Aiona stood alone inside the endless river of time.
She had searched for what felt like forever.
She had crossed thousands of years.
She had looked through countless futures.
Still.
Alexander remained beyond her reach.
She closed her eyes.
"If this is the only way."
"I accept it."
Without another thought, Aiona made her choice.
She released her power.
Not a little.
Not half.
Everything.
The power of Time itself burst out of her body like an endless ocean.
The river of time shook violently.
The past trembled.
The present became unstable.
Even the future began to crack.
Aiona's body became lighter and lighter.
She could no longer feel the power that had always been part of her.
Yet she smiled.
"This is enough."
The last piece of her power left her body.
At that moment.
She was no longer Time itself.
The endless river pulled her forward at an unbelievable speed.
Faster than ever before.
Years disappeared.
Centuries vanished.
Thousands.
Millions.
Billions of years rushed past her eyes.
Then.
Everything stopped.
Silence.
Aiona slowly opened her eyes.
She was standing in a huge city.
Cars and all kinds of vehicles moved across the roads.
Tall buildings reached into the sky.
Crowds of people walked everywhere.
She had never seen anything like it before.
The air felt different.
The sky looked unfamiliar.
She tried to return.
Nothing happened.
She tried again.
Still nothing.
She looked around.
"I can't... go back?"
For the first time in her life.
Aiona was trapped.
She had reached a future that nobody from the past was ever meant to reach.
Not even Time itself.
Far away.
Inside the Palace of Time...
The perfect replacement suddenly stopped moving.
Small cracks appeared across its body.
Kaira stood up.
"Aiona?"
The copy smiled one last time.
Then it shattered into countless pieces of light.
The light slowly disappeared into the air.
Silence filled the palace.
Chronia's hands began to shake.
"No..."
Eternia slowly fell to her knees.
Queen Tempestra closed her eyes.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody needed to.
They all understood.
The light that belonged to Aiona.
Had disappeared.
To them.
She was dead.
Kaira quietly looked toward the endless sky.
A single tear rolled down her face.
"My daughter."
Meanwhile.
Back in the present.
Alexandra, who was now known as the Dark Goddess, had remained in Crystalden Village all this time; eating, sleeping and taking fresh air all days wasted.
Maximus never stopped training.
Every single day he became stronger.
He had also married a woman named Vaelith.
Together they had two children.
At the same time, the newer generation of gods had become lazy.
They rarely helped anyone.
Most of their time was spent sitting together, talking, judging others, making fun of humans, and looking down on them.
Very few humans had ever seen a god.
Most people only knew what gods looked like because dangerous criminals had discovered the Dark Temple, a hidden place where many ancient records and secrets were kept.
From those records, stories about the appearance of gods slowly spread across the world.
Far away inside the hidden dimension...
The Deca Gods continued their training.
Every strike they made shook the mountains.
Every clash of their power made the sky tremble.
Suddenly.
Iris stopped moving.
Her eyes narrowed.
Enoch noticed immediately.
"What is it?"
Iris closed her eyes.
"I felt someone."
The other nine gods became serious.
"Who?" Ra asked.
"I don't know."
"The aura disappeared almost immediately."
She looked toward the endless sky.
"It was unlike anything I have ever felt."
"Could it be an enemy?" Ra asked again.
Iris slowly shook her head.
"No."
"It felt."
She paused.
"...ancient."
Enoch became thoughtful.
"If you sense it again, tell us immediately."
Iris nodded.
Although the aura had disappeared...
She could not forget it.
For some reason.
It felt strangely familiar.
Back in the distant future.
Aiona slowly walked through the busy streets.
People passed by without paying any attention to her.
She smiled.
For the first time.
Nobody treated her as Time.
Nobody bowed before her.
Nobody feared her.
She was simply.
A young woman.
Days passed.
She found a simple job at a small shop.
Every morning she went to work.
Every evening she returned with bags of food.
But she was not returning to an empty house.
She was returning to someone.
Alexander.
A young and very handsome man.
He was younger than Aiona.
The first day she found him, he was sitting quietly beneath a large tree.
Hundreds of people walked past him.
None of them looked at him.
None of them noticed him.
It was as if he did not exist.
Only Aiona stopped.
She walked straight toward him.
Alexander slowly raised his head.
He looked surprised.
"You."
Aiona smiled brightly.
"Hello."
Alexander stared at her.
"You can see me?"
She laughed softly.
"Of course I can."
For a long moment, Alexander said nothing.
This had never happened before.
His power naturally hid his existence.
Even powerful beings often failed to notice him.
Yet this strange girl looked directly into his eyes.
Even without any magical powers...
She could still see him.
She even smiled at him.
"You're really interesting," Aiona said.
Alexander looked away.
"I don't think so."
From that day on.
She returned every evening.
Sometimes she brought bread.
Sometimes fruit.
Sometimes cooked food.
She placed everything on the table with a cheerful smile.
"I bought your favorite today."
Alexander blinked.
"I never told you my favorite."
"You didn't have to," she replied with a smile.
"You always eat it first."
Little by little.
The quiet house became full of life.
Aiona talked endlessly.
She asked questions.
She laughed.
She teased him.
She complained about work.
She even forced him to go on walks with her.
Alexander rarely answered.
But he listened.
Days passed.
Weeks passed.
Months passed.
Without realizing it.
The lonely house no longer felt lonely.
One evening, while Aiona was laughing about something that had happened at work, Alexander quietly looked at her.
For the first time in countless years.
A small smile appeared on his face.
Aiona immediately stopped talking.
"There it is!"
Alexander looked confused.
"What?"
"You smiled."
He quickly looked away.
"I didn't."
"You did."
"I didn't."
Aiona laughed so hard that tears filled her eyes.
Alexander could only shake his head.
He still did not understand this strange girl.
But for reasons he could not explain.
He no longer wanted her to leave.
Neither of them knew.
That this simple meeting would one day change the fate of every god, every demon, and every living soul.
As the days, weeks, and months passed.
Christmas was getting closer.
One evening, Aiona happily walked over to Alexander with a bright smile.
She stood close to him and said,
"Guess what?"
Alexander looked at her.
"What?"
"In just a few months, we'll be celebrating Christmas."
Alexander looked confused.
"Christmas?"
Aiona's eyes widened.
"Don't tell me you've never celebrated Christmas before."
Alexander remained silent.
Aiona smiled.
"Then this year."
"I'll celebrate it with you.
Alexander quietly looked at her.
For some reason.
His heart felt warm.