Home

A heavy breath escaped my lips. My body felt weightless, drifting in a liminal space between waking and dreaming.

The golden dust of the temple had faded, and the warmth of Suryi's presence was gone.

I blinked—

And gasped.

I wasn't in the temple anymore.

I was… home.

The room around me was one I knew all too well.

My pulse quickened, and for a second, I thought this was another one of the Goddess's tricks.

A cruel jest.

But then my gaze fell upon the frame on the wall.

And my heart almost stopped beating.

It was him.

A man sitting on a grand throne, his presence commanding even through the stillness of the photograph.

His long black hair, sharp golden eyes, and calm yet unreadable expression were etched into my soul.

Dragneel D. Romero.

My son.

And beside him, her soft features frozen in time, was Aster.

Noah's mother.