The following morning came with the same rain that had followed Modernia for as long as Alpha II could remember.
The island looked washed clean again by dawn, though nothing about it felt soft or peaceful to her anymore. Wet stone glistened under the cloudy sky, the tropical trees swayed in the distance and the endless rows of graves stood quiet beneath drifting mist. The giant brought her back the same way he had taken her away, except this time he landed at the edge of the cave without urgency. Alpha II stumbled down from his arms, still annoyed by the flight.
She watched him for a while before finally speaking.
"You still have not told me who you really are."
The man had returned to his three-meter form by then, though even reduced, he still looked absurdly tall and impossible to ignore. Rain slid through his long white curls while sapphire eyes watched her with the same calm expression he always wore.
She crossed her arms.
"You never told me your name."
He nodded once.
"True."
"That is not an answer."
"It is if you think long enough."
Alpha II frowned at him. He sighed slightly, then tilted his head as though deciding that there was no reason to delay it any longer.
"My name is Vastarael Richinaria."
Alpha II went very still. She stared at him blankly for a second before he continued in the same calm tone.
"I am a Divine Rank Spheraphasian and I stand at the Seventh Enlightenment."
Alpha II blinked.
"I am also the leader of a Dynasty in my world, though at the moment I am effectively imprisoned here in Regnum Musicae."
Alpha II stared at him for several seconds.
"What?"
He looked at her with mild confusion.
"You asked who I was."
"I did not expect you to be that thorough."
He shrugged.
"There is nothing to hide."
Alpha II took a step back just to make sure she had heard him correctly. Each phrase landed inside her head like a hammer strike and yet he had said them with the same calm tone someone might use to explain where they bought fruit. She looked at him as if she were trying to decide whether he was joking or insane.
After a long silence, she asked the only thing she could think of.
"Why would someone like that help us?"
"Because I made a deal with you."
She frowned.
"About the children."
He nodded.
"I cure your people's Divine Energy failure, and in exchange, you become my servant for all eternity."
Alpha II went completely silent. The words should have sounded monstrous. They should have sounded cruel.
Instead, he said them so plainly that she almost could not react properly. He did not smile when he said it. He did not mock her. He did not seem embarrassed by the severity of the bargain either. It sounded like a contract he had already weighed carefully and decided to keep.
Her emerald eyes lowered.
"And if I agree?"
His answer came immediately.
"Then I will make you immortal and you will remain at my side."
The rain continued falling around them.
Alpha II looked down at the wet stone for a long time. She had spent five years alone on Modernia and before that, she had spent her whole life being moved around by consequences she never chose. Her parents died because of her power. The village exiled her because they feared what she was. She had watched boats leave her behind. She had watched children bury their dead in the rain. Now this man stood in front of her, offering her a life that sounded less like freedom and more like an oath that would never end.
She was silent for so long that Vastarael eventually looked at her more carefully.
"What are you thinking?"
She raised her head slowly. Then she answered in the quietest voice she had used all morning.
"I do not have much to do in my own life."
"So?"
"So," she continued, "it is probably better that I spend it serving someone who actually knows what they are doing."
Vastarael stared at her for a moment. Then, for the first time in what felt like forever, the tiniest flicker of surprise passed across his face. It did not last long, but Alpha II noticed it. That made her uneasy.
"For a child, you speak like someone much older."
Alpha II gave him a flat look.
"I do not really have a choice. I was exiled here when I was very young. I spent years alone and then I spent more years learning how to survive with nobody around me. If I do not think carefully, I will not last long enough to do anything else."
Vastarael was quiet after that.
He had already seen too many children forced to grow old too quickly and the girl standing in front of him had already learned loneliness far earlier than any child should have. The emptiness in her eyes was still there. She was not pretending to be brave. She simply did not have the luxury of pretending to be anything else.
He finally spoke again.
"I already have a way to help your people. They are going to accept my proposal."
"Why are you so sure?"
"Because their children are dying. When survival and pride collide long enough, survival usually wins, even if it takes time for people to admit it. Once they agree, I will heal the Divine Energy imbalance across their population."
Her eyes remained fixed on him.
"And then?"
"And then I am going to train you."
That made her blink. He looked at her with complete seriousness.
"I cannot have a weak subordinate."
Alpha II stared at him for a moment, then looked down at herself as if she were trying to decide whether to be offended or relieved. Eventually, she simply nodded once. She had already been living under his protection for years without fully realizing it and somehow the idea of becoming stronger under his guidance was the first actual direction she had ever been given.
Vastarael watched her in silence for a few seconds before turning back to the cave.
"Eat something and rest."
Alpha II looked at him as he started walking away.
She opened her mouth as if to say something else, but he had already moved a few steps ahead. She narrowed her eyes, then quietly followed after him into the cave, already understanding that life on Modernia had changed the moment he told her his name.