XX-VII

"I wonder how the island is," Stephen mutters as he stares at the empty vast in front of him. "I miss everyone," he said as he walks down the long stairs of the Seventh Kingdom. Salthifer is no longer with him ever since what happened yesterday. He had already absorbed his power and magic, now he is alone. He doesn't know when the gods will allow him to go out of the globe.

He walks down the hall and sees another person with black golden wings. He approaches the person when he notices that he looks like Salthifer. He was about to call him when the man turns to him and calls him other names.

"Salthifer," the man said, Stephen, furrows his brow and looks at the window beside him. He saw his reflection and it was not the Stephen he knows. "Who-," Stephen said and looks at the warrior in front of him. The warrior chuckles and slowly shakes her head.

"Stephen is it?" she asks and looks at him with a teasing look. Stephen backs away and the warrior chuckles lightly. "My name is Sartilliane, the Broken God," she introduces and smiles to the boy. Stephen gasps when he heard the name and smiles back at her.

They walked along the long hallway as Stephen asks her tons of questions. At the end of the hallway, Sartilliane faces him and held his shoulder. "They are waiting. Contact us if you need help," Sartilliane said and opens the door; it was a portal. Stephen begrudgingly steps in to enter the portal.

But before he left, he looks at Sartilliane first and memorizes his face. Making sure that he will remember the living God with a pretty face. He might not see her again. She is both enchanting and magical. Everything about her is just pure and exotic. He smiles and enters the portal.

As he opens his eyes, he is met by a dazzling winged angel with purple hair and tantalizing eyes. "Who are you?" he asks as he approaches the angel. "My name is Belevathan, the Endulity Goddess," she said as she smiles at Stephen. "Are you ready, Salthifer?" She asks and she stabs the vast space and suddenly a big spatial tear shows up. A large glowing light shows inside of the tear making Stephen closes his eyes and stumbles away from the tear. He hears Belevathan giggling at his sudden reaction and smiles at how cute the latter is.

He is now in Salthifer's body and mind but he is still Stephen through and through. This could be a big change in Salthifer's mindset and she thanks every Sage that she is alive to see this. 

Stephen steps back but when he sees Triton's worried face, he stopped. "They are waiting, no go," Belevathan said and pushes Stephen out of the Seventh Kingdom. "Contact us if you need help," she said and the portal closes.

Meanwhile, back to the island, one of the guards of the room rings the alarm, making the Queen runs towards the room and opens it. The globe is no longer there and there is just a couple of shattered debris lying around the room. "What happened?" she asks the person guarding the room.

"My apologies, my Queen. I just heard a sound that sounds like a shattered glass, so I sounded the alarm," he said bowing down to the ruler of Phantom Island. The Queen looks around when she notices a person lying on the cold ground. As she approaches the person, she is caught off guard when she recognizes who the person is. Alviary enters the room and sees her reaction. "What's wrong, my Queen?" he asks as he looks at her in the eyes.

Instead of answering the living God, she points under the table and when he looks over, Alviary steps back. "Who is that?" Alviary asks as he walks over and looks at the person lying on the ground. He tries touching his wings but flinches when it burns his hand. Suddenly, the body moves, and the man groans; little by little, he stands up.

He looks right to Alviary and the Queen before looking around him. Triton burst inside and looks at the person in front of them. "Stephen?" he asks as he carefully approaches the man. He doesn't recognize his face but his scent is still the same. Triton is sure that the person in front of them is Stephen. The man looks at him and positions himself in a fighting stance, ready to attack the people around the room.

Triton stops from approaching him and gulps before speaking. "It's me Triton," he said and easily transforms into his wolf form. Stephen draws his sword carefully and points it to Alviary. Alviary flinches and puts his hands back. He spreads his wings and orders, everyone, to do so. Uran and Laryo draw their sword and put it down to the ground as a sign of surrender.

Stephen draws his sword back and put it back to its sheath. Alviary then asks him, "Who are you and your trademark?" looking at the living god in front of him. The man looks at him and spread his majestic wings. "My name is Salthifer, the Mended One," he said with pride, earning confusing looks from all the people around them and a smug look from Alviary. Knowing that everything that he saw at the falls is nothing but true. He is not crazy when he sees him with his own eyes. Triton is also a witness to that. 

~0~0~0~

"I told you that he is real," Alviary whispers as they watch Salthifer creating a 3-dimensional image of Biringan. Living gods have the power of foreseeing. They can see things that occur in the past, present, and the future. They can also foresee villages and towns as they please; except for living gods like Alviary, Manya, Uklab, Anda, Odinna, Siyenthera, Jastirikka, and Meryanha. Now, Salthifer is using his foreseeing eyes to create a 3-dimensional image of Biringan to know where and how to attack.

When the living God sees the situation, he closes his eyes and the image stops. Alviary looks at him and sighs. "What are we going to do?" asks Alviary, as he watches the living God looking at the horizon. "We wait," Salthifer said and walks away from him. "If we do that, their forces will strengthen and we might lose in this battle," said Alviary, forcing the living God to give them strategies to win.

"We can ask other living gods for help if we need more strength. But for now, we must wait," Salthifer said sternly, not giving Alviary a chance to retort. He left the room and Alviary just clicks his tongue and shakes his head. He knows that Salthifer means well, but he just hopes that he has some strategies to share in fighting against the Sluaghs. He sits on the chair near the big glassy window and looks over the horizon.

Now, he just hopes that they win the battle or Biringan will fall.

x-x-x-x

Alviary is frustrated when he heard what Salthifer said. He doesn't know what he sees or what he got from his 3-dimensional image of Biringan. He frustratedly went to his room and flops to his bed and started thinking over their strategy. But he wants some help and support from Salthifer or any living God to win this war or they will be doomed. 

He sighs before looking over his room as his eyes roam around it. His room looks ordinary but he feels as if something is wrong in his room. He uses his magic to see what is going in his room when he noticed a black line from the corner of his bed. He stops on his tracks and scans the whole island to see if something entered the place but he sees nothing. He lowers down the density of his magic to his room and follows the black line towards the largest room of the castle. 

The Queen warned him about the room but it made him more alarmed than curious about what is going on inside the room. He twists the knob and quietly opens the door while he prays that nothing scary would jump to him. The whole room is dark and unrecognizable. He uses a little light to this room and walks slowly inside of it. He inhales and exhales quietly, scared that he would wake whatever is inside the room. 

He heard a very low growl inside and he stops. He flicks the light a little brighter to see what is inside when he felt coldness behind him.

"Don't move," a low voice said, making his knees tremble and his hands shake. He then heard heavy stomps away from him and into somewhere in the room. Out of nowhere, a light starts to flicker and open and reveal what is behind this room. He closes his eyes at the sudden brightness and the light from his hand is gone. He covers his eyes with his hands before adjusting them in the bright light.

He looks behind him and sees this humongous child with a human face but a titan in height. "Who are you?" Alviary asks, but the child just tilts his head and looks at him in confusion. Alviary sighs and flies toward the child and asks him again. "Who are you?" the living God asks, the child smiles and said, "Jethro."

Making Alviary looks at him with wide eyes as he remembers who Jethro is when he was still known as King Aeolus. He looks over to the child and gasps at the sudden enlargement of the small kid that he and Meryanha adopted at the last war. "Jethro?" Alviary said, with doubt in his voice and confusion in his eyes. The child nods and inhales as his body starts to decrease in size before transforming into the same height as Alviary. 

Alviary just gawks at the child as he can't comprehend what the hell is happening in front of him. But in the back of his mind, they could use Jethro's strength in battle. But he also knows that the child would want something in return, he just hopes that it is not something he can't do. So with pride, Alvairy asks Jethro to join them in the battle against the Sluagh. 

The child nods but not after telling the living God his condition. Making Alviary cry out in frustration.