The Role of Dynasty Monarch

Elyonari hissed through her teeth, her fingers digging into the smooth rock beneath her as her rib bones popped and aligned again with a sickening crunch. She'd been through worse… but that didn't make it easier.

Vastarael knelt beside her, his hands glowing faintly with Aeterium healing flaring across his palms as his essence threaded through her bones and nerves. His face was set in concentration, though his hair was wild, damp with sweat and melted snow, curling slightly around his jaw.

Elyonari's emerald orbs of light were lighting up the cave.

She glanced at the walls. Heat Runes were etched in a precise, circular fashion, glowing orange. Vastarael had scrawled them, smartly stacked for optimal warmth, and spaced perfectly to avoid overheating the narrow cavern.

It was cozy… dangerously cozy.

Elyonari sat there, arms braced behind her, one leg stretched out while the other curled close. Her robe, shredded during the battle and avalanche, had been tied haphazardly around her waist.

Her upper body was wrapped in firm, white bandages, barely containing her bust. The skin beneath them still stung with the memory of scratches and broken ribs. But the pain wasn't what had her biting her tongue right now.

It was him.

Vastarael sat there in silence, shirtless, still focused on healing the gash along her arm. His chest was completely bare. Dozens of shallow, fading wounds laced his torso, each healing slowly on their own thanks to his body's regeneration system. But her eyes were on the black peony tattoo with vines that had extended to his collarbone.

Elyonari coughed and tried to look elsewhere. She failed.

"So... we're… half naked inside a tiny cave with no beds or clothes, and you're doing nothing?"

He didn't look up. His hand shifted lower, gliding just over the bruising around her ribcage.

"Well, I am healing you."

"You know what I mean."

He finally glanced up, his glowing eyes flicking toward hers, just the faintest curve at the corner of his lips.

"Nari… you're hot, gorgeous and absolutely divine looking. But right now, the last thing we need to do is get distracted."

"Distracted?"

He nodded, drawing back his palm and letting the healing magic settle.

"Those beetles aren't just roaming the mountain. It's all part of a system they infest. They'll find us if we're not careful."

"And that's stopping you from even looking?"

"I did look," he said, rising to his feet.

He stretched his arms back with a long sigh, the movement pulling every muscle along his chest taut. The blue shimmer of sapphire dust along his abs still sparkled in the dim light.

Elyonari's mouth went dry. She tried to look away.

Her brain was screaming at her to focus, to think about escape routes, food supplies, or literally anything else besides the fact that Vastarael's back muscles looked like they were chiseled out of divine ore.

Her thoughts spiraled.

'Damn it. Damn it. He knows. He's doing this on purpose. He has to be.'

She rubbed her temples, pretending to calm herself while absolutely not calming herself. She caught a glimpse of the tattoo on his shoulder again. It always bloomed further with his use of essence and power. The fact that it had reached his collarbone meant he had been extremely active.

"Tomorrow," he said casually, turning his head to glance at her. "We'll head southeast. I saw a valley but with less snow cover. It might be easier for me to manipulate terrain. I'll shield us while you set a trap perimeter."

Elyonari was still stuck trying to remember how to breathe.

"Y-yeah. Sounds… tactical."

He didn't reply. Instead, he stepped over to where she sat and then, without warning, slid down beside her. His arm reached out and pulled her into him as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"What are you doing?"

"Keeping warm."

"I can literally summon fire."

"I know."

"I could coat this entire cave in heat waves."

"Yep."

"I could bake bread with the heat I can produce."

He rested his head against hers.

"But this way's more fun."

She exhaled slowly as she relaxed into him, partly because she was tired and mostly because... it felt nice.

He was warm, not just physically. His entire presence radiated heat in a way that no rune ever could. His essence, even though void of an actual heart, pulsed with a rhythm she could feel through her bones. And as her arm rested over his abdomen and she felt his calm breathing, she found herself finally, finally letting her guard down.

They sat in silence for a while. Elyonari shifted slightly against Vastarael's side, her legs still tangled over his, her skin warm from both the runes on the cave wall and his body heat.

"Veneri, what would you do once this is all over?"

He didn't respond immediately.

"Once the First Epoch Cycle ends…"

He didn't finish it right away. Instead, he leaned his head back against the rock wall and stared at the floating green light above them.

"I have it planned, actually. I've had it planned since I was six."

Elyonari blinked, lifting her head off his shoulder.

"That early?"

He chuckled slightly.

"My parents raised me to think far ahead. You don't get born as the direct heir to Dynasty Richinaria and get to be clueless about the future. That's not how my lineage works."

He turned slightly, his golden eyes glowing in the dimness.

"When the Epoch Cycle ends, I won't have the luxury of… just being Vastarael. I won't be able to roam forests, go to stupid class duels, or sit at the banks of frozen lakes and tease people. I'll probably become Divine by then, and when that happens…"

Elyonari felt the shift in his tone. His entire posture changed.

"When that happens, the world will change around me."

He stretched his hand out, palm facing upward, as if seeing a world only he could grasp.

"I'll be summoned back to Anqerise formally as Vastarael, Dynasty Matriarch of Richinaria, successor to the Mage Nexus. I'll take over the divine mantle from my parents and my stepmothers. And I'll have to lead an entire continent."

Elyonari's breath hitched softly. She knew it was big. She knew Vastarael was a Dynasty heir. But hearing it like that… all of Anqerise?

He continued.

"I'll have to manage diplomatic lines with the Mopheria Pantheon, keep balance with the deities of the other continents, maintain neutrality with the Andelaris, the Cerea, the Skyrovers… even those gods who walk with mortals and demand temples for each step. And that's not even mentioning the mortal kings and queens."

He glanced at her again.

"Anqerise still has kingdoms, remember? Kingdoms with full-fledged monarchs, cities with millions, islands where people believe in a hundred gods. But all of them... every single one of them still bow to the Dynasties."

She nodded slowly.

"That's because the Dynasties protect them from the threats they can't fight. From the Krepsunas especially. And because of that, they don't worship kings. They don't even really worship gods."

His voice dropped a little, eyes narrowing.

"They worship us."

Elyonari's brows furrowed.

"You mean…"

"They'll stop worshipping my parents and stepmothers. I'll be the new god of Anqerise."

He clenched his fist softly, sapphire energy pulsing around it.

"That's how the Dynasties work. Each generation, when the direct heir reaches Divinity, they ascend and take full control of the continent's protective grid. Their name replaces the old on every prayer stone and offering slate. The energy flows from them to the land. My bloodline's Tether will become the guiding force of Anqerise."

He looked back at her, a quiet, bitter smile on his lips.

"And all I'll have to do is make sure I never make a single mistake. Because the entire continent will be depending on it."

Elyonari stared at him for a long while. There was more silence. And then softly she sighed, her hand sliding over his.

"I was never meant to be a ruler. That was my twin brother's duty. He was the golden star, the one with the gift of the World Tree's voice. My people always saw me as a protector and a guardian. Never a monarch."

Vastarael smiled gently. "You'd be a damn good one."

She shook her head with a light chuckle.

"I'm too free-spirited. I like the wind too much. I like forests, climbing trees and shooting targets that aren't mine."

"You like trouble."

"I do."

She curled against him again, this time more deliberately.

"But you... you've always had that thing."

He arched a brow. "What thing?"

"That thing where you act like a laid-back, handsome idiot who flirts with people and makes casual jokes but underneath all that? You're a whole damn king."

He grinned. Elyonari poked him in the ribs.

"Don't deny it. You're the one who writes better speeches than Adelasta, negotiates better than Narisva, and can tell a thousand-year-old rune apart by smell."

"I was trained by a bunch of sadistic Aeterium elders you know."

"And now you're going to be a divine figure for hundreds of millions."

The gravity of that statement hung in the air.

Aeterium Royals weren't just nobles. They were global figures. When they ascended, they didn't just inherit a throne. They became the will of Spheraphase in their domain. And Vastarael… the boy who slept in corners during lectures, joked about pastries, and adopted two little girls out of pure heart?

He was going to become a god figure when he got back.

"I don't want them to worship me,. I just… want them to live without fear. To know that I'm there and that I'll rebuild anything broken. They'll never have to beg some far-off pantheon or make sacrifices just to have peace."

She blinked.

"Vastarael…"

"I don't want to be feared. I want to be relied on."

Elyonari leaned in and kissed his cheek, pressing her forehead against his.

"You're already that for us. For Shimmer, Runner. The Enlightenment, even for me."

"Then I just have to do it… for Anqerise."