*The Shattered Crown*
The battle at Sky City had left Leon and the Dragon Kings significantly weakened. The Tower Master suggested they rest here for a couple of days before returning to their respective tribes.
Morgan frowned, “Old man, your Sky City is in ruins. Where exactly are we supposed to rest?”
The Tower Master smirked. “Ah, young one, do you think I’ve lived for thousands of years without keeping a backup plan?”
With that, he activated a spatial magic circle, transporting everyone to a hidden chamber.
The chamber was fully furnished, with an abundance of supplies—like a survivalist’s bunker prepared for the end of the world.
“This was meant to be my retirement home,” the Tower Master explained. “But now it’s available for all of us to squeeze in together for a while.”
Morgan scoffed in disbelief, “Old man, who retires in a hidden bunker? You clearly built this in case we couldn’t beat Ultimate Fear and had to run for our lives!”
Regardless of the banter, the chamber provided the exhausted group with a much-needed place to recover.
The space was large enough to give everyone their own private quarters. Constantine, carrying an unconscious Leon on his back, followed Mevis and Noa into one of the rooms. Mevis, now awake, trailed behind them.
After laying Leon on the bed, Rosvisser said softly, “I’ll stay with him. You all should go and rest.”
Constantine nodded silently. Before leaving, he cast one last glance at Leon’s unconscious form, then quietly exited.
“Noa, you’ve had a long night too. Go get some rest,” Rosvisser urged gently.
Noa shook her head, her exhaustion apparent, but she remained resolute.
“I want to stay and wait until Dad wakes up.”
Rosvisser’s face softened into a fond smile. She reached out to ruffle Noa’s hair and said,
“Alright. Then we’ll wait for him together.”
“Mm-hmm!”
Mevis stood silently against the wall, a glass of wine in her hands. Like the others, she hadn’t yet cleaned off the dust and blood from the battle. Instead, she had come straight to check on Leon.
Leaning back, Mevis closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, recalling the instructions she had been given by the Star Wisdom Tower: when to return, how to go back, and the maddening "tips" about traversing timelines.
“Mevis... teacher? Can I still call you that, or should I—”
Noa’s voice interrupted her thoughts. Mevis opened her eyes, glancing down at Noa with a small smile.
“If you keep calling me Mevis, our conversations might get awkward.”
“Alright.”
“So, are you really... really Noa?”
Rosvisser approached, gently placing her hands on Noa’s shoulders. Her gaze flickered uncertainly as she looked into Mevis’s eyes. Her voice trembled slightly,
“From the future... Noa?”
Mevis nodded slowly.
“Yes—”
Her silver eyes softened as she held Rosvisser’s gaze. Though her face carried a smile, tears welled at the corners of her eyes.
When the chaos of dragon blood calmed, the bonds of family surged forward, filling the void left by battle.
Rosvisser had suspected Mevis’s identity, but confirming it left her in a state of disbelief.
Her emotions were a swirl of relief, joy, and guilt. Guilt for the suffering this future version of her daughter must have endured.
Looking at Mevis—familiar yet “different”—covered in dirt and looking like a mischievous puppy, Rosvisser felt a pang of sorrow.
Though Mevis’s demeanor was composed, Rosvisser could see the resilience and weariness beneath her calm exterior.
Just like her father, Mevis seemed to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders, exhausting herself in the process.
Rosvisser struggled to find the right words. Everything she wanted to say felt inadequate in the face of all Mevis had been through.
Finally, Rosvisser lowered her gaze, her voice breaking.
“The future must have been so hard for you...”
Mevis lifted her lips in a faint attempt at a smile but shook her head.
“I failed everyone’s expectations... I failed your expectations...”
Her gaze shifted over Rosvisser’s shoulder to Leon, unconscious on the bed.
“...And I failed Father’s expectations.”
Noa’s eyes widened in shock.
“Mevis, you keep saying you failed Father’s expectations. What do you mean? What happened in the future?”
Mevis took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. It was clear this was not something she wanted to discuss.
Sensing her reluctance, Rosvisser interjected gently, “Let’s sit down first. I’ll get some water for us.”
“I’ll go, Mom!” Noa volunteered eagerly.
“Alright,” Rosvisser said, smiling softly.
Noa hurried out of the room while Rosvisser and Mevis sat on the edge of the bed.
It wasn’t long before Noa returned with a tray holding several glasses of warm water and some food.
Mevis accepted a glass, taking a small sip. After a brief pause to adjust her composure, she began speaking:
“In ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) the future, Shadow, as we saw just now, seized Tiamat’s power. Everyone fought with all their might, but no one could defeat that false god.”
“In that battle, the Tower Master, Odin, Morgan, Constantine... and...”
Mevis lowered her head, her grip tightening unconsciously around the glass. She continued with a trembling voice:
“And Mother Isha... all of them... sacrificed themselves.”
“What?! Mother Isha too?!” Noa exclaimed, her voice laced with disbelief.
Mevis nodded solemnly, brushing away a tear that had slid down her cheek before continuing:
“That’s why, when I saw this timeline’s Mother Isha for the first time at the academy’s parent-teacher meeting... I nearly lost control. I almost gave myself away.”
Rosvisser listened in silence, her expression calm but her fingers gripping the fabric of her gown tightly. Hearing about Isha’s sacrifice in the future stirred emotions she couldn’t suppress.
Even though she knew it wasn’t something that had happened in this reality, the weight of decades of sisterhood made the news impossible to bear lightly.
“After seizing the Dragon God’s power, Shadow unleashed his overwhelming strength to crush all resistance. In less than three years, he became the sole ruler of the Samael Continent.”
“The entire world was shrouded in darkness. Our Melkvey family became his primary target. No matter where we hid, it was only a matter of time before his forces found us.”
“We had no way to turn the tide. Even seeing the sunrise the next day was an uncertainty.”
“And I...”
Mevis closed her eyes, struggling to suppress the tide of emotions rising within her.
“I am the child of Melkvey. The prophecy said I was meant to save the Samael Continent and all its living beings.”
“But in the end, I failed...”
“I kept asking myself, why did fate have to play such cruel tricks on me?”
“If Father had been the Child of Thunder, would it have been different? Would everyone have been saved?”
“But now, there are no more ‘what ifs.’ I failed everyone’s expectations... and I failed Father’s expectations...”
Her voice trailed off, choked by the weight of her words. Even though she and Leon had defeated Shadow in this timeline, the shadow of her past failures loomed large in her heart.
She could overcome powerful enemies but not the haunting memory of her own failures.
Suddenly, Mevis felt a warmth on the back of her hand. Looking down, she saw Noa’s slender fingers gently resting atop hers.
“You didn’t fail anyone’s expectations, least of all Father’s,” Noa said softly.
Her voice was like a warm flame piercing the chill of winter, bright and comforting.
Mevis raised her head, her dark eyes filled with a longing for redemption.
Her gaze turned to Rosvisser, and for the first time in thirty years, a word she had held back finally escaped her lips:
“Mom... why? Why, when I’ve failed so badly...”
Rosvisser lifted her arms and pulled Mevis into a tight embrace.
“Because we’re family. And in a family, there’s no such thing as failure.”
“Believe me, Noa, whether now or in the future, we will always be proud of you.”
The warmth of her mother’s embrace left Mevis momentarily stunned.
She remembered what she had asked Leon after the battle:
“This time, I didn’t let you down, did I?”
And Leon’s response:
“You’ve never let me down.”
In that moment, the chains that had bound her for thirty years shattered.
The burden in her heart dissolved entirely as she clung to her mother, burying her face in Rosvisser’s shoulder, and sobbing freely for the first time in decades.
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Author's Note:
This chapter was a necessary step to smooth out the emotional arcs of the characters, and I believe it was essential.
In the next chapters, I’ll address the unresolved questions, including the mechanics of Mevis/Future Noa’s time travel and whether the future can be reversed.
