The aircraft descended through a storm of white silence.
Snow crashed against the silver hull like waves against a ship.
Outside the viewport, the Arctic stretched endlessly—an empire of ice beneath a dead grey sky.
And at the centre of it all—
Eden Zero.
The prison of the First God.
Massive rings of frozen metal rose from beneath the glacier, like the bones of a dead civilisation.
Ancient towers pierced the snow.
Blue light pulsed faintly beneath the ice, like the heartbeat of something that should have remained asleep.
But Aarav wasn't looking at the prison.
He was looking at the woman floating above it.
Nysera.
Still waiting.
Silver-white hair drifting in the blizzard like moonlight trapped in winter.
White ceremonial armour traced with golden lines of light.
No wings.
No visible support.
She simply stood in the storm as if gravity had politely decided not to apply to her.
Rohan stared through the cockpit glass.
"…I know we've established this already, but that is not a normal person."
Mira, for once, agreed.
"No. She is not."
Aelina's voice was quieter.
"She was never meant to be."
Selene stood near the door, one hand resting on her giant blade.
Even she looked more alert.
That alone said enough.
The aircraft landed with a heavy metallic hiss on a frozen platform just outside Eden Zero's main entrance.
The ramp lowered.
Cold hit them instantly.
Not winter.
Not weather.
Something deeper.
Ancient.
The kind of cold that felt like a memory.
Rohan stepped down first and immediately regretted every life choice that brought him here.
"I would like to formally apologise to India for leaving."
Aarav followed.
The wind nearly stole his breath.
Snow stretched endlessly around them, but the entire world seemed to bend toward one point.
Nysera.
She descended slowly from the storm, landing soundlessly before them.
No dramatic explosion.
No overwhelming aura.
And somehow that made her feel even stronger.
She looked at Aelina first.
Then Mira.
Then Selene.
There was something almost gentle in her expression.
Like an older sister watching younger sisters return from war.
Then her gaze reached Aarav.
Everything changed.
Silence deepened.
Even the storm seemed to lower its voice.
For several long seconds, she simply looked at him.
Not analysing.
Not testing.
Remembering.
That unsettled him more than anything.
Finally, she spoke.
Her voice was calm enough to stop fear.
"So this is the face of my second miracle."
Aarav blinked.
"…I'm sorry, my what?"
Rohan whispered,
"She opens with poetry. Dangerous."
Nysera's faint smile appeared again.
Small.
Sharp.
She stepped closer.
Unlike Selene's intensity or Mira's cold distance, Nysera's presence felt inevitable.
Like standing too close to destiny.
"The first origin was humanity's greatest failure."
Her silver eyes held his.
"You were created to be its answer."
Aarav frowned.
"Created?"
There it was.
The word.
Wrong.
Heavy.
He looked at her sharply.
"What does that mean?"
Aelina stiffened.
Mira looked away.
Selene said nothing.
Which meant she absolutely knew.
Wonderful.
Nysera answered without mercy.
"You were not born by accident."
The Arctic wind screamed across the ice.
"Your bloodline was engineered across generations."
"Your family was not chosen to guard the Origin, Aarav."
"They were chosen to rebuild it."
Silence.
Rohan looked at Aarav.
Then at Nysera.
Then back at Aarav.
"…Bro, you are literally a government project."
Aarav ignored him because, unfortunately, the panic was louder.
His grandfather knew.
His family knew.
Maybe not everything—but enough.
His entire life.
Every coincidence.
Every strange instinct.
Every impossible connection.
Not random.
Designed.
He looked at Nysera.
"So I'm what? A replacement?"
Her answer came softly.
"No."
"You are proof that humanity refused to give up."
That should have felt comforting.
It did not.
Because now there was another question.
One is worse.
"Did my parents know?"
A pause.
Nysera's silence gave him the answer before her words did.
"Your mother knew enough to fear it."
"Your father knew enough to protect it."
That hurt more than battles ever had.
Because monsters were easy.
Parents were not.
Before Aarav could respond, the ground beneath them trembled.
Everyone turned.
Eden Zero.
The frozen rings beneath the glacier pulsed brighter.
Blue light spread across the snow like veins awakening.
A deep sound echoed upward.
Not mechanical.
A heartbeat.
Selene's hand tightened around her sword.
"He's waking faster."
Mira's nanoshards rose like a storm.
"The seal is collapsing."
Aelina stepped beside Aarav.
Her voice lowered.
"The First Origin can feel you here."
That sentence was not comforting.
At all.
Nysera turned toward the massive frozen gates of Eden Zero.
Ancient symbols burnt to life across the metal.
A cathedral opening for judgement.
She spoke without looking back.
"There is one final truth before we enter."
Everyone listened.
Because when Nysera sounded serious, reality usually suffered.
Her silver eyes reflected the frozen prison.
"The First Origin is not asleep."
Silence.
Aarav frowned.
"Then what is he?"
Her answer came like winter itself.
"Waiting."
The gates of Eden Zero began to open.
Massive.
Slow.
Terrible.
And from somewhere deep inside the prison—
Something laughed.
Low.
Male.
Familiar.
Aarav's blood turned cold.
Because he recognised it.
It sounded like his own voice.