Elise, the Empress of Endora

Meg appeared outside the Garden of Life grounds, her face beet red. Pearl quickly came to her side and asked angrily: “Did she throw you out again?”

Meg snapped out of her thoughts, breaking sight with the Garden and fixing her eyes on Pearl. Shaking her head, she said softly: “It’s me. He stayed inside.”

“Huh?” asked Pearl in confusion, but after noticing the blush on Meg’s face extending down the nape of her neck and to the tip of her ears, she understood and pursed her lips.

“I see. Can you destroy your clothes so I can make you new ones?”

Meg looked down and shook her head as she removed her clothes one by one, covering her privates with her hands in the process. “The destruction source remained with Seth.”

Pearl covered her in creation energy, creating a white and black dress before turning her eyes back on the Garden with a quick nod.

“Do you know how long he’ll be inside?”

Meg shook her head as she joined her in staring at the palace. “I do not. They are busy creating and linking a new body to the Spirit Well.”

Pearl nodded silently, and both sat down on the soft grass, waiting for Seth’s return. A few steps back, Lisa was lying on her back, her eyes fixed upon the blue skies as she listened to the two’s conversation.

With a sigh, she closed her eyes and focused on recovering her space energy, knowing Seth would want to move again once he returned.

After an entire day of quiet waiting, the whole ground shook under the girls’ bodies, making them focus on the Garden.

The orbs of life that constantly patrolled the tall forest began gathering towards the palace at the center, and the trees’ foliage started withering quickly.

“What is going on?…” muttered Pearl, but no one there could answer her question.

After the orbs of life disappeared into the palace, and the trees’ bark started withering, a bright light came from the Garden of Life, making everyone avoid their eyes for a moment.

When the girls could see again, the palace was gone, as were the trees and the orbs, leaving only a flat plain ahead of them.

The only remaining being on the plains that replaced the Garden of Life was a naked Seth, slowly making his way toward them.

Lisa frowned at the sight, as did Pearl and Meg, and all three girls stood up to head toward him.

Before they could say anything, Seth said to Pearl: “Make me some clothes.” He then turned towards Lisa and continued: “Open a path towards the Loss Capital. We can’t stay here any longer.”

Everyone had a lot of questions about what was happening, but none of them voiced them as they did as instructed.

While creation energy covered Seth’s body into a long black robe, Lisa broke space again.

Seth grabbed the waists of both Pearl and Meg, protecting them from the spatial energy while following after Lisa into the tunnel.

When Seth finally stepped out of the portal, Lisa looked at him with a blaming look and her arms crossed, silently waiting for an explanation.

Seth turned to look at the closing space crack before sighing and saying: “Don’t worry. I didn’t do anything to Isabel.”

He lifted his hand next, allowing a small white orb to leave the palm of his hand and hover gently above it. “Isabel is the will housed inside the treasure of life, not a human.”

His words surprised the girls, but since they were familiar with Dream, they quickly understood the gist of it.

“Did she overuse her power?” asked Pearl.

“She did. The treasure of life was broken apart and corrupted long ago, its essence stolen by Thanatos to create a link to the Spirit Well while its broken will was taken by Solen and used to further his own plans….”

“Now that she used her stored power to heal my soul, she fell into slumber again…” said Seth with a sigh, allowing the orb of life to sink inside his body once more.

“Another woman used by you, only to be thrown away right after…” muttered Lisa on the side.

Pearl was about to speak up for Seth, but he stopped her with a shake of his head.

‘System, how is it?’

<The Tower has been trying to reestablish the link ever since the treasure of life fell into slumber.>

‘That is to be expected. Keep rejecting it.’

With a sigh, Seth turned towards Meg, sitting patiently on the side, and asked: “Are you alright?”

Meg nodded as the redness on her face returned, remembering the scene happening just before she was sent away.

“Good. Sorry for putting you through so much. You can start cultivating again just as I taught you, and you’ll have no problem creating a new source in no time.”

Meg nodded again, her eyes darting around while avoiding Seth’s.

Seth smiled and turned to look at the large city not that far away from him. “Let’s go. It’s time for Endora to wake up from her long slumber.”

Pearl and Meg quickly went after him while Lisa begrudgingly followed a few steps back.

“What are we doing?” asked Pearl in excitement as they headed towards the city. She could tell from Seth’s eyes. Things were finally about to get down.

“You’ll see.”

Seth and his group barely reached the city’s outskirts when an ashen-haired woman flew out of the city, landing right in front of them.

Her face looked identical to Iris’s if not for her blood-red eyes that would instill fear in the hearts of even the most courageous humans.

Her eyes shook as she looked at Seth, and she fell to her knees not long after, her head lowered and hair cascading toward the ground.

“Your Highness, Emperor Seth.”

Seth bent his side to the side, asking with an amused smile: “What’s with the courtesy, Elise? I never knew you as the overly polite type.”

Elise lifted her head with a smile and said: “I had no idea what kind of you would appear, so I had to make sure I wouldn’t get smithed immediately for insolence. It appears both our worries were for nothing.”

Seth’s looked at her in surprise and asked: “Did I tell you anything before disappearing?”

“Disappear?” asked Elise with her smile growing wider: “Oh, but you didn’t disappear at all.”

Following Elise’s words, a blood-red sphere left her chest, flying high above her head as she and Seth got covered in a thick red mist.

Seth looked at the sphere hovering above them, his mouth open so wide the entire sphere would have no trouble sliding straight inside. “Blood Sun? You’ve completed it?”

Elise took joy in Seth’s stupor, saving the expression very few have ever seen in her mind as she nodded proudly: “We did. We completed it.”

Seth shook his head, feeling awkward at losing his calm a few moments ago, and cleared his throat before saying: “Tell me everything.”

“I will, but first, I need to ask you; do you have a link to the Tower?”

“No, I do not.”

“Good. Then we can speak…”

“Once your time anchor was removed, as you already probably know, reality broke into two, and a paradox was formed more than 200 years ago, traveling through time and swallowing all origins of the branch in time.”

Seth nodded, waiting for her to continue.

“In the newly formed reality, a lot has changed, and since you were no longer fixed at a point in time, a new you was also created, but he had neither a time anchor nor a divinity.”

“He woke up into his fifteen years old body with most of his wishes unfulfilled. Left with a broken link to the Tower that sapped away at his human soul, an ability to change his body at will that would eat away at his lifespan, and broken memories of a future he didn’t really remember anymore.”

“The only way for him to prevent his eventual death was to grow stronger. He had to break through and replenish his lifespan as it was being devoured by the Tower’s ‘gifts’.”

“Even like that, he managed to take over Oath and the rest of the empire, slowly extending his power and influence. Still, when he finally finished uniting the south of the continent and was ready to march onto the northern kingdoms, a new obstacle appeared in his path.”

“The time paradox…” muttered Seth.

“Indeed. The paradox got close enough that his link to the Tower could warn him about it, and he finally understood what had happened. He understood his condition resulted from a bifurcation in the timeline.”

“With this new knowledge, he gave up on his plans to move on the northern kingdoms and instead traveled with me along the continent, searching for the treasure of my people, the Blood Sun.”

“But what good would a Blood Sun bring in this situation? There’s no way I planned on using it against the time paradox..” asked Seth.

“No, he wanted to give me the Blood Sun so that I could help you in your mission.”

“He knew he should have had a backup plan in case his divinity broke and his time anchor disappeared, but he also knew that whatever his backup plan was, it had to happen in a completely new reality. A reality he wouldn’t understand.”

“With that in mind, he asked me to take over as the empress and strengthen the empire and myself as much as possible. The Blood Sun is a treasure and a singularity, so it allowed us to escape the eyes of the Tower and delay other changes to the timeline.”

Elise lifted her hand, a small white orb appearing in the palm of her hand: “My power and the strength of the empire are your own gifts to yourself. As is this. A part of his soul containing all of the memories he deemed important for you to know.”

Seth lifted his hand, allowing the piece of soul to be sucked inside his own and asking the system to sort everything out. This allowed him to understand that time was still fluctuating even now.

“So that’s why Dream knew nothing about this…” muttered Seth. “I had already covered my actions using a singularity.”

“Yes. You moved as secretly as possible before breaking through the eighth shell and splitting yourself from the flow of time to block the paradox from catching up.”

Seth already knew from the fragment of memory he had received that his parallel self had sacrificed millions of destruction ascended to increase his power, using them as batteries and absorbing their energy to further his cultivation. A practice so cruel and merciless that even the will of the energy you cultivate would reject you.

He also understood why the paradox was being delayed, giving him some much-needed breathing room.

“If I could, I want to kiss myself right now.” Said Seth with a chuckle.

Elise smiled and asked: “Now that you are back, what will you do? You should know that you probably don’t have much time left...”

The smile disappeared from Seth’s face, and he said: “To stop the paradox and fix the timeline, I need to repair the damage created by Kronos, but before that, there is still something else I need. Or, more exactly, someone else.”

“You mean Caitlin?” asked Elise, her smile fading away. “You know where you put her, don’t you?”

“I do, and it is time for me to take her back. How long will it take to mobilize our forces?”

“Our forces are all concentrated here in Loss, waiting for your return. All the ascended spread around the rest of the continent are just for show so that other kingdoms won’t take us as weak and try to invade. Are we heading for Death?”

“Not yet.” Said Seth with a shake of his head. “That would leave us open to an attack from Life. Noth will not hesitate to send Soren to support Thanatos, so we must first kill Soren before marching to Death.”

Elise nodded, and the Blood Sun returned inside her chest right after.

“We can march on Life as soon as you give the order.

“More than 30 000 ascended are inside Loss right now, all awaiting your command.”