Chapter 617: The Prophecy

"Why?" Julian asked, unable to stop himself. "Why test me at all if you were always going to let me pass?"

"BECAUSE I NEEDED TO SEE,"

Chronovax replied simply.

"TO UNDERSTAND WHAT KIND OF BEING YOU ARE. WHETHER YOU WERE WORTHY OF THE MARKS YOU CARRY."

The dragon’s form began to fade, merging back into the darkness of the void.

"YOU MAY GO, JULIAN, WHO DEFIED DEATH. YOUR PATH AWAITS."

Julian didn’t need to be told twice. Ignoring the pain flowing through his body, he gathered his remaining energy and shot toward the hole in the void.

But just as he reached the threshold and was about to cross over, Chronovax’s voice resonated one final time.

"REMEMBER, YOUNG GOD—YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING, ONE BY ONE. FATE ITSELF IS OPPOSED TO YOUR EXISTENCE. THE MORE YOU GRASP, THE MORE WILL BE TORN FROM YOUR HANDS. THIS IS THE PRICE OF DEFYING DEATH. THIS IS THE BURDEN OF BEING WHAT YOU ARE."

The words froze Julian, making him stop dead in his tracks.

"CHERISH WHAT YOU HAVE WHILE YOU STILL POSSESS IT. FOR THE DAY WILL COME WHEN EVEN YOUR GREAT POWER WILL NOT BE ENOUGH TO PROTECT WHAT YOU LOVE."

Julian wanted to respond, wanted to shout that he would never let anything happen to his family. But the pull of the hole was too strong now.

With Chronovax’s warning echoing in his mind, Julian plunged into the gateway.

The crushing pressure of the void vanished almost instantly, and Julian felt himself being pulled forward at unimaginable speeds.

He could see images flickering past—glimpses of other realities, other worlds, and other versions of existence passing by too quickly to fully comprehend. Worlds of endless fire, worlds of eternal ice, worlds where laws itself worked differently, and worlds inhabited by beings beyond imagination.

And then, suddenly, everything turned white.

Julian felt himself gradually slowing down, and then, with a sensation like stepping through a doorway, he emerged. His feet touched solid ground for the first time since leaving the Throne of Gods. The sensation was almost shocking after the weirdness of the void.

He was standing in vast green grounds that stretched in every direction as far as the eye could see. The sun was warm on his face, and the air was fresh and clean, carrying scents he hadn’t experienced in ages.

For a moment, Julian just stood there, letting his senses adjust to being in a real world again rather than somewhere unknown.

Then he heard voices that made his heart leap.

"FATHER!"

Julian spun around to see his three daughters running toward him across the grass. They had removed their helmets, and he could see the tears streaming down their faces.

Seraphine reached him first, slamming into him with enough force to make him stumble back a step. She wrapped her arms around him desperately, pressing her face on his chest.

"We thought you were dead," she sobbed. "We saw that thing hit you, saw you bleeding, and then you told us to run, and we didn’t know—we didn’t know if—"

Lyanna and Cassandra reached them a moment later, both throwing their arms around their father and sister.

"You’re alive," Lyanna kept repeating. "You’re alive, you’re alive; thank the heavens you’re alive."

Cassandra was crying too hard to speak, and she just clutched Julian’s arm as if afraid he might disappear if she let go.

Julian, too, wrapped his arms around all three of them, pulling them close.

"I’m here," he said quietly, his own voice thick with emotion. "I’m safe. We’re all safe."

"That creature," Seraphine pulled back slightly to look up at him, her eyes red and puffy from crying. "Father, what was that? I’ve never felt power like that. My attack didn’t even scratch it. It was like... like..."

"A True God," Julian finished. "That was Chronovax, a Time-Space Dragon. A being that exists in a realm far beyond even my current level. A guardian of the passages between worlds."

"It let you live," Lyanna said, suddenly realizing the truth. "It could have killed you easily, but it let you go. Why?"

Julian remembered Chronovax’s words—

even Death failed to mark you permanently

—but he wasn’t sure how to explain that to his daughters.

"Because I answered its question honestly," Julian said instead, which was true if not complete. "It was testing me, not trying to kill me. Once it understood my motivations, it let me pass."

Cassandra wiped her eyes, trying to regain her composure. "What did it ask you?"

"Why I was returning to this world," Julian replied. "Why I would risk everything to come back to the place where I died."

"And what did you answer?" Seraphine asked.

Julian looked at each of his daughters in turn—these brave young women who had followed him through the void, who had faced a True God and survived.

"I told it the truth," he said simply. "That I need to understand what I was blocking. That I need to protect my family from whatever threat exists, and I would rather face danger on my terms than wait for it to find me unprepared."

The three daughters nodded, understanding and accepting his answer.

They stood together for a few more moments, taking comfort in each other’s presence.

Finally, Julian stepped back, gently pulling himself from their embrace. He looked around at the vast green grounds surrounding them, taking in details he had missed in the initial shock of arrival.

"We should figure out where we are," he said, his voice becoming more serious. "This is my original world, but I don’t recognize this specific location."

Seraphine nodded, wiping the last tears from her face. "Right. We need to calm ourselves and find out where we are."

Lyanna was already scanning the horizon. "I don’t see any settlements from here. Just grassland for miles."

Cassandra closed her eyes, extending her magical senses outward. "I can detect... there. To the east. Something large—a city, maybe? Or a large town at least. Very far away, though, maybe fifty miles."