Ivaenzikal:

  Ivan turned his head from one guest as he felt another reach out to his domain.

  “I’m sorry, Ishi. I have another guest.”

  The sharp-eyed presence in tribal clothes stood up from their game board and offered a hand. “I’ll admit my defeat and visit again for a rematch, old friend.”

  Ivan took his hand and shook it, a smile on his face.

  Then, Ishi turned and departed through a nearby door before fading entirely.

  “Jay.” Ivan said with warmth in his voice as he reappeared in another wing of his palatial residence. “And company.” He added with surprise, seeing the girl with mismatched green and blue eyes.

  “Ivan, this is my daughter, Anise.” The older of the pair said.

  “Nice to meet you, young one.” Ivan began, turning towards the young girl who was scrutinizing him with incredible intensity.

  Anise put him on edge, not saying a word for several long seconds, only peering at him with a complicated and inscrutable expression. “What are you?”

  Ivan frowned, briefly stunned. Then, he regarded her anew, eyes narrowed and intense. “I stand corrected. You’re no youth. To answer your question, I am Ivan. I am the leader of the immortals who once protected Earth.”

  Anise began pacing around him slowly, her head tilted in curiosity. “What is the state of my ancestral home world?”

  Ivan straightened and turned his attention to Marielle, who had a complicated expression, which settled on suspicion that was even more surprisingly directed at him.

  She trusts the girl over me? That’s actually a bit hurtful.

  Shoving away his sense of betrayal, he turned back to Anise. “Have you the time to discuss such irrelevant matters? Unless you intend on traveling to Earth, I don’t really see how the information is useful.”

  Marielle sat down at the table nearby and put her feet up casually. “Perhaps another topic for future discussion. Ivan, do you know something about my former body’s cultivation? I have a memory gap that I hoped you could fill in.”

  After a few moments of thought, Ivan put the pieces together and sighed at the realization. “I can tell you, but I need you to promise me a favor.”

  “She can’t.” Anise interjected. “Anything she promises now won’t include Mari’s approval.”

  “I see, that’s understandable. Apologies for the impertinent request.”

  “What is this favor you need? I can at least promise to talk to her about it.” Marielle said.

  Ivan gave the matter an instant of devoted thought. Based on what he knew of Marielle’s personality, she wouldn’t ignore the issue. Mari, on the other hand, would come down to how much she would take after her forebears. It was no guarantee, but he’d not lived so long without taking a few educated guesses along the way.

  “Agreed. My favor, then. In short, Galileo is in trouble. He came to me not long ago in an emotional state, speaking of suicide to avoid being coerced into crafting weapons for someone. A couple days ago, I sensed him end his own life. But instead of scattering his immortal soul, it was entrapped.”

  Marielle visibly bristled at the news, her feet swiftly hitting the ground as she sat bolt upright. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!”

  “What would that have done? You’re stuck on Sylpharia. The real question is who else he told about it.” Anise cut back in, cold logic smothering Marielle’s instinctive panic.

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  Ivan nodded at the girl. “Galileo begged me not to involve you in this matter. Claimed it would be too dangerous for you to get involved. But with him imprisoned as he is, I refuse to leave a friend to his fate. Could you please speak with Miss Mari about this matter and potentially keep it in mind if you are ever in a position to render aid?”

  Marielle’s shoulders sagged, the fight going out of her. She nodded.

  “Thank you.” Ivan sat down across from Marielle and gathered his thoughts. “Your cultivation is a unique one. Your Harmony affinity is only one aspect to your true abilities, though. It allows you to bond closely with your companions and bolster their own abilities by supporting them. It’s why you were the best choice for my second in command within the Dynast Souls. Your ability to uplift the whole team.”

  Anise finally took a seat and grinned at him. “Don’t try to veil your words in front of me, dragon.”

  Ivan froze. Just how much can this child see?

  Given time, I can learn anything I want to. The child’s voice echoed in his head. Him, an adult dragon with thousands of years of power and experience, and yet she could dig past his defenses and mentally communicate with him without his permission!

  “Fine.” Ivan breathed out a sharp exhale through his nose. It was an interesting expression when given context for his species. “Some background knowledge, then.”

  Marielle’s expression stiffened, and she glanced briefly at Anise and back again at Ivan.

  “I am not from Earth. None of our group were. We were dispatched to protect the world from mana contamination by gathering it ourselves and converting it into our own strength. We first rid the world of mana-tainted monsters, then remained as guardians for thousands of years.

  “Until the command structure of our organization was forcibly disbanded. Against your advice, I decided not to inform anyone else of the news. When the others inevitably realized something was wrong, some challenged me. It caused disruptions within our group. I was attacked. In my final days, Medjay—one of your prior incarnations—offered to save me.

  “She offered to temporarily incorporate my soul into her own, creating a safe refuge via our bond. The other half of your ‘cultivation’ is that secret. An ability to unfailingly save the life of someone close to you.”

  Marielle worked her jaw, a frown creasing her features as she processed the information.

  “Why don’t I remember any of this?”

  Ivan raised his hands helplessly. “A safety precaution, perhaps?”

  Anise waved the theory off. “Not important. How does it work, exactly?”

  A deep rumbling laugh came unbidden to Ivan’s throat. “Near as I can tell, it takes thousands of years of hard work. Medjay collected various connections with hundreds of people in every lifetime, drawing on excess scraps of their own nascent energy to feed the ability over time. Affinities are often like that. One feeds and supports the other naturally.”

  Marielle’s expression lifted slightly. “The conclusion I came to about Mari taking that cultivation for herself. It’s the only impression I got from reaching out to my old body mentally. Medjay planned for this, somehow. The only way to safeguard the secret ability was to veil it, but even with the truth revealed, the end goal doesn’t change.”

  Anise took a different implication away from the conversation. “Mother…” She whispered.

  “Hm?” Ivan asked, intrigued by the tone.

  “It’s how my other mom, Doctor Sylvia, survived.”

  Marielle’s eyes widened. “I don’t remember doing anything of the sort. I remember the grief of believing Sylvia died.”

  “If Medjay didn’t want the secret to be revealed, then that’s how it would be.” Ivan said with finality.

  Marielle bit her lip, clearly frustrated by the dead ends in her memories.

  “It isn’t really that important. It tells us more about why we need to find my mother’s old body. I wonder how precisely the ability must work for you to say it can save someone ‘unfailingly,’ though.”

  “It’s powerful. The ability to save the lives of those close to you? All I can say is that it saved me once. When she saved my life, she effectively needed to start over from scratch. I believe that is the drawback to the technique. Earth’s game language might call it a cooldown, but the function is the same. Multiple lifetimes of effort invested to save a single person only once.”

  Anise playfully chewed on that information for a moment before she responded. “That’s fascinating. What would I even call that pair of affinities? My own Springmoon arts really roll off the tongue.”

  “Medjay referred to it as Everlasting Harmony.” Ivan supplied.

  Anise nodded. “I approve. Now, since we can write off a few shitty surprises that might come up, we can better prepare for traveling to meet the hero herself.”

  Ivan smiled fondly, despite all the strangeness of the meeting, recalling eras of memories with his subordinates. I wonder if I’ll ever stop accumulating more debts to this human. Heavens forbid I ever start to repay them. Wait for her, Galileo. Await our savior.

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