Chapter 340: Not Ready

Lucifer stood on the black glass platform, the aftereffect of power still curling from his fingers in thin tendrils. Nyx had already retreated to the edge of the starfire realm, leaving the space unnervingly silent. Aeloria watched him with the same quiet intensity she had for as long as he could remember.

She did not waste time. "The old Progenitors are gone."

Lucifer turned his head sharply to regard her. His crimson eyes were unreadable. "Gone how?"

"Missing. Removed from their thrones. Their authority already transferred to new vessels. The process started across the realms several hours ago." Aeloria’s expression did not change. "Your parents are among the disappeared ones, Damaris and Lilith have not responded to any summons."

The air pressure around Lucifer spiked impossibly high with a surge of True Divine power that sent cracks rippling through the glass platform. His dark hair was lifted by the force of it, shadows and blood authority twisting together in a thick, dark column. For a horrifying moment it seemed as if the very starfire realm was bending away from him.

"How long have you known?"

"Long enough to confirm the numbers of the vanished ones this morning," said Aeloria. "I did not come to you sooner because your foundation needed time to stabilize around the news before it swallowed you whole."

"You delayed coming to me while my parents were being taken." Lucifer’s next words were quieter and infinitely colder. "I’m leaving."

Aeloria stepped forward and placed herself directly in his path. The single word she uttered froze the movement of his hands. Lucifer turned his head to look at her, his current power level pressing hard against her personal space. She did not flinch. "You are stronger than any of the old Progenitors. Stronger than any of them put together in your prime, there is no doubt in that. It is not enough."

Lucifer’s knuckles whitened against his grip. "Get out of my way."

"Listen to me." Aeloria’s voice was suddenly sharp. "The forces that took the Progenitors are bigger than anything you have had to deal with in your lifetime. Even my brother’s legions, the Reavers, the Personal Elites, or even the regional authorities of this sealed realm do not rival the scale of what took place outside of our reality. The same force that was responsible for taking down your parents is operating at an even greater level than my brother’s involvement. The same goes for the remaining authorities that serve the Loom. You step out of this realm right now and you will fail to reach them. You will only add yourself to the list of the taken ones."

"You expect me to sit and do nothing while they are being taken?"

"I expect you to grow strong enough to stop them instead of wasting your energy on being another casualty of their cleansing." Aeloria met his furious gaze unwavering. "You have crossed into the True Divine ranks – that placed you beyond the old order of this realm to a degree, but not far enough beyond their grasp to be untouchable by those operating outside of it. Vaelor did not send his Reavers and Personal Elites simply because he enjoys the sight of you dying. He sees you as part of the problem that needs to be rectified. You are already a part of this garden, so he will come to prune you as well, the faster you move towards his awareness the sooner that reckoning will take place. It is not loyalty to your parents that will get you out of this, it is simply not being in his way that you will achieve."

Lucifer’s pressure did not ease, but the forward surge of it stopped as he curled his fingers tightly around his biceps, shadow and blood authority coiling around his forearms in thick, dark bands. "You sealed Nyx for ages," said Lucifer. "You built this universe as a refuge, nurtured me in secret, and now you tell me that even after all that, I am not yet strong enough to simply stop them when they come for my family?"

"Yes."

The simplicity of the response cut deeper than any elaborate justification would have. Aeloria did not hesitate as she continued. "Nyx is free because the seals protecting all of us were fractured, the old Progenitors are being taken down by the same larger force that allowed Nyx’s prison to be opened. Your parents have all but walked into it and I am not yet convinced that it was not deliberate on their part either. All of that is true, but it does not change the fact that you are the strongest entity this garden has ever produced. Wasting your energy on charging blindly into the fray is exactly the kind of waste of potential that Vaelor is looking for when he comes to prune this place."

There was a long silence as Lucifer listened to her words. The glass platform stopped splitting at his pressure. "How long," he said finally, "until you decide I am ready?"

Aeloria did not look away from his gaze. "Until the distance between where you are now and where you need to be in order to have a chance at stopping them is small enough that you do not waste your energy on being a casualty of their cleansing. That is how long I will wait. I will give you the time and the space you need to prepare yourself, but I will not waste your energy by telling you that it will be soon enough. I will give you the work instead."

Lucifer’s eyes narrowed at her words. Nyx’s quiet chuckle echoed from the edge of the realm. "She is not wrong. Annoying, but not wrong."

Lucifer did not turn to look at his sister. His gaze remained fixed on Aeloria. "My parents."

"I know." Aeloria did not argue. "That is why you will stay. That is why you will continue to prepare yourself. If there is any hope of stopping them, of reaching them, then it will begin with the version of you that is strong enough to stay."

The pressure around Lucifer finally began to ease, receding back into himself. He was left standing in the center of the broken platform, the aftereffect of his power still curling from his fingertips before dissipating. He accepted Aeloria’s silent conditions without formally agreeing to them.

Aeloria watched him settle back onto the black glass from where she would continue to watch him for as long as she had to.

Outside the starfire realm the new age continued to turn. Inside it, the hybrid child who had already surpassed all the Progenitors of this universe remained – stronger than any of them had ever been, and still not strong enough to protect himself from what was coming.