Damon woke up in a lab. No machines hovered above him this time, no wires or restraints. Just silence, and Daichi sprawled across his chest in his dog form, heavy and warm.
His bones felt weighted, as if something inside them had been reforged overnight. The air tasted faintly metallic, the ghost of machines lingering even without a single device in sight.
He stroked the wolf's fur, a soft, grateful thought flickering through him.
'He's such a good dog,' He thought.
Daichi stirred, eyes bright with relief. His voice pressed into Damon's mind, trembling.
"YOU'RE OKAY! I'm glad you're okay. Last night was… I didn't know what was happening. I could feel you in agony. But now you're awake!"
"I'm sorry," Damon whispered, thumb smoothing behind Daichi's ear. "I don't understand it either. But now I can... see better. I feel sharper. I can hear more."
"How?"
"I don't know," Damon admitted. "I just feel… stronger."
He lifted his right hand. Beyond it, his mother and sister dozed beside him — Queen Thessa in her royal nightwear and sleeping in a naturally regal posture, Nyra curled close with her head resting on her mother's shoulder.
Damon exhaled and asked Daichi not to wake them. Then he pressed his palm to his forehead, eyes shut tight.
'Why'd I have to worry them again? She's got an entire kingdom to attend to. When she wakes up, she's going to have the same look on her face when she's troubled. I even got the sister I finally wanted, and I'm making her upset. Can't life just be smooth for once?'
The door opened. Tolrex entered, relief loosening his shoulders. "You're awake. You gave everyone quite a scare."
Nyra's eyes snapped open at the sound of Tolrex's voice. She bolted upright, scrambled across the bed, and crashed into him, arms wrapping around his torso like she was afraid he'd vanish. Her whole body trembled against his. Damon felt her rapid breaths, hot and uneven, soaking into his shirt.
"Last night…" Her voice cracked. "There was blood coming from your mouth. Your eyes were open, but you weren't there. You were just… breathing. Like a corpse that hadn't realized it was dead yet."
Her voice shook like she was reliving it.
Damon swallowed. "I'm okay now. Truly, I feel a lot better."
She squeezed harder, face buried in his chest. "I just found you. I can't lose you again."
"There's no need to worry about that. You won't," he said gently. "I feel fine. In fact, I feel—"
"Better," Tolrex finished.
Damon nodded. "Yes. Exactly."
Queen Thessa stirred. For a moment, she just stared at him, as if making sure he was real.
Then she rose with that same unshakable grace, but her fingers trembled as they brushed through his hair. Up close, Damon could see the exhaustion in her eyes — the kind that no amount of royal composure could hide. Though it slowly turned to relief.
"You should really stop scaring your mother," she murmured. "I'm sorry you have to endure so much pain."
Damon met her gaze. He didn't need words but apologised with his eyes. Though she tried to hide it with a reassuring nod, her sadness and worry were quite visible.
Damon sat up. His legs felt a little longer. His hands opened and closed, the grip tighter, cleaner. His heartbeat felt… different. Heavier. Like it belonged to someone older.
"What exactly am I going through? What just happened?" he asked.
Tolrex hesitated, "It didn't just happen, that was last night. I also didn't tell your mother or sister because you should hear this first, but… You are growing."
Nyra wiped her face. "What's wrong with that?"
Daichi shifted, still watching.
"You are growing, Prince Damon," Tolrex said softly. "That's the problem."
Confusion crossed the Queen's face. Tolrex wiped a few equations from a nearby board, summoned a 4D hologram splitting into two charts labelled DAMON and THALOR.
The words landed heavily in the room. Nyra's grip on Damon's arm tightened. Thessa went very still.
Tolrex gestured to the floating graphs. One line — labelled THALOR — rose steadily then levelled off. The other — DAMON — shot upward violently, jagged and unstable.
"Lines solve all," he murmured. "This is the best way to make it sink in. What does anything that moves have?"
"Speed," Damon replied.
Tolrex revealed the S on both graphs. "And if a thing moves far faster than it should?"
"Depends on its strength… its durability, and other factors," Damon said. "The outcome usually differs."
"Exactly." Tolrex gestured to the THALOR graph, "The T-line is your father's. He built himself slowly. His body could withstand the speed of his own growth."
Now he gestured to the DAMON graph:
"This is your line. You haven't trained your body to... to match your power. Even if you did, your physical abilities, your powers, they grow faster than you do. Every time it spikes, your body scrambles to keep up. That's what happened last night. Your bones, blood, nerves, all racing to survive your own power."
Silence settled.
"D—Do you remember Her Majesty telling you that you have your father's core?" Tolrex asked hesitantly.
Damon nodded.
"There are two reasons why the purge is happening. Subtracting the fact that you grow too fast for your body to keep up alone, the core of the strongest being to ever live on Eternum has been bonded with your own core. It'll release the power in it slowly, but for you, each amount it releases will be too much. We can't predict when that happens, and we can't seal your own power, because..."
Tolrex paused and took in a deep breath. "Because you need to grow if you're going to go up against a Black Hole of negative emotions like Gamishi, remember emotions power eterna, so imagine how strong he is."
Silence settled again, but it was heavier this time. Everyone, even Daichi, had their faces grow sadder the more they processed the news Tolrex had just delivered.
Damon broke the silence softly. "So each time I train… each time I grow… it'll feel like this?"
Tolrex didn't reply; he couldn't. Though the way he adjusted his glasses said it all.
Damon met Nyra's eyes. Hers were worried, though his was steady. His mother stood still, swallowing fear.
"So Tolrex," Queen Thessa said tightly, "if his body can't contain the growth… this purge will happen again?" Raising her tone, slightly turning to anger.
Tolrex lowered his gaze.
Damon saw the flicker in his mother's expression. It wasn't anger, but fear wearing the shape of it. The kind that a mother feels when the world reaches for her child again.
He called her gently, "Mom..." She softened instantly, exhaled, and apologised to Tolrex. "Forgive my tone."
Tolrex bowed instantly.
Damon rose, and Daichi hopped onto his head like a snowy crown. Sunlight streamed through high windows, painting Woewyn's blue waters in feathered gold.
Damon saw a fish dive up and go back down. 'How can I see that far?'
Buildings stretched far, trees hummed under nature's breath; somewhere, a child answered his mother's call.
Damon inhaled deeply. "If I reach the very peak of power, or at least fully absorb the one in my father's core… will the growth stop?"
"I— I can't say," Tolrex said. "You're unpredictable. We don't know if you will ever stop growing because we don't know if there is a peak. Someone always surpasses it."
Tolrex took off his glasses and stared down. His voice sounded like he was forcing a careful explanation. This made Damon feel as if he was being taken into consideration.
"Prince Damon, your natural power combined with your father's core made this inevitable. You grow very fast, and that is the main source of the purge. The other one is the core release. So... I don't know. Your body is like a cup, but your growth is like an ocean. And every purge is the ocean trying to fit into the cup," he said.
He gestured at the hologram. "You now carry your father's hand-to-hand combat experience of sixty-six years. Your father was two hundred and ninety when he died. Keep in mind that fighting experience will release faster than anything in your core."
Damon raised an eyebrow, "So I don't need to learn how to fight? I'll grow into it naturally, with each purge."
The room's tension thinned.
"I wish you didn't have to think that way. And I'm sorry that... that I can't help you change it. I really am," his mother said. A heavy ache settled in her chest, the kind that makes the room feel too small, and her heart feel far too fragile.
She gazed at his slightly troubled face and sighed.
"I suppose you won't need it, but... You look taller," the Queen said, palm warm on his shoulder.
He smiled as his mother formed her own. "I know."
Nyra slipped under his arm. The three of them stood together by the window, watching sunlight dance across the glass. Tolrex watched, quietly admiring how fast their sorrow bent into unity.
The world outside kept moving, but for a moment, the three of them stood still.