Walking alone in the darkness, Orion returned home with light footsteps.

"Hng~"

Stretching his arms over his head, he felt a weight lifted from his shoulders.

Orion looked at the two houses with light coming out of their windows.

Behind him, the light of the hub shone brightly, and far being it, the lights of the fairy village appeared even brighter.

Horizon was still a small place with very few inhabitants, but it was the land he had created himself.

'We've been through so much in here.'

'Building a house, training here, and coming up with ideas to fight our enemies.'

So many memories were made in this realm.

'Still...'

His gaze turned to the right. In the distance, a green vortex periodically released lightning strikes from within it.

'There's still a part of my power that I haven't recovered. Unless I get it back, I will never be whole again.'

Turning back to the lights of his home, he pondered.

Ultimately, he turned toward the right and warped away.

When his feet touched the solid ground around the altar of the Elemental Shrine, Orion crossed his arms.

'It shouldn't be a problem if I leave for five more minutes.'

With everyone else being in a state of euphoria, he knew things would take a while to settle down.

Approaching the altar, Orion examined it with fascination.

The crystals of light and dark magic were still there, feeding the elemental realm their energies.

Making a low-rumbling noise, the beam that traversed vertically toward the vortex lit the entire place.

And the source of this light was the large white pearl, containing the two elements that were released to the world.

"I think it is too early to share void magic with the world. In fact, I think this shouldn't be tolerated."

Orion lifted his head and stared inside the vortex through the glass roof.

"Care to detail this to us?"

Suddenly, Orion opened his eyes wide as the surrounding space began to distort.

The voice that spoke to him shook his core, as much as the day he heard Procyon's howl.

'...'

His thoughts stopped as a new realm stretched in front of his eyes.

To his sides, an endless sea with no signs of life. In front of him, a featureless face far larger than any being should possess appeared motionless in front of his.

The being, made entirely of crystal, was so large that Orion couldn't help but feel threatened by it.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Hero."

Orion lightly pinched his cheek, forcing his mind to focus.

"That name..."

Echoing in the space, it shook Orion's soul, the foundation of his life itself, with each word.

Even the void element recoiled in front of this monster.

"I wish you no harm."

With just that, Orion's shoulders relaxed.

"You are the Primordial Remnant of the elementals, are you not? The one revived by Stella?"

"Indeed."

The head of the gigantic Primordial Remnant lifted, showing his massive body stretched past the clouds.

"You summoned me to your realm quite casually."

Feeling the sigil of Silka heat up his eyes, he could tell that the communicating power of the sigil was working past its limits to translate the thoughts of the primordial.

To alleviate the pain, Orion decided to converse with his eyes closed. It wasn't like looking at this crystallized being would give him any clue to the conversation anyway.

"Your comment confused me. Why would you not share this brand-new element with the rest of the world?"

He could feel no anger from the question. The progenitor of the elementals was actually genuinely intrigued by his choice.

"Hmm..."

Orion pondered before shrugging it off.

"Are you familiar with void magic?"

"Quite so. Since your return from the depths of time, it has become easier to feel. The idea that space and time would bend to one's wish never came to mind when I discarded smaller pieces of myself."

"That is the actual problem."

Stretching past the clouds, the giant tilted its head slowly.

"I do not understand."

"I bet."

Smiling lightly, Orion nodded.

"Considering what Henrietta declared before, your values are far more different and complex than ours."

"There is no way we will arrive at a common ground while not understanding each other's points."

The giant stayed silent, absorbing his words and carefully analyzing them.

"That's why I will explain it. In exchange, I would request your views on the elements."

Feeling his blood boil from this interaction, Orion smiled more and more. His curiosity would be satiated by this unique encounter.

"It is the first time I have conversed with your kind."

"Then listen well."

Pointing in the general direction of the titanic being, Orion began to explain his views.

"Void magic is a danger for our people. Humans, angels, demons, or other beings capable of using magic."

"If you understand the way it works, it can transport anything, be it a person or an object, somewhere else."

"That brings a very dangerous idea into perspective."

Orion reached for his face with his hand and healed his eyes, which were starting to burn terribly.

"With one wrong move, someone could warp into a wall."

The giant moved slightly.

"Does that mean injuring those people?"

"Exactly. It could lead to more than injuries. If they were to survive, it could lead to a fear of ever using it again."

"It could cause considerable damage to their society, but wrongly used, it could also lead to massive potential waste."

The idea of society was removed from the Primordial being's mind, which confused it slightly.

"What is a society?"

"It is a gathering of people with the same values. They form large groups and build around themselves, creating vast cities where their culture can shine."

"Intriguing."

"Misusing the element would cause damage to those groups and to themselves. I understand."

Glad that his point could be acknowledged, he asked.

"What about your view on the matter?"

"I believe the world would grow more creative with such an opportunity."

"Similarly to how the five original elements were created to diversify the work of Nature, I wished for my children to live harmonizing with them."

"There is nothing malevolent with the elements themselves. They do not have feelings."

Orion could agree with that. Even this Remnant was speaking in a monotone voice, showing how emotionless it was.

"But it is true that if they were to cause the destruction of other beings, they would be considered problematic. I do not wish for that."

Even after healing continuously, Orion was at the edge of forcefully stopping Silka's power.

But if he did, he would be unable to converse with the Remnant. This was his only chance to gather information about the Progenitor of the elementals.

"There is no reason to doubt your words. You have shared two of the three elements, which I believe to be admirable of you."

"You have gained nothing from doing so."

Shaking his head lightly, Orion answered.

"I gained the opportunity to speak with you. This is a reward far better than anything I could have asked for."

"..."

Orion heard what sounded like a light chuckle, but it could have been his imagination.

"You have earned a reward for your integrity and concern for your people."

Unable to see, Orion failed to see a beam of light traveling from the center of the giant's chest and enter his own.

"If you fear for the safety of the other factions, all you have to do is become one who gives."

"Hero. From this moment, I share my power with you."

"Spread the void element how you see fit. That way, the world will still benefit from it."

"I am counting on you to spread my children to even greater places, Master of the Void."

As a warm feeling invaded Orion's core, he felt a different power merge with the void element.

Slowly, the space distorted once again, sending Orion back to Horizon.

Silka's sigil stopped working at the same moment, forcing him to disconnect the thoughts of the Primordial Remnant from his own.

Opening his eyes, Orion stared at the white pearl.

"Shit... It still burns."

Rubbing his red eyes, it took a few minutes to completely heal the damage caused by a Remnant's power.

After a moment of focusing on what he had received, Orion frowned.

"The power to give..."

"It can't be serious."

Placing his hand over the torus-shaped prism, which contained a fraction of void magic inside it, Orion focused.

"Huh?"

Instantly, after wishing for the prism to be filled with the void element, he opened his eyes wide.

"It truly turned out full."

"What?"

As an experiment, Orion walked past the entrance to his left. The first animal he saw was a gorgeous owl with light-brown feathers looking straight at him.

Tilting its head, the owl hooted lightly as Orion pointed his finger at it.

"Just enough to be useful. Not too much."

Suddenly, the owl's eyes turned purple. It stretched its wings to the side, releasing particles that looked like stars.

Then it turned its gaze elsewhere and suddenly vanished, similarly to how Orion warped around.

Watching the owl reappearing in the tree with a rodent in its beak, he smiled frustratingly.

"I need to be the most careful."

As Orion walked back toward his home, an idea came to him.

"..."

But he shook his head. Opening his pocket watch, he noticed that time had stopped while he was speaking with the elemental Remnant.

"We'll see. For now, I'm hungry."

Rubbing his stomach, he warped and met with his wives, waiting for his return.