After Red's departure, Merin wasted no time. She bundled up Alev, had Emine pack their things, and took off.

With Zoltan and Reu by her side, Merin embarked on a treacherous journey to Ela. The decision to seek refuge in the Ela Desert, renowned for its brutal challenges and unforgiving terrain, was not a choice made lightly. It was a place she had once sworn never to return to, yet now it stood as their only hope.

The relentless curses that permeated the Ela Desert offered a temporary sanctuary from the wrath of the Habrin Emperor. His veins pulsed with stolen power that allowed him to wield devastating abilities. Merin didn't know the full extent of his powers. She'd only seen one, and that was enough for her to be wary of anything else he could unleash.

Emperor Kaan, with his ability to destroy nations for amusement and consume humans for sustenance, posed a terrifying threat. How could she, a lazy immortal, stand against a man who treated humans as most did animals? The fear of being digested by him drove her to seek refuge in the harsh desert. No, Merin wouldn't face the Emperor of Habrin alone.

The Ela Desert, once a thriving land, now lay barren and desolate. The dark magic that had befallen the land had drained it of life, turning fertile soil into a wasteland. Merin, who had witnessed the land's former glory, felt a pang of nostalgia for what was lost.

She'd long come to terms with the fact that Elan Nation was now the Ela Desert, and to most, the only thing of worth in it was God's Dust.

But there was one place she knew no one found. She only knew of it because of her gift from the Elan Nation. Hundreds of years ago, she'd been gifted the symbol of ni to her name.

That came with more than just a pretty symbol because, to the Inni people of Elan, ni were reserved for the anointed. The emblem of ni were sacred to their God, and not every member of the nation were afforded it. Only those with the purest of God's Blood could gain ni, even though the Inni people all had the blood of their God and a piece of his power.

For Merin, the symbol of ni was a mark of her divine connection and a source of her strength. Thanks to conversations with Red and Mordecai, she long realized that Elan's God was related to her through Caelestis, Acuzio, and Mordecai.

No matter their sorrow or bitterness, there was one place the Inni would not destroy. Merin set off to find that sacred place. Due to Red's pace, she didn't have time when she was in the desert before. He ushered them out of the desert so fast she barely had time to catch up, let alone think. And there wasn't a reason to go back in. Now, it could be all she had to hold on to in the coming days.

The Elan language was a strange twisted tongue with only one purpose: serving their God. It confounded her in the past how they cut out so many words, but she understood better why, thanks to Red. The pull of blood that thrived in every Inni meant that many things didn't need to be said. In their daughter, she saw how powerful that connection was.

Merin knew that everyone thought she was insane for dragging them into Ela, of all places. She also ignored their pointed looks when she made them set up tents and start digging. But they dug and dug until they finally struck what she was looking for: God's temple.

That was when the respect that should have been in their gaze finally came to be.

The black marble looked haunted as it poked its tips from the ugly orange sand. Merin studied it after she handed Alev to Emine. She touched it, feeling the coolness that greeted her palm. The temple, a symbol of her divine connection, was a sight that filled her with a mix of awe and trepidation.

In Elan, Merin introduced herself, and when that didn't get the reaction she desired, she opted to use every word she knew in Elan. She was at the breaking point of wanting to stomp her foot when Alev screamed out for her.

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Without a word, Merin looked back at her daughter. She then scooped up the baby and laid the baby's palm on the cold black pillar.

Instantly, the ground beneath them began to tremble and quake. Merin and Alev were pulled away from the trouble by Reu. As he did so, she watched, marveling at the twisted marble creation that was a God's temple.

Black pillars made of night sprouted like flowers, and with them, a building that defied gravity. It looked different than when she saw it last, but three hundred years had passed. Elan had learned to etch symbols and latch on architecture that didn't fit with her image of Elan.

It looked more at home, with Mordecai's strange room at which she had a peek of. The windows bore strange colors that captured the sun and threw off prisms of light that blinded everyone who stared upon it. The impossibly tall columns bore more than one level, which challenged her previous knowledge of Elan.

Merin hide swallowed her awe and turned to look at every other person.

"Never doubt me again." She said regally, and with an air of forced nonchalance, she strode into the temple.

It was even more divine inside than outside. Curved statues, glass decorations, and gems were on every inch of her new home. The lavish splendor made Merin salivate as part of her made some serious questions about past choices. She couldn't help but wonder if her life would have been different if she had embraced her divine heritage earlier. If this was how Gods were supposed to live, she might have caved into her mother's rantings sooner. Merin slapped her cheek in shame at the mere thought and ran ahead of the group with Alev to explore.

There were countless rooms; each one seemed better than the last. Merin ran down the hallways until she found the center of the temple. There was a somber air to this portion as it was devoid of grandeur.

Merin gulped as she approached the door. It swung open before she could touch it, and when she saw what was inside, she wished it hadn't.

The acquired temple boosted Merin's rag-tag team. But this was just the start of their work. Merin needed to stop the production of God's Dust, a substance that granted immense power to its users, and kick out anyone who didn't belong in the desert. The Habrin Empire could no longer defend themselves if they lost access to God's Dust.

It was the least she could do. So after Merin buried her memory about the center of the temple away, she rolled up her sleeves and got to work.

Merin had accomplished everything she wanted to in the months following Red's absence. She stopped Habrin from their God's Dust production line and took in some Red group members.

Reu was in charge of all that because only Reu knew every moving piece of Red's plan. Merin was always informed, but Reu was an active planner. Merin liked that system and saw no reason to change.

Food and water were tricky at first. Strange streams of water poured off some walls and pooled into elaborate pools, ponds, and even fountains throughout God's temple. With Merin's experience of Gods, though, she didn't want to trust that the water was good. Clearly, much had changed about this place, and maybe something was wrong with it. Emine was the one to clear up any doubt. So eager to prove herself useful, the girl jumped into a pool and gulped up the water.

There was a great need for food, though, which took a lot more work, even with the abundant water. Merin used her usual tricks to handle that, but it took time.

Alev had hit her baby milestones sooner than she was supposed to. Babies hadn't changed much in the past three hundred years, but her mixed blood of Elan, Divine, and Habrin made the baby more than average.

The baby could shake the ground with screams and say things that sounded suspiciously like complete sentences. It should have been impossible, but Merin was learning that nothing was truly so.

Acuzio had been gone for most of her life by this point, but that didn't stop the almost toddler from mimicking the Dragon God and choosing to roll when she desired to move.

Merin was hiding from Alev at this moment, meaning poor Emine ran around after the rolling baby. She wanted some alone time to soak in her favorite bathing pool that overlooked the once desolate Ela desert. The life she was breathing into the temple seemed contagious, and small patches of greenery were spreading.

Merin disrobed and slipped into the water. She savored the cool silky feel of it. Above her head, an ornate mural depicted what Elan used to look like. The lush greenery overflowed every inch of the image. The glittering water was full of gems that she yearned to pluck free of their entrapment.

Just as Merin imagined how they would feel, she heard something that set her heart pounding. The heavy steps of someone who didn't belong came from the expansive arch windows.

Merin closed her eyes, and she struck the second she pinpointed the sound. Only to her dismay, the dirty rag-covered intruder was Red.

And he was bleeding out on her beautiful black marble.