The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 4 - Chapter 66 - Answers (Patreon)

                                                                                                      The Void

The Reaper quietly watches from atop his throne, surrounded by dozens of different void creatures as Wolf struggles through the illusions made by the Special Floor. But he doesn’t do anything to stop the illusions, or the livestream of them going throughout the universe.

‘Just a little longer now…’he thinks with a blank face without taking his eyes off of the screen made of black void flames.

Time passes and Wolf clears the first illusion before immediately jumping into the second. But once the illusion begins to switch, a flash of energy shines from the screen with a radiant light of every single color of the rainbow. The light completely blocks the screen from view from The Reaper, leaving him unable to see or interact with the dungeon at all on that floor. However, the livestreams continue to play, showing everything that happens as Wolf finds himself in a sterilized room with his mother lying on a counter.

The edge of The Reaper’s lips quirk up at the sight of the light before he swipes away at the screen and stands up from his throne. He then waves his hand, causing several hundred screens to appear in front of him, each showing different locations on Aegis that have Safe Zones housing former residents of Earth where a rift to Fae has appeared.

“The war is coming to fruition!” he slowly states, his voice echoing throughout the entirety of the void as he watches the fae each leave the rifts into the mortal plane before making contact with their descendants from Earth. “Shall the eternal darkness of the void swallow up the radiance of the fae? Or will the radiance forever snuff out the darkness of the void?”

A wave of pure void element shoots out from him, feeding all of the creatures of the void and riling them all up as his final words echo throughout the void and pierce their way to the hearts of every being in the universe outside of the dungeon.

“Let the War of the Realms begin! Fight to survive! Survive to grow! And grow to win! Because if you don’t, then we will!”

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                                                                                                        Wolf

“Miss Adler, as you are well aware, you, your ancestors, and your children are all descendants of the fae.” She says, making my jaw drop open in shock. “But what you are not aware of, is that the fae left us more than just their genes.”

I can’t help but stare at her as mom simply watches in silence.

But aren’t the fae supposed to be the opposite of the void? How on earth do I exist then?

The woman raises the rod in her hands as she says, “This rod is one of the many magical artifacts left to us by the fae many millennia ago. They are able to do miraculous things, and in some cases might even be able to bring the dead back to life. But they cost a price for each use, as we humans do not have the radiance necessary to use them. So they supplicate themselves with whatever fits the situation from the one the artifact is being used on.”

She then lowers the rod and narrows her eyes on mom, whose own eyes are glued to the rod, and asks, “Are you willing to pay whatever price it deems fit?”

Mom stays silent for several seconds before eventually answering her question with another, “What prices have these artifacts taken up till now?”

The woman doesn’t seem surprised by her question and steps forward as she answers, “They’ve been anything from lost memories to a small loss of lifespan.”

My eyes widen and tears begin to form in them at her answer.

“Is there a chance the price could hurt my family?” she asks, not seeming fazed at all by the woman’s answer.

This does surprise her for a second, but she just shakes her head and says no. She then tilts her head and mutters too quietly for mom to hear, but not too quietly for me to hear, “Not your family at least.”

I fall to my knees and barely manage to restrain myself from rushing out and attempting to stop the illusion as mom closes her eyes for a few seconds, then opens them again and says, “Heal my legs.”

As if activated by her words, the radiant light let off by the rod grows stronger before shining on mom’s legs in particular. Her legs then begin to let of that very same glow for several seconds, following which mom passes out cold.

I rush over to her without touching any of the people in the illusion, just to hear the woman mutter, “Memory loss? That might cause some issues.”

This makes me turn to look at her, but the illusion suddenly begins to shift again and I find myself standing on what I can only assume is the next floor, since I’m now in another graveyard. Despite that though, I simply fall to my knees in silence, with Sapphire rushing over again to hug me.

Feelings continue to rush through me for who knows how long until I feel tears pouring down my cheeks nonstop. But I don’t make a sound, even while crying.

At some point I even feel Sapphire patting me on the head like I occasionally do to her, but I don’t respond to it.

“Mom knew that she’d lose her memories…” I mutter too quietly for a regular human to hear. But Sapphire seems to hear it nonetheless as she nods her head.

Several minutes pass before I eventually manage to calm down and get up again, leaving Sapphire to hold cling onto my hand and refuse to let go. I pat her head for that with a faint smile before frowning again as I add up everything I’ve just learnt.

First, the fae were on Earth long ago. At least a couple thousand years, if what that woman said was true.

Second, I apparently have a fae ancestor along with The Reaper ancestor. And the fae ancestor is on my mom’s side.

Does that mean that The Reaper’s ancestry is traced through dad? Or are his genes also from mom?

My frown grows in this line of thought, but eventually I just shake my head. Those are thoughts I can ask The Reaper and Titania whenever I see them. Assuming they even know themselves, or bother answering me in the first place.

Third, magic existed on Earth before the System arrived. But it used the fae’s element, radiance, to activate, unlike The Reaper’s System which just lets you use your own element to activate whatever item or skill you want to use.

Which is clearing up some of the questions I had before about why radiance is the opposite of the void.

And the last thing.

I think a fae might’ve interrupted the illusion floor’s illusion oceans to show me that and cut my time on the floor short. And if that’s the case, then I think I might like the fae more than The Reaper at this point.

Although I guess that’s a given, considering that The Reaper is the one who made this dungeon in the first place.

Anyways… I turn to look at Sapphire before muttering, “I’m okay now. Let’s go.”

She nods her head and tentatively lets go of my hand. We then begin moving through the floor.

At least I’m finally getting answers.

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