There was one last matter, a loose thread he could not yet pull. Sophia, and his fourth child.
When he had taken the Spring of Life, in that brief moment of contact with the world's fundamental rules, he had felt the pulse of his son's bloodline and had managed to project a sliver of information to him. But the Chaos Continent was distant, a dangerous, unknown land guarded by its own Archlords and demigods.
He had no coordinates, no path to it. He knew Alexander and the Deputy Commander were searching for a way, but the continent was warded, its seas made impassable by enchanted Sea Folk patrols. For now, he could not retrieve his child.
As for Sophia… he thought of the absurdity of their encounter and could only shake his head with a wry, bitter smile. The child was a bond between them, and for the boy's sake, he could not treat her with cruelty.
