The silence that followed hung like cool empty glass. Fragile, clear, and full of everything unsaid.
Rika stared at Damon, the panic finally draining away, leaving her pale and exhausted. The memory of the monstrous demon remained vivid, the heat still ghosting her skin.
"What the hell is going on, Damon?" she whispered. "And who are these people?"
Damon sighed, rubbing his temple. He'd just endured a brutal lecture from his mother and nearly tore his body apart. He didn't have the patience to spin a careful lie.
"You're in Woewyn. I'm a prince. You were nearly killed by a demon from another dimension, and the glowing stuff healing you is called Eterna."
Rika blinked, processing the rush of impossible facts. "Slow down, I don't understand."
Damon sighed again, the familiar exhaustion of explaining his life washing over him, and started from the beginning.
I am the descendant of a Queen, her... I'm supposed to be a Chosen One...
He summarized his journey. His awakening, the planes, and the necessity of confronting the potential evil known "Gamishi." He omitted the personal sorrow and the full scope of the danger, making it sound like a reluctant, inevitable destiny.
Rika paused for a few seconds after he finished. She wasn't processing the danger; she was mostly processing the scale.
"So… God is real?" she asked.
Damon nodded. "Yeah. Here they call him the Eternal One."
He pushed himself off the bed. His body was mostly healed, but a sharp, fresh scar marked his V-taper. He ran a finger across it, a final, tiny remnant of his sacrifice.
"Why is my scar glowing?" Damon asked.
Tolrex, hunched over his console and looked up.
"That, reckless prince, is most likely a feature only you have. It's a good sign, actually. It might also mean you're packed full of raw power of light and your Eterna is very potent. You should start training immediately."
His voice dropped low. "But before that would you like it removed?" He asked Damon, holding a laser like device in his hand.
Natsuki would like something like this. If she ever sees my body. Damon thought. "No, I'll keep it. Thank You." He said.
Queen Thessa glanced at Damon's scar, the gold light reflecting in her blue eyes. "My son always finds a way to look good, even after he's been beaten. Now he gets glowing scars."
The doors hissed open. Nyra and Hazel walked out, giving Rika a brief, curious glance.
Varnex and Thorpax walked in, snapping into a playful military salute before the Queen.
Thorpax, tall and broad, stepped closer to the Queen. Varnex, the shorter, rounded stomach tutor, walked past his colleague and rested his side against Bravira, folding his arms.
Bravira didn't even turn. She simply stepped back.
Varnex yelped, tumbling backward onto the spotless floor. He scrambled up, rubbing his elbow, and settled beside his younger colleague, Draven.
"I wish my scars shone gold," Draven muttered, bitterness hanging in his voice.
Damon walked back to Rika's bed. "Rika. I'll find a way to get you home, back to your parents."
Rika flinched, her body tensing like a wire. "No!"
The word was loud and fast, but the tone was pure, visceral fear. Like a command shouted in the face of a killer.
Her voice cracked like glass, and for the first time Damon felt the canyon of loneliness behind her eyes.
They all stared at each other in confusion. Tolrex was the only one ignoring the drama, adjusting a few small tools in his hand.
Varnex smiled faintly and mockingly. "I know Earth isn't as pretty as Woewyn, but is her love for her family reallllyyy that small?"
Rika's lips tightened. "I… I don't have any family."
Damon asked, "What about—"
"They died," Rika cut him off, her voice flat now. "After I graduated from primary school. In a car accident."
Damon stared, surprise wiping the weariness from his face. I hadn't liked her since primary school because she hated Natsuki, but a lot had happened since then. Was she alone this whole time?
Rika pressed on. "I live with a foster family. They don't care where I am. They probably don't even know I'm gone."
She walked toward the Queen, her desperation overriding any sense of propriety.
"Please," Rika whispered, "let me stay here. I don't want to go back to a place that never waited for me."
The Queen looked down at the girl, then slowly raised her eyes to Damon, giving him the stare that demanded a decision. A decision to be made by him.
Bravira's voice cut the silence. "What is your first action as Prince, Damon?"
Damon inhaled slowly. The throbbing ache in his ribs felt sharper than a knife.
"She can stay," Damon said.
Rika's eyes filled with joy. "Thank you!"
Damon muttered his thoughts out loud. "Never knew those cold eyes could show happiness."
Rika's head snapped toward him. "What did you say?"
"Nothing," he replied, and the others, with their Woewyn-sharpened hearing, snickered softly.
Back on Earth, Daiki stepped out of his house. The afternoon air was warm and heavy.
PG... PG... How does that connect to my birthday, or does it even? He doesn't show up for weeks and then sends me a paper...
His mind was still trying to match the meaningless letters to a tangible memory. He felt the cold fear of losing Damon again if he failed to find the next clue.
He walked until he reached the old playground where he and Damon used to run around as children. The freshly painted swings and slides caught his eye.
He questioned Does the PG stand for Play Ground?
Daiki, feeling absurdly old, crept toward the back of the playhouse, praying none of the kids saw him. He reached the back of the small wooden structure and breathed out a sigh of relief as he saw children still playing inside.
A small tug at his jeans. He looked down. A small boy with huge, eerie eyes and a wide, unsettling grin stared up at him.
Daiki swallowed hard. "No. Don't you dare."
His grin widened, too sharp for a child's face, and the scream tore through the playground like an alarm.
All the children alerted like soldiers and swarmed Daiki. He ran from them till his lungs burned.
He stopped, yelling, "Wait! I'll climb the tallest climber since you can't! With each of you on my back! One." He took a deep breath "At a time."
They agreed instantly.
He climbed the tallest structure. When he reached the top, he saw something written in faint marker on the wooden floor: NATSUKI.
Damon, you idiot, he thought.
After satisfying the child army, Daiki headed straight for Natsuki's place.
He was surprised to see her father, Renji, talking normally about the game a few days ago. The cure Damon had given him worked but Daiki was unaware of a cure that even existed.
"Daiki!"
He spun around. Natsuki's younger brother, Haruto, had kicked his legs and was running away.
Daiki groaned. Why are kids against me today?
Natsuki grabbed his arm and pulled him upstairs. "Calm down!" Was all he could wail.
"Did he tell you the thing?" she asked, shutting her bedroom door.
"Who is 'he'? What is 'the thing'?" Daiki demanded, sinking into her chair.
She sat on her bed and told him everything: Woewyn, Eterna, Gamishi Damon's mother.
Daiki listened, his jaw dropping when he heard Damon was a prince. He was so focused on the excitement of the magic and the title that he overlooked the danger of Gamishi. But then he realised "Wait... Damon's mom is alive?"
Natsuki nodded and brought out the necklace. The Shard of Luminaris. "He gave me this."
Daiki touched the Shard of Luminaris. It felt impossibly alive, the chain cool against his skin.
My imagination? he thought.
Then the crystal glowed faintly.
Natsuki held the Shard against her chest. Immediately, she held Daiki's arm, pulling him closer and he fell into a shared vision.
Damon was in his personal chamber on Woewyn. The room was carved from silence. Velvet shadows, celestial wood, and a chandelier that looked like it had stolen light from a dying star.
It wasn't just regal. It was reverent. A place built not just for sleep, but so anyone who stepped in it would remember it.
He was sitting on the edge of his bed, running his fingers across the glowing, gold scar on his V taper. Though they only saw his back.
Damon's head turned back slowly, a terrible focus in his eyes as he gazed upward. He felt Natsuki's presence—a faint flicker across the vastness of the cosmos.
It was as if he was staring directly at their minds.
The moment Damon's head turned, revealing the gold tint in his eyes, Daiki fell off the chair and hit the floor with a thud. The phantom sensation of being seen with such a gaze completely overwhelming his mind.
His skin prickled as if thousands of needles pressed in at once.
The air froze in his lungs, a weight crushing his chest before he hit the floor.
It felt like his mind had been yanked forward, leaving his body behind.
"What— what the hell was that?!" Daiki yelled, scrambling back toward the door.