When Lexus could finally breathe without shaking, Lucien's clone stepped beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Before you tell me everything," Lucien said softly, "I already know."
Lexus looked up, confused.
"You… know what happened? Then—"
Lucien raised a hand.
"Gramps, I know what you're going to say. The ancestors of the Dreamveil bloodline.
Grandma. Your parents. My great-grandparents. All of them."
Lexus stiffened.
"They're trapped in Paraxis, right?"
The horror on Lexus's face said everything.
"…How—how do you know that?" Lexus whispered.
Lucien smiled faintly, eyes glowing as if a thousand universes flickered behind them.
"Because of what I am. If I wanted to… I could know all things at once. Past, present, future, every possibility." He tapped his temple. "But I choose not to. Knowledge without limit kills curiosity. And I like being surprised sometimes."
Lexus swallowed hard.
Lucien's clone continued, voice softening.
"And I also know this—you're a great-grandfather now."
Lexus blinked, stunned.
Lucien chuckled.
"Yeah. You missed a lot."
A portal opened behind Lucien—an elegant rift leading to Aetherion, the capital of the Sole Exception's army, the realm guarded by beings whose footsteps rattled galaxies.
Immediately—
Seraphyx sensed him.
A streak of silver and void shattered across the sky, descending with the force of a starfall. The Commander of the Second Legion landed, kneeling instantly.
"Lord Lucien. A summoning?"
"Bring them," Lucien said gently.
Seraphyx disappeared.
And moments later she returned, guiding:
Arios Dreamveil, Lucien's 17-year-old son, void surging around him in controlled ripples. Seloria—Selene Dreamveil, Lucien's wife, regal even in her gentle steps. Lysera, only weeks old, tiny, adorable, with white-and-black hair and crimson-black eyes blinking curiously.
Arios froze when he saw him—
the father he had not seen since he was a child.
Training under Seraphyx had hardened him, but this… this melted everything.
"…Father?" Arios whispered.
Lucien smiled softly.
Arios's eyes widened—then he ran forward and hugged him without hesitation.
Lucien held him tight.
Then Selene reached him—her breath catching in the same instant his did.
It had been too long.
Her aura trembled.
His hand rose and cupped her cheek gently.
"Lucien…" she breathed.
He kissed her forehead.
Lysera, still in Seraphyx's arms, babbled happily—
—which made the entire Sole Exception Army freeze the first time it happened weeks ago, when she manifested in their plane mid-training.
The memory made Lucien laugh under his breath.
"She inherited more than my eyes," he whispered.
Then—
He lifted his hand.
Two brilliant motes of light formed before them—
then shaped into silhouettes—
then into people.
Lucien's parents.
And Selene's parents.
Their spirits, brought forth because Lucien willed it.
The family stood together.
Whole.
After so long.
Even Lexus trembled at the sight, covering his mouth with his hand as tears spilled again.
The Undying One's voice cracked.
"I… I waited so long for this. So long…"
Lucien placed a hand on his grandfather's shoulder, firm and reassuring.
"You won't wait anymore."
He looked at the horizon beyond the merged primordial void and Metaphysical Plane, where Paraxis lay like a festering scar across existence.
"I already know who trapped our family."
His eyes burned—not with anger…
…but with certainty.
"And I'm going to bring them back."