Inside Perilith, time seemed to be frozen. The sun had met the horizon, but it no longer descended, as if there was something here that it wanted to see.
The Primal Exarch hovered over the small hole which led to the underground caverns where Nero and the others had ventured to find Vitracil. The signs of any battle here had long been cleaned up, leaving nothing behind. In fact, tall wild grass covered the area, even hiding the opening from view. If one was not thorough in their search, they wouldn’t be able to find it at all.
"So this is where you have been hiding all these years," the Exarch’s voice rumbled, talking to someone unseen.
Deep within the cavern, in levels far below what Nero had reached, a blue flame flickered.
"Hiding? Do I even need to hide?" a voice responded, tinged with unfathomable power and an even deeper fury. "This is where I have been imprisoned all these years!"
The Exarch stayed silent, as if acknowledging the weight of that statement. But he could not stay silent forever.
"Your seal is weakening, maybe your temperament is with it too. I cannot believe you granted your power to a human," he said distastefully, though as he thought back to Nero, he couldn’t help but feel a flicker of excitement. He was not petty. He could openly admit that he had been an exception to the patheticness of the human race.
"What do you care? Your liege too favoured the humans. They have their uses yet," the voice responded, filled with unrestrained anger. "Speaking of your liege, what will you do? My seal is not the only one that is weakening. Who knows what has happened? The Aeons might be gone. This could be your opportunity to break free of your chains."
The Primal Exarch snorted, his power radiating across the land, flattening everything all around him.
"Do not question my loyalty to the Primal Aeon!" he warned, his voice turning grave. "He will not die from something like this! Pathetic little bird, do you think I don’t see through your plans? You only gave that human your power as bait. You want him to grow stronger and return to your temple so that you can use him to break your seal completely. Maybe you’re even planning to take over his body entirely! Isn’t that why you stopped me from killing him? What will you do if I squash him like a bug when he returns? Your plan will fail."
An angry trill resounded across Perilith, dropping the temperature of the dimension rapidly, but it could do nothing to the Exarch who did as much as flinch.
"Fine, you caught me," the voice said eventually, seeing as how the Exarch was not threatened by it at all. "Do not interfere in my matter, I can pay you with an Aetheric Ice Crystal - but only after the human enters my temple successfully, not before."
The Exarch grinned, looking even more evil than he usually did.
"Are you not afraid of accosting the Virtuous Aeon with your actions?" he asked. "The human carries his grace."
"That should not be any of your concern. Even if my actions cause a fallout, I will be the target, not you. Not to mention, it has been too long. The deterrence of the Aeons is fading..."
The Primal Exarch merely grinned, not sharing his thoughts with the bird, and instead flew away, his target the wooden tavern. By the time he reached, the sun had finally set, blanketing Perilith in darkness, unleashing the full force of the corruption eating away at Perilith, not that the Exarch cared.
He simply looked towards the wooden tavern, trying to understand its origins. The power contained within was foreign, and entirely unfathomable.
"Leave. You are causing problems," the Exarch said, his voice no longer arrogant or haughty, though he was still firm.
The wooden tavern, or perhaps some other power, seemed to hear the Exarch’s words, and honoured his request. Slowly, gradually, the tavern faded from view, disappearing into nothingness, leaving no trace of where it had disappeared or how it had gone.
The land on which the tavern stood, however, remained entirely pure of the corruption of the night. No matter how the darkness deepened, and how its decay and rot attacked, that patch of ground remained entirely untouched, as if even just the memory of that structure contained more power than this world could fathom.
A hint of fear flashed through the Exarch’s eyes. He was not sure if what he had done was a blessing or a curse. After all, it was the unknown that was the most terrifying - even more terrifying than the corruption that destroyed worlds. After all, even that world destroying corruption could not touch the power of that unknown.
Whatever. It was gone now, so he did not need to concern himself with it anymore.
*****
Nero woke up slowly, his awareness dragging itself through an ocean of drowsiness to get to him. His mind felt incredibly heavy, and his entire body was incredibly sore, as if he had the most intense workout of his life the day before.
He groaned as he lifted his hand to touch his head, but a sharp pain shot through his body causing him to stop. He was... really, really sore.
"Nero Grant, it seems you’re finally awake," a familiar voice spoke in the distance, though he could not quite recognise the speaker. His condition was not the best.
A few minutes passed by before he finally gathered up the energy to open his eyes and look at his surroundings. He seemed to be in a hospital, and in a chair beside him sat Dr. Iris.
"What happened?" Nero asked, not quite able to recall anything. The last thing he remembered was going to Perilith with everyone, and after that his memories were vague. It seemed his mind was still recovering.
Iris, annoyed by his slow recovery, tapped a few acupoints across, sending subtle pulses of aether into his body, expediting his recovery.
In a matter of a few seconds, Nero felt rejuvenated! His eyes flashed open and he stared at the doctor, his memories quickly returning to him.
"What happened to the others? Are they safe?" he asked, his greatest concern about Vanessa and the others.
"Yes, yes, they’re all fine. But I have a very important question for you, Nero. So important, in fact, that I’ve spent the last three days here personally overseeing your recovery so that I could be there the moment you woke up."
Nero’s expression turned solemn as his mind raced to figure out what she wanted to talk about. Had his second innate ability been discovered? His deal with Vanessa? Something about his family?
Wondering would give him no answers so he simply nodded towards the good doctor, ready to hear her question.
"Nero Grant... will you marry me?" Dr. Iris asked very seriously.
"What?" Nero exclaimed, shocked and confused by the question. Was he still hurt? Maybe he’d suffered mental trauma of some sort.
"I asked you if you will marry me!" she said, excitement and madness appearing in her eyes. "You are my favourite patient ever! Every time you end up in the hospital I get to learn something new! With your elevation into the Initiate realm, the changes in your body are absolutely fantastic! Tell me, did your innate ability experience an evolution?"
As she asked, she held up a mirror for Nero to look in, alongside a notecard that simply read: fix it now!
More than the notecard, Nero was focused on his reflection. His eyes... were silver, and his hair was beginning to turn silver as well. He did his best to hide his shock, but when he turned to look towards Iris, she only gave him a knowing look.
Nero suddenly recalled what she had said. She spent the last three days with him, managing his recovery. Had he been unconscious for 3 days? Did that mean for the last 3 days she had been protecting him, making sure no one else saw his hair and eyes?
It couldn’t be helped. When Nero fell unconscious, he had Virtuous Moonlight II set as his innate ability, and the consequences of it were evident. Fortunately, the changes had been slow, and would be easily reversed if he kept using Frostburn.
Nero instantly swapped his innate abilities and summoned a small flame in his hand.
"I’m sorry, doctor, but I am not considering marriage for now," Nero said out loud, sounding incredibly awkward, though his expression did not show it. He had locked eyes with the doctor, searching for any hint of her intentions.
She knew. She definitely knew, but she had kept his secret - or at least it seemed that way. Now he just had to find out why.
"Such a shame. I was hoping to study your anatomy even closer," the doctor said, looking and sounding genuinely disappointed.