The Void Wolf

A few days later and the mood around Ira’s son had somewhat settled. Ira was happy as always but he didn’t let himself get too distracted. There were things he had to take care of such as the children he asked Virgil to gather up. Two months was more than enough time for Virgil to complete his task in Ira’s mind.

“I’ll go check today,” Ira said to himself.

An incoherent babbling of an excited young infant resounded in response.

“What is it, Zephyr?” Ira smiled as he lifted his son. It was hard to say Ira and Zephyr looked alike if one ignored their hair and eye color. Ira’s eye had a sharpness about them while Zephyr’s eyes were round with innocence and curiosity. Since the latter was only born a few days before it made sense that he wouldn’t look like Ira too much. Their resemblance to each other would likely grow immensely in the weeks to come.

Another string of gibberish was given in reply to Ira before Zephyr suddenly wrinkled his button-like nose. The infant closed his eyes and sneezed quietly.

“Ah,” Ira exclaimed in surprise before wiping Zephyr’s nose with a cloth.

Suddenly, Raveria burst into the room with puffy eyes and a head full of messy hair. “I want to hold him!”

“It’s weird to see you up so early, Ravi.” Ira squinted at his daughter while examining her closely. It was clear that she rushed to Ira as soon as she woke up. Although it couldn’t be seen from the Underground City, the sun was just beginning to rise. Ira made a habit of matching Zephyr’s erratic sleep schedule.

“Make sure you hold him correctly,” Ira said while handing Zephyr to Raveria.

“I know, I know.” Raveria accepted Zephyr into her arms and they both gave one another inquisitive looks.

“I can’t wait to play with you, Zeph,” Raveria said as she kissed her brother on the forehead.

Zephyr laughed joyfully at Raveria even though he didn’t understand a word coming from her mouth. The connection they shared through blood was more than enough for them to feel each other’s intentions. Zephyr was instinctively scared when not in the presence of his parents but he could feel safe around Raveria.

“Alright, we should take him back to Rhys,” Ira said.

“But...I just woke up,” Raveria said with a pout.

“Yeah, but he’s tired.” Ira pointed to Zephyr who had traces of drowsiness in his eyes.

“Babies sleep a lot,” Raveria stated with disappointment.

“You’d be sleeping if you didn’t grow so fast,” Ira replied while grabbing Zephyr from Raveria.

“Are you leaving today?” Raveria asked as they walked toward Rhys’ room.

“Just for a little. It shouldn’t even take more than a few hours.”

“Then...can we play when you’re done?”

“Hmm.” Ira contemplated. Usually, his answer would be an immediate yes but he had to train his Reality Separation ability.

The nature surrounding the ability was incredible when one thought about the nearly infinite possibilities. Ira could disconnect himself from the rules of the world thereby granting him a level of power never seen before. For one to comprehend Ira’s new ability it would only take a simple question to put things in perspective: Why can’t an ordinary person fly with just a thought? The answer would be gravity, their wingless body, their species and a long list of other factors. The essence of Ira’s ability was to bypass those factors altogether. In his Reality Separation state, he could move at the speed of thousands of miles in an instant or punch with the weight of a mountain if he wanted. Normally, those abilities would have disastrous after effects, especially the latter. The weight of a mountain being concentrated into a single blow would be akin to a natural disaster. Physical enhancements weren’t the entirety of his ability but rather the lowest level. Since the only feasible limit to his Reality Separation was his mind and body, it would be hard to say where the peak of his abilities lay. Even shifting time and space on a worldwide scale was a possibility.

“Sure, we can play for a bit.” Ira was eager to train himself but raising his daughter wouldn’t be too much of a problem.

“Yes!” Raveria cheered to herself.

Ira smiled at the happy little girl and continued on. They arrived at Rhys’ room and Ira placed Zephyr in a crib and began speaking to Rhys.

“Has it been hard for you?” Ira asked.

Rhys shook her head and gave a tired yet thankful smile to Ira. Since Ira could go very long without sleep he was around the most when Raveria and Zephyr were awake. Zephyr wasn’t very troublesome due to the bloodline memories he inherited from Ira. Though the infant was nowhere near Raveria’s level of awareness.

“I’ll bring him a few toys when I come back from Yeramesh.” Ira watched his son slowly drift off to sleep before turning to face Rhys.

Rhys nodded her head while observing Ira’s happy expression. Ira handled his new responsibility very well considering he was new to parenting and it went against his former lifestyle. Rhys found it a little funny that someone who was undertaking a dangerous expedition not too long ago could adjust to family life without missing a step. That is, if one ignored the tasks and events that pulled Ira away from his home.

“I’ll also have to find something else to make you stronger eventually,” Ira spoke again and interrupted Rhys’ thoughts.

She furrowed her brows questioningly and he began to explain.

“I’m probably going to live forever you know. Zephyr’s will end up being the same with my bloodline. You though, you’re purely human, Rhys. Even with your abilities what are the chances of you living past two hundred?” Ira thought of how Zephyr would be if he lost one of his parents so he decided to take matters to prevent it.

Rhys nodded even though she had some reservations about immortality Truthfully, she didn’t desire eternal youth.

“Right, we’ll talk about it later,” Ira said with a smile. “Let’s go, Ravi.”

The two vanished from sight and appeared in Ira’s room. Avery was already dressed and was clearly prepared to train Raveria.

“It may be time for her to get her own room,” Avery suddenly said.

“Huh?” Raveria was taken off guard by her mother’s abrupt statement. “Why?!”

“Can we talk about it when I get back?” Ira tried to buy his daughter some more time but the seriousness in Avery’s eyes showed she wouldn’t forget about it.

“If you wish,” Avery replied.

Raveria looked relieved but she didn’t know that Avery had no intention of changing her mind.

Ira grinned at Avery before he disappeared once again.

…

A few moments later and Ira found himself speaking to Samantha. In her time in the Underground City she had earned herself a position as one of Sylun’s advisor. Samantha, who was an ordinary human, only was allowed to take that position because of Ira. Once Sylun learned that Samantha worked for Ira previously, she was more than willing to accept the former as a citizen.

“Ira, how many children can we expect to arrive?” Samantha said while writing down her calculations on a piece of parchment.

“I don’t know...A few thousand,” Ira replied before eating a mooncake.

“Can I have a more specific amount?”

Ira looked at Samantha while chewing the pastry, it was the only sound that could be heard in the room. He eventually gulped it down before exclaiming with joy.

“Ah, that was good.”

“The amount Ira,” Samantha said while trying to keep him on track.

“Hold on.” Ira raised a cup of tea and drank it all in one go before finally answering. “Somewhere over ten thousand.”

“...I see.” Samantha calmly placed her pen in an inkwell before inhaling deeply. Inwardly, she was screaming at the top of her lungs but she had long since perfected her professional temperament.

“Do you know how much food we’ll need for more than ten thousand half-dragon children?” Samantha asked.

“Nope,” Ira answered.

“They can eat more than twice the portions given to human children around the same age. Then you have to take into account that they are not only growing but are also under a training regiment. It’s impossible to get that much food in so little time,” Samantha explained.

“It can’t be that hard,” Ira disagreed.

“The area above the Underground City is essentially barren. At the current moment, most goods are procured by trade. In order to accommodate those new arrivals, we’ll have to draft new trading contracts.”

“So?” Ira found it hard to see where Samantha was going.

“So, we’ll be at a disadvantage in negotiations. The previous contracts were perfectly balanced because we weren’t desperate. Now, the other nations will be holding all the cards. Some may even try to ask for Godsteel directly.”

“Sam, Sam, Sam.” Ira chuckled before leaning into his chair and putting his legs on her desk. “I know a thing or two about trade ok?”

“Forgive me, but I am unconvinced,” Samantha said without a change in expression.

“Listen, Sam...We give them money and they give us food, right? If they don’t agree then just send a few Valkyries to ask ‘politely’ and if that doesn’t work...I’ll just go take the food myself.” Ira said with a self-assured look.

“Ira that’s...That’s extortion, Ira.”

“Trading, negotiating, extortion, call it whatever you want but you can’t say it’s not effective. After all, who really wants to get on my bad side?” Ira smirked while standing up.

“...I’ll inform the Queen,” Samantha said reluctantly. She preferred to use her own talents to best others but if Ira was set on brute force there was little she could do to stop it.

“Right, let me know how it goes.” Ira clapped his hands together and teleported away.

The next person he was going to visit was none other than Aldis who had requested to see him quite some time ago. Ira learned of Aldis’ marriage to Amy and assumed that what Aldis wanted had something to do with that.

Not too far away from the Valkyrie Fortress was Aldis’ residence which was far smaller in comparison. Ira knocked on the door and heard someone yell in response.

“Hold on!”

It was Amy’s voice which sounded heavy with exhaustion. It was quite early in the day for most people but Ira was unaffected.

The door open and Ira was met with the metal-armed girl who jumped in surprise.

“...Ira!” Amy said with shock.

“Amy, please no yelling when I’m only two feet away from you,” Ira replied.

“Sorry...Oh, please come in.” Amy gestured for Ira to enter so he did and found himself in a cozy little house. “Would you like anything to drink?”

“I’m fine. Where’s Aldis?” Ira asked.

“He’s upstairs, I can wake him if you want me to.”

“Could you? I have stuff to do.”

Amy nodded before heading upstairs and returning with a shirtless Aldis.

“Ira?!” Aldis yelled.

Amy laughed which made it clear that she didn’t tell Aldis that Ira had arrived.

“You came to greet me without a shirt?”

“I didn’t mean to, Amy told me that she had prepared breakfast so I–” Aldis hurriedly protested.

“Aldis I don’t mind whatever you’re into but I’m married to your sister, very happily I might add.” Ira distanced himself from Aldis with an uncomfortable expression.

Amy stifled her giggles while Aldis was completely taken aback. After a few minutes, they settled down and Aldis returned with clothes on.

“So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?” Ira asked.

“It was nothing really I just wanted you to take me to the Grenitian Kingdom so I could do something,” Aldis replied.

Amy’s expression slightly changed which Ira instantly noticed.

“Do what?” Ira inquired.

“I wanted to talk to Clark personally...I hated Clark for what his inaction but recently I’ve been thinking about things and I think it’s best to let it go.” Aldis spoke with determination. Amy placed her hand over his and smiled at him. They stared into each other’s eyes for a few moments until Ira cleared his throat.

“I understand you two are happy together but please refrain from doing that,” Ira said.

“Sorry.”

“Sorry.”

They both apologized at the same time and ended up smiling.

“I’ll take you there right now. You don’t have to worry about the cold so let’s go.” Ira jumped out of the chair in a hurry.

“Right now?” Aldis repeated with confusion.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Ira showed a slightly impatient look.

“Let me grab my swords,” Aldis moved to another room and came back while fastening the scabbards to his waist. “I’ll be back soon, Amy.”

Aldis was about to give Amy a kiss goodbye but Ira teleported away with his brother-in-law before that could happen.