The vast ocean waters expanded beyond the horizon. The morning sun gently staining the clouds above in hues of purple, pink and orange. Light from the flaming ball in space cascading around and shimmering in the deep water below, while the salty winds blow back my hair and golden cape.

"Are you sure you don't want to go back to give her your final words? At least a token of good fortune would suffice."

Staring off into the vast sea below, spectating a few small fish creatures bursting from their shells and breathing the salty water for the first time, I ponder at the miracle of life. There were lives I considered far more valuable than my own, yet so they were so fragile. It left a sense of unease in my heart, as if Fate was taunting my foolishness.

"I don't think she wants to see me and besides, along with my legacy, I've already left everything I want to say to her in my parting gift." I told the old elf as he held his staff to keep himself from falling face first into the hard wooden floor. The staff was three-quarters of his height tall when he still stood upright, instead of the noticeable but not severe hunch he now carried on his back.

"Are you talking about a gift that looks something like this?" He said as he held up a plain black ring, without a smidge of color. "I mean really, I knew you were boring but this is just a new low. She's a beautiful young lady and you gave her something that looks like a demon's halo." Virion said, shaking his head in disapproval at my lack of tact. Or lack of fashion, who knew what his senile mind was thinking.

"Says the walking corpse who decided to take this monumental trip in his centuries old pajamas." I scoff at him, refusing to believe he truly lacked any other types of clothes. "Even I bothered to bring these ceremonial robes, that you helped design by the way."

"I'm only following your instruction. You said to travel light." He said in an innocent tone while shrugging his shoulders.

"I said to bring only what was necessary. I imagined you'd bring something more useful li-"

"By the gods! Please shut the hell up before I sink this thing and make sure no one goes anywhere!" Shouted a rather unamused voice. Glancing down towards the deck of the vessel, I stared at the woman in question and nearly laughed at the image presented.

The armor she wore was made of a deep purple metal that was arranged in plates with solid white accents and outlines. The armor covered her from horn to toe, with only her face exposed. It was lightly plated and each piece was thin and flexible, ensuring her movements would never be inhibited in battle. The armor wasn't as majestic nor could it appear and disappear at will like the armor 'suit' I had found in the Relictombs, but it more than properly did its job. Agrona's prototype armor, Anima, had countless dents and scratches across every inch of the metal plates. Yet despite, the burns and holes that covered Anima, Seris never had it repaired, mainly because no one could during the war years, and she deemed it unnecessary after the war ended.

Despite-or maybe because of- the awe inspiring appearance the armor gave her, seeing her lay her back on the ground like a starfish was definitely worth a chuckle.

"I'd never think the great Seris Vritra would be defeated by a mere boat ride." I told her with a teasing smile on my lips.

"I enjoyed seeing your less serious side emerge again, but I'm starting to wish you just stayed on that rock." She says before her cheeks bloat as she rushed to the edge of the ship to heave all she had left in her gut. "I won't die if I jump time on an empty stomach right?"

"Unlikely" I told her as I patted her back in comfort.

We were riding on a small steam ship that could house about twenty people. We were heading towards a small man made marble platform. It was intelligently name Middle Ground, not only serving as the halfway point between Dicathen and Alacrya, but is was also where the agreement to end the war was made. It was a day of celebration and sorrow, I could still remember signing those treaties myself.

"Alright old coots, lets gather around"

I started explaining everything I could about the road trip we would be embarking on in less than an hours time. I had already told them how we would arrive at different times. Each of us would go back to the day of our births or slightly before that, just not before the baby forms in the womb. It meant that Gramps and Seris would live for dozens of decades before I'm even born. Such a decision would put the least strain on my soul, knowing I was keeping the Fate bending to the minimum. Both of them knew about the implications of my reincarnation because of Agrona, and I was determined to make sure he doesn't know about me too soon. They knew it and I would leave the course of history to them, trusting them to make the right choices to keep our mission secret, from the Vritra and the Asuras of Epheotus.

I explained is would take me an extended amount of time to recover my abilities. The process of reversing time itself is a phenomenon I easily unraveled years ago. Ensuring our minds and the artifacts we wish to bring with us remain intact is a completely different ball game. It will drain a significant portion of my powers.

However, it pales in comparison to using my influence over Fate to such an extent, an action that can permanently injure my body and soul, regardless of time. At least until I'm born, I need to ensure any of the events that may change because of Seris' and Gramp's intervention don't effect my parents getting together and having me or even my sister. There are some event that simply need to happen if we are to stay hidden and stand a chance.

Bending Fate is the most dangerous part of time travel. Or maybe it won't be. Who knows, it's only a precaution that derived from my excessive paranoia. If everything goes as planned, I'll be able to bring my current body with me albeit in an initially lesser form, making my recovery and progress faster without having to sacrifice Sylvie.

There was nearly nothing related about my current physical form to that of my human self. But because of my probably true theory that I am a completely new life form, I should be able to use my baby self's human body as a catalyst to reconstruct my current self. I should even be able to make a few changes, but eventually should arrive to my current abilities, if not build beyond them.

"Lastly, if either of you were curious, we will be altering our time line. While our new timeline will be in the past, this timeline will continue to exist with the only thing changing being our absence." I said in a monotone voice, all of us a bit bored from the long explanation.

Seris pondered a bit. "Most of this is expected while the rest is useless knowledge to us which is great but you haven't explained one thing. What the hell are these?" She said holding up a familiar black ring to my face.

Considering their feedback on my previous lecture, I decide to explain it as simply as possible. I held up my own ring as I spoke. "In essence, these are soul bonded, time-proof dimensional rings that also serve as communication devices. I filled each of them with all of the knowledge I've have about mana, aether and from my past life. I made sure to craft them with the ability to physically disappear much like my armor." I said with quite a bit of pride in my voice, looking at my own ring with satisfaction. "I trust you will use that knowledge at your discretion."

With a slight chuckle to himself, Virion says. "I think this might be the first time you tell me about something you'll do, while I'm able to perfectly follow along. No lies. No plotholes."

"Sorry it took so long. Guess I'm just that shrewd." I replied with a smirk.

"I know you are. That's why I'll always be eternally thankful that we were at least on the same side of the chess board."

Seris chimed in. "Tell me about it. Trying to decipher his plans while he was playing hide and seek on my home turf, was a pain in the ass."

We all had a collective laugh at my lack of social skills, Gramps rocking the boat with how hard he was howling. For the rest of our boat trip, we share stories amongst each other, nearly all of them personal, memories from before or detached from the war.

Shaking us up from our conversation, was a tight jerk to the boat's axis. With not many possessions in our hands, we quickly get off to stand on the pristine, white marble platform the size of a football field.

Damn, I haven't make that analogy in forever.

The marble was as few feet above the calm sea waters, with the perimeter of the platform lacking in stairs or ladders. We make our way to the center, none of us choosing to speak and instead look up at the sky or have our own inner monologues.

I was finally here. Countless years of research leading up to this single moment. I was here. I was nervous.

No matter how times I tell myself other wise, I know there's the chance of everything going to shit. We may just poof out of existence. We may land back to this world's equivalent of the triassic period. Hell, Agrona or some other Asura might notice us, throwing all of our plans into the gutter, dooming our world before we even got another chance to save it. I didn't and couldn't know, yet it doesn't matter.

I was a few moments away from having the chance to fight for them again. Mom, Dad, Ellie, Sylvie, Regis, Caera, the Twin Horns, my friends, mentors...

Sylvia...

Tess...

I felt the tears rising to my eyes, but sucked it up. I needed to save those tears to make a convincing entrance at birth.

Looking at the other two, Gramps was staring off into the horizon with his back as straight as his staff. Straight from the base half way to the top, with a bit of a curve at the end.

Even with his back to me, I roughly knew why he wanted to come with me, even though the three of us never directly told each other our reasons. His son, daughter-in-law and his granddaughter were of course part of the reason he wanted to go back, along with a desire to save the elven race from near extinction. But I was certain, what he wanted most out of this trip was the chance to save his wife, Lania. The former elf queen who had used her lifespan to save Virion's life numerous times. Whether he wants to save her out of guilt or pure love I couldn't tell, all I could do was wish him the best.

Seris rarely talked about her past. Much like my strategy of dealing with traumatic memories by burying them out of my conscience, she seems to do the same but would instead nearly force herself to forget those memories. It was obviously not a healthy strategy but it sure as hell beat my strategy of self-isolation. Aside from correcting some wrongs she committed during the war along with saving Caera, I didn't know if there were other reasons for her tagging along.

Virion and Seris will play a vital role in laying the groundwork for our victory. I'm essentially just a really big gun, that they have to figure out how to aim.

Seris looked up from her hand that she was closing and opening while Virion turns his body around so we are all facing each other in a circle.

Underneath us, I conjure a normal looking teleportation portal. It looked like every gate I'd ever seem, but all of us new it was something so much more.

I take a deep breath before asking. "Does anyone want to make a dramatic speech?"

They both look at me as if I'm an idiot, the horned woman muttered to herself in a voice quiet enough for all of us to hear. "Dumbass"

Snorting at my expense, Virion walks up to me and embraces me in a tight hug. "Arthur. It's been a real pleasure fighting with you watching my back. I don't know what awaits me on the other side, but let us hope I live to see a future of you with my grandkids. I love you brat."

He loosens the hug as he holds me by the shoulders as we hold each others gaze.

"I love you too Gramps. I'm sure you'll miss me so much, you won't even mind the smell of coffee by the time I'm born." I told him as tears ran down my cheeks. He won't see me for decades while to me it'll only feel like a few years.

"Don't kid yourself. I won't miss you that much." He turns to Seris, giving her a powerful handshake. With respect and gratitude etched into his voice, he says. "I don't have much to say to you Seris. I truly hope your travels bear fruit."

"Likewise. I hope for us to never meet as enemies again." She said with a firm nod.

He walks up in front of the portal with Seris and I on the other side. Looking down into the white void he says. "Well, unless this was an elaborate plan to get rid of an old elf, I'll take my leave." He looks up to us, before jumping down into the portal in the ground. "See you both never again!" His voice growing dimmer as he falls.

"I'm really surprised he's lived this long. Looks like the type to jump down any hole in the ground he comes across, don't you agree." I nodded my head in acknowledgment, wondering if perhaps Gramps had past lives too.

"Big talk for the woman who's crazy enough to follow him." I said to her with a smile

With a smirk of her own she says. "I'm going to miss you, Arthur Leywin. And don't think I didn't notice that you left all the work to me and the elf, while you spend your time not being alive."

"It truly is such a tragedy. To make it better, I made sure to send you both back to when you were infants. It feels really good knowing I won't be the only full grown adult that knows what it feels like to train their own bladder." Her mouth gapes open in shock while I step forwards to hug her.

Returning my embrace, she whispered to me. "I am so going to kick your ass for this."

Letting go she looks down into the portal before looking at me one last time. "Well, it was certainly nice seeing you again Arthur, but I hope to see you never again." With her lines finished, she falls through the portal.

Before following her through, I look off into the distance, in the direction of my daughter's home.

"I'm sorry. Goodbye, Astera. I hope I get to see you again."