The beaches of Modernia were calm that day and the absence of rain made the island feel almost unfamiliar.
Adelasta walked beside Veneri in silence for a while as they moved along the waterline. She was still thinking about everything that had happened when she noticed a familiar figure ahead of them. Alpha II was stretching near the shore with her eyes on the horizon, looking far more relaxed than she had ever looked during the first years of exile. Her hair was not blonde.
That caught Adelasta's attention immediately.
The last time she had seen Alpha II, the girl had worn that blonde appearance while traveling through Concerto with Veneri, and at the time Adelasta had assumed that was simply how she looked now. Seeing her with dark hair again made the disguise obvious all at once and it was only then that Adelasta understood how often Alpha II must have changed her appearance whenever she went back into Concerto.
It was practical, of course, but it still felt oddly impressive to see how casually she shifted between identities whenever she needed to move through the world undetected. Alpha II turned at the sound of their footsteps and the moment she saw them, her face lit up with a happiness that looked completely genuine.
"Master!" She called out brightly, then corrected herself with a small smile when she noticed Adelasta. "Oh— and hello. Even if we have not met properly yet, it is nice to meet you, Adelasta."
Adelasta smiled faintly at her.
"It's fine. You don't need to be so formal."
Veneri glanced between them, then said to Alpha II.
"Adela already knows about my past."
Alpha II let out a soft sigh, then looked out toward the sea again as if she was checking the horizon for something that was not there yet.
"Tomorrow is going to be brutal, but at least the plan is finally in motion."
Adelasta turned to her immediately.
"What plan?"
"The less people know, the better. Iridescent is a Krepsuna who knows far too much about all of your lives already, so the fewer details escape, the safer it is for everyone involved. I'll leave you two behind for a little while. I need to catch up with Parasphlen."
She turned and started walking away before Adelasta could ask anything else until the sea wind swallowed her presence into the distance. As soon as she was gone, Adelasta looked at Veneri.
"So the person you meant when you told Iridescent that you were not alone was Parasphlen."
"Yes."
Adelasta folded her arms and looked out at the water as she thought about what that meant, because now that she had seen the memories and heard the names, everything was starting to connect.
"You really spent all that time alone in Regnum Musicae?"
"My self was split, which meant my sense of time is tied to the Time Pentarch. For me, the years passed more like they do for a mortal, which made the loneliness easier to endure in some ways and worse in others. It was painful, yes, but Parasphlen was there. I didn't waste the years doing nothing. I used them to improve myself."
He glanced down at his own hand, then continued in the same calm tone.
"I spent that time perfecting my skills as a Mystical Forger. I didn't advance past the first rank right away because I was still learning the basics properly. I wanted to understand every layer before I moved on, because advancing too early would have made everything harder later. So I waited, practiced, refined and made sure my foundation was solid enough to support everything after it."
"..."
"I did the same thing with Magecraft. That is part of why I can move the way I do now. Right now I'm at the prime of my combat and life. I've rushed into becoming a Primordial Deity because that kind of transition is not supposed to happen quickly. It is meant to take centuries at the very least and I'm not going to pretend otherwise just because I have already reached the point where I can feel how far I could still go."
He looked out at the sea again, then sighed.
"When I return to the real world, all my other selves will forcefully advance to the Seventh Enlightenment and gain a First Stellar body. I'm already at ninety-nine percent of the Seventh Enlightenment, so there is not much left before that happens."
Adelasta was quiet for several seconds after that because the way he said it made the whole thing sound less like a boast and more like a report. She could hear how much discipline it had taken, how much patience and how much sheer endurance it took. He had spent decades doing what would have broken most people and he had done it while carrying loneliness.
"You were lonely."
Veneri gave a faint scoff, though not in denial.
"I was, but I got through it."
"You endured all of this, and why?"
Veneri did not answer immediately. He looked out over Modernia's shore, where the graves rested behind them and the calm water stretched in front. When he finally spoke, his voice was even softer than before.
"Because I had to."
The two of them kept walking slowly along the beach while the tide crept in and out at their feet. She had already known Veneri was strong, stubborn and that once he decided on something it was almost impossible to change his mind. He had endured loneliness for decades, planned for years and still somehow stood here like none of it had ever touched him. That was what frightened her now.
She finally remembered something important and looked up at him with a small frown.
"We came with Milliania too. Where is she?"
"She's in Antiqua handling part of the plan there. She arrived the same day as you did and when we met, I explained everything to her directly. She already understands what needs to happen."
Adelasta went quiet.
"Tomorrow is the day none of us will forget."
The words landed too neatly.
Adelasta felt that awful cold certainty sliding under her skin before she could stop it. She turned her head toward him slowly. It was not hard for her to see it, not after everything she had learned and the memories she had watched. This was another one of those plans and decisions where he had already calculated the outcome, already accepted the cost and already moved past the point where anyone else could persuade him otherwise.
This time, the realization hurt more than anger because she knew it.
Whatever tomorrow was, it would involve him doing something that would almost certainly demand his own body, his own soul or both. It was the same pattern she had seen in him again and again. He would not back away because it was dangerous. He would not change the plan because she feared it. He would not alter its course just because the pain of it was visible to her. He had always been like that and she hated how clearly she understood it now.
She could feel how much stronger he had become too.
The years had not made him careless. If anything, they had stripped away the little rough edges of irritation he used to wear so openly around her. What was left now was a man too calm and too still. He was once annoying in a way that made her want to hit him and kiss him at the same time, always joking at the worst possible moments and always turning serious situations into something she could push back against.
Now that little friction was gone. Now he was almost calm and composed. She hated that she missed the annoyance.
Adelasta looked at him and thought, with a sting of helpless grief, that this was what it meant when someone became too used to suffering. He looked like someone who had already accepted every consequence and buried his feelings deep enough that they might never rise again.
No matter how much she loved him, she could not make herself bigger than his resolve. She could not force him to care less about the outcome. She couldn't make him choose safety. She couldn't even make him look at tomorrow and hesitate.
That helplessness pressed on her chest until it almost hurt to breathe.
"There really is nothing I can do to change your mind, huh?"
He glanced at her.
"No."
Her fingers tightened faintly around her own palm.
"You really are going through with whatever this is."
"Yes."
Her expression faltered for a brief second, then hardened again out of stubborn love.
"And nothing I say will change your mind."
Veneri did not answer immediately, because he did not need to. That silence said enough. He had already made the decision and weighed the damage.
Adelasta turned her gaze back toward the water, and for a moment she said nothing at all. She knew exactly what was happening inside him now. He was always the kind of man who carried out his plans even when they were devastating to others or to himself. He believed the cost of a necessary choice was something to be paid rather than avoided, and that kind of mind. Not even Phaenora could change his mind once he had accepted a course of action like this and Adelasta knew with certainty that she could not do it either.
So all that remained was her standing beside him and supporting him as far as she could, even if the support hurt. She lowered her head slightly and when she spoke again, her voice had become quieter.
"Then I'll stay with you through it."
It really hurt to say those words. It really did.