A portal rippled open inside the spaceship with a soft blue hiss and a woman stepped out of it.
Her long jade hair fell behind her so much that it dragged over the spotless spaceship floor in a slow, shimmering line. It was ridiculous, honestly. Her eyes were a deep jade hue now. Her skin was still the same colour as Veneri, her posture was more composed than it had ever been and there was no question about it anymore.
Hansel's voice chimed through the ship with the kind of cheer only an AI could manage after watching someone suffer for centuries.
"Congratulations. You finished the Omniscient fairytale test, Rumpelstiltskin."
Phaenora let out a long, exhausted sigh and looked up at the ceiling.
"Was making me turn straw into gold really a good idea?"
Hansel did not answer immediately, which was probably the closest thing an AI could do to embarrassment. Phaenora walked a few steps forward rubbed her forehead.
She really had done it.
She had lived through the trial, played the role she was forced into, met Rumpelstiltskin, killed him when it came down to it and even taken the part of the queen when the story demanded it. She had killed the king too, because apparently some fairytales just refused to stop being horrible once they got going. It had been ugly, strange and weirdly old-fashioned in the most irritating way possible, but she had gotten through it. The fairytale had ended and she was still standing.
After a second, she turned back toward Hansel and asked.
"How long has it been?"
Hansel answered in her usual flat, matter-of-fact way.
"A day."
"That little?"
Hansel paused.
"I've been stuck in that fairytale for seven hundred years. I finished it in a day and spent the rest of my time learning more about my Omniscient bloodline and my system. I thought that a millennium was gone but it's only been a day? Seriously, this is all too confusing."
The AI remained silent for an extra beat, which in her case was practically screaming. Phaenora gave a tired little laugh and shook her head. Then she looked down at the holographic displays floating near the console and started scrolling through the data. Her expression changed almost immediately. The ship's readouts showed time distortion that had clearly been present for a long while now. The pattern was too clean to be random. Something had adjusted the timeline of the fairytale itself.
It had to be Thyrexxa.
Phaenora narrowed her eyes at the screens but she did not say her name out loud. After all, when Veneri died in Erna Isles when Biolumine injured them and Thyrexxa regressed her, she argued with the Time Primordial. She was warned never to do that again.
Whatever she had done had altered time and shoved her through centuries in a way that did not match the outside world. That was how she had survived seven hundred years in a place where only a day had passed for everyone else. It did not make the loneliness smaller but she was glad he thought of her in his final moments.
She was silent for a moment after that. Then she summoned her own holograms.
One by one, the images spread out in front of her. Her companions were all alive. That alone made her stare. When she saw Narisva's profile, she actually froze. Narisva was back in Spheraphase and as a Primordial Goddess.
Phaenora stared at the hologram for several long seconds, as if she thought the system might be mocking her. But no, the readout stayed the same. That old familiar spark of cocky violence seemed to flare in her chest for a moment. Phaenora let out another breath and leaned back.
"Wow. You really went and did that, huh?"
She did not need to say his name. It had hurt for centuries already, really. Time just changed the shape of the pain. Eventually, she let the holograms drift lower and closed her eyes for a second.
She smiled.
"It's time."
Hansel's voice came through the ship again.
"Time for what?"
Phaenora opened her eyes and looked towards the portal behind her, then back at the holograms showing all the lives waiting beyond this ship.
"It's time to me to leave Spheraphase. Who knows what changed."
That was the real ending of it, wasn't it? Not victory nor death and not even revenge.
Change.
The world had gone on without her just like it had gone on without him but she was here now. The ones she cared about were still out there somewhere. Phaenora glanced once more at the holograms, then at the corridor leading out of the ship.
"Let's go to my real home. It has been ages since I last saw it.."
And with that, she walked forward into the next age of the story, carrying seven hundred years of experience and endurance in her bones. She was ready to surprise everyone with her arrival.
After all, she was a Second Tier Primordial Goddess now.
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And with that, Volume Five Part One, The Second Epoch Cycle: The Hidden Citadel is completed!
Due to planning and releasing chapters nonstop, I will be taking a month break. Volume Five Part Two, The Second Epoch Cycle: The Timeless Realm, is coming on October 2nd. See you then!
I need to take a break...