Kara Thynne opened her silver eyes abruptly as a pulse of energy was sent across the Divine Realm.

“The sixth column,” Kara said to herself.

Ira, ignorant of the consequences of his own actions, had broken another taboo. If he happened to break four more then the Gods could appear in the Mortal Realm. At this point, it wasn’t a matter of if to the Gods it was when. They were building the Tartarus, a prison of infinite realities, to hold him. After they captured him it was likely they would spend the rest of their time trying to extract every secret from his body.

Kara’s silver hair swayed as her anger and frustration increased. Most of the powerful Gods behaved in a fickle manner. The schemes they made were worse than what any mortal could dream of.

“If that is the way Gods behave then so be it,” Kara closed her eyes and concentrated.

Primary Gods could send their blessings to Mortals in the hopes of raising a well-groomed pawn. Some could even create angels to serve them as an army of soldiers. Kara had never put any stock into those abilities but now it seemed she needed to fix her thoughts. Her divinity was centered around combat and war so there was no way she could raise an oracle, at least, one that would be able to send a message. So, she decided to send a blessing if she could. She had no idea if her daughter lived, or if she had any descendants, but if they did a blessing could possibly warn them of what was to come.

A silver light encased her body as she became completely still.

…

Meanwhile, in the Mortal Realm. Two months had passed while Ira was unconscious. The general population didn’t know about his health but those who did weren’t in much of panic.

Ira’s condition improved with each day but the fact that he shouldn’t have been in such a state remained. He temporarily put himself outside the laws of the world and reality and as a result, he was experiencing the recoil from going back to normal. His mind was the main thing affected by his ability. It was attempting to readjust to everything, hence his period of inactivity.

What he did was similar to those who could embody an Origin Force but his ability was far more effective. One had to think of the sheer power that could be achieved if a person were to remove the constraints placed on them by the world. To put it in perspective, there was a limit to someone’s strength in the Mortal Realm. Once an individual hit that limit they would ascend to the Divine Realm. Ira already bypassed his ascension by placing a sigil on himself that kept him under the said limit. Ira’s state of Reality Separation was like if he removed the sigil and created his own rules for the world.

In essence, Ira unlocked the possibility of reshaping and reforming reality to accommodate his own actions. A simple step forward caused the destruction of everything within one thousand feet of him and that wasn’t even scratching the surface. If Ira could control and perfect his ability then he would end up as something more than a God just as the Wolf did. Though, as long as he didn’t take that final step into the Void it was unlikely that he would become any stronger. There was the small chance that he found some way to circumvent the process of destroying his material form but even the Wolf didn’t know if it was possible.

…

Rhys had found Ira’s note to her but when she went to look for him she found out he was comatose. As the days went by her stress increased greatly and it reached the point where she wasn’t allowed to see him at all to prevent her from panicking. Since she was in her late stages of pregnancy, there were a group of female Dark Elves around her at all times. Even Rhys’ family, who arrived at the Underground City to see her, failed to comfort her.

Suddenly, Rhys clutched her abdomen and winced in pain and as soon as she did, the Dark Elves rushed over to her.

“Are you unwell?” A Dark Elf asked.

Rhys shook her head and tried to stand up but the pain was too much. It was only after a minute when the pain subsided and she was able to get up.

“I’ll go inform the Keepress and the others.” The Dark Elf nodded to the others before she exited with hurried steps.

The first to arrive was Sylvia who approached Rhys and grabbed her by the hand. “Can you move?”

Rhys nodded with a questioning look that Sylvia noticed.

“It’s likely that you’re currently in labor, Rhys. We’ll move you to an appropriate place for you to give birth,” Sylvia explained.

Rhys was visibly shaken by Sylvia’s statement and her breathing became unsteady.

“You have to stay calm, Rhys. Ok?” Sylvia gestured toward the other Dark Elves who would serve as birth companions as they guided Rhys out of the room.

As they moved, the metal fitting on furniture and doors began to loosen while any pieces of metal that weren’t attached to something began to float.

…

Ira’s blood stirred as something called out to him. Whoever it was, they were fearful and wanted him to comfort them.

“Who is it?” Ira questioned inwardly.

He felt as if he was sinking into a stagnant ocean that caused him to feel languid. His body was incredibly light and he was comfortable the entire time. It was as if he was trapped in a dream-like state and he didn’t want to wake up for the time being.

“Wait...Where am I?” Ira began to recall that he wasn’t in a dream.

Once again, his blood stirred and something tried to communicate with him. It was a strangely familiar yet inexperienced call that reached his bloodline.

“Raveria? No...How did I get here?” Ira asked himself once again as his memories came flooding back. “How long have I been here?”

The feeling in his bloodline increased, it was an infantile and unrefined feeling that was desperate for his response. It couldn’t have been from Raveria since she was too experienced for such a thing to be true. Harper was crossed of the list of possibilities since her bloodline resonance wasn’t powerful enough to give off the current feeling.

“Who could it be then?” Ira pondered.

He suddenly thought of the answer and it pulled him out of his lethargic state.

“It can’t be!” Ira’s consciousness erupted in excitement and nervousness. He had no idea of what was happening outside and no way of telling how long had passed. He focused his mind and concentrated to force himself awake.

…

On the outside, Ira’s finger twitched slightly. Then, his entire hand moved and balled into a fist.

“Mooncakes!” Ira abruptly sat up and opened his eyes. He took a deep breath and then climbed out of bed before falling flat on his face.

“Has it been that long?” Ira asked aloud.

“It has,” Avery’s voice resounded in Ira’s ears. She was standing at the entrance of the room but immediately moved toward Ira to help him up.

“I got it,” Ira said as he stood up and regained his balance. He blinked a few times before speaking. “First, is everything alright?”

“We have a lot to talk about but that can wait for another time. Rhys is in the middle of giving birth at this moment,” Avery said.

“So it was real? Where is–” Ira asked but he suddenly stopped talking. He noticed that Avery’s body had changed. There was also a distinct feeling from his bloodline reacting to her.

Ira focused his hearing and could hear two heartbeats coming from her body. The Phoenix heart wasn’t a possibility since it perfectly mirrored her own heartbeat so that could only mean one thing.

“Avery!” Ira pointed to Avery with clear shock.

She smiled at him and nodded which caused him to laugh wildly with pure joy.

“Come on, I’ll show you. Raveria is already there as well as Harper, my mother, and Sylun.”

“Right, let’s go,” Ira said with a smile.

…

There was an infant crying incredibly loud but everyone in the room looked relieved. Sylvia exhaled with a tired smile. She recalled Raveria’s birth which was far harder to go through. Since Ira’s newborn son was half-human he wasn’t as monstrous as a time-warping Raveria.

As Rhys held her crying son with a warm expression, Sylun began speaking.

“Have you thought of a name? I know the Keeper has been...asleep during these past few weeks so I’m not sure if he would have a name in mind.”

Rhys nodded and pointed to a notepad to which Harper grabbed and handed to her. The latter was insistent on helping Rhys give birth and as a result was left shaken by her experience. She even shuddered a few times while recalling it.

Rhys silently laughed at Harper’s mood and began to write. She handed the notepad back and everyone in the room took a peek at what she wrote.

[Zephyr.]

The name of her son was written in neat handwriting.

“A wonderful name,” Sylun complimented.

That’s when Rhys looked past the group as someone new entered the room. Zephyr immediately stopped crying and everyone turned around to see the new arrival.

“Good thing you named him first because I was going to call him Mooncakes,” Ira said with a light laugh. Avery stood next to him and Raveria held onto his hand but was clearly eager to see her newborn brother.

“Keeper.” Sylun, Sylvia, and the other Dark Elves immediately bowed as Ira entered.

“Ira!” Harper ran into Ira and hugged him. “...It was terrible.”

It was clear she was traumatized by her experience but Ira just ruffled her hair and smiled before moving past her.

“Can I hold him?” Ira asked Rhys who nodded in response before handing Zephyr over.

The boy’s yellow eyes opened widely as they scanned Ira’s features and he quickly flashed a toothless smile at his father.

Ira smiled back and the two just stared at each other in amazement for a few minutes longer.