CHAPTER 1082: DISCUSSION

After Erend’s words, the air in the room loosened, even though tension still lingered around them.

His certainty about what he would do and his lack of fear was enough to steady them. If he wasn’t afraid, then they didn’t need to let fear consume them either.

Yet they knew this wasn’t a burden to hand entirely to him. Each of them had their own part to carry and no one here would slack from doing it.

Erend let out a quiet sigh, then after some thought he said, "I and the other Dragonborn will go there to deal with the entity. That’s our job. But I’ll need all of you to hold things here."

His gaze swept across them, steady and unwavering, carrying the pressure of the situation. They see the intensity in his eyes and each one of them straightens and promises in their heart without complaint.

They looked tense, but none of them argued because they all knew he was right.

Jessica gave a firm nod. "I’ll handle everything on this side. You don’t need to worry."

"I’ll speak personally to General Lennard. We’ll halt the experiment for a few more days. This situation doesn’t need another variable thrown into it," Adrien said.

Erend nodded. "Good. I thought the same. We don’t know what could happen. Stopping the experiment is the safest move."

Adrien inclined his head in agreement, while Billy, Jessica, Thomas, and Conrad kept quiet but shared the same resolve in their expressions. Inwardly, they promised themselves that they would do their best to stand strong here, no matter what came.

Adrius leaned back in his chair, exhaustion lining his face, but there was also a shadow of thoughtfulness there.

"Then my work here is finished. I need to return to my world and begin my own preparations. Things are going to turn difficult very quickly."

He spoke with a bitter smile, as though already bracing himself for the hardship.

Adrien returned the same expression, dry but grim. "Yeah. We’ll all need to be ready. Whatever comes next won’t be gentle."

Adrius turned his gaze to Erend, his tone shifting, more direct. "When you’re ready, come find me. I’ll hand you the parchment with the world’s coordinates. You’ll need it."

Erend gave him a single nod. "I will."

With that, Adrius rose and lifted his hand. The portal shimmered into being.

He glanced once more at the group, muttered with a half-laugh, "I’ll need to smoke a few more leaves before I start anything," then stepped through and was gone. The portal sealed behind him.

—

Hours later, Erend finally found the chance to go to his kin. The air shimmered again as Krono opened the portal for him.

Stepping through, Erend emerged into the enormous cavern that Krono called home. The ceiling loomed far above, jagged with stone and glittering faintly with crystals.

Erend’s eyes immediately swept the scene. Krono was there and sitting crosslegged in the shadows, eyes glowing. Not far from him lay Eccar who was stretched on the ground as if he had only just finished a heavy bout of training—or sleeping through one.

And then, in the corner of the cave, sitting with her back to the wall, was a figure Erend had never seen before.

A petite woman with hair as white as snow and eyes as blue as glacier ice. Her presence carried a coldness that seeped into the cavern air itself, sharp and clear.

She met Erend’s gaze immediately. Her stare looks like a shard of frozen steel that cut into him to scrutinize him.

Erend stopped, then gave a small smile and a nod. "Nice to meet you."

The woman—Aesa—responded only with a curt nod, her expression didn’t change.

This was the first time she laid eyes on the Dragonborn that Krono and Eccar had spoken of, the one who carried a power unlike any of them.

Now, sitting here, she understood. It wasn’t his presence alone or the way his power rippled faintly in the air. It was something else, something she had never felt in a Dragonborn before.

His power was not just fire, water, nor lightning she felt in him. It was something different.

For the first time, Aesa truly glimpsed what kind of being Erend was. His power was not like hers, nor Krono’s, nor Eccar’s. It stood apart and pressed at the edges of her senses with undeniable force.

Erend crossed the cavern in long, sure strides and stopped at its center. He did not waste words.

"Adrius and I found it," he said. "I have the location of that creature now."

Krono’s head lifted. Eccar sat up at the same moment. Both of them closed the distance and fell into a half-circle around him, their faces serious.

"That old man really is reliable," Eccar said. "Where is the creature?"

"In another world," Erend answered without hesitation. "A ruin."

Aesa rose then stepped forward with a gait that made the air feel colder where she walked. She regarded Erend with those glacier-blue eyes and asked, "How did you find it?"

"I didn’t find it alone." Erend met her gaze. "Adrius traced its remnants with the device that he made himself that let lock onto it. Adrius translated the signal into coordinates. He gave us the parchment."

Aesa’s expression hardened into something like thought. She wanted to ask him for more. But for now she chose not to say anything.

"So what do we do?" Eccar asked.

"We go there," he said simply. "We storm that world and end it."

There was a fierce flash that crossed his eyes and they could see it.

"We cannot rush blindly. The place is corrupted," Krono said.

Erend nodded. "I know. That’s why I came here to discuss this immediately."

They all know that crossing into a corrupted world where that powerful and mysterious entity resided was dangerous, even for Dragonborns like them. So they can not rush in just like that, like when Erend and Eccar go into the Chaos Realm.

Krono thought in silence. His eyes lit with brilliant light, reaching into his time power.

—