First, Aiden dropped Leyla off in the infirmary. From what he could tell of her exertion, she would need to rest for a few hours before she, without a doubt and with peak stubbornness, crawled out of bed to hunt him down so she could hound him over when they’d depart to fight Xenith. People could say what they wanted about her, but when she dedicated herself to do something, nothing would get in her way.

And he’d just promised to give her the things he wanted most.

Whether his warning to the attendants would do any good was yet to be seen, but he had pressing matters to attend to and had done what he could for them. Now, their future stress levels hinged on how feisty Leyla felt.

While she slept, he meandered through the city he’d raised from ground up. Bled, sweat, and suffered for. To find out what felt like months on Midrath was but a fraction of that on Earth had rattled him, but he’d taken it in stride. There were a lot of implications he didn’t care to explore.

With the ability to create portals between worlds and tried and true time dilation… Not his problem, though the health effects of spending time on Midrath intrigued him for a moment. Then he remembered the system had brought magic with it and any semblance of what he thought to be natural and reasonable would be altered.

Which made him wonder, after his ascension and with the accumulation of all of his powers, how long could he possibly live for should he find a nice cozy place with Leyla to kick back and enjoy life at? From the existence of immortals and gods and whatever else, he couldn’t imagine a long life of seventy-five years being the standard.

He smiled at each and every person as they passed by, some casually talking theorycrafting their training or training development like it was basic math. Likely through Cloudy, Magnus, and Oli’s efforts, Zion had changed into something grand.

The city’s banners flew high, the poles glowing with enchantments. Everyone wore armor and carried weapons of their choice.

“We’ve come far from when we first got here.”

“I thought you were staying with Aunt Rachel, Oli.” Aiden turned around to see his twin approaching, though she looked just as confused as he.

“I don’t remember agreeing to staying on Earth?” She tilted her head as if thinking, then shook her head. “Nope, sure didn’t. I did agree to let you run off, probably to endanger your life alone again, and be the fearless hero Zion once needed. Mmm, maybe not alone.” She knelt and pet Blizzy’s head. “I suppose you’ve got a dragon and battle-crazed girlfriend with you this time around.”

“That I do.” He didn’t even try to deny his intentions.

“You did it back in the school and its boss. Did it again with the big bug bastard.” She started holding up fingers after each instance. “Again with Loki and that chaos, then the Alpha beasts, and essentially martyred yourself with the Valkyr. It’s easier to think of times you did run off than times you didn’t, now that I think about it. I’d even argue the first time you killed the Lesser Evil that took out Mr. Feriger—may he rest in peace.”

“Pieces?” Aiden winced.

“Too soon,” Oli deadpanned, staring at him for a long moment. “It’s… hard, you know? I-I’ve accepted everyone here as home. And that we’re all doomed to be left behind by you. I think I’ve known it for a while, maybe even from the beginning.”

He didn’t know what to say and started feeling uncomfortable. The emotional thing wasn’t his strong suit, and she looked like she had a lot to get off her chet. “Let’s… Let’s go for a walk, okay?”

She grimaced and looked up at the multi-colored sky. “When you ask like that, it makes it seem like this is goodbye. Isn’t that what leaving me with Aunt Rachel was supposed to be?” Without giving him time to think, she began continuing in his original direction: through the central path leading upward to the Ruler’s Throne. “Are you that unsure about victory, or are you done playing hero? Ready to run off into the wilderness with your pretty but psycho lover lady?”

He grinned. “A hint of jealousy I’m hearing?”

“Ew, no.” She huffed. “I’m not sure what I was thinking, but things with James were never serious. After Arkayan, nobody is worth his time.” She thumbed toward Aiden. “Except maybe you.”

He shrugged, well aware James would likely still be struggling with Anna and Josh for a lot longer if Nin’Yala deigned to see their training through to the end. James’ inability to grasp his power even remotely to begin forming aura had caught Aiden off guard. From all the arrogance and boasting about sparring, Aiden had grown to expect more.

But Josh and Anna had progressed, even if little, while James hadn’t even managed a step before Aiden departed. James’ shift was reminiscent of how Adam had behaved in the beginning. All hot air and no substance.

“Too bad he’s not worth mine.” As harsh as the words felt leaving his lips, he believed them to be true.

“Is it because you can’t trust him?” Oli asked, eyeing him carefully to measure his reaction. “Or rather you can’t trust Arkayan? The great doom and gloom, master of secret knowledge, void spawn, and hope of the dark people—or something.”

“Or something.” Arkayan still remained a wild card Aiden didn’t know how to regard. For all that Arkayan had helped Aiden, the Shadowborn left Aiden suspicious time and again of his motives. “Is that what you’re here for?”

She scoffed. “I didn’t have any intention of running into you at all while here. I was here for the compendium. Wanted to start teaching Aunt Rachel. She mentioned something about multiple races through worlds—you know the deal… We’ll need schools for languages, history, training for delegations, a greater force to repel any militaristic faction that thinks they want a piece of us. She theorizes such schools might already exist, maybe as a web of connected knowledge, maybe as independent organizations… Obviously it’s still too soon to know, but regardless of the situation, we have to have a way to normalize information, prepare people for the new world. Like, think of the children and the curriculum.” She smirked. “Less math class, more hands-on survival and magical handling.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

As she spoke, he listened with great interest. The ideas they’d touched upon had been curiosities of his own at some point when he wasn’t running around fighting things. The ramifications of introducing magic to their world and entering a multi-realmed reality spanned far greater than his mind could keep up with.

But even what he could think of intrigued him, and he wasn’t a genius like Oli. She likely had taken the endless iterations of what once was impossible and conceived countless ways to make them possible, and iterate further still.

“That sounds nice,” he said with a genuine smile. “I’m happy you found your place.”

“Not the way I foresaw how we’d inevitably go our own ways, you know?” she mused, looking around at all they’d built with her arms wide. “To imagine we set the foundation for all of this, all that’s to come.”

“All of you have done amazing raising Zion, that’s true.”

She smacked his arm and stopped in front of him, bringing their walk to a pause. “None of this would have been possible without you.”

It was his turn to scoff. “Anybody could’ve done what I did. Not everyone could learn an entire magical language, learn forging from literal aliens, or managed all of the parties, taking on the integration of the new arrivals… What I did was little in the grand scheme of things, Oli.”

She leveled a piercing stare. “Why do you try so hard to downplay your importance to Zion? Will that make the choice to leave easier for you when the time comes, or are you really so unaware of how important you are to the people here? Do you really not know the value of all that you’ve done?”

“It could’ve been anyone, Oli.”

“No, it couldn’t.” She shook her head. “Who else would it have been when we were in the school? Adam? If you don’t remember, everyone almost got overrun while you were off fighting the boss by yourself.” The exasperation in her voice weighed on him. “Even after that, you gave everyone the option to join and come here. Their choice was their own, and the weight of their choices doesn’t fall on your shoulders.”

“I could’ve gone back for them.” Not that he thought they’d make a different choice.

A second smack found his shoulder. “See, that! The moment they declined your offer, they weren’t our problem. You did everything you could for those who chose to follow you, even when we couldn’t give back to you. You’ve given so much and asked so little in return, never expecting us to do anything to repay all that you gave.” She paused. “Hmm, maybe you’re a terrible leader after all.”

“That’s a quick swap up.” He gestured up the long path. “Care to continue walking while you explain why you’ve suddenly changed your mind?”

She began backstepping as she talked. “Your ability to delegate is pretty trash and you rush off, face-first, into anything you can punch. So sure, maybe you’re not a good leader, but you are a hero.”

Aiden groaned. “That’s probably the cringiest thing you’ve said to me in a long time.”

“But it’s true!” She waved her arms around. “Sure, you didn’t help manage everything, but you didn’t need to. You were always there punching anything trying to threaten everything we’ve all worked so hard to build. You were the guardian of this place, and everyone knows that. There isn’t a single person who doesn’t recognize you, admire you, respect you.”

They had an odd way of showing it, he mused. “I’m tired of this conversation. Let’s talk about something else.”

“Nah, if you’re gonna go running off and not come back, at least hear me out before you do.” She waited a moment for him to accept or reject. When he said nothing, she took his silence as a sign for her to continue. “I’m not really sure what it means to be a leader. My experience is admittedly very limited outside of what I’ve been doing to organize things, however I’m going to go back on my previous statement. You’re a very heroic leader, Aiden, and I’ll smack you again if you try to argue.”

She raised her hand, playfully threatening and daring him to talk back. “I was the same as everyone else. We all did our parts. There’s nothing heroic or leaderly about that.”

“We all followed you.” She pointed up the path toward where the Ruler’s Throne waited. “You beat the boss, saved the day, and got the great quest for salvation. Not us.”

“Okay, fine. I’m good at fighting and can’t do math to save my life. At least the new world will have something I’m good at.” His joking tone didn’t convince Olivia, and she rolled her eyes. “What?”

“Is this some kind of insecurity complex, or what? Imposter syndrome? It doesn’t fit you.” She lowered the threatening hand. “You know… I only ever hoped you’d be happy.” She stared at the throne, wistful. “You never listen to reason. Even if I try to change your mind, you’ll still run off to fight your grand battle, so I won’t bother.” She turned to face him. “Can a big sister get a hug from her grumpy little brother?”

“We’re twins, Oli.”

“And I’m older by three minutes!” A little bit of her old self peeked through, and he couldn’t help but smile.

He opened his arms wide, and they embraced. She squeezed as if trying to hold him tight enough to rip his soul from his body. After a few seconds, he uncomfortably patted her on the back.

When she didn’t let go, he groaned. “Oli.”

“Just… a little longer.” Her voice was husky, and he pretended he didn’t hear her quiet sniffling.

“Oli.”

“A little longer…”

“...Oli.”

“Fine!” She let go of her death hug and turned away, wiping at her face.

“You alright?”

“It’s… There’s just dust in my eyes, duh.” When she turned back, he could still see the streaks left behind by the tears, but now he saw steel in her gaze. “You come back before you disappear, or I’ll hunt you down and drag you back myself. Got it?”

“We’ll see how things go.” He wouldn’t make a promise he couldn’t keep, and there were far too many details outside of his control to give her false hope.

She looked back down the path and then back at Aiden, mulling over his words. “That’s probably for the best.” The familiar, old light in her eyes twinkled out. “Goodbye then, Aiden.”

“Take care of Aunt Rachel for me, Oli.”

“Obviously.”

“And, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry I couldn’t have been a better brother.”

“An idiot until the last second, huh? Why did I expect anything less?” Without another word, she departed down the path and left Aiden to his thoughts, a sense of melancholy lingering in his chest.

He didn’t bother answering Midrath’s buzz and instead chose to just stare at the multi-colored sky. Somehow he found it more comforting than the sky he witnessed on Earth. Midrath had become home, and now, he would leave even it behind.