The air in the Hephaestus office was still thick with the lingering echo of Draco's confession.
It hadn't been a poetic monologue or a grand gesture involving fireworks and serenades; it had been blunt, effective, and quintessentially him.
However, the efficacy of his words had left the goddess of the forge in a state of uncharacteristic disarray.
As Draco stepped out of the main building, he could still see the image of Hephaestus burned into his mind...her face a shade of crimson that rivaled her own hair, her hands trembling slightly as she tried to regain some semblance of her usual composure.
Every time their eyes had met in the aftermath, her fair skin had deepened to an alarming shade of crimson, her hand instinctively rising to cover her face as if to hide the mess that she had become.
Such a reaction, while undeniably cute, was a neon sign.
Should they have stepped out together, it would have announced the nascent state of their relationship to anyone with eyes.
A development which, Draco surmised, Hephaestus wasn't quite ready to share with the wider world, let alone her boisterous familia.
Draco, on the other hand, was much more composed.
This wasn't his first rodeo, so to speak.
He had navigated the intricate dance of feelings with Bahamut, a journey that had presented its own unique set of challenges and triumphs.
He knew the initial awkwardness, the flutter of uncertainty, the joy of mutual understanding.
The truly daunting task lay beyond these initial steps.
If there was anything that truly stirred a prickle of unease within him, it was the delicate tightrope walk of maintaining a stable and fair relationship with multiple female partners.
Each individual dynamic was a world unto itself, and combining them into a harmonious whole required an alchemy of understanding, patience, and affection.
This wasn't a skill that could be taught from a romance book or acquired through a mentor's wisdom.
It could only be learned through the crucible of experience, through effort and compromises from all sides involved.
However, the thought of all the work that would be involved sent a throb behind his temples, blossoming into a full-blown headache, and a distinct, almost physical chill slithered down his tail, causing it to lash out subtly beneath his cloak.
Letting out a deep sigh that seemed to carry the weight of his future relationship woes, Draco pushed open the heavy gates of the Hephaestus familia compound.
He stepped out into the vibrant, clamorous embrace of Orario, taking a refreshing breath of air that smelled faintly of spices, and fumes from burning coal.
The change of scenery, however slight, was enough to disperse some of the mental fog.
He moved with purpose, his long strides carrying him quickly past the stone buildings and bustling storefronts, making his way to the nearest food stand.
A date, even an impromptu lunch/dinner one, required sustenance, and he knew just the thing.
Orario's streets were a feast for the senses, especially the culinary ones.
The most popular street food by far was Jagamarukun, crispy croquettes fried to a golden perfection, often served in a paper cone.
Following closely were succulent grilled skewers of various meats and vegetables, their sizzling aroma wafting through the alleys, followed by fresh seafood, primarily Melen's prized catches.
Due to their immense popularity, the majority of street food vendors revolved around these options.
While Orario boasted a plethora of diverse culinary delights from across the world, one could find a stand for Jagamarukun, skewers, or fried fish on almost every street corner.
Draco's personal favorite among the many permutations of Jagamarukun was the spicy red variety.
The exterior, crackling with a flavorful crust, gave way to a soft, fluffy interior, each bite infused with a piquant kick that warmed him from the inside out.
He recalled a time, when he hadn't been particularly interested in the ubiquitous treat, finding it somewhat plain.
But Alise, with her enthusiasm and almost abnormal love for Jagamarukun, had relentlessly pestered him to try other varieties.
He'd resisted for a while, but her insistence, coupled with the endearing way she savored each bite, had eventually worn him down.
And in the end, he had found himself surprisingly enamored.
A small smile touched his lips as he approached a familiar stand, the tantalizing scent of frying potatoes and spicy sauce growing stronger.
He remembered one time, before the war five years ago, at this same vendor, he, Alise and Ryuu had met during one of their patrols.
Coincidentally he was about to return home after purchasing all the remaining Jagamarukun to snack on.
He had offered them some, which Alise quickly accepted.
Ryuu on the other hand, had still been unused to him at the time, but still accepted one with a polite nod, her small, satisfied hums after each bite betraying her quiet enjoyment.
The memory brought a pang of fondness, quickly followed by a prickle of concern.
"Spicy red Jagamarukun, twenty orders please," Draco stated, fishing out a few Valis from his pouch.
The vendor, a portly man with flour-dusted hands, grinned widely and expertly scooped the crispy croquettes into a triple layered paper bag, drizzling them generously with the vibrant red sauce.
As he collected his steaming bag, his mind drifted back to Ryuu.
'Speaking of Ryuu, how is she doing?' Draco mused, turning back towards the Hephaestus compound.
After she had left Orario five years ago with the Artemis Familia, there had been little to no word from her.
Not a single letter, no messenger, no casual mention from any of the other familias.
Even in the detailed reports he had diligently read after his return to Orario, there had been no mention of Ryuu, or even the Artemis Familia as a whole.
This was, to say the least, odd.
Although the Artemis Familia weren't permanent residents of Orario, they were a well-known, respected force, and would drop by from time to time, whether for supplies, information, or simply to visit acquaintances.
To be completely absent for five years, with no stories of them both inside and outside the city, even amongst travelers, struck Draco as deeply unsettling.
Something didn't feel right about it.
It was too quiet, too clean a disappearance...….either that or they were too far away from Orario for any information to come through.
'I need to look into this,' Draco resolved, his brow furrowing slightly as he navigated the thickening crowd.
'Hopefully, in this timeline, Antares doesn't exist.'
But going along that line of thought, even in jest, brought about a far more important and troubling question, one that Draco himself had been avoiding.
Where were the great spirits?
And why, after bestowing such immense favor upon him since his earliest days, had they been so utterly, unnervingly silent all these years?
It was a question that had crossed his mind more than once or twice, a nagging doubt at the edges of his consciousness.
He had long determined that their favor wasn't simply because they liked him, or found him amusing.
They had made it abundantly clear, that they wanted something of him, something significant.
Antares.
The name itself was a whisper of ancient dread.
A three-great-quest level monster, sealed away by the Great Spirits themselves in the Elsos ruins a thousand years ago.
That was all he could recall about the titanic creature from his fragmented memories of this world's lore.
Its release and subsequent defeat by Bell, had been a non-canon event in the grand scheme of things, a movie-specific plotline.
Yet, in this warped, living reality, where so many "bizarre" elements seemed to manifest, it was highly possible that it still existed, still under the same ancient seal.
"Could it be….." Draco muttered under his breath.
He shook his head almost immediately, dismissing the thought with a frustrated exhale.
His speculation felt illogical, a desperate reach for connection where there might be none.
It was too much of a stretch to determine that the reason for the spirits' enduring silence was because they were engaged in a millennium-long struggle to keep this particular monster at bay. Additionally, what were the odds that the Artemis Familia of this timeline, despite their altered path, would actually encounter such a misfortune from a non-canon event?
It was too much of a coincidence, too neat a tie-in.
'But just to be safe, I should do some research after fulfilling Ouranos's quest… can never be too careful,' Draco decided.
The thought, once planted, refused to be entirely uprooted.
And, the universe had a peculiar way of making impossible coincidences into unavoidable realities.
Quickly shaking off the gloom and the burgeoning sense of foreboding, Draco quickened his pace.
He entered Hephaestus's office, a determined smile gracing his lips.
Depressing speculations had no place at such a joyous occasion, the first, impromptu lunch/dinner date with the goddess he had just confessed to.
...............…
However, unknown to Draco, his seemingly wild speculation wasn't too far from the truth.
In reality, Antares did actually exist, a colossal, menacing presence, confined within the ancient, crumbling confines of the Elsos ruins.
The seal, woven from the combined power of the Great Spirits a thousand years prior, was indeed slowly, inexorably weakening with each passing day.
The Great Spirits which had come to settle on this land, were doing their utmost to keep this disaster at bay, their essence pouring into the delicate balance of the magic that bound the beast. But for how much longer they could maintain the impossible task… it was hard to tell.
The Great Spirit of Wind, a cornerstone of the balance, had been devoured by the Black Dragon a millennium ago, leaving a gaping void.
A new one had yet to be born, an anomaly that left the balance required to sustain the intricate elemental seal on Antares horrendously skewed towards the other elements.
The remaining Great Spirits had managed, with immense effort, to make do by drawing upon the strength of high-grade wind spirits, weaving their lesser powers into the ancient magic.
But there was only so much this stop-gap method could achieve, a desperate measure against an ancient terror.
And with the numbers of these high-grade spirits having dwindled over time, things weren't looking good for the future.
The seal thinned, like a worn fabric, threatening to tear at any moment.
.........…
Around the same time, in a small, weathered settlement nestled precariously close to the very edge of the Elsos Great Ruins forest, the Artemis Familia was currently at work, clearing out a batch of monsters for what felt like the nth time that day.
Five years had passed since they had departed Orario, five years spent traversing the vast continent, their journey a continuous odyssey of helping people in need, of upholding the ideals of justice and protection that Artemis held dear.
Their travels had carried them far and wide, from the sun-drenched plains of the south to the frigid peaks of the Alf mountain range, and last year, their path had led them to Altena.
Altena, often hailed as the Land of Magic, was one of the top three strongest countries in the mortal world, a bastion of knowledge and military might.
Yet, even Altena possessed its vulnerabilities.
Bordering its territory to the southeast were two very dangerous regions.
One was the Elsos ruins itself, a sprawling, treacherous expanse filled with a bewildering variety of powerful surface monsters and invaluable, rare resources.
The other, far more ominous, was known simply as the Abandoned World.
The place now known as the Abandoned World was once a prosperous, verdant land, forming the heart of the largest country on the continent.
However, on one particular day, around thirty-five plus years ago according to the horrified accounts of the few survivors, a flash of pure, blinding white light, sudden and utterly unexpected, had filled the night sky with its eerie, silent glow.
And before anyone could make heads or tails about what was happening, monsters swarmed the entire country, an unstoppable tide of destruction originating from the north, eerily close to the same area where the Elsos great ruins was located.
In the blink of an eye, an entire thriving country had been nearly wiped out, its cities crumbling, its people scattered or worse, turning the once-prosperous region into a barren, monster-infested, apocalyptic scene.
Finn, the captain of the Loki Familia and one of Orario's great heroes, was a child survivor of this unspeakable chaos, having wandered around with his sister for several harrowing years before he met the goddess Loki.
Regardless, till this day, no one still knew what happened that night, what malevolent force had unleashed that terrifying white light, or why the land was still infested with such powerful, relentless monsters.
Hence, it was labeled the Abandoned World.
Next to it, however, the Elsos ruins, which was equally teeming with powerful monsters and ancient perils, paradoxically thrived.
Its surrounding lands teemed with rich, fertile soil and invaluable resources….rare herbs, special ores, and much more....making it a magnet for those brave, or desperate, enough to venture near.
Despite the constant danger, several hardy settlements had sprung up around the area, their existence entirely dependent on these perilous riches.
And it was in one of these very settlements, perched on the ragged edge of the forest, that the Artemis Familia found themselves.
A few weeks prior, the Artemis Familia had run into and immediately accepted a request for aid from one of the residents of this very settlement, a middle-aged man who had desperately walked all the way to Altena to ask for help.
Although the Elsos ruin was only a few days' travel on horseback, it was an incredibly long, arduous walking distance for a level one civilian.
According to the man's frantic report, a flurry of strange, unnatural things had been happening within the forest for the past few months.
From sudden, inexplicable monster stampedes that swept through the outer perimeters, to localized earthquakes that shook the ground with unsettling frequency, to violent, unseasonal storms, and devastating landslides that reshaped the familiar landscape.
It was all so bizarre, so abnormal, because such events were rare occurrences in nature, yet now they were constant, relentless.
At first, the residents, resilient as they were, had managed.
They had even sent a report to Altena, hoping for assistance.
But the country, mired in its own political machinations, hadn't taken it seriously, only sending a small, token investigation team which soon left, summarily stating the disasters as mere acts of nature.
But then, one sudden, terrifying day, they faced a severe, unprecedented combination of all these 'natural disasters' at once.
The casualties had been immense, entire sections of their settlement razed, lives lost in the chaos. So the residents had, once again, come to ask for help, their desperate plea finding its way to the ears of the compassionate Artemis Familia.
Upon arriving at the settlement, Ryuu, Rethusa, Lante, the other Familia members, and their patron goddess Artemis herself, had wanted to immediately begin investigating the source of the chaos.
But they had been forced to remain in their current location.
Monster attacks had been non-stop for the past few days, a relentless barrage that left them little time to venture deeper.
They had not made any significant progress since arriving, hence the current situation: a continuous, grueling defense of the settlement.
The situation, though not ideal was perhaps the for the best.....a warning from the world for them to stay clear of the area....to avoid the horrendous fate that they were destined for.