Damon returned to the arena floor, dust still rising where the battle ended.
Above him, Draven quietly stepped back into his seat, but Thorpax didn't miss the shift in his brother's expression.
He leaned in.
"...Draven. What's wrong?"
Draven's eyes stayed on the sky.
"I don't know. I felt something familiar."
A pause.
"Thorpax...I think she's back."
Thorpax froze.
His entire face changed — recognition, fear, regret — all at once.
Before he could speak, Zaro launched out of his seat, using an earth platform to slide himself down to the arena floor in barely-controlled chaos.
The crowd silenced around him. You cold hear half a pin drop.
Zaro slapped a hand on Damon's shoulder—
"SCREEEEEEAAAAAAAMMMMMM!"
The arena ERUPTED.
Zaro yelled over the noise, voice cracking in excitement:
"People of Woewyn—Damon Vale has given us ENTERTAINMENT like we haven't seen in CENTURIES! Not since the Queen and your father—may he rest—FOUGHT on this VERY ground!"
Damon blinked. "Wait… Mom fought Father?"
Zaro leaned in, eyes wide with fear.
"Listen. I don't know how you've survived this long, but don't you EVER piss her off."
Damon looked up at where his mother was sitting. Queen Thessa was smiling at him — a look of pride, admiration and something ancient behind her eyes.
For a second, Damon wondered if they were even talking about the same woman.
Zaro straightened dramatically.
"And now—THE KINGS OF SUNSPIRE AND KARGATH!"
Two figures descended with their guards.
KING CASSIAN VARKUS — Sunspire
He was regal. Lean. Near perfection. The only reason is not perfect is because Damon's mom still breathes.
Long golden hair tied back, glowing amber eyes radiating fire eterna like sunlight. Each step looked like it was choreographed.
The crowd bowed instinctively.
KING ZOLTAR KHAIL — Kargath
He was a bit soft around the middle. Black hair messy with grey streaks. Dark robe swallowing him whole. Spinning gravity rings on his fingers like bored stress toys. His expression bored and annoyed.
Zaro cleared his throat and gestured dramatically.
"Prince Damon Vale, this is King Cassian Varkus, father of the boy you used to erase a moon and crack another."
Cassian's jaw twitched.
"And THIS is King Zoltar Khail, uncle of the currently… handicapped… Zenro."
Zoltar's bored expression instantly cracked into fury.
The whole crowd went: "HUUUUUUUUUUUH?!"
Damon didn't react.
He simply extended a hand like someone introducing himself at a grocery store.
Nyra BURST out laughing from the stands.
Queen Thessa facepalmed.
Cythera whispered to Rika,
"He really needs to join history class."
Zoltar stared at Damon's outstretched hand like it was an insult carved into reality.
Zaro panicked.
"S-sorry! The prince is still learning our customs—"
Zoltar raised a hand. Trembling. Not with fear—rage.
His voice came out strained:
"What… do you want, boy?"
Damon shrugged.
"Well, I wanna go back to Earth to see my girlfriend—"
"NO," Zaro cut in, waving his arms like a madman. "You won the Trineum Festivals Tournament! You may ask for something from each Kingdom—including Woewyn! Anything that doesn't cause a war or disrupt politics!"
Damon blinked.
"Oh. OHHH. Okay, okay, I get it now."
Zoltar and Cassian exhaled like tired gods.
Queen Thessa lifted a hand from her throne, smiling at Damon.
A small, encouraging gesture: "Choose."
Damon stepped toward Zoltar.
"Well, you guys have tech, right?"
Zoltar glared.
"We rely on technology because our eterna levels are low."
His tone: I hate this child.
"Cool," Damon said. "I want an AI. A perfect one."
Zaro gasped.
"Ohhhh! Tolrex!"
Up in the stands, Tolrex stood dramatically.
"I'm so proud of him!"
Zoltar waved a guard over.
"Bring him an AI."
A guard brought out a dull metal orb and practically shoved it into Damon's hands before turning to flee.
Something flashed in Tolrex's eyes.
"HEY. WAIT."
The guard froze.
Tolrex stood up again, pointing:
"I know that tech. That is a basic orb. NOT a perfect AI."
The crowd roared.
Zaro nodded solemnly.
"Due to this deception, Damon may request TWO items from each kingdom."
The arena HOWLED.
Nyra shouted, "HE'S SO LUCKY!"
Cassian turned sharply toward Zoltar, clearly disappointed.
Zoltar's eye twitched, then he snapped his fingers.
A guard rushed forward with a small black briefcase — energy seals glowing across its surface.
"This," Zoltar growled, "is the ONLY one in existence. The researcher who made it died in the war against your family. Do. Not. Destroy it."
Damon: "Okay, thanks."
Zoltar tired not to explode
"And your second?" he forced out.
"Well," Damon said, "I'm starting school soon. So… I want your archives. All of them."
Half the arena fainted.
Zaro whispered, "He's going far… and they HAVE to give it to him."
Zoltar nearly combusted. But rules were rules. He handed Damon a second briefcase and stormed off like a volcano inside a bathrobe.
Damon stepped to King Cassian.
"I want things that will help me train efficiently."
Cassian exhaled softly, creating a shimmer of heat.
He reached into his cloak and handed Damon a glowing shard.
"This will perfect your motions. Do not misuse it."
"And my second?" Damon asked.
Cassian sighed.
"You seek the impossible. But you have earned it."
He produced a vial containing swirling, prismatic liquid.
"A substance capable of safely awakening dormant attributes. There is no more like it."
He placed it gently in Damon's hand.
"Use these wisely, Chosen One."
Damon looked down at what he now held: Two sealed briefcases. A glowing shard and vial containing destiny.
He exhaled.
"Well… I've got homework to do tonight."
The crowd ERUPTED. Woewyn banners flew. Drums thundered.
Zaro raised Damon's arm into the air like a champion.
"PEOPLE OF WOEWYN—YOUR PRINCE HAS SET A NEW RECORD IN THE TRINEUM FESTIVAL!"
The celebration swallowed the arena…
Later.
The halls of Woewyn's inner palace glowed with soft lantern-light as Damon walked beside Queen Thessa. The echoes of the arena's cheers still hummed in his bones, but here—where the air smelled of moon-flowers and polished stone—everything felt quieter.
Thessa glanced at him, her steps elegant, her expression unreadable.
"You did well today. The people admire you. All three kingdoms, actually."
Damon huffed a small laugh. "Its hard to believe an entire plane cheers for one guy."
She tilted her head. "Then why didn't you finish them? You could have. Easily."
Damon's answer came without hesitation.
"If there's a chance to save a life, why take it? Doesn't matter what kingdom they're from. Someone would've mourned them."
A pause.
"I don't… want that. Not if I can avoid it."
Thessa's lips curved—not a smile, something softer. Approval with a hint of pride.
"Good. Mercy is harder than violence."
They reached one of the balcony corridors. Woewyn's moons hung low, lighting Damon's face in silver. He rubbed the back of his neck.
"I've been thinking about what to ask you for," he said. "I know the treaty allows me to request anything."
"Anything within reason," she said lightly. "Though you rarely ask for yourself."
"Yeah… that's the problem. I don't know what I want yet."
He paused. "But… it's almost Christmas on Earth."
Thessa raised an eyebrow. "It is."
A spark flickered in Damon's expression—like an idea igniting from the inside out.
He snapped his fingers.
"Santa Claus."
Thessa blinked. "…Santa Claus?"
"Yes," Damon said, growing more animated. "For the twin planes."
She stared at him for a beat—then laughed softly.
"Damon, you don't expect Woewyn to give everyone in Eternum and the Multiverse gifts."
"No, no," he waved quickly. "Not Eternum. Just Woewyn. And Earth. I want Earth kids to have a real Santa. And Woewyn's kids… they've never had anything like that."
Something in her eyes warmed—he could see the memory of Christmas lights from their old Earth living room flicker there.
But she asked, practical as ever: "How would we know what each child or what anyone even, truly wants?"
Damon grinned. "Hazel sees dreams, right? And some of the other fairies too?"
Thessa stopped walking.
Then she exhaled—slow, impressed.
"Yes. Hazel can see dream-emotions."
A pause.
"And the honey-fairies can translate them. Tailor them."
"So the gifts match the dreams," Damon said. "A real Santa. For both worlds."
Thessa looked at him fully now. Not as a queen. Not as a warrior.
But as a mother who saw her child thinking of millions of others.
"…You're a good one," she murmured.
Damon shrugged, embarrassed. "I just want people to be happy."
She touched his arm gently.
"Then Woewyn will make your Santa Claus, and Earth will know him too."
Damon smiled wide—genuine, glowing.
"Guess Christmas is coming early."
Thessa chuckled. "Let's give them something to believe in."
"WHAT'S a Santa?" Nyra demanded, hands on her hips.
Damon snorted. "You'll find out soon enough."
Daichi wagged his tail so hard his entire body shifted into a bigger fluff-ball.
The three of them headed to Damon's room.
Nyra flopped onto his bed immediately—loose clothes, one leg dangling lazily.
Daichi stretched out and morphed into his fluffy wolf form, tail thudding happily against the mattress.
Damon sat in front of Nyra, mirroring her posture.
"So," she said, leaning in with a grin, "which one are we opening first?"
Damon grabbed the nearest briefcase. "The AI."
He clicked it open.
Inside was a smooth steel orb—simple, polished, faintly glowing at its seams.
Nyra tilted her head. "That's it? Looks like a decoration.
Damon tapped a circular indentation.
The orb unfolded and panels separated like petals, light spilling between them.
A small figure projected upward—genderless, soft-glowing, body made of shifting geometric lines.
Above it, a 4D holographic page blinked into existence:
HOSHI-3
Harmonic Omni-Sentient Hyper-Intelligence – Model 3
Below that: FUNCTIONS or EDIT
Nyra jabbed her finger at FUNCTIONS. "Press it, press it"
He did.
A list expanded. Damon's eyes caught the top three:
Dream-Parse Engine. Echo-Archive. Guardian Protocol.
He froze.
"Yeah," he murmured, "Natsuki's getting this."
Nyra smirked. "Obviously."
He closed the page and tapped EDIT.
A grid of faces appeared—hundreds of them, floating like a gallery across the air.
Nyra and Damon stood up on the bed to scan the display like two kids browsing a catalog.
Daichi spoke telepathically, voice dry. "Pick the one next to the scrawny guy."
They looked.
A girl's face. Round glasses. Soft expression. Slightly nerdy, but warm.
Nyra snapped her fingers. "Yes. Natsuki would LOVE that one."
Damon selected it, then edited the voice—gentle, warm, friendly.
He set the obedience protocols.
"Owner: Natsuki," he said.
A prompt appeared: DEFINITION OR MEMORY-SCAN?
Nyra hit Memory-Scan before he could stop her.
Damon didn't argue—just sighed.
Hoshi-3 hovered silently as images, moments, smiles, tears, and tiny memories projected into its core like stardust being absorbed from Damon's head.
A soft chime.
NATSUKI CONFIRMED. INITIALIZING—
"Not yet."
Damon cut the power.
Nyra blinked. "Why'd you shut it down?"
"Because it only obeys her now. If it wakes up here, it might ignore everyone. Including me."
Daichi nodded. "Good point."
They opened the second briefcase. Inside sat what looked like a rectangle of pure glass with a single rotating dial at the edge.
Nyra frowned. "You got scammed."
Damon twisted the dial and a blue flash hit their faces—
LOAD DATA?
He accepted. Lines of runes streamed upward like code in a waterfall. Then only silence and a search bar remained.
Nyra didn't even ask. She grabbed it.
"How to be strong," she typed.
Two options appeared: ATTRIBUTE USER / OR NONE
She picked ATTRIBUTE USER.
The five attribute symbols unfolded. Nyra pressed Fire.
A new hologram appeared.
Information. Diagrams. Flow charts. Fighting sequences.
Then—
A full projection filled the room.
A man with blazing red eyes, flame aura swirling around him like a living crown.
KING THALOR: Greatest Fire User in Woewyn's history.
Nyra stared. Quiet.
"Dad… really was strong."
Her voice was small.
Damon wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into him.
"Yeah," he whispered. "I wish we met him too."
Nyra leaned into him for a moment—then wiped her nose aggressively like she didn't get emotional.
They opened the vial with swirling gold mist inside.
"So I just… drink this?" Damon asked.
"That's literally how vials work," Nyra deadpanned.
He downed it. They waited but nothing happened.
Nyra sighed. "Probably needs time."
Damon shrugged. "Fine. Last one."
A small crimson-gold shard pulsed softly.
Damon lifted it… then held it out to his sister.
"It's for you."
Nyra froze.
"For… me?"
Damon nodded. "Yeah. Train with it so you can fly better. Get stronger."
Nyra launched at him—arms around his neck, legs wrapped around him like a koala, face buried into his shoulder.
"You're the BEST big brother ever!"
Damon laughed, rubbing her back. "You're welcome."
She hopped off and activated the shard.
Light rose around her—
tracing her posture, correcting her stance, showing ghost-versions of her movements a half-second ahead.
Her flames shifted, becoming cleaner. Sharper. Balanced.
Her eyes widened.
"It's perfect."
The shard's glow faded into a warm red.
Nyra looked at Damon—really looked at him. Not as the chosen one. Not as the arena's champion. Not as the boy who crushed moons and faced kingdoms.
Just… her big brother.
"Damon?" she said softly.
"Yeah?"
She stepped forward and hugged him again. This time slower. Tighter.
"You always give everyone everything," she whispered. "Even when you're tired. Even when you're hurting. Even when you don't say it."
Damon didn't answer—but the way his arms wrapped around her said enough.
Daichi curled beside their legs, tail thumping.
Nyra slept in his room that night but for a brief moment, in that quiet room, with gifts glowing softly around them, it didn't matter that war was coming.
They were just… a family. And tomorrow would take care of itself.