The snow outside fell heavily. The cold was numbing yet not a soul moved to complain. Even the winds knew to still themselves this morning because a farewell was happening, one none of them wanted to face.
Vastarael stood just outside the tent,. He wore a dark cloak now, one that fluttered behind him but it couldn't hide the tension in his stance. Before him was a swirling black portal rippled, carved open by the authority of EPOCH herself.
Shimmer and Runner clung to him tightly, their arms wrapped around his waist as though letting go would mean they'd never see him again. Their cheeks were flushed red from the cold but their tears were warm as they streamed down their faces. They didn't want to go. They didn't want to leave him again.
Runner cried, her voice muffled by the fabric of his cloak.
"Please, Dad! Don't make us go! Please! We just got out of the mountain!"
Shimmer wasn't any better. Her fingers tightened around his belt as she buried her face against his side.
"We can help you! We're not weak anymore! Let us stay with you!"
Vastarael dropped to one knee, ignoring the wet snow that immediately clung to his pants. He pulled both of them into his arms and held them tightly, kissing the crowns of their heads one after the other, lingering for a moment longer on each.
"I know, girls. I know you've both gotten stronger. I'm proud of you. More than you know. But I need you to survive. I need you to be safe. And this place right now… is not safe for you."
Runner sobbed harder. "But what if we never see you again?"
"You will. You'll see me again. Elyonari will be with me. She'll make sure I stay alive if I'm too stubborn to do it myself."
Shimmer pulled back just enough to look into his eyes, hers wide with worry.
"Swear it. Swear you'll come back to us."
He smiled.
"I swear. On my honor as a Richinaria, as an Aeterium… as your father."
His words soothed the storm in their chests, if only a little. They nodded reluctantly and he kissed their foreheads one more time before gently standing. His eyes shifted to the three women standing nearby: Obsidian, Chainless, and Chrysanthemum.
Vastarael's gaze locked with hers, his tone suddenly shifting into the commanding cadence of a general.
"Obsidian, I'm entrusting them to you with your life. Understood?"
She went down to one knee, hand across her chest.
"By the oath I was born from, I swear none shall touch them while I draw breath."
Chainless, silent as ever, simply raised her head and gave a small nod. She'd guard them as if they were her own. Chrysanthemum gave a small bow, her ever-serene expression hiding the fury still burning behind her mage's discipline.
"The Halo Islands are still untouched," Chrysanthemum said. "I'll begin the preparations immediately. The war you speak of… when it comes, we'll be ready."
Vastarael took one more long breath, gazing at each of them in turn,
"Then go. Tell Phaenora I'll be arriving with answers soon. Prepare the Enlightenment. The Epoch Cycle is nearing its true peak."
With those final words, the three women ushered Shimmer and Runner gently through the black portal. The two girls turned one last time, reaching out toward their father.
"We'll be waiting!" They said in unison, voices echoing into the wind.
And then they were gone. The portal snapped shut with a sigh of displaced air, and silence fell once more.
Vastarael stood still for a long moment. His hands slowly dropped to his sides, his fingers curling slightly as the last of the warmth from his daughters faded from his skin. He breathed out shakily, then turned around.
Elyonari was waiting for him by the edge of the canyon he made from his attack yesterday, arms crossed over her chest.
"I watched that. You're good with them."
He gave a faint chuckle, trudging through the snow toward her.
"They're good girls. They make it easy."
"So. The portal. EPOCH?"
He didn't answer right away. Instead, he walked past her, glancing down at the canyon below.
"I can't say, not now at least. You'll find out soon enough."
She stepped beside him, arms still crossed but her posture more relaxed.
"You're hiding something. Something big. Something stupid."
"Definitely stupid," he muttered.
"But necessary?"
"...Maybe."
Elyonari stared at him for a long time. Then she sighed and bumped his shoulder with hers.
"You're an idiot. So what's the plan?"
Vastarael didn't answer at first. Then, as if the words needed time to crystallize from thoughts into resolve, he turned to face her and spoke.
"The plan is simple. If the Frozen God is going to awaken, then we can't wait for that moment to come and do nothing about it. We don't have the luxury of trying to stop him once he's fully awake. That would be suicidal."
He stepped closer to the edge of the ridge they stood upon. His eyes narrowed.
"We kill every single Infected Krepsuna. All of them."
Elyonari blinked. "You're joking."
"I'm not."
"Do you even know how many there are?!"
"I do. At least half a million. Maybe more by now."
"That's... that's not a battle. That's a war. No, not even a war. That's a massacre waiting to happen and we're not the ones doing the massacring."
"That's why we won't fight them one by one. We're going to create a trap. The biggest, most catastrophic trap in the history of the Erna Isles. One big enough to destroy them all at once."
She stared at him like he had just declared he was going to destroy the sky.
"You're serious."
"Deadly."
"How in the hell do you even plan to—?"
"We let the Frozen God bring them to me."
Elyonari's brows furrowed deeply, her lips parting slightly as she tried to make sense of the absurdity.
"You… want the Frozen God to deliver half a million Infected Krepsunas to your front door?"
He nodded once.
"And what if he doesn't? What if he decides not to risk it and pulls them away instead?"
Vastarael smirked, but there was no amusement in it.
"If he does that," he said, raising his hand and pointing toward the horizon, "then we go to Submerged Island."
Elyonari went still.
She remembered what he told her. The Submerged Island wasn't just some ruined location or sunken territory. It was the burial ground of eight ancient beings, Erna's adopted children, each more powerful than most gods. It was also the only part of the Isles untouched by mortal feet for the last three centuries. Not because no one could reach it. Because no one should.
"You think he'll risk it," she said, reading between the lines.
"He won't. If we so much as step into the Submerged Island, everything he's done, three hundred years of manipulation and careful absorption of the Sentient Krepsunas, could collapse in a moment."
"..."
"To the Frozen God, us going to the Submerged Island is a bigger threat than losing hundreds of thousands of Krepsunas."
Elyonari crossed her arms again, her brows furrowed, her head nodding slowly as the pieces started to come together. She could already feel the absurdity of the plan working its way into reality. Because with Vastarael, absurd often did work.
"You're planning to bait him," she said.
"Yes."
"And then spring a trap?"
"A massacre," he corrected. "I need to set up a Rune Field using catalysts as a trigger. Not just explosive runes, either. It's going to be the blow-up of the century."
Elyonari blew out a slow, visible breath. She looked like she wanted to argue, to tell him this was insane, reckless, and doomed to fail but she didn't. Because deep down, she knew the stakes. She knew what was coming. And more than that… she trusted him.
"I'll help you," she said.
He turned, surprised.
"You don't have to—"
She rolled her eyes and smacked his arm.
"Don't be an idiot. You're not doing this alone."
There was a flicker of warmth in his gaze and something gentler in the way he looked at her. He gave a single nod.
"Then we have two weeks."
"Two weeks to build a world-ending trap," she muttered. "Wonderful."
He chuckled.
Two weeks. Half a million enemies and only one plan.