Athena stepped out of the transport shuttle, the cool breeze of Asenus planet brushing against her skin as she adjusted the bags in her hands.
This ti, she was prepared. Unlike before, when she had entered her temporary ho only to find an empty kitchen, this ti she had gone to the market first.
She knew exactly what awaited her inside that house, nothing. She had learned from experience.
Walking up the steps, she unlocked the door and stepped inside. The familiar scent of the sterile, untouched air greeted her.
It was as she rembered, clean, minimalist, and impersonal, a stark contrast to the warmth of the ho she had once lived with Mors.
No, not yet. That ti hasn’t happened yet.
She moved swiftly, putting the groceries away, placing food in the storage units, and arranging everything efficiently, and thodically.
It was an odd feeling, knowing exactly what was about to happen, but having no way to explain why.
The next day, she prepared herself for the inevitable visit to her family’s estate. This ti, however, she had a different plan.
When she arrived at the Derin estate, the towering gates lood over her just as they had before. The guards nodded in greeting, letting her in without question.
As she walked through the halls, she already knew the conversations that were about to take place, the expectation that she would discuss the variety show.
But this ti, she remained silent. She had no intention of participating in the show.
Her father, sat at the head of the dining table, eyes scanning over reports on his tablet, while her mother, studied her carefully.
"You seem different today," her mother noted, setting down her teacup.
Athena rely smiled, neither confirming nor denying the observation.
Her brother, Lawrence, arrived shortly after.
The next morning he was tasked with escorting her out. But unlike last ti, he didn’t take her to the bureau.
Instead, he took her to the mall.
It was a small change, but a significant one.
Athena played along, chatting with him as they walked through the brightly lit shopping center, glancing at the stores and listening to him complain about their parents’ expectations about marriage.
And then, she saw her opportunity.
She turned to him with an apologetic smile. "I need to pick up sothing that only females are allowed to buy."
Lawrence blinked, then grimaced as realization struck him. "Ugh. Fine. I’ll wait for you outside."
Just like that, she slipped away.
With steady steps, she made her way to the marriage bureau.
Her heart pounded as she approached the desk, but her resolve never wavered.
She handed over her identification, spoke clearly, and within minutes, she held the official certification in her hands.
A docunt that confird her marriage to Mors.
The mont she received it, everything had changed.
Instead of wasting ti with the variety show, instead of being forced into awkward public displays and unnecessary complications, she went straight to her agent and handed her the certification.
The reaction was exactly the sa as before, shock, disbelief, frustration. But none of it mattered. A month passed by quickly.
It was ti for her to leave. She had broken the cycle. And just as expected, the call ca.
The steward of the Mors estate reached out, formally requesting her presence.
She didn’t hesitate.
With quiet determination, she packed her things and followed the exact sa arrangents as before, boarding the transport, traveling to the estate, and stepping onto the grounds that she now knew as ho.
The mont she arrived, she took a deep breath.
The towering estate stood before her, just as grand, just as imposing, yet this ti, she felt relief rather than uncertainty.
"I am back."
Athena stepped into the familiar room, the sa one she had been given upon her first arrival at the Mors estate.
The walls were as pristine as she rembered, the bed untouched, the air carrying the sa faint scent of old wood and clean linen.
It was strange how everything looked the sa, yet she was different.
She placed her bags to the side and sighed. Exhaustion seeped into her bones, far deeper than re physical fatigue.
It was the weight of knowledge, the burden of mories that did not belong to this tiline.
Walking toward the bed, she sat down slowly, testing the softness of the mattress beneath her. She knew she had returned, but had everything else co back with her?
Athena lifted her hands and stared at them. Her fingers curled, trying to summon sothing, anything.
Arthivian.
But the sword did not respond.
She closed her eyes, reaching into the depths of her soul, trying to feel the connection that once bound her to the phoenix.
But there was nothing.
A small, unsettling ache filled her chest. Had she lost them? Had the divine forces stripped her of the very weapons she needed to protect Mors?
A shaky breath left her lips. It didn’t matter. Even without Arthivian, even without the phoenix, she would find a way.
For now, she just needed to rest.
Sliding beneath the covers, Athena let the familiar warmth envelop her. Her body curled into the bed, her muscles loosening as the exhaustion finally took over.
Her eyes fluttered shut.
Just before sleep claid her, she whispered softly, whether to herself, to the world, or to whatever divine force had brought her back.
"I will not fail this ti."
Athena drifted into a deep slumber, but her mind was far from quiet.
Visions flickered behind her closed eyes, flashes of the battles she had fought, the mont she had died in Mors’s arms, the sight of his golden aura turning black with grief and rage.
She saw herself standing above the battlefield once more, watching as Mors wielded Elsienflora like a man possessed.
His strikes were no longer clean and precise but fueled by unrelenting hatred.
He had abandoned reason, his body moving purely on instinct, his soul slowly corrupting under the weight of his sorrow.
Athena reached out to him, but her hands passed through the image like mist. She was no longer part of that ti.
And then, darkness.
A strange warmth pulled at her consciousness, wrapping around her like the embers of a dying fla. A voice, distant but powerful, echoed in the void.
"Are you truly back?"
Athena’s heart clenched. She knew this voice. It was the phoenix.
She tried to respond, but no words left her lips.
The voice continued, softer now, almost hesitant.
"If you are, then prove it. Find ."
Athena’s eyes snapped open, her chest rising and falling in quick, uneven breaths. The room was silent.
The only sound was the steady rhythm of her own heartbeat, pounding in her ears.
She sat up, pressing a hand against her forehead. Had that been a dream? Or was it a ssage?
She clenched her fists.
If the phoenix still existed, then Arthivian might still be out there too.
Throwing the covers off, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, feeling the cold floor beneath her bare feet. There was no ti to waste.
She had to find them.
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