The portal sealed behind Amaniel with a soft whisper.
Before he could take a second step, a tiny blur of motion launched itself from across the room.
"Papa!"
Cathiel collided with his chest, her small arms wrapping around his neck. The impact barely shifted his stance, but the warmth that flooded through him immediately melted away the lingering cold of the training dimension.
She looked different, he realized. Again.
In just a month, she had grown from a newborn infant into a small toddler of perhaps two years. Her dark hair, once short and messy, now fell in soft waves that Caelia carefully arranged into twin ponytails each morning. Her limbs had lengthened, her features refined, and her movements carried a coordination that shouldn’t have been possible for her apparent age.
She was growing fast. Terrifyingly fast.
But she was still his little star.
"There’s my girl," he murmured, securing her against his chest. She weighed nothing. A small, warm presence that somehow anchored him more firmly than anything else in this strange realm.
Cathiel pulled back, her slate gray and crimson eyes scanning his face with an intensity that made him feel thoroughly examined.
"Papa tired?"
"A little."
"Papa sit!"
She pointed imperiously toward the chair. He obeyed, settling down with her on his lap. Across the room, Caelia sat by the window, a book open in her hands. Her crimson eyes flicked up briefly, a small smile crossing her face before she returned to her reading.
Cathiel patted his cheeks with both hands.
"Cathiel missed Papa."
"I missed you too, little star."
"Papa gone long time."
"I know. I’m sorry."
She thought about this, her brow scrunching adorably. Then she nodded, apparently deciding to forgive him.
"Mama taught Cathiel words again." She held up her hands, showing him her fingers like they held something precious. "Cathiel can... can..." She frowned, struggling to find the word. "Read! Cathiel can read now!"
"That’s amazing."
"And write!" She squirmed excitedly. "Cathiel wrote... wrote..." Another pause. "Story! About a star!"
"You wrote a story?"
She nodded vigorously, her ponytails flying. "Mama helped. But Cathiel did... did..." She tapped her head. "Thinking part."
"The thinking part is the most important part."
"Cathiel knows."
She said this with such serious confidence that Amaniel couldn’t help but laugh. She laughed too, though she probably didn’t understand why.
Then her expression changed. She pressed a hand to her own chest.
"P-Papa. Something happened today."
"What happened?" Amaniel asked curiously, his voice laced with concern.
"Inside." She patted her chest again. "It got warm and... and big." She spread her arms wide to demonstrate. "Then books went..." She made a floating motion with her hands. "Up!"
"Whoa! That’s amazing~"
He smiled at her excitement, but something in her description nagged at him. Books floating? That wasn’t normal, even for Cathiel. Curious, he extended his senses toward her to see if anything had changed.
His eyes widened almost immediately.
She... She had broken through to Tier 5!
"Books floated," Cathiel continued, completely unaware of his shock. "Mama caught them. It was funny." She giggled at the memory. "Mama said Cathiel got stronger."
"Yes," he managed. "You did."
"Strong like Papa?"
He paused, looking at her innocent face.
"Stronger than Papa."
Her eyes went wide before her whole face lit up with the purest joy he had ever seen.
"Cathiel can protect Papa now!"
She threw her arms around his neck again, squeezing with all her tiny might. He held her close, feeling her small heartbeat against his chest.
All the exhaustion from training. All the pain. All the endless hours in that dark dimension.
It all washed away.
"Yeah," he whispered. "You can."
"Hehe~" Cathiel beamed at his words, then immediately launched into more stories about her day.
She told him about the funny shape she found in the clouds outside the window.
"Looked like a birdy! But with... with..." she struggled, then gave up, "Just funny birdy!"
She demonstrated how high she could count now.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten... hundred... and then more!"
She even tried to teach him a song Caelia had hummed to her, though the melody came out completely wrong and ended with her giggling at her own failure.
He listened to every word. Laughed when she laughed. Gasped dramatically when she revealed that the "funny birdy" cloud had apparently eaten another cloud.
By the time she finished recounting her adventures, her words had begun to slow. Her eyelids drooped between sentences. She rubbed at her eyes with small fists.
"Papa..."
"Mhm?"
"Sleep... together..."
"Okay."
"Mmm..."
She snuggled against his chest, her small fingers curling loosely into his shirt. A tiny yawn escaped her lips. Her eyes fluttered closed.
Within moments, soft little snores rose from her parted lips.
Amaniel sat quietly, holding her close. His thumb traced small circles on her back without thinking.
Across the room, a page turned, and a gaze fell upon them.
He looked up.
Caelia was watching them from her chair by the window. Her crimson eyes rested on Cathiel’s sleeping form, a soft, tender smile curving her lips, the expression of a mother completely lost in the sight of her child at peace.
Then she shifted her gaze to him. The warmth remained, though tempered now with something more measured. They were partners in this strange arrangement, bound by shared responsibility rather than romance.
’How did it go?’
Her voice echoed gently in his mind through their mental link.
Amaniel kept his expression neutral, his hand now gently caressing Cathiel’s hair.
’It went well. I completed it successfully.’
’Congratulations.’ A pause. ’You worked hard.’
He offered a faint smile in response, a small curve of his lips that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
But a moment later, his expression shifted, the warmth fading to be replaced by something more solemn.
’Has there been any news on your part?’
Caelia’s smile vanished. She closed the book in her lap slowly, her fingers resting on the cover. When her eyes met his again, they carried a familiar weight.
’Yes. They are finished with the preparations for ’that’.’ She paused, her mental voice dropping. ’I fear it may happen sooner than we expected.’
’...I see.’
Amaniel fell silent.
He thought back to Xeron’s behavior lately. And the things he learned on his own. Coupled with Caelia’s words just now, everything pointed the same way. That...
’The war is really imminent...’