"My name is Ymir. Welcome to the future, ancestors."

The others were completely on edge as they completely readied themselves to battle it out with Ymir. They have been running from village to village, only to find more dead. And when they do manage to find a village brimming with life, the green-haired giant extinguishes it.

But for some reason, every time, their group happens to survive. And there was only one reason for that-- Ymir was letting them walk free. And so, right now, with their exhaustion at its limits-- they were done running away.

Gerald was the first to step forward, ready to juke it out at any moment. The target of their aggression, however, was completely relaxed. And seeing as he dropped the colossal bow he was holding, he was indirectly telling the group that he did not wish to fight.

But still, Gerald and the others did not let their guard down, as doing so might lead to an almost instant death.

"No need to be so alarmed."

***

"That was the first time we've met your evil son," Gerald said as he let out a long and deep sigh, "And we would meet him several times in the hundred years we were here, until the time he was executed."

"...Welcome to the future? What did he mean by that?"

"I am sure that by now, you've already realized that we were sent here at different times depending on when we were swallowed by the light, right? Surely, you can't be that stupid to--"

"I know."

"Just where exactly did you run off to for you to be the last one of us to be sent here."

"...And just where exactly is here?" Van quickly replied, emphasizing his last word.

"Just as your son said… this is the future."

"...What?"

"We're not inside a Portal, we're not in some different dimension-- we're on Earth, tens of thousands into the future. Whatever that white light truly was, it made the world the way it is now-- and it seemed to have sent every System Holder into the future."

"How… do you know this?"

"We've been here for a hundred years, and we had four-eyes with us. She was the one who discovered everything there is to know about this place," Gerald's voice slightly became sedated, "The Aesir and Vanir, Beatrice have theorized that they were the descendants of the enhanced humans created by the Circle or even the first generations themselves, forced to evolve by the harsh environment. And from them, came the other races-- it sounds far-fetched, but from all the books she had read throughout the years, that was the best she could come up with."

"...I see," Van only furrowed his eyebrows from Gerald's silly revelation, "What of the events with Ymir?"

"It's hard to explain all the evil shit your son did."

"Is he worse than you?"

"What? What do you mean worse than me? Don't you mean worse than you?" Gerald could not help but raise an eyebrow from Van's words, "He is the vilest person I have met, even your daughter agreed with me."

Van then turned his head towards Vanya, who only nodded in response. If even his own sister agrees, then perhaps his execution truly was justified. But still, Van could not shake this feeling of guilt inside of him-- as if he let it happen since he was not there for him.

Everything bad that Van did, every crime that he had committed, some of them were because no one really told him that it was not the right thing to do. Of course, Artemis was there to guide them, but the two weren't really normal children where you can just pat on the hand and be done with it.

They were gods; gods that would probably run amok when you scold them.

"You have to go to Midgard to find out what he did," Gerald muttered, "Anyway, where was I in the story... right."

"You're... continuing?"

"I'm skipping to the end as it's pretty much just a loop of death, loss, and destruction," Gerald waved his hand nonchalantly as he once again positioned himself neatly, "Years and years later, we grew stronger. Even with the System's absence, we still get stronger from the Crystals, which Midgard has an abundance of. There are literally mountains of them there, just being ignored. We got stronger to the point that Ymir no longer decided to ignore us; what followed was war. Ymir and his tree soldiers… as well as some forest giants. Beatrice and Edward, dead. Harvey's wife, dead."

"..." Vanya could not help but slightly take in a breath as she heard Gerald's words. She knew that most of the forest giants that were exiled sought to join her brother. The corpses that Van and Queen Nori saw as soon as they got to the territory of the forest giants were Ymir's men, and Vanya initially thought that was all of them. but to think they were also part of the secret war happening between the forest giants and the humans of Midgard.

"But I had to take a rest from all the war, as you can see," Gerald then sighed as he turned his head towards the frozen Xinyan, "And years later, I found out that my brother and the others were successful in subduing Ymir, executing him in front of all the masses. There was one piece of that news, however, that truly shocked me to the core-- you."

Gerald then pointed his finger towards Van, "A random green-haired woman appeared during the execution, begging my brother and the others to stop."

"...Mother."

"That's right," Gerald nodded his head as he remained pointing at Van, "Charles was able to recognize her, and she was able to recognize that Charles… was with you in your very first meeting."

"..."

"And that's when they found out that you and Artemis were together… and that Ymir was your child," Gerald then let out a chuckle as he pretended to wipe a tear from his face, "None of them believed it at first, but she knew you intimately, Van… she knew you intimately. The shock on my face when Charles told me the story was unbelievable. I could only imagine Victoria's face."

"...And then what happened?"

"My brother killed Ymir just the same," Gerald looked Van straight in the eyes, "As for Artemis-- what mother would not try to avenge her son? So they had to put her down as well. And here we are, years later, and my brother's plan of killing all of the giants and the gods is still going strong."

"...You also plan to kill the Aesir and the Vanir?" Vanya interrupted, "But the giants and the Aesir are also not on good terms-- a war is imminent and brewing between them."

"My brother has become a little loose in the head," Gerald shrugged, "You don't understand how deep his plan goes. With Charles able to travel throughout the 9 realms without any problems, you could say they were the ones who lit up the spark that would ignite the war between the two factions."

"...And you plan to swoop in once both sides are weakened?"

"Maybe," Gerald once again shrugged, "I am no longer part of it, my concern now is to get Xinyan out of this cage."

"Then you need to warn your brother," Vanya let out a small smile, "I admit that you are strong, maybe even stronger than me; you may have killed an Aesir, but you do not truly know the extent of their strength-- your brother and his friends will be massacred, along with us giants. You are strong, but can you say the same about your brother?"

"My priority now is her," Gerald turned his focus back to Xinyan, "My brother doesn't need me to hold his hand anymore, he's a hundred-year-old grown-ass man already. Oh fuck, I just realized that Van is like a baby compared to us, shit… and he's the only one with a child left."

"This woman and you, never had an offspring?"

"We tried," Gerald let out a sigh, "But I guess there are just some things you can't have. But I still consider myself lucky-- you can't lose what you don't have in the first place."

"I'll help you reach Latanya."

"What was that?"

Gerald was quickly distracted by Van, who had been keeping quiet for a while now. "I will help you reach Latanya, but in return, tell Harvey to leave us alone; including the remaining forest giants."

"Oh, that's a tough request," Gerald blinked a couple of times as he slightly let out a breath of awe, "If you haven't been listening, the forest giants were the ones who started this war."

"The ones who started this war are dead," Van looked Gerald straight in the eyes, "You said it yourself, Vanya has been asleep 95% of her life. Her involvement in this war is minimal, maybe even nothing. As for the rest of the forest giants… just leave them alone."

"I do not think my brother will see it that way."

"Then let him see it. You are done with wars, and I am done with it too," Van let out a sigh as he turned his eyes towards Vanya, "You said it yourself, you are lucky that you have less to lose… I have everything."

"...And what if he refuses?"

"I will side with my family, Gerald. And if that means having him and the others as an enemy, then I will destroy Midgard itself…

...including everyone in it."