"Observe what?"
"Everything which includes you as well."
I frowned.
"That’s concerning."
She looked entirely unconcerned.
I shook my head.
"So you’ve been spying on me."
"I prefer monitoring."
"That’s just spying with extra syllables."
Defender Aurora ignored that.
"I’ve been gathering information."
That was enough to make me serious again. The playful atmosphere faded slightly.
"What kind of information?"
"The kind that matters."
A faint tension entered her voice.
"You need to be careful moving through Region Five."
I looked at her carefully.
"Because of the Eternals?"
"Partially."
Her answer immediately made me uneasy.
"What else?"
The defender remained silent for several moments before finally responding.
"The Warden."
That wasn’t the answer I expected. My eyes narrowed.
"What about the Warden?"
"Something isn’t right. The Warden governing this territory under which Prime territory lie is far more involved than he should be."
My expression hardened immediately.
"Involved with who?"
"The Eternals."
"I thought Wardens weren’t supposed to interfere."
"They aren’t."
"Then why is he?"
Her smile disappeared entirely.
"That is the question. I don’t know the full extent of the relationship. I don’t know whether it is cooperation, manipulation or something else entirely."
She looked directly at me.
"What I do know is that the Warden’s attention keeps appearing around Eternal operations."
The ocean beneath us rippled slightly.
"And that should not happen."
The Eternals were already difficult enough to deal with. Adding a Warden into the equation changed everything.
"Can he act against me directly?"
The defender considered the question.
"Technically."
I didn’t like the sound of that.
"Technically?"
"There are rules. The Wardens aren’t free to do whatever they want. Their authority comes with restrictions."
She paused.
"Very strict restrictions."
I waited for her to continue.
"The most important rule is that they cannot openly interfere with ordinary affairs without cause."
"And what qualifies as cause?"
Her gaze settled squarely on me.
"Mass destruction."
I immediately understood.
"If I start tearing apart cities..."
"Then he can justify involvement."
"If I start slaughtering thousands of people..."
"Then he can justify involvement."
The defender’s expression remained serious.
"If you destabilize an entire region, he can justify involvement."
"So as long as I keep things under control..."
"He remains bound by the rules."
The defender nodded.
"More or less."
I thought about everything that had happened since entering the Prime Territory. That wasn’t exactly reassuring. My definition of controlled destruction and everyone else’s definition tended to differ significantly.
Defender Aurora seemed to reach the same conclusion.
"I can literally see what you’re thinking."
"That’s unfortunate."
"It is."
Then her expression softened slightly.
"There’s one more thing."
I raised an eyebrow.
"If the Warden does interfere directly..."
She paused.
"If he chooses to step outside those rules and involve himself personally, then the restrictions on me disappear as well."
"You can intervene."
The defender nodded.
"At that point it would no longer be a conflict between mortals."
The silver waters reflected in her eyes.
"It would become a matter of higher authority."
Neither of us elaborated further.
We didn’t need to say anything else. The implication was obvious enough.
"Do you know about the hidden settlements I’ve been visiting?"
Defender Aurora nodded immediately.
"Of course. I’ve been following your journey closely enough."
A faint smile appeared on her face.
"Though I will admit, there were certain things that surprised me."
"Such as?"
"The bloodlines."
She looked toward the distant horizon.
"I knew there were groups resisting the Eternals inside the Prime Territory. I knew there were settlements hidden beyond their reach. What I didn’t know was that your lineage and the other original bloodlines possess a way to escape the Eternals’ grasp after death."
That genuinely surprised me.
Given her connection to the system, Amun, and everything happening behind the scenes, I had assumed she would already know something like that.
"You didn’t know?" I asked.
She laughed softly.
"No."
"How?"
The question slipped out before I could stop it.
"I thought someone in your position would know everything."
That earned a much louder laugh.
"Trust me, I know far less than people think."
The amusement remained in her eyes.
"Let’s just say both Amun and the System enjoy keeping secrets from me."
I frowned.
"And you’re fine with that?"
Defender Aurora shrugged. The gesture looked surprisingly human for someone who stood far above ordinary existence.
"It doesn’t really matter. I know what I want. I want the complete destruction of the Eternals. Everything else is secondary."
She folded her arms.
"And at the moment, my best chance of achieving that goal still lies with Amun and the System, regardless of how many secrets they insist on keeping."
I studied her for several seconds. There was no hesitation in her words.
Just conviction.
Eventually she pushed away from the topic and looked back toward me.
"Anyway, my advice remains the same. Don’t cause large-scale destruction. At least not yet."
"You’re asking a lot."
"I’m aware."
She ignored my complaint and continued.
"And keep an eye out for the other players involved in this little game."
My eyes narrowed.
"The Wardens?"
"Among others."
That wasn’t reassuring.
Defender Aurora sighed.
"I’ll do what I can to keep certain forces from interfering directly, but you should understand something. We are operating inside their domain. This is their home. Their territory. Their rules. And whether we like it or not, that gives them an advantage."
Then her body dissolved into silver light and vanished completely. Once again I found myself alone above the endless Soul Sea.
The token adjusted slightly. The light within it pointed toward the horizon. Without another word, I accelerated forward and continued my journey.
As I continued flying across the endless silver waters, my thoughts gradually drifted away from Verilux, the contract fragments and the countless dangers still waiting ahead.
Instead, they settled upon something far more personal.
My family.
For so long the search had existed only as a goal. A destination hidden somewhere beyond the horizon. Yet now that destination felt real. Somewhere in Region Five there was an Ironhart settlement. Somewhere inside that settlement lived people who shared my blood.
I found myself wondering what they would be like.
Would my parents even recognize me? How much time had passed for them? Had they spent years believing I was dead, or had they somehow known I was still alive?
Then another thought surfaced.
What about the rest of the family?
The Ironharts clearly weren’t a small group if they had managed to survive for generations inside the Prime Territory. That meant there were probably relatives I had never met. Uncles. Aunts. Cousins.
Perhaps even my grandfather.
The thought made me smile slightly.
And if the bloodline truly stretched back as far as everyone seemed to imply, then there might even be ancestors still walking around somewhere. Souls thousands of years old who remembered events that had become myths everywhere else.