The elven settlement had endured by acting as if the rest of the world no longer existed. Beyond the shimmering dome, the forest was withering—trees stood pale and hollow, their roots drained of mana, and wide swaths of earth had turned grey under the march of the Devourers. Yet within the barrier, ancient trees still bore silver-green leaves, streams ran clear, and the air was thick with mana, almost unnervingly so after weeks spent crossing dead lands.
Still, neither group let down their guard. Silver entered alongside the twins and Scarlet, with Emperor Darius following behind with his sons and their lone companion. The elves watched each other in the wary silence of those who had survived too much to trust easily. Talon came last, his usual easy amusement gone. Whatever Scarlet had told him in their brief, private exchange before entering had wiped the lazy smile from his face. He walked with something clutched tightly in one hand, saying nothing. Silver noticed. Scarlet noticed him noticing. Neither mentioned it. Then, someone appeared beyond the inner line of elven guards.
Silver froze.
Nella was different now.
The small, hooded girl he remembered was gone. The woman walking toward him moved with the easy confidence of someone used to being heard. Her long hair still held that unusual blend of pale gold and darker tones, and time had only honed her features instead of softening them.
The eyes hadn't changed—Silver knew them instantly. Nella halted a few steps away, and for a moment, silence hung between them. It had been ten years since she'd touched his forehead and stirred something that should've stayed buried. Ten years since Pandora. Ten years since one meeting had shattered Silver's view of the world. She looked him over from head to toe.
"You've grown stronger." Silva and the twins were now mid-stage Aura masters.
Silver looked at her.
"That's what ten years will do."
A faint smile crossed her face.
It was enough.
Some of the tension slipped from Silver's shoulders.
Nella's eyes stayed on him, sensing the change right away. The child she remembered had held immense potential, buried in an unformed body.
The man before her now was something else entirely.
His mana wasn't just vast anymore.
It was layered.
Darkness lay at its core, deep and unsettlingly still, while fire and wind swirled around it like separate currents drawn into the pull of something far older.
Pandora.
Nella didn't need to ask.
"You managed to live with him."
Silver knew exactly who she meant.
"Most days."
How touching, Pandora muttered somewhere within him.
Silver paid no attention to the dragon.
Nella's expression softened a little.
"I've wondered if I made the right choice that day."
"You didn't leave me much choice."
"No."
At least she wasn't pretending otherwise.
Silver glanced around the settlement.
"So, this is your home?"
"Yes, it's beautiful, isn't it?"
There was more behind those words than just their meaning, and Silver caught it.
"The twins?"
Behind Silver, Julie raised a hand.
June simply stared.
Nella gave a single nod.
Silver almost laughed.
After ten years, it somehow felt right.
Then another voice joined in.
"Enough."
Emperor Darius stepped forward, and the warmth vanished in an instant. He had endured the reunion longer than his expression implied he cared to. His gaze locked on Nella.
"I've crossed ruined cities, watched my northern lands fall, and followed the trail of creatures that don't belong in this world."
Nella held his stare, unmoving.
"And every path has brought me here," Darius said.
Silver shifted slightly.
"I need to know what the rift in the sky is and how all these creatures are getting through."
Darius kept his voice calm. He didn't have to raise it.
His eyes flicked toward Silver for a moment before settling back on Nella.
"You knew something was coming," the Emperor went on. "You knew enough to vanish afterward. You knew enough for Kala to see you as a problem."
At that name, Nella's expression shifted.
Darius stepped closer.
"The woman who forced open the passage into the Angel Domain told me the key wasn't needed anymore."
Nella stayed silent.
"She said the door was already open."
Still no response.
"And now these creatures are streaming in as a result, while Kala waits for someone—or something—to come through."
This was no longer merely Darius demanding answers.
I demand answers said the emperor ... how are you and my late wife related and who or what exiled my wife and caused her demise
Nella sighed and said,
''Long ago I met an angel named Elyra, though most knew her by the moniker Moonlight Angel. We were best friends, more like sisters, until after some time she left for many years.
Eventually, she was exiled from her domain by her so-called friends, losing her strength and abilities. She lived here for a long while but grew weaker each day.
Then she met you, and you took my friend, my sister, with you. She was finally happy, but I knew it would be the last time I'd see her. Not even a decade later, I learned she had died. I was devastated, but in the end, I let it go. Before leaving with you, she told me about the corruption and strange happenings in her domain. She was glad to leave, and when she found you, she found a bit of the happiness you humans talk about.''
Darius' expression darkened.
"So Kala destroyed the door to this angel domain and these creatures are rushing in strides?"
"Kala and Nero."
Silver froze.
That name struck a chord.
Nero.
The odd boy from the Secular Oak Forest.
The one who had watched it all with that infuriating smile.
The one who vanished just as suddenly as he showed up.
Even after ten years, Silver could still picture those yellow eyes.
"Nero?"
Nella met his gaze.
"Yes."
No hesitation this time.
"Mother and son."
Silver's mind flashed back to all the odd little things he'd brushed off as coincidence.
Nero showing up near the awakening.
Nero watching but never stepping in.
Nero always knowing just a bit too much.
Nella looked toward the dome.
Beyond it, the dead forest stretched toward the northern horizon.
"They opened the door."
No one spoke up.
"The Angel Domain was already compromised. Whatever happened past that boundary began long before any of us knew the danger. Kala didn't cause its corruption."
Her gaze shifted back to Darius.
"But she did force open a door that should have stayed shut."
Silver felt Pandora stir within him.
For the first time since arriving in the settlement, the dragon's presence went utterly still.
Her attention returned to Silver.
"And this Nero helped her."
Silver's expression hardened.
"Why?"
Nella remained silent for several seconds.
"Kela wanted the door open, and Nero helped her. Because of that, the Devourers got through, and neither of them seems too concerned about stopping what they unleashed."
Darius locked eyes with Nella.
"So, tell us—what are they waiting for?"
Nella's gaze slid slowly over the group before her.
"They're waiting for what survived them."
And just like that, Talon's grim look made perfect sense.
A slow clap cut through the silence.
Heads turned.
Nero stood atop the crumbling remains of an old elven archway, hands in his pockets, wearing that same infuriatingly relaxed expression Silver remembered from their childhood.
Kala was at his side.
Neither seemed the least bit fazed by the weapons now pointed their way.
Nero let out a sigh.
"Could we not?"
No one made a move. His yellow eyes scanned the crowd before finally landing on Silver.
"I'm not here to fight you."
Then he glanced toward Darius.
"Or you."
Kala offered a faint smile.
"We're waiting for someone."
Nella's gaze hardened. "The one beyond the door."
"Exactly."
Kala glanced north toward the unstable tear beyond the protective dome, its edges collapsing as fragments of warped light broke away, the barrier between realms barely holding.
"My mate," she said. "Nero's father."
Her smile disappeared.
"A six-winged angel. Supreme Realm."
Even Scarlet's expression grew tense.
Nero scratched his cheek. "I prefer winged bastard, personally."
Kala ignored him.
Darius stepped forward. "Why him?"
This time, Nero answered.
"Because he's the one who killed your wife."
Everything went still.
Darius' mana surged before anyone could react, and the ground beneath him split apart.
His sons instinctively edged closer, but the Emperor's gaze stayed locked on Nero.
"Explain."
Nero's smirk vanished.
"Later."
The ground trembled—once, then with sudden violence.
All eyes shifted north.
The portal was collapsing at an alarming pace.
Cracks spread across its glowing surface as the surrounding mana spiraled inward. Trees strained under the crushing force. The elven barrier wavered, and somewhere beyond it came a heavy impact that felt like it struck the world itself.
Something was breaking through.
Kala fixed her gaze ahead.
For the first time, her calm faltered.
Not from fear.
From recognition.
A figure stepped through the shattered light.
Human in form.
Six massive wings unfurled behind it.
The wave of pressure that followed rolled over the settlement like an unseen tide.
Supreme Realm.
Nero's grin returned, stripped of any hint of playfulness.
"Well." He stepped down from the ruined arch. "Time for a family reunion."
"Wait." Silver grabbed his shoulder. Nero glanced back, meeting Silver's cold, red stare.
"You don't get to walk toward him like none of this matters. You forced that portal open. People died because of what came through it."
For once, Nero didn't joke. "I know."
"Then whatever he did to you doesn't justify this."
"No." The word came so quickly, Silver hesitated.
Nero's eyes shifted to the six-winged figure stepping from the fading portal. "It doesn't."
Another tremor rolled beneath them. "But this was inevitable, Silver." His gaze sharpened. "And after my winged bastard of a father is dead…"
Nero stepped forward. "I'll explain why."