The silence stretched between them, thick with tension and unspoken consequences.
Solaris was the first to speak, his noble nature unable to hide behind excuses. "Because we needed to know. Because you kept leaving and we—" He stopped, struggling with the admission. "Because we couldn't stand not knowing where you went."
"We wanted to understand you," Verdant added, his ancient voice heavy with regret. "But we went about it the wrong way."
"The wrong way," Felix repeated, his voice dangerously soft. "You mean by violating my privacy? By tracking me like I'm some kind of threat to be monitored?"
"You are a threat," Frost said bluntly, because apparently honesty meant brutal honesty. "You have power beyond anything we've ever encountered. You created a realm that dwarfs our territories. You harbor people who—"
"Who what?" Felix interrupted, his mismatched eyes flashing with anger. "Who you rejected? Who you cast out? Don't you dare make them sound like criminals when your laws made them refugees."
Frost's jaw tightened, but he didn't argue.
"We were wrong," Gale said, his usual playfulness completely absent. "We knew it was wrong when we decided to do it, and we did it anyway. Because we're selfish and we wanted—" He stopped, then forced the words out. "We wanted you to belong to us."
The raw honesty of that statement made everyone freeze.
"Belong to you," Felix said slowly, and something in his tone sent chills down their spines. "Like a possession. Like territory to claim and control."
"No," Raven said quickly. "That's not—we don't think of you as—"
"Then what?" Felix demanded, his voice rising. "What exactly am I to you? A curiosity? A puzzle to solve? A pretty face to summon when you're bored?"
"You're someone we care about," Solaris said desperately. "Someone we want in our lives."
"And yet the moment I set a boundary—the one thing I asked for, which was to respect my privacy—you immediately violated it," Felix shot back. "That's not caring. That's obsession."
The word hung in the air like a condemnation.
Because it was true, and they all knew it.
"You're right," Verdant said quietly, his ancient wisdom finally cutting through the defensiveness. "We became obsessed. With understanding you, with keeping you close, with solving the mystery of where you went. And in our obsession, we betrayed the trust you were beginning to give us."
Felix looked at the Forest ruler for a long moment, then turned away from them, staring out at his realm. His people had noticed something was wrong—they stood at a distance, watching with concern, ready to defend their creator if needed.
The five rulers suddenly realized they were surrounded. Hundreds of people, dozens of massive creatures, all loyal to Felix. All ready to fight if necessary.
They wouldn't stand a chance.
Not because of the numbers, though those were significant. But because Felix himself could unmake them with a thought.
"I should send you back," Felix said finally, his voice tired. "I should erase your memories of this place and block you from ever finding it again. It's what I would have done in the past. What I should do now."
"But?" Gale prompted, hoping desperately there was a but.
Felix was quiet for so long they thought he might not answer. Then, softly: "But I'm tired of being alone. And despite the fact that you five are controlling, obsessive, boundary-violating stalkers, you're also the first people in centuries who've wanted to know me for more than what I can give them."
He turned back to face them, and the anger in his eyes had dimmed to something more complicated. "You want to understand where I go? Fine. Look around. This is where I go. This is my home. These are my people. This is what I built when I got tired of watching the five of you divide the world into pieces and reject everyone who didn't fit neatly into your categories."
"How long?" Frost asked, his calculating mind trying to process the logistics. "How long has this place existed?"
"Two thousand years," Felix said simply.
The number hit them like a physical blow.
"Two thousand," Solaris repeated faintly. "You've been building this for two thousand years?"
"Building it. Protecting it. Giving sanctuary to everyone you five cast aside." Felix's tone was matter-of-fact, but there was an undercurrent of accusation. "Every person with mixed heritage. Every child born with the 'wrong' magic. Every individual who didn't fit your perfect territorial molds. They came to me, and I gave them a home."
"We didn't know," Gale said weakly.
"You didn't want to know," Felix corrected. "It's easier to maintain your neat little kingdoms when you don't think about where the rejected go."
Raven looked out at the diverse crowd of people watching them. His red eyes picked out individuals with Dark territory traits mixed with Light, or Ice combined with Forest. Combinations that shouldn't exist according to everything the territories had taught for millennia.
"You're right," he said suddenly. "We created this problem. Our territorial laws, our fear of change, our need to keep everything separate and controlled. We made the world that forced you to create this sanctuary."
Felix blinked, clearly not expecting that admission from the menacing Dark ruler.
"We can't undo two thousand years of damage," Verdant added. "But perhaps... perhaps we can do better going forward."
"Better how?" Felix asked skeptically. "You're going to suddenly change all your territorial laws? Welcome mixed heritage people with open arms? Stop treating power as something to control and territory as something to defend?"
"Maybe not immediately," Frost said, his strategic mind working. "But we could start. Small changes. Begin allowing movement between territories. Stop exiling those with mixed traits."
"And why would you do that?" Felix demanded. "Out of the goodness of your hearts? Because you suddenly care about the people you've been rejecting for millennia?"
Another heavy silence.
Then Solaris spoke, his voice quiet but firm. "Because you care about them. And we care about you."
Felix's expression flickered—surprise, suspicion, and something that might have been hope.
"That's manipulative," he said, but there was less heat in it.
"It's honest," Solaris countered. "We followed you because we're obsessed with you. That's wrong, and we acknowledge it. But maybe that obsession can be redirected toward something better. Toward fixing the world that forced you to create this place."
"You can't fix everything," Felix said, his voice softer now. "There are people here who've lived their entire lives in sanctuary. People who have families, communities, lives built over generations. I'm not going to uproot them just because you five suddenly developed a conscience."
"We wouldn't ask you to," Verdant assured him. "This place—" he gestured to the paradise around them, "—is beautiful. It's what the world should be. Perhaps instead of destroying it or trying to change it, we should learn from it."
Felix studied them, his sharp mind clearly working through possibilities and ulterior motives. "What does 'learn from it' mean?"
"It means we see what you've built," Gale said. "How you've made different peoples live together. How you've created a society that doesn't divide and reject. And we try to implement some of that in our own territories."
"While leaving my people alone," Felix added pointedly.
"While leaving your people alone," Frost agreed. "This realm is yours. We have no claim to it or authority over it."
"Obviously," Felix said dryly. "I could destroy all five of your territories before breakfast if I wanted to."
The casual statement of overwhelming power should have been threatening. Instead, it was just factual.
"Why don't you?" Raven asked curiously. "If we've caused so much pain, rejected so many people, created the problems you had to solve—why not just remove us and take over?"
Felix looked at him like he'd asked why water was wet. "Because I don't want to rule your territories. I don't want to control anyone. I built this place specifically so people could be free—free from your laws, yes, but also free to live their own lives without someone like me dictating every aspect of their existence."
"But you're their leader," Frost observed.
"I'm their protector," Felix corrected. "There's a difference. They have their own governments, their own laws, their own choices. I just make sure the outside world—meaning you five—doesn't destroy what they've built."
"That's why you hid it," Solaris realized. "Not because you were afraid of us, but because you were protecting them."
"Finally, someone gets it," Felix muttered.
Verdant stepped forward slowly, his ancient presence somehow humble. "Felix, what you've accomplished here is extraordinary. Not just the magic of it—though that is beyond anything we could have imagined—but the society itself. The peace, the diversity, the genuine harmony. May we... see more of it?"
Felix's eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"Because we need to understand what we've been preventing in our own territories," Verdant replied. "Because seeing what's possible might help us make better choices. And because—" he paused, then continued with painful honesty, "—because understanding your world might help us understand you."
"Still obsessed with understanding me," Felix noted, but his tone had lost most of its edge.
"Yes," Verdant admitted without shame. "But perhaps we can be obsessed in a less invasive way."
Despite everything, Felix's lips twitched slightly. "That's a low bar."
"We'll work on it," Gale promised.
Felix looked at each of them in turn, his mismatched eyes assessing. Crystal blue and molten gold, seeing far more than they were comfortable with.
Finally, he sighed. "Fine. You're already here, and you've already seen it. Might as well show you the rest."
"Really?" Solaris sounded surprised and hopeful.
"But," Felix added sharply, "you follow my rules. You treat my people with respect. You don't act like territorial rulers here—you're guests in my realm, and you'll behave accordingly. Any sign that you're trying to exert control or authority, and I'll remove you permanently. Understood?"
"Understood," they chorused.
Felix turned to his people, who were still watching warily. He raised his voice, and somehow it carried across the entire gathering without him shouting. "It's alright. These are... complicated guests. They won't harm anyone. I promise."
The tension in the crowd eased slightly, though many still looked suspicious.
A massive wolf with aurora-colored fur approached, its eyes level with Felix's chest. It made a low sound—not quite a growl, more questioning.
Felix ran his hand through its fur with familiar affection. "I know, Stellis. But they need to see. They need to understand."
The wolf huffed, bumped its massive head against Felix's shoulder, then moved back to the crowd.
"That was a Starwolf," Raven said, his voice filled with awe. "They've been extinct for three thousand years."
"Not extinct," Felix corrected. "Just hidden. They were hunted to near-extinction because their pelts were valuable and their magic was feared. The last breeding pair came to me twelve hundred years ago. Now there are over three hundred living in the northern forests."
He started walking, and the five rulers hurried to follow. The crowd parted for them, though many eyes watched the territorial rulers with suspicion and barely concealed hostility.
"Your people don't like us very much," Gale observed.
"Can you blame them?" Felix replied. "Most of them were exiled from your territories. Some violently. That elderly woman I was talking to earlier? Grandmother Yara? She's one hundred and forty-seven years old. She was born in your territory, Frost, to a mother from Ice and a father from Dark. When her mixed heritage manifested, she was dragged to the border and thrown out when she was eight years old. Eight. She wandered for weeks before finding her way to one of my access points."
Frost had gone very still, his expression unreadable.
"The child who showed off her magic—Maya?" Felix continued relentlessly. "Her grandmother came from Light territory, Solaris. Her parents tried to hide her mixed abilities, but someone reported them. The family fled before they could be separated, but they lost everything. Maya was born here in sanctuary, never knowing anything but acceptance."
Solaris looked physically pained.
Felix led them through his realm, and with every stop, every introduction, every story, the weight of what the territorial rulers had done became heavier.