Entrusting the matter of Hanako to Da Vinci, the version of Vahn that had called her over made his way to a relatively ‘distant’ location within the Sage Dragon’s Hearth.
Contrasting the completely normal exterior, the interior of the Sage Dragon’s Hearth had expanded exponentially since its establishment. Each room could serve as a localized Realm, and, the moment you descended into the basement, a labyrinth reminiscent of Benienma’s Enmatei awaited you.
Unless you had permission to be there, navigating the more secure regions of the Sage Dragon’s Hearth was like trying to travel between dimensions without even the most rudimentary mastery over space and time. Every path would lead you back to the entrance, and, unless you knew the spatial coordinates of your destination, forcing open any of the doors would connect you to the streets outside.
The only beings that could outright ignore the security measures of the Sage Dragon’s Hearth were Vahn, Will, and the Companions. This was an intentional design flaw, as, throughout the course of his life, Vahn had learned that the more secure and off-limits a place was, the more likely a Child of Destiny would find their way in. It might not happen any time soon, but, so long as there was a rare or powerful treasure contained within, fate would conspire to have someone make use of it…
Bypassing the doors that would have contained his personal atelier and workshop, Vahn entered a door connecting to what appeared to be an outdoor antechamber. It was a small space decorated with various types of plants, but, more importantly, there were three ancient-looking marble doors perfectly interspaced at each of the cardinal directions. There was also a stone bench, but, ignoring everything else, Vahn made his way to the Easternmost door, an entrance marked with the motifs of various animals.
Placing his hand at the center of the stone door, a magical pattern reminiscent of vines immediately lit up before gradually covering the surface. Once it had, the material of the door appeared to break down into mist-like particles, but, instead of dispersing like a gaseous vapor, it held its form even as Vahn passed through to the other side.
Passing through the door, Vahn found himself in the center of an almost spherical clearing formed from various plants. The stone door immediately solidified behind him, but, rather than connecting to anything, it stood at the exact center of the clear, completely isolated from everything except the stone platform it was situated upon.
Spreading his senses through the area, a smile developed across Vahn’s face as he extended his hand to form a cantaloupe-sized rhinoceros beetle. Instead of a black carapace, however, it was formed almost entirely of a deep, amethyst-purple crystal that exuded a tremendous amount of magical energy.
Following the appearance of the beetle, an amorphous white blur entered the clearing without producing so much as a single sound. Then, despite moving at massively hypersonic speeds, it impacted Vahn’s body without pushing him backward before coiling around his torso and into his tunic before emerging from his sleeve in the form of a diminutive girl possessing six arms, healthy brown skin, large fluffy ears, and a body covered in predominately white fur.
Using two of her arms and legs, the tiny figure latched to Vahn’s arm while seizing the beetle in his hand with a ravenous expression on her face. It didn’t matter that the beetle was nearly as large as her head. The moment her claws penetrated its crystalline carapace, her jaw stretched in a manner eerily reminiscent of a cartoon character as she chomped down on more than a third of the fretful insect in a single bite.
Chuckling in amusement at the sight, several other insects began to emerge from Vahn’s body as he took a seat. Immediately thereafter, several other phantoms entered the clearing, each darting over to one of the insects on his body before claiming their prize and perching themselves upon him. This continued until the only part of his body uncovered by fluffy white fur was Vahn’s wryly smiling face.
Fortunately, the moment they realized there was no room left for them to perch, the amorphous little girls began to meld together until they had constructed a form even larger than Vahn. Then, as they would much rather be smaller, the oversized anomaly spontaneously shrunk until she was able to sit snuggly within Vahn’s lap. Several other versions of her showed up after that, but, rather than pouncing on Vahn, they accepted their prize before shrinking down and combining with the version of themselves purring in response to his caress…
With several minutes passing, each of the stragglers was finally able to reach the clearing. Then, and only then, did Vahn break the silence, asking, “Have you been getting along with your brother and sister?”
Responding to Vahn’s inquiry, the fluffy white creature ceased purring before raising its head and adopting a far more human appearance as it stated, “Xys has been a good girl.”
Pinching the loveable little girl’s cheeks, Vahn adopted an affectionate smile as he mused, “Xysteria is always a good girl.”
With her eyes widened to an almost comical extent, Xysteria muttered a mystified, “Woh…” before promptly pouncing on her papa and exclaiming, “Xys loves Papa~!” in a happy tone.
Chuckling in response to the overly affectionate girl’s words, Vahn combed down Xysteria’s fan-like tails before supporting her like a koala. This was always enough to immediately calm her down, so, while her body morphed into a form easier to hold, Vahn shifted his attention towards empty space and asked, “Are you not going to come out and say hello?”
Responding to Vahn’s words, a soft yet perennially calm voice answered, “I didn’t want to interrupt before you succeeded in calming her down.”
Manifesting along with the words, even though his mouth didn’t move, was a remarkably thin and petite young boy resembling a time-themed harlequin. There were various timepieces adorning his body, but, far more noticeable than the youth’s appearance were the illusory clocks that encircled his body like pale-blue, three-dimensional projections.
“Though it has only been seventeen hours, thirty-three minutes, and forty-nine seconds since we last met, it is good to see you father.”
Though the youth’s expression didn’t change in the slightest, he punctuated his words by removing the bicorn cap from his head. This revealed an extra set of cat ears, but, more importantly, allowed Vahn to extend his hand and gently ruffle the youth’s pale, ashen-grey hair as he said, “It’s good to see you as well, Krona. I trust you have been keeping things in order while I was away?”
Offering the faintest of smiles, Krona, once again without his mouth moving, answered, “Of course. I would never betray the trust that Father and Mother have placed in me. Speaking of which, how has Mother been? I miss her dearly.”
Smiling wryly in response to his son’s melancholic remark, Vahn resisted the urge to remind him he could always go and visit Alaya whenever he wanted. Unfortunately, unless the planet they were on was put into stasis, he refused to divert his attention for so much as a single attosecond. Alaya had given him the task of observing and protecting Silva, so, unless she manifested to accompany them, Krona wasn’t going anywhere.
Unfortunately, Alaya had a very similar mentality. She was constantly monitoring each and every one of Gaia’s ever-increasing Textures, so, unless Vahn put his foot down, paused time, and brought everyone together, the headstrong mother and son refused to take a break.
Though he was tempted to do exactly that, Vahn’s options were limited as Silva was currently in a dormant state. She was getting ready to ‘birth’ her first generation of Gods, so, while Xysteria drove evolution on the Surface, Krona kept silent vigil over Silva as she gathered strength in the planet’s core.
“Don’t worry. It probably won’t be today but I’ll make sure to bring it up the next time I see Alaya. It’s been a while so I’m pretty sure I can talk her and your other mothers into an impromptu family reunion of sorts.”
Perking up in response to Vahn’s words, Xysteria grew to the size of a small, approximately ten-year-old child she excitedly inquired, “Tiamama come here!?”
Though he channeled a bit of calming energy into her back to reduce Xysteria’s tensions, Vahn didn’t hesitate to nod his head, answering, “Of course. The two of you can even play in the sea again.”
As the sea was basically the starting point of terrestrial life, it was the region most susceptible to Tiamat’s and Xysteria’s influence. This made it a remarkably dangerous place for Xysteria to play, but, as sapient life had yet to form on Silva’s surface, advancing evolution by a few million years over the course of a single barbeque wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Rather, Silva and Krona had grown fond of their chaotic little sister’s creations…
Unable to contain herself, even with Vahn’s coaxing, Xysteria’s body continued to increase in size until he could no longer hold her naturally. Then, undermining his efforts from before, her body promptly ‘exploded’ into more than a hundred different versions of herself. This caused the original Xysteria to feel more than a little guilty, but, before she could even think to apologize, Vahn took a seat and repeated similar words as before, stating, “No need to get upset. Even when you’re split up like this, Xysteria is still a good girl.”
Though a few of her less stable counterparts wandered off into the surrounding, primordial forest, the vast majority of Xysteria(s) immediately pounced on their Papa. Receiving his praise made her tummy feel like it was filled with a swarm of tiny, winged insects. It was a very unpleasant feeling if she tried to suppress it, so, whenever she felt happy or excited, Xysteria let everything out without inhibition. This was something she could only do with her Papa, so, knowing it was only a matter of time until he had to leave, she practically buried him in her clones, each vying for the opportunity to be closest to his warmth.
Fortunately, the moment he realized this, Vahn unhesitantly abandoned his human form, willfully assuming a more amorphous form so that he could ’embrace’ each of the Xysteria(s) at the same time. This prompted Krona to pull out one of his timepieces, a large pocket watch, as, rather than feeling as though he was being ignored, he rather enjoyed documenting how long it took his father to calm Xysteria down…
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Emerging from the ancient-looking door with unkempt hair and a number of persistent bite marks all over his body, Vahn made his way over to the Northernmost door to meet with Alaya, Gaia, and Tiamat. Silva wouldn’t be waking up any time soon, but, if they really wanted to, it was possible for Krona to advance the flow of time within her Realm until the exact moment when she woke up.
As a Primordial God of Time, Krona had all the knowledge and memories of his past, present, and future selves. The only variables in his life were Vahn, his immediate family members, and anyone who gained access to his sister’s Realm from the ‘outside’. For this reason, he was very fond of his family, as, for the most part, they were the only things that added even a hint of spice to his life.
Understanding this, Vahn did his best to abide by any requests Krona made of him. This included speaking to Alaya on his behalf, but, before he could do that, he had to pacify yet another force of chaos. This one manifested in the form of a remarkably beautiful woman with inordinately long hair that cascaded from her scalp like a literal waterfall. Her eyes, radiation a pink glow, seemed capable of piercing through the very truths of the universe, but, far more noticeable than anything else was the skintight bunny suit and rabbit-like ears currently veiling her indescribably voluptuous body…
“Vaaaaah, come play with me~”
Unable to resist the woman’s invitation, Vahn allowed her to pull him into an isolated sub-space, a dry chuckle emanating from his throat as he mused, “It’s good to see you as well, Tia…”
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(A/N: Alternate Titles: ‘The Sage Dragon’s Hearth is like one of those optional/secret dungeons you accidentally stumble upon in an RPG…’,’Xysteria is too precious for this world…’,’Vahn is powerless against the danger bun…’)
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