Two men sat opposite each other, a pot of tea between them. Neither touched it. Sigil's gaze remained fixed on the surface of his cup, as if answers might rise from it. Vexer leaned back slightly, his expression calm, but the stillness around him carried a weight that had not been there before.
The tea had gone cold, and neither of them noticed.
Silence filled the space between them, heavy with everything that had followed them from the moment they left the cave. They could still feel the weight of Three's body, limp in Sigil's arms. They remembered Khate's trembling voice and the way her composure shattered the instant she saw him. After Three's failed awakening, they had returned home without a word. Khate had been the first to see them, and the moment her eyes landed on Three's unconscious form, panic took over. She rushed forward with shaking hands as she tried to wake him, almost losing control entirely.
It took Vexer stepping in and explaining everything clearly to calm her down, even if only barely. Even then, she refused to leave his side, so they left Three in her care and came here.
Sigil sat forward slightly, his elbows resting on his knees and his fingers loosely clasped. He exhaled, the breath heavier than it should have been.
"Why do you think Three failed to awaken?"
The question came out controlled, but the strain behind it was obvious. He was hoping that his father already had an answer.
Vexer did not respond immediately. His fingers tapped lightly against the armrest once, then stilled as his eyes lowered in thought.
"I already know why," he said at last. "And it is connected to me leaving."
Sigil's head snapped up, the weight in his chest sinking even deeper.
"Then don't," he said, more direct this time. "Can't you hold on a little longer? At least until I have raised him properly and found a way to fix this?"
Vexer shook his head.
"If it were that simple, I would have done it long ago."
His voice remained steady, leaving no room for argument.
"For the past five hundred years, I have held back my breakthrough. Not for myself, but for this family and our stability."
That alone was enough to silence Sigil. Held back meant exactly that, not simply delayed.
"Resisting the ascension is getting harder," Vexer continued. "In a month, I will have no choice and I must leave this place."
One month.
The timeline settled heavily in the air.
"The heavens have been envious of our progress," Vexer went on, his gaze drifting slightly. "They have decided to bring forth a new change. A new era. The guardians informed me of this two hundred years ago, before you were even born."
Sigil did not interrupt as he listened.
"With every new era comes change, and with change comes imbalance. I believed you would be the one to guide the clan through it."
Sigil's fingers tightened slightly around his cup.
"But I was wrong," Vexer said calmly. "Then Three was born, and I thought the answer had revealed itself. But now..."
He did not finish the sentence, and he did not need to.
Sigil leaned back slowly.
"So this is it."
"For now," Vexer replied.
The Starborn Clan had stood at the peak of the world for over a million years. Their strength was never in numbers, but in individuals. Every generation produced a genius powerful enough to shake the world, like Vexer or Sigil.
But that strength came with a cost.
Their bloodline forced rapid growth, making breakthroughs come faster and harder. With each breakthrough, their strongest were pushed toward ascension, leaving the world behind in pursuit of greater power.
They did not fall because they were weak. They were losing their pillars.
Each generation left behind safeguards and hidden measures to protect the clan, and for a long time, it worked.
But the gap remained.
Other great powers in the world had depth, hidden strength, and foundations that did not rely on a single genius. The Starborns had brilliance, but not stability.
Sigil's voice broke the silence again, quieter this time.
"If my generation fails..."
"They will come," Vexer finished.
There was no need to name who, because they both knew.
It had happened once before when Vexer was born, and back then, the clan had nearly been erased. Only the countermeasures left behind and a few remaining elders had held the line. That display of power had forced the world to step back, but fear fades and weakness invites predators.
Sigil closed his eyes briefly.
"And now Three..."
"A failed awakening," Vexer said.
Sigil looked at him closely, sensing something in his tone that did not sit right.
"Which means, for this generation..."
There was no next pillar, no rising force, just a dangerous gap.
The tea between them remained untouched and cold, and the silence that followed carried a truth neither of them could ignore.