High Artificer, Ch 29: Titan Decree

Winter’s Perspective

Winter’s laugh was bright as she felt the Titan’s aura in the Silver Hall. It was endless, stretching out to the stars with the resonance of the Void. 

She hadn’t felt anything like it since the day the Titans left. 

It was a presence that had always brought her happiness, reminding her of her youth in the First Age, and it gave rise to a joy that only another immortal could understand that came from being in the presence of another like herself. 

Only the Titans and a few unique spirits like her were truly endless in the river of space and time. All else would fade, but they endured.

If he’d come in a better mood, she would have truly rejoiced, but his anger was as clear as the sky on a cold winter morning. 

Unfortunately, it seemed her conversation with him would have to wait a bit.

Under the pressure of the Titan’s aura, it felt like the space in the room was breaking down, as if at any moment the fabric of reality would disintegrate. 

Silver stars burned at the edge of sight with a force that felt like they were incinerating matter and dimensions, returning it all to starlight.

“Since my people left,,” the Titan said, his voice filling the room, “the future of the galaxy has been in the hands of the High Council. Your job was to integrate the younger races and to raise them up while promoting the fortunes and prosperity of everyone.”

He paused as he looked around at all of them. He gave Winter a brief nod of greeting, but his eyes were sharp and his attention settled on Yaivon and Nurim. 

“In this, you have failed.” 

The words raged through the chamber in a tidal wave of swelling mana and elemental essence that filled the room. 

It was a declaration of power and force.

Even to Winter, the pressure was overwhelming, making her turn her eyes away. A thin layer of ice sprang up into existence around her, shielding her from the Titan’s might.

It had been a long time since she’d last seen a Titan angry.

Memories flooded into her mind of the battles of the early galaxy, of the destruction of suns and solar systems, of wasted expanses of the Void where everything was shattered and all matter torn down to the essence of the chaos winds as only ashes drifted away.

The battles then had been cataclysms, shattering everything under their force. Entire dimensions had shattered and been reborn. 

The First War was destructive, but it had mostly been contained near Aster Fall, and in her mind it was only a candle compared to that great storm.

The enemies of the Titans had not only been the Vos’Rekan. 

There had been armies of elementals at the Sixth Evolution, endless wild beasts born of the Void, great terrors spawned from the clash of dimensions and flame, Primordial things that had lurked at the edge of space that wanted nothing more than to swallow the newly formed galaxy, and other things that were even more terrifying.

The Titans had killed them all.

All around the room, other shields and domains appeared as the councilors struggled to keep their bearings, but unlike her, their defenses wobbled like a beggar’s robe in a storm. 

The High Council was made up of some of the strongest beings in the settled galaxy since the Titans had left. They often thought they were at the very peak of power, a notion that they seldom had reason to reconsider.

Now facing the anger of a true Primordial, they were realizing the difference. Their domains were like veils of gauze compared to his and their defenses buckled under the force, ready to tear apart at any moment.

The depth and solidity of the silver stars radiating all around the Titan felt like they were the one and true universe, as if all existence began and ended with him and no challengers would ever rise to match him. 

Primordial... Winter smiled as she looked away. Even though  the Titan was angry, the thought was fond. 

She wasn’t as concerned with the Titan’s strength as the rest of the council. In the first place, this body was only an avatar of hers, one formed of living ice.

Her true existence was far away in a great river of ice in the Void, similar to the one in which she’d been born.

More importantly, she wasn’t worried that the Titan would harm her. His people never had. They had a keen sense for what was right and who to punish, and she knew she had nothing to worry about.

She admitted she hadn’t kept as close an eye on the council as she should have, perhaps, but the Titans had only asked her to sit on it, not to babysit it. Her interests were limited to keeping track of her descendants and making sure they were safe. 

If she’d summoned all of her strength with her true body, she might have been able to match what the Titan was doing now, but she also knew he wasn’t at his limit.

She was on the edge of being Primordial, but she’d never had the pure overwhelming might that they did.

Fear flickered in the councilors’ eyes as they tried and failed to look at the being in front of them. They were forced to study him through other senses as they tried to get a grasp on how powerful he truly was and what his arrival meant.

He didn’t keep them waiting. 

His words rolled out across the hall. Each of them was as hot as a flare from a sun. The stones of the chamber began to glow as he spoke. 

“Some of you have lost your way, especially the Wind Wraiths and the Winged Furies. I appeared first at Bright Sky to set them on a better path.”

Yaivon started to surge to his feet, ready to reject the Titan’s words, but space bent around him. Silver stars appeared in the air, blocking his path as he tried to move. As he got closer to them, a dark layer of ash formed on his skin as his body began to burn.

He was forced to back up, even as his stone bench turned red from the residual heat. He hissed in pain when he tried to sit down, only to spring back to his feet a moment later. 

His domain surrounded him in a green wind and his wings stirred as he tried to cool the area down, but he was locked in an inelegant position of half standing and half sitting.

The Lifeweaver and Wind Wraiths near him also tried to rise, and even the Dragon Spirit looked like he wanted to raise an objection. Mana tattoos flared, Nurim’s body turned ethereal, and realistic scales began to spread across the Dragon Spirit’s body.

A wave of silver light pressed all three of them back down into their chairs as Sam looked at them without expression.

“Perhaps some of you feel that I am being too harsh?”

He looked at Winter and Kiran’Telai’Nerathi with calm eyes, and then the Lifeweaver and Morani councilors before he moved on. 

“Not all of you have failed, but enough of you that I am here. In the week since my words at Bright Sky, you have not yet addressed one of the major flaws on the High Council. My actions over the past week should have stirred you to action, but still you have done nothing.”

His attention settled on Yaivon and Nurim.

“Let me show you what you have done.”

He reached out with a hand and wiped away the recordings of his appearance and all the other scenes in the chamber. 

In their place, images of Bright Sky and the Winged Furies sprang into existence in the chamber. 

It began with an image from twenty or more years before, showing the old High Councilor of the Winged Furies when he’d still been alive, Tulan Whitewing, as well as the state of the six major families.

“Twenty years ago, the Winged Fury civilization was balanced.”

More images accompanied the Titan’s words, showing the daily life of the people in their cities in a series of illusions. 

Then the images changed, showing how they had changed, how they had cut themselves off from foreign powers, and turned self-serving. They had allowed the rise of the Night Wings, promoted the hunting and killing of other races, and more.

Hundreds of crimes were displayed in front of the High Council, mostly associated with the Highwing clan and the Night Wings they sponsored.

Winter frowned as she watched. She was aware of the Night Wing movement, since it had always existed on the fringes of Winged Fury society, but she was disgusted to see how strong it had become. 

She had no doubt that what they were seeing was true. The Titans had the ability to lift memories from starlight, as well as more esoteric gifts. Gathering images from the past was a simple thing for them. 

She’d often wondered if time flowed differently for them. Anything that happened in the galaxy was something they could discover as long as they turned their attention to it.

The images flickered through a thousand scenes before the Titan pointed at Yaivon, who shuddered at the attention. 

“The Winged Furies have been betrayed by their new High Councilor, who promoted this path. Their current trend will lead to their fall from the High Council and the destruction of their heritage.”

Yaivon’s complexion turned red with anger as he tried to leap out of his seat again. He gathered his energy to force his way up, preparing to refute the Titan’s words, but silver flames formed around him, tying him up before he could speak and slamming him back into his seat.

The Titan’s attention shifted away from him to settle on the Wind Wraiths. 

“But the Winged Furies are also an injured party. It is the Wind Wraiths who deliberately chose Yaivon as a pawn and assassinated the old councilor, with the intention of destabilizing the High Council.”

He raised his hand and a wave of starlight coalesced into new images, ones that perhaps only a Titan or an enormously powerful Seer at the Sixth Evolution might have been able to find.

There was no refuting the scene in front of her.

Tulan Whitewing, the old High Councilor, was sleeping on an ornate bed somewhere in his chambers on Bright Sky. A dark form slipped through the shadows and stalked through the room. 

A white and blue dagger flashed, its edge coated with some opal-like liquid, and made a series of tiny pinpricks along Tulan’s exposed skin. The blade was so thin it was like a mosquito’s wings. A breeze that came through the window was enough to obscure its touch. 

The wind rustled Tulan’s feathers and made him roll over in bed, and then a drifting white powder scattered down on him.

Then the dark figure disappeared, its body barely seen except for a flash of blue and white skin. 

Sam raised his hand and the image froze. Then it began to move backward. The dark figure reappeared, standing in the room where he’d disappeared.

It was hard to make out his features, but it was clearly a male Wind Wraith. The flash of blue and white skin and the overall build was enough to see that.

Silver light gathered around the figure and then its aura began to shine through its clothing, presenting a form that became more distinct by the moment. 

The unique mana signature of a Sixth Evolution being radiated from the scene, and then it became even clearer as it leapt into Winter’s senses.

It was a mana signature that she was very familiar with and she turned to look across the room to where the owner was sitting. 

Nurim.

The Wind Wraith’s expression was dark, even as his mana resonated in perfect accompaniment with the one in the image. He twitched as heavy gazes fell on him.

Judgment and rising anger filled the room.

“Nurim!” shouted Hetar, the Dragon Spirit councilor. “You swore that you had nothing to do with Tulan’s death when we asked you before! How dare you lie to us!”

He wasn’t the only one to begin shouting. The room filled quickly with a storm of accusations as the councilors put the scene together with information that they already had.

Winter just shook her head in irritation.

Tulan had died seemingly by chance, without any outward signs of illness, which was incredibly strange for a Sixth Evolution being. 

He’d been old, but not yet at the end of his natural lifespan.

The death had been much too suspicious, but until now there had never been any evidence. 

They had tried using seers to investigate, but scrying anyone at the Sixth Evolution was difficult. Their domains concealed them from all but the most exceptional talents, making it almost impossible to see them, even after they’d died. 

All of those on the council also had powerful wards against scrying.

They’d come up with nothing, so they’d been forced to accept that he had somehow damaged his vitality and his life force had drained away, which was what it looked like when they examined him.

There had been no evidence of wounds or poison. 

There were strange curses and artifacts in the galaxy, some left over by the early wars, including dangerous remains of beings who hadn’t wanted to die, and others from the conflict with Outsiders during that war or that had been created by the Titans or a few other powerful races. 

Some of them might have been able to kill a Sixth Evolution being.

She had decided that Tulan must have stumbled across one and been injured by it, perhaps unknowingly.  

The council had questioned Nurim about the circumstances, since his race was the most skilled at assassination and should have had the best insight into how Tulan could have died, but Nurim had denied any involvement, as well as any knowledge of how it might have happened.

According to him, it was impossible that an assassin had been involved, so with the lack of other evidence, they’d been forced to accept his word for it.

But now the truth was in front of them.

“It’s a fake,” Nurim hissed angrily, trying to deny it as he leapt to his feet. “This Titan is accusing me of destroying the High Council, but that is his plan! How dare you all believe him! Tulan died of natural causes!”

His body wavered under the pressure of the Titan’s domain, but he was part elemental and was able to resist it enough to stand. His body turned ethereal as winds whipped through his form, letting him resist the pressure.

“You still deny it?” 

The Titan’s voice thundered across the room in a wave of force that picked Nurim up and hurled him across the length of the chamber.

The power was so great that if Nurim had been at a lower Evolution, he would have exploded.

Instead, he only slammed into the wall on the far side. His body flattened, distorting to nearly a flat plane under the impact. 

Then Nurim reformed, his body swirling as it was reborn from the air. 

He snarled as he drew two thin blue and white daggers from his belt. They were very similar to the one in the image they’d all just seen, but larger, suited to combat rather than poisoning.

A hurricane force gathered around him as a Sixth Evolution Truth filled the air, warping reality around him. 

Winds that should not have existed began to blow, infusing him with mana, and a sense of desolate destruction began to spread outward.  

It was a dark storm wind that held a touch of death, and as soon as it appeared its force started to erode the world around it. 

Chunks of stone, wood, and other materials that had been brought into the council chamber disintegrated as the wind touched them, turning to bits of ash that swirled through the growing storm.

Winter sighed as she looked at the Titan and then back to Nurim. 

Then she flicked her hand and a crystalline wind sprang up around her. It turned into a nearly invisible domain of Ice that froze the space, keeping Nurim’s wind from coming near her side of the room.

Some of the other councilors were not so swift to react and their defenses began to erode under the force of the wind. They scrambled out of the way as they tried to put some distance between themselves and the battle.

The wind around Nurim had dissolved all of the imported furniture and materials within thirty feet of him.

Only the ancient walls of the chamber were unharmed. They radiated with a bright silver light that the wind couldn’t penetrate. Millions of years later, the Titans’ enchantments endured. 

The Silver Hall wouldn’t be damaged easily, even by a battle at the Sixth Evolution.

“How dare you, Titan,” Nurim hissed as he gathered himself. “I will deal with you just like I dealt with Tulan. So what if you know? So what if you have shown everyone? It is faster this way. My people will leave the High Council. I never liked hiding my true self beneath these laws and traditions.

“I’ll start with you, and then I’ll kill my way through anyone else here who opposes me. There is nothing that can stop the Truth of the Desolate Wind. Everything will fall to ruin.”

Winter hid a sigh as she reinforced her domain some more.

The Wind Wraiths were overly dramatic when it came to their sense of self-importance, as well as in their naming conventions. 

It seemed like the Wind Wraiths had hatched another plan to cause trouble, which was nothing new. She was the strongest of the council and had been the one to suppress several of their efforts before, so she had no sympathy now that they were trying it again. 

She had warned Nurim not to fight the Titan, but he clearly couldn’t help himself.

She could deal with Nurim if necessary, but she was more interested in what the Titan would do.

So far, he hadn’t moved. He was just watching Nurim silently.

That was not a good sign for the Wind Wraith’s continued existence. 

Nurim gathered the dark wind around him and then struck out. 

A sense of desolate existence pervaded the room, turning the chamber dark as a howling force appeared, infusing the storm with a sense of deadly intent. 

Reality wavered as it tried to change to match, to turn the chamber into a realm of true dissolution that would leave nothing behind but cold ashes drifting across the horizon, but the effect was limited.

Domains had little effect on reality inside the Silver Hall. They were blocked by the old wards. The pressure of the domains from the other councilors also resisted the Truth, stabilizing reality near them as their own laws held sway, like anchors on existence.

Near the Titan, nothing changed at all, it was still the same endless expanse of silver stars falling into the distance.

Nurim ignored the failure as he pressed his attack. Since the higher concepts failed him, he compressed the wind, making it howl again as it turned into a black blade that flew across the chamber. 

It was so powerful that the air disintegrated in the face of it, opening a tear across space.

As the blade traveled, it screamed with the voice of the dead and the same aura spread out from it, still trying to shear through reality. 

It was an attack both in the physical and the spiritual realms.

It felt like it was capable of breaking apart the bonds of life and unity, dooming anything that it hit to an endless dissolution in the dark as their hopes were pulled away from them one by one.

Winter frowned at it as she layered another part of Spring’s Renewal into her defense. 

To her, the concept that Nurim was drawing on felt like a type of ice that was frozen in eternity, the part of the element that dwelled alone in the darkness, cold and savage, existing only to freeze everything that it touched.

There was no life in it, just destruction. 

The Titan didn’t react as the blade closed in on him. He watched it approach, his eyes calm. Even the aura around him was steady and untroubled. 

When the blade was only an arm’s length away, he moved. He reached out with a single golden hand that shone brightly with silver light. 

His fingers clamped around the blade, stopping it dead in the air, and intricate silver runes flared around his grip, sinking into the blade’s structure and locking it in place.

Until that moment, the blade had been ethereal Wind, but now it was solid and frozen in place. 

It hummed with force as waves of mana flowed away from it.

“A Law of Desolation,” he said thoughtfully as he glanced at Nurim. “I thought you would have something with Wind, but it only takes that form. Perhaps that explains some of your decisions. Truths change us, and no one with this type of Truth will be comfortable in the presence of others. But it does not forgive them.”

Then the Titan’s hand closed. 

It was a casual gesture that completely covered the blade and it was followed by a dull explosion as the blade shattered. A dust of silver wisps and black wind blew away from his hand.

A wave of mana disintegrated along with it, dissipating into space.

On the far side of the room, Nurim doubled over as the connection he had with the blade shattered. His face turned pale and he staggered, but he still looked defiant. 

Some of the councilors stared at him and then the Titan, frozen in shock. 

It wasn’t every day you saw a Sixth Evolution Truth broken with pure force, much less when the one who did it seemed to use barely any effort.

Nurim gathered his mana as he reached for another weapon, but at that moment the Titan stood up.

Golden light swelled across the chamber, making it feel like a sun was blazing, and even Winter turned her head away again. She felt the mana in the room tremble as a wave of dimensional force spread outward. 

Silver stars drifted across the area, swirling around Nurim and everyone else there. She saw what happened with her aura, since it was too bright to see anything directly.

The Titan raised his hand and everything changed.

The room disappeared, replaced by an endless expanse of the Void. Stars burned brilliantly in the distance, combining with the ones from the Titan’s aura. 

Winter blinked and her sight quickly resolved. It was easier to see here as long as she didn’t look at the Titan directly. 

She looked around and realized that she and the others were near the border of the system that held Council. The chaos winds were slightly stronger here at the edge of the system, but it wasn’t much compared to the more wild half of the galaxy where she’d been born.

The sun was in the distance over her shoulder, but the Titan was blazing even more brightly, the energy from him outshining everything else around. 

His size had changed and now he towered over them all, like a massive judge standing above the horizon.

When she caught sight of Nurim again, she saw that he was sealed in bands of silver flame and unable to move. Yaivon stood next to him, also sealed in the same way.

The Lifeweaver and the other councilors were standing nearby, but they didn’t dare to move.

The Titan pointed at Nurim.

“The motivation behind the assassination of Tulan Whitewing was driven by the Wind Wraiths’ desire to separate from the High Nine and go their own way. They chose the most destructive path, one that would have destroyed billions of lives in a civil war and shaken the council.”

The Titan’s words rang out as more scenes appeared in the Void in front of them. 

“Observe.” 

At Sam’s gesture, the Void filled with more memories drawn from starlight, which swiftly showed everything the Wind Wraiths had done, including how they had helped Yaivon rise to power and suppressed the Whitewing family over the last decade.

It took some time for everything to be displayed, but the details were all present, including the projected outcome that would have disrupted the council and drawn a quarter or more of the galaxy into a civil war.

Winter frowned at that.

She had to admit that it was likely. The connections between the races ran deep and many subordinate races would have been pulled into this if it had gone any further. 

Perhaps she might have been able to stop it, but without the rest of the council to control their factions...it would not have been easy.

“But the disruption of the Winged Furies’ way of life and even the assassination of their previous councilor is not the greatest crime on the High Council. There is a greater fault that lies with all of you, but especially the Elitist Faction.”

The Titan raised his hand and the scenes changed again, this time turning to images of the younger races, from humans to a hundred more.

Scene by scene, images of the oppression of humans and other races had felt echoed in the Void. They were real memories of events, some sped up to show the outcome and others single instants locked in time.

“It was the duty of the High Council to safeguard the progress of the younger races and to assist them in their rise. In this, you have failed in the task that my people left you. 

“Your decisions have brought untold suffering and the loss of potential in the galaxy, weakening its growth. If a new war breaks out, you have barely a handful of Sixth Evolution beings to fight it and most of you are weak.”

The Titan’s attention settled on all of them with a pressure like the sun was falling, forcing all of them but Winter to shrink away. His attention passed over her more lightly.

“Hear my decree.” 

His words blazed around them like they were being born inside of a sun and impressed on reality.

“First, my judgment on Nurim for assassinating a High Councilor and instigating a civil war.” 

The Titan looked silently at the Wind Wraith and then a single word rang out in the Void. 

“Death.”

The Titan reached out toward Nurim, who was locked in the silver flames, and a massive golden hand traveled through the Void. Silver ripples of dimensional energy flared around it, bending space where they passed.

Nurim’s face turned pale as he saw it approach. A dark wind howled through his body, making his limbs distort as he tried to break free of his bonds, but he was unable to even shake them. 

The hand closed around him and the colors of the Void inverted, black turning to white and white to black. Silver strands of light poured through the area like a wavering mirage, turning everything hazy and indistinct. 

Everything in the center of the image shattered like a pane of glass breaking under a massive impact. Space tore open in a long line, turning into a massive Astral Rift where the Wind Wraith had been standing.

The Void trembled as energy exploded outward and was drawn back inward by the rift. Then the sides of the rift began to pull together, silently sealing over the space where Nurim had been standing.

A moment later, the area was empty. The returning chaos winds blew through it, bringing elemental energy back to fill in the gap.

“Astral Titan....” The word was a whisper as one of the High Council spoke.

Mana signatures flared across the gathered councilors as they stared at where Nurim had been. Wings shook and scales faded in and out of sight.

They were too stunned to speak.

Until just moments before, they’d thought they were the most powerful beings in the galaxy and able to do whatever they wished. 

Now one of the strongest of them had just been wiped out of existence by the Titan as easily as him turning over his hand. They’d known there was a difference between them and the Titan, but now they saw it clearly. 

A shudder passed through them and even the Dragon Spirit backed away, his scales disappearing. He had wanted to fight and see who was stronger, but after seeing that, he no longer dared.

The Titan turned to look at Yaivon, who was as white as a sheet.

“I will allow your own people to deal with you, Winged Fury,” he said. “It will be their chance at redemption. You will stay imprisoned until Teron Whitewing faces you in an honor duel. I do not expect you to survive.”

He raised his hand and a silver wave covered Yaivon. When it disappeared, the Winged Fury was gone, probably stored away in a sealed dimension somewhere.

“Should he survive,” the Titan added, “I will eliminate him myself. He is not worthy of a second chance.”

Then he looked at the rest of them.

“Heed my words. The Wind Wraiths are banned from the High Council for 100,000 years and their seat will be reassigned. It will become a rotating seat, one held by a chosen member of the younger races who has reached the Sixth Evolution, and it will rotate every two hundred years. 

“The council will determine an appropriate and fair method to oversee the selection.

“The rotating seat will represent the will of the younger races. In time, additional seats can be added to the council, but the requirement is that the race must have produced at least two Sixth Evolution beings within ten thousand years.

“When the Wind Wraiths’ period of penance is complete, they will be able to compete for the rotating seat like everyone else.

“Additionally, to correct the flaws that have appeared on the High Council, a tenth seat will be added and given to the humans. They are one of the strongest of the young races and have suffered under the council’s decisions. The seat will represent their growth and prominence in the galaxy. 

“I will help them to establish a new domain that suits a High Council race and I will also appoint their first councilor, someone who is known to all of you. 

“Asperio Prosseto will join you as a High Councilor. He is the only known human at the Sixth Evolution, but three others have died in the past ten thousand years. His presence will begin to ease that injustice.

“The suppression toward the younger races and the assassinations that are stopping them from reaching the Sixth Evolution will cease. The Wind Wraiths who were responsible for many of those assassinations are already dead. I dealt with them before coming here.”

The Titan paused as he looked around at the council. Except for Winter, their heads were bowed as they avoided his gaze 

Their postures held no challenge, only submission. 

He studied them for a moment before nodding.

“Very well. Since you are in agreement, there are more things you should know about the future of the galaxy. I will mention them briefly here.

“The current limitation of Evolutionary Nodes will cease. Nodes will be available for use to everyone as long as they are not marked as a criminal or exile. Fighting over them is forbidden, as is attempting to seize them from another world.

“Worlds may charge a reasonable fee for this assistance, but nothing excessive. I will assist the High Council in establishing more high-level nodes, as well as linking the current ones to more worlds, including to Aster Fall and the World Core, although assistance from the World Core will be limited to those who support it.

“You should know that Asenya, known as the World Forger of Aster Fall, has returned. I rescued her from a prison left by the Demon of Blood. She will once again take up the honor of caring for Aster Fall and of defending it from Vos’Rekan and Outsiders, but the High Council is still required to contribute as needed.

“With her return, the time for Aster Fall to be hidden has passed. It is a bastion of strength for humanity and the sylphs, and it will no longer be forgotten. 

“Obey her decisions as if they are mine. She will be available soon enough for you to communicate with through the network of Evolutionary Nodes and the Path of Stars. 

“I will also establish a series of trial challenges to promote the strength and dedication of all races, including a unique one for those who wish to visit Aster Fall and seek the assistance of the World Core. Dedication to the world’s protection and trials in the Fallen Abyss will be required to gain its assistance. 

“Instant teleportation between Aster Fall and the main galaxy will be available for those who successfully complete the challenge, something that has never been offered before.

“Likewise, passage through the Nexus is available to anyone who can survive it, but it is unlikely any of you will be able to do so.”

He paused again, letting the ideas sink in, but no one dared to raise an objection.

“This decree will be recorded in the Silver Hall, along with more details. Remember, I am here and I will be watching you. My avatars are everywhere.”

With that, the Titan raised his hand and a dozen silver portals opened in the Void around him. A dozen copies of himself walked out of the portal, standing in a shining rank behind him.

“I am the Lord of Silver Stars. Heed my words or perish.”

The Titan raised his hand and the Void was flooded with silver light. 

“Now go.”

Dimensional space warped again and Winter could sense everyone else being sent back to the Silver Hall, but she was split off from the group and traveled to a different location.

When she looked around, she was still standing in a vast hall with silver-white pillars. The Void stretched through the sky above while golden fields were laid out below, extending to distant blue and white mountains.

The Titan was standing across from her, but his height had dropped back to a more familiar seven feet and his aura was calm, barely a ripple in her awareness.

“Welcome to my hall,” he said as he held out a goblet of some drink. His voice was no longer echoing with majestic force. Instead, it was a more friendly tone and he had a slight smile. 

It was a sudden shift and even with her experience with the Titans, it took Winter a moment to adjust as she looked at him.

“To old memories,” he said as he placed the goblet in her hand and then took one of his own, which he raised to her.

“Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about Aster Fall.”