Nia's father stayed by her side the next day after having told her the truth about him and her mother.

Due to her illness, she no longer had the strength to even leave her bed. As such, her father spent most of his days sitting at her bedside conversing one-sidedly with Nia, for she struggled even to speak and narrate her stories, which she hadn’t heard yet.

Her father knew very well that with every passing second, his daughter was progressively getting weaker and weaker.

He knew that today would be the day, so he remained at her side to the very last instant.

Nia suddenly coughed quite strongly,

"Nia, how are you feeling?"

"Papa,... I’m fine, I just need a little rest." She lied.

The truth was that she was struggling just to remain conscious and was afraid of sleep itself. Not wanting to face her father after that lie, she turned away to face the other side of the bed.

Nia’s father knew very well that she was saying that to not hurt him, but there was nothing he could do.

He was now helplessly watching his daughter dying on her bed, and it tore his heart.

He has lost many important people to him. Most of them were abruptly torn away from him, his father, his grandfather, his mother, his first love, then Raissa, Nia’s mother.

"Nia,"

"Hum?"

"There is something, I’d like to give you."

He pulled out a small object from thin air. The object in question was adorned with two colors: golden and sky blue. The design of the ring was similar to the one her father was wearing.

"This alliance belonged to your mother, I asked for it to be a few days after our, let’s say, "marriage"." He tried to put the ring on Nia’s ring finger, but it was too wide for her thin finger to hold in place, so he instead put it on her thumb. "I’m sorry, I should’ve given this to you earlier.

Truth to be told, he planned to give this ring to Nia, when she reached the same age as her mother when they first met.

"It’s nothing."

"Papa,"

"Yes, dearest, is there something you need?"

"Can I ask something, …"

"Anything. What do you want? "

"... I want to see the outside… It’s nighttime, right? I want to see the stars. "

When she was four, her father attempted to take her outside, and it was then that he realized the link between Nia and his tower.

Her request took her father by surprise, he expected everything but that.

Nia was born with a deficient soul. She was different from her mother and also different from her father. The only reason she survived all those years was because of the tower that is their home. That tower was acting as a womb that kept her alive.

As such, she never left the tower, nor had she seen the outside world.

"Sorry it-"

"It’s fine. Papa can do that. "

In normal circumstances, this should’ve been a simple request, but due to his father's duty to maintain the barrier, and her inability to go outside, that request was very complicated to accede to.

Yet, Nia’s father still acceded to her request.

Despite being confined within her father's magic bubble, that day, her father brought her outside for the second time in her life.

Nia couldn’t leave the tower because the tower was an anchor for her existence, but the tower itself, has for first purpose to conjure the barrier protecting humanity, was sustained by her father’s mana, so by reducing his non-stop alimentation through his mana of the barrier, her father himself could create an environment similar to their tower for her.

That day for his daughter, Nia’s father reduced the power behind the barrier to realize her wish.

With his daughter in his arms, he charged to a hill he was familiar with, on top of which was a single tree.

He sat under the tree and said to his daughter, who was at that point struggling to even open her eyes. "Nia, we have arrived. We are outside. Look at the stars. They are just above us. "

With the little strength she could muster, she glanced at the sky. It was a first time for her to see the open sky. She found it beautiful, but didn’t even have the strength to voice her wonder, but with a weak "it’s beautiful.".

Nia’s father has lived for more than 100 years. Since he became the pillar for the barrier, he never left the tower. The last time he did that, it was for his late wife.

This place was the very same place when his wife told him that she was pregnant and that despite the risk it involved.

Years before meeting Nia’s mother, he had once fallen for a girl who was both a best friend and a childhood friend. Nia's mother was aware of that part of Mon story, as well as the danger she might face. Yet she kept believing that a miracle could occur, till the very end, and it did, Nia was born.

Even after the loss of his wife, he never once felt alone for a single instant, and that was for him, who had lived for centuries alone inside that tower that was his more than anything anyone could have offered him.

Still holding his daughter in his arms, he felt her heartbeat decrease alarmingly.

He knew the day had come, he knew, he prepared himself, but still, he wasn’t the moment he felt he was really about to lose her, like he lost everyone he cared for before he started realizing that he was, and couldn’t ever be ready to lose her.

He remembered how lonely life was before he met Nia and her mother. He was alone. He lived, but was no longer alive.

Not wanting to lose anyone anymore, he made a decision, "Nia, I’d like to take you on a journey, just the two of us,. Do you want to come with me;"

It was not sure if Nia even understood the words of her father, but she acquiesced.

It was all he needed.

Nia’s father stood up and charged back to their tower. He stormed through the tower to finally reach the grandeur.

Then, with his magic, he created something resembling both a blue-sky crystal pod and a coffin. Having made the thing, the most comfortable possible, he gently put Nia in.

He gently put a kiss on her forehead, then closed the contenant Nia was in.

She was still alive, and he was determined to keep it that way, even if it meant committing a unforgiveable sin.

Summoning back all his mana, plastering the tower, and alimenting the barrier, he conjured a spell that he, eleven years ago, would never have accepted to use.

Nia’s father's magic involved only one thing: space.

His strength was unparalleled, even among those he refers to as his peers, thanks to his immense mana capacity, his very unique magic, and his very unique use and interpretation of his space magic.

Nineteen years before Nia was even born, back when he and Raissa had just begun their life as a couple, he attempted to create a magic that would allow him to be forever with her,

Nia’s father was everlasting, but it wasn't the case for her mother. He knew that one day the day would come where he would outlive her. So to avoid that, he attempted a spell to prevent that from happening.

His attempt led to nowhere but to only one defective spell. It consisted of creating a space completely unaffected by the flow time. The spell was defectuous because being in this created space, the object or the living being confined in it would be inert. For flow, the time within the space would be stopped, and that in itself was enough to make the spell defective for him. His objective was to have Raissa live as long as he did, not to put her in a death-like state.

In the end, he failed to upgrade that spell in time and lost his wife.

But this time, the defective nature of the spell was the perfect thing for Nia.

Using a fourth of his mana, he cast the spell onto the container in which his daughter was.

The spell was cast flawlessly, Nia was now within a space out of the influence of time and out of reach of death.

It was all he needed, time.

He needed time. As long as he had it, he would definitely find the cure for her illness.

Wasting no time, he prepared himself for the journey that awaited him and his daughter. He retrieved, after a hundred years of being left in the dark, his two main weapons: an iron shield, which was a gift he had received from his father, and a sword that had turned because of how often it was thrust into monster flesh.

When he was done with the preparation, he was about to leave the tower with Nia, when several people arrived.

One of the people that arrived called out his name: Mon.

There were at least a good two dozen of them, ranging from men to women, but most of them seemed to be physically in their twenties, not one above or one below that.

Leading these groups of people were six people, among whom was the one Nia’s father referred to as "The Prince."

They could only be here for a reason. By using the spell on Nia, he chose to

"Mon, what happened? What happened to the barrier- Wait, why are you- What happened to her? "

"She is fine, for the time being, but as long as I find a cure for her on this journey, she will be fine."

The prince’s back straightened at the mention of the word "journey."

"-What do you mean by the journey? "

"There is no remedy for her sickness here, my prince. You and Huye did the best of your ability, but I’m sure there must be a remedy somewhere, or at the very least something that might know the answer somewhere in this world. "

"Mon, please calm down. You have to think it through, Nia’s sickness. You can’t just deprive humanity of the barrier. Do you realize what it would result in? People will die from monsters. "

"I am fully aware, but I cannot simply stand by and watch everyone I care about die one by one. I have done that enough already. "

"I cannot and will not give her up, for she is all that I have. "

"But humanity-"

"I owe humanity nothing. If I have, I have already repaid it with the lifetime I spent inside that tower. "

After having lost his first lover, he no longer had anyone he could call a family, so he built the tower as a prison and a tomb for himself, then established the giant barrier to protect humanity from monsters. He did so for 126 years.

"Nia needs me; she needs her father." With that, he was about to go through them on his way to leave the tower, but the Prince stood in his way.

" I am sorry, Mon, but I cannot allow you to do that. Humanity is in our hands. It is our duty to protect it."

"Cannot allow me?" When Mon closed in on the prince, most of the people present sheathed their weapons, readied their spells, expecting him to get violent. Only the prince and five other people didn’t. "Tell me, Kiady, what you’re going to do? Heal me? Huh? Tell me, Sora, Aurora, Kine, Djeem, and you, Huye, tell me what you’re going to do. Let me answer for you, "Nothing". You will do nothing."

Mon’s voice no longer contained the gentleness he used to speak to his daughter, instead, it was now imperative and overbearing.

"Stand aside. Do not get in my way if you continue insisting. Trust me, none of you six godsends and your progenitures will get out of this castle alive. "

Mon’s words weren’t empty words, he really meant them.

Even with a vast percentage of his magic dedicated to maintaining Nia’s state, he could still easily kill every single one of them. That was how vast the disparity between them was, and the six Mon precedently cited were very well aware of that.

The Prince, Kiady, as Mon called him, reluctantly got aside, making a path which Mon immediately took.

"Are you sure you want it to finish like this? People will remember you as Solomon, the Lone Traitor, not as the martyr and hero you have been for the past 100 years.Is that really how you want it to end? People will die because of what you’re trying to do. What do you think Nia will think of that. If you were to find a cure for her illness, what would happen to the guilt you leave her with. "

Hearing these words, Mon stood still.

Mon was the name he received upon birth. Being inherently different from the other godsends and reunited with them under a very unique circumstance, he spent most of his teenage years fighting monsters, helping people all by himself, on his own side, while the other godsends were working mainly in duos.

Somehow, over the years, to the people, his name was no longer Mon but Solomon, The Seventh Godsend. Decades later, after constructing his tower and exiling himself within it, he learned from Raissa that people had forgotten his original name and were now referring to him as Solomon, The Loner Godsend.

"Is that all you have to say? Guilt is something the living must endure. If she were to feel guilt for what I would’ve done, then I would be happy, for that would mean that she would be alive to feel it. As for what people would think of me, I never bothered myself with this. People may hate or loathe me, but I couldn't or wouldn't care less. "

"But your ba-"

"Hearing this discussion, I’m having with you, I come to understand the eight Primordials for not perpetuating Rena’s task of protecting humanity. If humanity does really need my barrier, or a dragon's protection to survive in this world, then maybe humanity’s existence in itself was a mistake and that the Evil Dragon was merely trying to put things as they should be."

If you care so much about humanity's safety, then do it yourself; you're already there, aren't you? Protect your beloved humanity. Do your best. I've done enough.With these words, Mon left the human world in search of the beings he believed held the key to saving Nia: the eight Primordial Dragons.

After the fight between them and the evil dragon, it was said that the eight dragons scattered to the four corners of the world.

He traveled north in search of one of the eight dragons.

It was a long and arduous journey, but with patience and fortitude, after decades of travel, he finally found one of the eight dragons.

Sadly for Mon, he stumbled upon the ill-tempered and most violent of the eight dragons.

Laying on the highest peak of a chain of mountains, was the Primordial Light Elemental Dragon.

Mon was only able to find it because of the chaotic light and heat it was exuding, which prevented anything animal or vegetal from taking root for a hundred kilometers around.

Without him even being invested by Mon, a battle started the moment he put a foot into the Dragon territory.

And with little to no surprise, Mon lost. Maintaining the space protecting Nia was very mana-effective, but even without that, he knew he still wouldn’t be a match for that dragon.

Just as he thought the dragon would end his life, she asked his name, then the purpose of his venue in her territory.

Yes, the Primordial Light dragon was a she.

Having told his name and the reason for his journey, Mon, for the first time in his thousand years of existence, begged someone on all fours. He begged her to heal his daughter.

But sadly for him, the light dragon revealed that she and even her brothers and sisters wouldn’t be able to do anything for Nia.

Only one being, with what they were supposed to represent, could easily, but unfortunately, that being was killed hundreds of years prior by the eight dragons themselves.

The Primordial Dragon started narrating to Mon how the world became the way it was, the truth behind the two-headed dragon wrath and their evil obsession with eradicating humanity, and finally, what exactly mana and aina really are.

Only then did Mon realize that the hope was slimmer than he ever envisioned.

Maybe out of pity or simply out of simple generosity, the light dragon proposed to Mon to continue to meet every single one of them, to talk to them.

to assist him on his journey. The light dragon offered Mon two things: a blessing and a compass that would help Mon find her brothers and sisters throughout the four corners of the world.

The dragon didn’t tell Mon what the blessing would serve for, but she simply told him that he would one day understand.

Having received a semblance of hope from The Primordial Light Elemental Dragon Minerva, the Chaotic Light, he continued his journey.

Parting ways with the strange dragon, Mon journeyed to the second dragon location.

Nesting on the bottom of the ocean was the Primordial water Dragon.

The Primordial Water Elemental Dragon Vara, the Ocean Great Snake.

Just like the Dragon Minerva, she knew no way to help Nia, and just like with Minerva, she offered her blessing to Nia.

And thus went his journey, going from place to place, meeting one dragon after another and then receiving a blessing from them.

These other dragons were

The Primordial Ice Elemental Dragon, Quideossa,

The Primordial Lightning Elemental Dragon Ezra, The Storm Harbinger

The Primordial Earth Elemental Dragon, Geon, The Rampant Mountain.

The Primordial Air Elemental Dragon Quiannis, The Wind Calamity.

The Primordial Dark Elemental Dragon, Qomoss, The Lightless Void.

Mon received from each of these dragons, Talking with them, he received from each a different bit of wisdom but the same answer, that they were not capable of curing Nia and the same gift, which is their blessing.

Having taken the light dragon advice to each one of the Eight Primordial Dragons, talked to them and learned what they were supposed to represent beside their main elements, after another centuries of travel Mon was left with only one last Primordial dragon.

Amira, the Primordial Fire Elemental Dragon, The Wingless Dragon.

Nesting where the two first dragons died, in the Iharana Great Forest, she remained in wait for the day of the return of the evil dragon.

He learned and received her wisdom and blessing in the same way he did from the others.

Parting ways with her, Mon felt like he had finished but still hadn’t figured out what the Light Dragon was meant to understand.

Goalless, he wandered throughout the forest in the hope of finding the answer. And one day, out of the blue, he did.

He realized that the answer lay in broad daylight within the wisdom the eight primordial dragons shared with him.

That day, Mon finally found a way to save his daughter. That day, he created a spell that had no link with his space magic, one that he had understood from his long journey.

He knew the spell his life would be the cost to pay for that spell but he felt it was completely worth it.

The spell consisted of him doing for Nia what he had always done for her. All this time, Nia had survived because of his tower-no, his magic, but it was unbeknownst to him that she was also dependant on his aina. He had continuously been providing her with what her mother couldn’t. Her illness came from the fact that what he provided wasn’t enough for her anymore.

Having understood the meaning behind the teaching of the dragons, he used their blessing and created a spell that allowed him to wipe his existence from this world and offer all he had to his daughter.

If what he was providing wasn’t enough, all he had to do was to give her everything.

The spell worked brilliantly, except for the final part.

Mon had no regrets about what he had done; his only regret was that he had not been able to completely sever the last link that connected him to his daughter, allowing her to finally be free.

Mon became an empty shell that forgot the reason he was fighting for. He only vaguely remembered two things, he had to die, but he also had to protect his daughter, two contradictory duties that he, despite his situation, did his best to fulfill.

As such, he remained within the domain, both protecting the spell his daughter was still within and awaiting someone to free him.

One day, a couple came to him, and like the human-shaped empty shell he was, even at one twelfth of his former strength, that couple was no match for him.

No one came for him, nothing came to free him and his daughter.

Decades went by, then centuries, and soon four millennials.

But one day, it appeared, they appeared.

He came back to life, as if awakened from an endless nightmare, Mon, fully knowing he was only a shard of his former self, also knew that this time he had the opportunity to finally say goodbye to his daughter and sever the link that bound them together.

He fought it to the best of his ability. Being killed was what he expected of them, but he needed time to properly say goodbye to them.

In the end, he lost a battle that he only, in his final instant, realized was against a child, and not just any child, but someone like what she would be, but he won by accomplishing his dream and duty.

A smile on his face. He could finally proudly join his wife and his loved ones.