Veneri stirred awake with a low, irritated groan as pressure tightened around his neck. At first he assumed it was Asenane. She had a habit of clinging in her sleep when she was particularly relaxed. While he did not mind the closeness, there were limits to how much compression his neck should endure before sunrise. Still half-asleep, he reached up and muttered hoarsely.
"Asenane, don't hug my neck that hard…"
The pressure did not loosen. That alone was strange. Asenane was responsive even in her sleep. She would grumble, adjust or at least shift slightly. Instead, the grip remained firm and unrelenting. Frowning, he opened his eyes.
He was met with golden eyes that, stared at him with unfiltered delight. The girl smiled widely and said in a cheerful voice,
"Good morning Dad!"
The word hit him harder than the constriction around his throat. He jolted upright immediately. The sudden movement dislodged the small body that had been wrapped around him. The child lost balance and dropped directly into his lap with a soft thump with her oversized white dress folding around her.
Veneri stared down at her.
She looked approximately four years old, perhaps slightly younger in build but not in awareness. Her hair was extraordinarily long for someone her age, white yet split subtly with black along one side as though night had bled into it. Her hair was similar to that of her mother.
Her skin was a rich dark bronze like his and her golden eyes carried a strange composure that did not match her apparent age. Small white dragon wings rested along her back and a single modest horn protruded from her forehead. She looked entirely comfortable sitting on his lap as though that was where she had always belonged.
Very slowly, Veneri turned his head toward the tent entrance.
The egg lay nearby but was cracked. The shell was simply split open as if hatching had been an ordinary, mundane decision.
He looked back at the child. She waved at him.
"Dad?"
Veneri inhaled deeply through his nose. Then he reached over and shook Asenane's shoulder.
"Asenane."
She groaned softly, entirely unaware that their morning had escalated beyond reason.
"Asenane, wake up."
She opened her eyes lazily and blinked at him before her gaze shifted downward to the small figure sitting comfortably in his lap. The sleep vanished from her face in an instant. They stared at the girl together.
"We didn't do anything to it, right? How did she hatch? And why is she a girl? I wanted a boy!"
Veneri gave her an incredulous look.
"I'm actually grateful it's a girl. Shimmer and Runner are already grown. I deserve at least one other daughter."
The child tilted her head, watching their exchange with interest.
"I have a name," she announced proudly.
Both adults turned to her.
"And what is it?"
"Cassandra."
The name made him speechless. Asenane exhaled slowly and sat upright.
"She is a hybrid of a Dragon and an Aeterium. She would have inherited instinctive draconic knowledge. It"s natural for her to choose a name. It's also natural for her to speak fluently."
Cassandra nodded in agreement with this assessment as though she had read the manual herself. Then she sneezed.
The resulting frost blast erupted outward in a sudden burst of cold energy, knocking her off Veneri's lap and sending a wave of chilled air across the inside of the tent. Frost crystallized along the ground in delicate patterns before dissipating.
The girl sat up, unfazed, and said calmly, "I'm hungry," before casually using Body Reconstruction on her nose as though repairing minor inconvenience was standard practice.
Veneri groaned and leaned forward to lift her again. She was surprisingly heavy. That suggested her internal structure was anything but ordinary.
"You are far too heavy for a four-year-old."
She smiled at him brightly. "You look handsome."
He froze for half a second before narrowing his eyes slightly.
"You cannot be called Cassandra."
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
It was not a particularly strong argument, but he stood by it. She shrugged with remarkable acceptance.
"Okay."
That somehow unsettled him more.
"You should name her."
"You're leaving this to me?"
"I am not debating names with a frost-breathing child before breakfast. So the naming falls on you, Asenane."
"Huh... I saw a name once in one of the antique shops in town. It was inscribed in an old script. Valeria."
The child repeated it softly, testing it.
"Valeria."
It fit her far more naturally than Cassandra ever had.
"Valeria Cassie Richinaria. That sounds good."
The girl—Valeria— smiled with satisfaction.
"I like it."
"Good."
He gently transferred her into Asenane's arms.
"Congratulations. You are now officially the mother of a girl."
Asenane looked down at Valeria, still slightly dazed.
"I wanted a boy," she muttered again, though without real disappointment.
Valeria reached up and poked her cheek gently.
"I can fight better than a boy."
That drew a soft laugh from Veneri. "I do not doubt that."
Valeria looked up at him again.
"Dad?"
"Yes?"
"I'm hungry."
Of course she was.
Veneri rose carefully, adjusting his hold to compensate for her unexpected weight.
"I know. Come on, let's give you something to eat."
°°°°°°
Veneri sat on a low foldable chair outside the tent (with inventory, keeping such a chair wasn't a difficult task) with Valeria settled comfortably on his lap. She kicked her legs idly while he held a bowl in one hand and a spoon in the other, feeding her with the resignation of a man who had not anticipated becoming a father overnight.
She opened her mouth eagerly for another spoonful of stew.
"More."
"That was the ninth bowl."
She nodded seriously.
"I know."
He stared at the nearly empty tenth bowl in his hand and silently thanked his past self for creating the Bowl of Wisdom when be was constructing the Control Mystic Circle in the Obsidian Runic Spire. Without that artifact, he would have been cooking for hours just to keep up with her consumption rate. The bowl refilled automatically based on consumption rate. At the time, he had designed it for long strategic planning sessions when making his Control Circle.
He had not designed it for a four-year-old hybrid Divine devouring stew like a bottomless pit.
Asenane sat across from them, watching with amused fascination.
"She has a very big appetite."
"That is a serious understatement," Veneri replied calmly, offering another spoonful.
Valeria leaned back slightly against his chest, chewing happily.
"Why is she even hungry? She's clearly a Divine Being, right? Divine metabolism is efficient. Hunger shouldn't be this aggressive."
That observation made Veneri pause mid-feed. Asenane was right. Divine bodies converted energy differently. Sustenance was optional, not urgent. For Valeria to be consuming stew like she had just completed a millennium-long fast was highly suspicious. He narrowed his eyes slightly and spoke into the air.
"Phaenora. Can you hear me?"
He waited.
Asenane smirked faintly. "Maybe she's sulking."
Valeria reached for the spoon.
"Food first," Veneri muttered.
A few seconds later, the air distorted faintly and Phaenora materialized in physical form before them. She appeared with her usual ethereal grace but the moment her eyes landed on the small white-haired child sitting comfortably on Veneri's lap, her expression froze. Then she slowly raised a finger and pointed at Asenane.
"You couldn't wait?"
Asenane smiled sweetly.
"I have a daughter with him, yes."
Valeria leaned sideways to look at Phaenora more clearly.
"You're a ghost."
Phaenora closed her eyes briefly as if summoning divine patience.
"I am not a ghost."
"You look like one."
Veneri calmly fed Valeria another spoonful while gesturing toward the child with his free hand.
"Check her."
Phaenora stepped closer, still visibly processing the situation. She placed two fingers gently against Valeria's forehead. Valeria blinked in shock.
"Cold hands. Are you alive?"
A faint pulse of energy spread outward as Phaenora integrated Valeria into her system. Translucent holographic panels appeared in the air around them, scrolling rapidly with information.
Then Phaenora actually gasped. Veneri stopped mid-motion.
"What?"
Phaenora's eyes moved rapidly across the data.
"She's not affected by the Ascension Curse. In fact, the Ascension Curse does not exist within the Hidden Citadel."
"How did you not notice that?"
Phaenora looked almost offended by Asenane's words.
"Because the system parameters outside and inside were overlaid. The curse is embedded in global ascension laws but the Hidden Citadel is isolated. It operates on a different foundational layer."
"That explains how we broke into the Fourth Enlightenment so easily when we came here."
Phaenora's gaze returned to Valeria.
"If she has developed entirely without Ascension suppression, that means she's among the first Divine Beings in this era completely unaffected by it. Her growth rate will be exponential."
"Define exponential."
Phaenora's eyes turned to him.
"She is already at the Fourth Enlightenment."
The spoon stopped halfway to Valeria's mouth.
"What? Fourth Enlightenment? That's our rank."
"Yes."
Valeria raised her hand slightly. "Is that good?"
Veneri stared at her.
"You are the same rank as us."
"Oh."
Asenane leaned forward, studying her daughter in new light.
"She's a Hybrid of a Frost Dragon and a Royal Aeterium and a Fourth Enlightenment Divine at birth."
Veneri resumed feeding her automatically, because even apocalyptic revelations did not excuse unfinished stew.
"This is actually shocking. She is absolutely going to shift the scales."
Valeria swallowed another spoonful and looked pleased with herself despite not fully understanding why. Phaenora folded her arms slowly.
"You two just casually produced a high-tier Divine anomaly."
"We didn't produce," Asenane corrected. "She hatched herself."
"That does not make it any better."
Valeria leaned back into Veneri again, satisfied, as he scraped the last of the tenth bowl. He glanced at Phaenora.
"You may leave. I'm still on my honeymoon."
Her eye twitched.
"You are feeding a Fourth Enlightenment child stew."
"Yes. And I would like to return to my peaceful morning so shoo."
"Good luck."
She vanished. Asenane pressed her lips together, visibly trying not to laugh. The corners of her eyes betrayed her.
"You're enjoying this."
She smiled far too innocently.
"It felt good."
"Making her furious?"
"And jealous. One down, three to go."
Veneri gave her a long look. Valeria raised her empty bowl.
"More."
He looked down at her, then at the Bowl of Wisdom.
"Of course..."