lines with the excitement of someone examining a legendary artifact. Her voice was bright and full of genuine amazement.
"This is incredible! This is the best masterpiece I've ever seen!"
She rotated his arm slightly, studying the articulation points.
"Who made these prosthetic arms?! They're so perfectly integrated that for a moment I thought they were your real arms!"
Veneri looked mildly surprised by the sudden inspection. Before he could respond, Elyonari stepped forward.
"Take your hands off my beloved."
Luciana paused. Slowly, her gaze moved from Veneri to Elyonari.
"Oh. You really are an Elf."
Elyonari frowned slightly. Luciana happily clasped her hands together.
"I've only read about elves in light novels and watched them in anime!"
The room went silent.
"Wait."
His tone changed immediately.
"You know anime?"
"Of course I know anime!"
She gasped. Her hands flew to her mouth.
"Wait, are you from Earth?"
"Yes."
Luciana looked like she had just discovered buried treasure.
"Oh my God! What century?"
"The twenty-first."
Luciana's eyes went even wider.
"I'm from the twenty-fifth!"
Veneri froze.
"What?"
Jack looked confused. Elyonari looked confused. Even Griselda tilted her head in confusion but Veneri's reaction was the most dramatic. He stared at Luciana for several seconds before he asked the most obvious question that even I wanted to ask.
"The apocalypse happened, right?"
"What apocalypse?"
"The one that destroyed Earth."
Luciana shook her head slowly.
"Earth never experienced an apocalypse."
The silence that followed was very heavy. Veneri stared at her. He ran his hand through his hair for a while.
"Okay. I'm suddenly very glad we decided to come meet you because what the actual fuck?"
"Oh."
Her glowing brown eyes gleamed with curiosity.
"So your Earth did end. That's fascinating. So tell me, what year did your world die?"
And something about the way she asked it made me realize one very uncomfortable possibility.
Because if she was truly from the twenty-fifth century, then whatever destroyed Veneri's Earth might not have been an apocalypse.