Author's Notes:
Take this you mangy cat!

Arthur exited the tent to the thunderous applause and cheers of the soldiers and adventurers stationed there.

"Nice, it's like we're celebrities," Regis commented, sounding pleased.

"I'm pretty sure they don't know you even exist," Sylvie poked.

"That's fine for now. I'll just ride Arthur's coat tail, taking all the ladies that throw themselves at him," Regis replied as he fantasized about all the ladies he saw in the crowd around them, well, at least the good looking ones.

"I'm pretty sure there hasn't been anyone to just throw themself at me like that," Arthur stated.

"Regis, you are completely disgusting."

"Come at me you overgrown lizard!"

"Don't make me get a newspaper fleabag!"

"Calm down you two. We've got a mission to complete," Arthur scolded, completely caught off guard by their childish behavior.

"Sorry." They both replied.

Trodius was speaking this whole time, but Arthur knew he didn't miss anything important, and saluted the people before him. Many saluted back, but Arthur's eyes locked on only one, his father. Arthur bit his lip as he fought back the urge to run to the father he hadn't seen in so long.

"Just keep it together soldier boy."

"He's right. As long as everything goes according to plan, no one here will be dying today."

"Thanks. Soldier boy?"

"I'm still working on something that feels right. Just give me some time," Regis replied as he thought carefully of a new nickname for Arthur.

"Good luck General," Trodius said.

Arthur nodded as Sylvie transformed into her dragon form.

"Oh and Captain, there's going to be a change in the plan," Arthur stated as he started to levitate off the ground.

"General, this is not the time to be changing the plan," Trodius said in disbelief.

"Don't worry, it's simple. I just want you to get up to the top of the Wall and watch towards the beasts."

"And why am I going to do that? And what am I even looking for?"

"You'll do it because it's an order, and you'll know what you're looking for when you see it, as I set all other plans ablaze," Arthur finished, leaving Trodius looking rather annoyed.

With a mighty roar from Sylvie she and Arthur took off towards the beasts.

"Alright you two, do you remember what you're supposed to be doing?"

"Of course," Regis replied. "But I do have a concern."

"And what's that?"

"Sylvie."

"Excuse you!" Sylvie chimed in with an annoyed tone.

"Just hear me out, this is serious. Based on your memories Sylvie should be weaker than me right now, she shouldn't even really be able to handle a retainer. I'm thinking she might hold me back."

There was no snarky remark or any humor. Regis was truly being completely serious with his concern.

"I'll have you know I'm a lot stronger than I was in the previous timeline. I'd say I could mop the floor with you pooch."

"That makes absolutely no sense. We were fighting, you were sleeping. It's impossible for you to have gotten stronger," Regis argued.

"Well I am. My core actually is riddled with cracks, more so than before. I can see myself breaking in the integration stage any day now."

"Hey Regis, remember all those students in my class in Alacrya that received emblems or powerful crests?"

"You think just being around you caused that?"

"Maybe, or maybe just prolonged exposure to aether. Either way, not only was Sylvie constantly with me, but I drained my aether core three times to try and bring her back."

"So now because of that she's gotten nearly as strong as me?! So unfair."

"I said stronger," Sylvie teased.

"Watch it, lizard girl. You can't compare mana to aether, and I can use destruction too."

"Can you two fight another time?" Arthur interjected. "I need you two to be able to work together, not bicker like siblings."

"She started it!" Regis replied with a snicker, playing into the sibling role.

Arthur groaned, and flew over Sylvie.

"Just get out and complete your mission."

"Ayh ayh general," Regis replied and emerged from Arthur's body and landed on Sylvie's back. "Giddy up!"

"Say that again and I'll drop you," Sylvie replied darkly. "Good luck...Papa." She added, then flew off.

Arthur froze for a moment from hearing her call him that again, with a happiness filling his heart that he hadn't felt since well before he ended up in Alacrya.

—————————————————————

Arthur zoomed over the treetops as he headed straight for the mana beast horde, the large dust cloud they created making the perfect marker to show the way. As he closed in he circled overhead.

"Hmm, I could have sworn there were..." Arthur started, before he clenched at his core. The pain from before was returning, and without Regis being there to separate his mana and aether, the pain wasn't going away unless he did something.

Quickly, Arthur changed course for right in front of the mana beasts, his eyes wide and teeth clenched tight as he endured the pain. He very ungracefully landed several hundred feet ahead of them as he barely avoided crashing. He then planted his feet firmly as he turned to face the terrifyingly large horde. Channeling aether into his runes, the Vivum rune of destruction burned a bright gold as a purple aetheric flame formed in the palms of his hands. Taking a deep breath, he then thrust both hands forward.

—————————————————————

Atop the Wall, teens still too young to actually take part in combat, were running along the wall dropping extra bundles of arrows for the archers, and mana restoring potions for the conjurers. Several archers were restringing bows, as conjurors polished the crystals attached to their wands or staffs. Everyone was doing something to prepare, if they didn't have any actual work they did busy work, just to take their minds off the impending battle.

Captain Flamesworth stood atop the wall among them scowling. Preparations needed to be made before the attack, before he abandoned Arthur's plan and proceeded with his. Unfortunately for him, he received a direct order from a General, and plenty of people heard it.

"Captain Flamesworth," one of the other captains said as he approached. "The teams in the tunnels have picked up their pace. If they can keep this up they should be ready when the horde arrives."

Captain Flamesworth just nodded in response as he continued to stare out in the direction of the horde. Even with his vision enhanced by mana all he could see were rusting trees and occasionally part of the dust cloud.

"So you have no idea what you're looking for?" The other Captain asked.

"None," Trodius replied, making no effort to hide his frustration.

"Do you think he's planning on wiping out the horde?"

"Given enough time any of the lances could do it, but there's no way he can in this amount of time. Even General Varay would take close to an entire day to eliminate a horde that size," Trodius replied.

"Well I have heard rumors that he's even more powerful than General Varay, so maybe..."

"No. I've heard the same rumors, and even if it is true he still wouldn't be able to do it. It's impossible for the gap between them to be that big."

Trodius remained standing there silently for a few more minutes before he had enough.

"Captain, stay here and monitor the situation. Report back immediately if anything happens. I have more important things to do than waste my time standing here doing nothing," Trodius said, then began to walk away.

He didn't even make it five steps when he and everyone else froze as they felt an overwhelming pressure. Everyone quickly got to the edge and gazed out in the direction of the horde. Trodius pushed his way to the front, and pulled a telescopic scope from his dimensional ring, and with enhanced vision looked in the direction of the horde.

Trodius Flamesworth began to tremble as he saw an inferno of purple flames coming up above the treetops. He saw some kind of flying beast attempt to escape the flames, but a burst of the flames engulfed the beast, before dissipating, leaving nothing behind.

"What kind of fire is that?" Trodius thought to himself as he shook. "I've never heard of a purple flame before, I've only ever heard of my grandfather achieving a white flame for a brief period near the end of his life, and that should be the peak."

Then Something Arthur said before he left rang in his mind.

"you'll know what you're looking for when you see it, as I set all other plans ablaze." "Set all other plans ablaze..."

Trodius' eyes widened and he backed away from the edge.

"Could he know our plans? I don't know how he could, but his words." Trodius thought to himself as he panicked. "It's not too late, I haven't done anything wrong yet. I just need to distance myself from the others, this was their plan anyways. Yes, that's what I'll do. Everything else I've already done is minor, it'll be a slap on the wrist at most. I must do whatever necessary to preserve house Flamesworth."

—————————————————————

The unleashed aetheric inferno of destruction engulfed the entire horde in seconds. Pained howls and cries of the beast could be heard but quickly died out with each passing second. A griffin like beast tried to fly away to escape, but Arthur's control over the god rune had reached the level that he was able to will the flames up and engulf the beast. After a few seconds Arthur was satisfied and ended his spell. It wasn't instantaneous, but the fires still rapidly subsided until all that was left was a patch of lightly scorched earth.

"Ahhh, much better," Arthur said with a satisfied smile.

Using the spell not only destroyed all of the beasts, but also relieved the pain coming from his core. Arthur understood this would only be a temporary solution, his body would naturally absorb whichever he was lacking in without any conscious effort on his part, so the pain would eventually return. He was also happy though, as it didn't take much to relieve the pain, and his aether supply was still well over half full.

Despite his dislike of the Asura, Arthur wished he could speak with Windsom on the topic. He was confident he could get one of their artifactors to create something that could help, but he was also concerned of Kezess learning of his mastery of aether. If his aether core wasn't reason enough, his now vast knowledge and understanding of multiple god runes would no doubt make Kezess a threat to him directly in the future.

Now with a free moment without prying eyes, Arthur removed Dawns Ballad from his dimensional ring and removed it from its scabbard. He gazed upon his sword and remembered the many times he used his trusted sword through the years. He technically didn't need it anymore since he could create an aether sword on a whim, but it didn't feel right to leave it like that after wielding it for so many years. He secured the scabbard in his belt, then held out his other hand as his runes glowed and emotes of aether swirled around in his hand, then moved to his sword. The emotes swirled around the translucent blue blade before entering the blade, turning it purple. The cracks in the blade mended themselves and the melted tip grew back. A second or two later the purple glow subsided and the blade was its translucent blue again, looking as good as new.

He replaced the sword back in the scabbard and stored it in his storage rune, since it was more secure than his ring. Arthur levitated off the ground, ready to head back to the Wall, but crashed back into the ground as his core ached again. It wasn't the same pain as before, this was different. Closing his eyes he could see his core, and now understood what Regis meant by a core in a core. It was as if his mana core had become another layer of his aether core, and it was riddled with cracks. New cracks formed in his mana core as light started to shine through.

This didn't happen in the previous timeline, but Arthur was confident he knew what was happening. Just as Sylvie's core had progressed further due to all the aether he poured into her egg in the previous timeline, the vast amounts of aether in his body had progressed his core too, and was now entering the integration stage. Soon his head began to spin and lost consciousness, laying in the middle of the beast glades.

—————————————————————

Arthur's eyes slowly opened and just laid there confused. Not because he found himself inside a cave when he clearly remembered he was last in the middle of a forest, but because he saw a young woman with pristinely white hair and purple eyes looking down on him smiling warmly with a hand on his head.

"Umm, hello? Where am I?"

"Currently, on my lap," she replied matter of factly.

"Oh!" Quickly but carefully Arthur sat back up. "Sorry about that." She just smiled back. Feeling awkward, Arthur began to look around. "Umm, I guess thank you? But where are we?"

"Doesn't this place look familiar?" She replied with a knowing smile.

Arthur looked around, nothing really stood out to him, but yet it still felt familiar. There were a variety of mana fruits along one of the walls, and what looked like a chair carved into the stone behind her.

"No, not really."

"Then what about me? Do I seem familiar?"

Arthur stared at her. She didn't look very familiar, but her voice was. She was incredibly beautiful, and with the white dress she wore, if she had wings she would no doubt look like an angel. What really popped visually were her eyes. They held what he could only describe as a motherly love, and were purple, which was a color he had only seen in...

"Sylvia?" Arthur's voice trembled as his eyes began to well with tears.

She pouted. "I believe last time we spoke I asked you to call me Grandma Sylvia."

Arthur lunged forward and embraced her as the tears escaped his eyes.

"Shhhh," Sylvia said as she returned the hug and stroked his head.

"I don't understand? This is nothing like the last message you left me. It feels like you're actually here," Arthur said, voicing his confusion.

"That's because I put more effort into this message since this will be the last time we speak."

"How are you even doing all this? The other two messages were just messages, this feels like we're actually talking? And..." Arthur kept asking questions until Sylvia put a hand up.

"Let me start with an explanation. Back when I escaped from Agrona, I used a Djinn artifact that was in his possession that allowed the viewing of multiple likely possible futures. I learned this was how he repeatedly defeated the other Asura clans, so I used it to put my own plan into motion."

"Me," Arthur said flatly.

"Yes. I triggered your reincarnation into this world, and chose an unborn child in Dicathen for you." Sylvia hung her head. "To be honest, part of me didn't want to bring you here. I saw how much you were going to suffer, how hard your life was going to be. But I also knew that if I didn't choose you, Agrona would have just reincarnated you in Alacrya and would immediately have gained Cecilia."

"He still got her anyway."

"Did he? Because last I checked, you turned back time," Sylvia smirked playfully. "And your lover is still herself."

"So you really did know everything that was going to happen. And I take it you set up different messages based on the condition of my core when I surpassed the white core stage?"

"That's right."

"But if Agrona can see the possible futures, how am I supposed to defeat him?"

"Because I destroyed the artifact when I was done, now he only knows his original predictions. You see, regardless of which vessel I chose for you, you have the ability to change his predictions. Before you weren't strong enough to make a significant enough change, but now combined with your knowledge of future events, all of his preparations will collapse and he'll start making mistakes."

"So all of this is essentially a game of chess between you two."

"Except now, you're taking over for me and pulling away the board."

"And it only seems like we're actually talking because you looked closely at this interaction between us?"

"I love how smart you are. Yes, I planned responses for all of the questions you will probably ask, so please ask away."

Arthur started thinking. Over time he had learned most of the answers he would have, so this was a lot harder than it sounded.

"Is there anything you can tell me that will help me understand Fate? I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere with it."

"Trust me you are. It won't make sense right away, you are only getting the pieces, it is up to you to put them together."

"Can I defeat Agrona?"

"Something like that I can't say for certain, and even if I could I wouldn't tell you. Seeing the future is a tricky thing, it's not really set in stone, it's always changing. If you were to "know" your future, then it becomes even less certain. Didn't that elf diviner not tell you this already?"

"I guess I... thought it might have been like using fate in this case."

"No, at least I don't think so. To be honest I don't really know what fate does, Agrona kept those notes hidden away so only he could see them. All I know is that if he understands fate first, he'll become unstoppable."

"What about your father? You know I'll have to fight him eventually, and the only way I can see that I can protect everyone is to kill him."

"Do you have to?"

"Well I see the Asura just as big of a threat as the Vritra. Your father has just as low of an opinion of lessers as Agrona, the only difference I see is that he believes in minimal interference. But both of them are willing to wipe out life on continents to get what they want."

"I've seen multiple versions of how you choose to deal with my father. It's pretty much a split down the middle in regards to how it goes, but violence doesn't have to be the answer."

Sylvia began to fade.

"My time is just about done here, so one last question."

Arthur thought hard for one last question, but he already had all the answers he felt she would share with him, so he decided to try something else.

"Did you know Windsom was in love with you?"

Sylvia opened her mouth to reply, but stopped as his question settled in.

"Well I do now," she replied with a light chuckle. "I can't believe that was your last question."

"I know you can't give me the answers I want."

"I see. Well then let me tell you, Windsom is only loyal to my father because he trusts and has faith in him. Shake that with the truth, and his loyalty will shift, perhaps to you," Sylvia said as she now appeared more like a ghost.

"We'll see. I don't care about his loyalty, but I don't want to fight him either."

"Goodbye Arthur, and never forget who you are."

She then faded into nothing, and he found himself back in the beast glades staring up at the stars, tears streaming from his eyes. He raised one of his arms and laid it over his eyes.

"Goodbye Grandma Sylvia."