For several moments neither of us spoke. I simply stood there staring at him while the words settled in my mind.
According to the Ironharts, I was dead or more accurately every living ironhart was dead.
The realization was so absurd that I almost laughed.
"Well."
I spread both arms.
"Clearly there has been some kind of misunderstanding."
Samuel didn’t laugh. Which immediately told me this wasn’t a misunderstanding at all. Someone had deliberately reported my death. And according to the look on Samuel’s face, that someone could only have been my parents.
"Samuel, we can figure out the whole ’I’m supposedly dead’ situation later. Right now I’d prefer to get out of this dark, depressing prison cell of yours, especially considering I’m apparently not the enemy anymore."
Samuel stared at me for a few moments before releasing a long sigh.
The old man rubbed his forehead as though I had personally become responsible for all of his future headaches.
"Yeah. Fine. We’ll deal with that mess later."
Then he paused. For the first time since reading the report, a strange expression crossed his face.
"I’ll take you to..." he began before stopping midway.
His eyes moved toward me. Then he corrected himself.
"To the council."
I nodded.
That sounded an important part of this place.
Samuel turned around and headed toward the exit while muttering something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like complaints about living descendants suddenly appearing out of nowhere.
I followed him out of the prison.
The corridor beyond was considerably larger than I expected. Dark stone walls stretched in every direction while formations glowed faintly across the floor. Several guards stationed throughout the passage immediately straightened when they noticed Samuel.
Then they noticed me but gave no reaction at all. One of them actually looked as though he wanted to ask a question.
Samuel silenced him with a single glare. A few minutes later we exited the prison complex entirely. The moment we stepped outside, I stopped walking.
Not because of danger.
Because I genuinely hadn’t expected what appeared before me.
A real city.
Not a hidden settlement made from temporary structures.
Towering buildings stretched toward the sky while countless lights illuminated enormous streets below. Large plazas connected entire neighborhoods together while elevated pathways crossed overhead.
For several moments I simply stood there taking it all in.
Samuel noticed.
"Surprised?"
"A little."
"A lot?"
"A lot."
The old man laughed.
"What surprised you so much? Have you never seen a city before?"
"Of course I have."
"Then what is it?"
I remained silent for a moment before answering.
"It’s just that I always imagined my parents were probably surviving somewhere difficult. Hiding. Running. Living in some forgotten corner, hiding from the Eternals."
I gestured toward the city below.
"Instead I find this. A city bigger than most worlds I’ve seen. If they were living here all this time, then I guess they had a pretty good afterlife."
Samuel’s smile faded slightly.
"No."
His eyes moved toward the city.
"It wasn’t like that. What you’re seeing now is the final result."
His voice became noticeably heavier.
"To build this place we fought for centuries. Settlements fell. Families disappeared. Every piece of land we secured was paid for with souls."
His jaw tightened.
"The city looks peaceful now because enough people died to make it peaceful. And all of it happened because of those damned Eternals."
The hatred in his voice was impossible to miss. It wasn’t the anger of a soldier talking about an enemy. It sounded far more personal than that.
Eventually he exhaled and pointed toward a massive structure rising near the center of the city.
"Anyway."
The usual grumpy expression returned.
"The council is waiting."
Without another word he launched himself into the air.
I followed.
The city expanded beneath us as we rose higher above the skyline. From above, the scale became even clearer.
This wasn’t merely large. It was enormous.
I expanded my perception. The effect was immediate. Soul signatures appeared everywhere. The entire city lit up within my senses like a sea of stars.
For several moments I simply observed. Then my expression changed.The population wasn’t merely large. It was powerful.
A surprising number of Transcendents existed throughout the settlement. Beyond them, I could sense dozens of Saints spread across various districts.
A few presences immediately stood out. Many of them felt noticeably stronger than Samuel. One in particular sat near the center of the city and possessed an aura so dense that it resembled a mountain hidden among ordinary buildings.
I glanced toward Samuel.
"You weren’t exaggerating."
He followed my gaze.
"No."
"Some of these people are stronger than you."
The old man looked offended.
"Of course they are."
That wasn’t the response I expected.
"You say that very casually."
"I am old, not delusional."
He pointed toward the city below.
"You don’t build a settlement like this by gathering weak people."
"Fair point."
For several minutes we continued flying above the city. Eventually Samuel spoke again.
"How much do you actually know about the Ironharts?"
I thought about the question. Then shook my head.
"Not much. Only recently, I came to know that we are aliens to the Prime universe."
That answer seemed to satisfy him. In fact, he almost looked relieved.
"Good."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Good?"
"Very good."
The old man folded his hands behind his back.
"Because if you knew everything already, this would be considerably more boring."
I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant.
Samuel continued anyway.
"You know the name."
He raised one finger.
"You know we’re being hunted."
A second finger followed.
"You know we’re one of the original bloodlines excluded from the Eternal contracts."
A third finger.
"Beyond that, I doubt you understand even ten percent of what it means to be an Ironhart."
I couldn’t exactly argue. Samuel seemed to realize this.
His expression softened slightly.
"Don’t worry."
The city continued passing beneath us while distant towers reflected the silver light of the artificial sky above.
"You’ll have time. And you’ll have plenty of people willing to tell you the stories. After all, we have not seen a living Ironhart in a long long time."
Something about the way he said it caused a strange feeling to settle in my chest.