Telmus suddenly grunted, and began walking a little more slowly, every step he took seemed to be calculated and precise and when it felt like it took forever, and the stars in the skies seemed to shift when he walked.

He finally stood by the right hand of the goddess and he looked at the sight that captured her interest and his heart skipped.

His daughter was below, she was a few thousand miles away, but for them, she could as well be a few inches away. She was playing in the field and her laughter was resonant. She appeared to be a fully grown woman of eighteen, but in the normal flow of time, she was just two years old.

Minerva sighed as she looked at the playing child, “You should have told me you have given up so much of yourself.”

Telmus just frowned, not bothering to give any reply.

“Stubborn as always, Child.” Her dreamy voice seemed to float above the wind, carried by unknown currents as it echoed through every single cell in his body, shaking it down to the foundations of his being. No single Dominator in all of Trion, would be able to withstand those words.

This was a living goddess, not an Anima. The corruption of their Domain was a hundred times more potent than if it was an Anima that stood here, but Telmus was able to stand a few inches by her side and not lose any ground, even when she spoke.

For gods and goddesses, most of the time, their words were weapons, for the act of speaking was a sign of their will made manifest. Their words were enough to crush worlds.

Telmus brushed invisible dust off his shoulders, “Mother.” He bowed a little. He was stubborn, not stupid, he would pay his respect, but only to the extent that was expected from him, nothing more.

He saw a ghost of a smile play along the edge of her lips, he knew she loved this game of hers. Why did he always insist on playing this game with her? Did she not abandon him to the darkness for all these millennia?

Minerva looked at the vast fields of lush crops and the laughing girl below, “It’s beautiful in its own way… Trion.”

Telmus nodded, “Yes… it is beautiful.”

The goddess appeared surprised at his words, “I thought you would never change Telmus. Yet, even I will admit I was wrong about your new outlook in life. Death suits you. Do it more often, child.”

“you no longer have a say in what suits me, mother. You have abandoned that right when you left me in darkness for all this time.” Telmus frowned, “I made my own way through the darkness, holding it at bay for all these millennia… for you mother. Yet, you abandoned me to the reaper.”

The darkness inside Minerva eyes seemed to pulse and rotate like a black hole sucking in all the Aether, and for a brief moment far beyond what most Dominator could even fathom, all Aether disappeared from the planet before returning, “Don’t be a daft child. I placed your soul inside my web. The only reason you can now see the light of day is because of my intervention.”

Telmus growled, “What does the fox say to the hen?”

Minerva’s eyes rotated to look at Telmus without moving her head, and then she rolled her eyes. Such an act from the goddess did not appear coquettish, but incredibly frightening. She sniffed before speaking, “There is an assignment for you from the gods.”

“I refuse. There is nothing I want more in this life, I would rather spend it with my family.” Telmus looked away.

“Even if it means a spot on the table above.”

He scoffed in disbelief, and then waited, not seeing any reaction from her, Telmus turned to her, his white hair beginning to float in an invisible air current, “That sort of reward is not possible. There can never be a spot above. The presence of the God King has assured that outcome.”

Minerva smiled, “Have you seen the state of the Empire lately, everything is now possible. I have denied the gods the Mirror of Fate, sealing it away because of their fears and so they cannot tell the direction of the winds of fate. Yet, I’m fate! Even without my mirrors, I still see farther than all the gods combined, and so they fear and isolate me, placing me in a prison made from gold. A spot would open Telmus, and you shall seize it.”

“Even if that were to be so,” Telmus said, his eyes acquiring a longing gaze, “It’s no longer for me.”

“Yes, not you.” Minerva agreed and she gestured with her head, to the sight that made Telmus’ heart first skip a beat, “For her, to the one you have given everything.”

Telmus sighed, “She is the best of me.”

His daughter, now eighteen, and at the Second Great Circle would no longer age for thousands of years, and so he stopped forcing her growth.

She was meditating down in the field below, her white hair spread around her feet like a carpet, unaware of the two persons watching her.

Minerva laughed, and reality smiled, “Death was good for you.”

“If I do this.” Telmus growled, “I want a shot at him.”

“You cannot win, Child.”

“Will you do it or not?”

Minerva sighed, “Get ready, in time you would be summoned to the battlefield, where you shall end the Great War once and for all.”

She turned as if to leave and as part of her began to fade away she paused, “You are being too lenient on the girl.”

“I don’t remember asking you for parenting advice.” Telmus growled.

“I know you hate me for pushing you to battle and despair, but look at the results Telmus…” She paused and waved her hand, and a lifelike image of Fury appeared before her, “By now you should have heard about this experiment by the Kuranes Family. There are talks that a new metric would be used to determine the Royal Selection Process for the Throne eight years from now. Make sure she is ready. It is time, the balance of power is shifting. I have waited for too long.”