Viktor couldn’t quite believe this was Yue. Somehow even the illusion seemed more accurate. Yue looked so different now…of course, Yue had always been beautiful but this Yue…

 

His hair was scattered with blue-green and gilded strands and his bangs had split down the middle. Usually, his hair rested over his forehead but now it was perfectly parted and right in the center of his forehead there was a tiny blue-green mark in the shape of a flower. 

 

Yue had not worn makeup to enter the dungeon but his eyes were accented with blue-green and gold in the outer corners as well. His face itself looked the same but also much softer and somehow even more beautiful. 

 

Yue’s expression had seemed calm at first but the longer that Viktor remained silent the more his expression cracked and tears began to well in his eyes.

 

“Are you okay? Can’t you speak?” Yue asked and stroked Viktor’s hair and face softly.

 

“I think they’re both in shock.” 

 

Viktor and Yue hadn’t really registered that Andrei and Elena were here but when they looked over they saw Andrei staring at Elena with wide eyes.

 

Elena’s hair had some golden highlights and her shoulders were covered by a black and gold hooded cape. She had a bit of black and gold makeup around her eyes but it was uncertain whether that was her own doing or a result of whatever power enveloped them. And she also had a mark on her forehead, also flower-shaped but black.

 

Yue looked at his own hair and noticed the change in color. He wasn’t aware that his body would change through the ceremony.

 

Andrei seemed to snap out of his trance after a second and went over to Viktor quickly, remembering just how worried he had been. Viktor snapped out of his trance immediately after seeing Andrei. He genuinely couldn’t believe that Andrei had come here.

“Why are you two here?” He asked Andrei and Elena. Yue blinked a few times at Viktor's complete dismissal of his presence.

 

“A dungeon opened in the temple and no one but us could enter it,” Elena explained, “I ended up on Black Tortoise island and Andrei ended up here…” 

 

“…This island…” Yue murmured, looking around. Now that the sea of depravity was gone it was just a plain wasteland.

 

“This is the island for the Ivanov family…our power seems to have cleared up all the depravity that was here before,” Elena explained and looked around.

 

Viktor couldn’t really believe Andrei was here. He had heard his name being called by him a few times but he didn’t think it was real. He also didn’t really understand what was going on with him either. He didn’t feel any of the sort of irrational anger he usually felt when his father was around anymore. And now that he was looking at him, his father seemed much more worried than he’d ever expected him to be.

 

Viktor stood up after a while. Even his body felt lighter suddenly.

 

“Are you okay?” Yue whispered to him, helping him stand. Yue expected that his personality would change, not Viktor’s. He honestly thought it was even worse this way. 

 

“Uh…I think so…it’s just…I feel lighter somehow.” Viktor murmured and looked around the island and then back at Yue.

 

He stared at Yue for a while. He could hear his parents whispering similar questions to each other lovingly but he didn’t really pay attention. Yue was more beautiful than ever but he also seemed sad and Viktor didn’t really get why for a second. 

 

Yue turned his head a little, trying to hide how more tears were threatening to fall from his eyes as he stood in this awkward limbo with Viktor. He almost felt like he had felt when he first opened his eyes on Azure Dragon Island. Like the weight of the world was pressing against his chest, making it impossible for him to breathe.

 

Viktor reached out and touched Yue’s cheek out of habit. He had almost moved to kiss his cheek out of habit as well but the second his hand touched Yue’s cheek he paused. He completely froze over and it kind of all hit him at once. This wasn’t more of the long-drawn-out illusions he had seen earlier…Yue was actually there…standing in front of him.

 

Yue was shocked when tears started to fall from Viktor’s eyes but the way Viktor made no effort to wipe them made him even more shocked. He was about to start panicking as if he had accidentally made a child cry but Viktor quickly hugged him.

 

Viktor pulled away from their hug slightly after a few minutes and pressed their foreheads together.

 

“I’m glad it’s finally really you and not an illusion,” Viktor murmured.

 

“Illusion?” Yue whispered.

 

“The island has been showing me illusions this whole time, trying to drive me crazy,” Viktor said and rested his head on Yue’s shoulder.

 

He didn’t even know how much time had passed…he just knew it felt like an eternity.

 

“Yue! Viktor!”

 

Everyone on the Ivanov island turned their head to the group of people flying down to meet them on the island. It was everyone who had watched their ‘ceremonies’. After the ceremony, they saw Elena and Yue fly away and were confused so they all came over.

 

As for the first incarnations of the three present beasts, they were there to give some extra info.

 

Huy’s hair also had strands of different colors, red and gold, and he also had a red flower mark and he wore an outer coat that was completely different from what he was wearing before. 

 

Huy and Mai were a bit surprised by the change in Yue and Elena’s appearances but that quickly changed when they looked at Viktor. There was a bit of a different aura to him for a second but that wasn’t what they were focused on.

 

Giang seemed to immediately notice it and completely cut off anyone else from speaking.

 

“Wait! Wang Hao Yu!” She grabbed Wang Hao Yu and dragged him over. Yu Ze (Yi) had a very offended look as Hao Yu was dragged away from him but he almost immediately ‘got it’ and he let it happen.

 

Yue was going to ask who some of these people were but he was cut off by Giang pushing Wang Hao Yu next to Viktor.

 

“Don’t they look alike!?” 

 

A collective “Huh?/Eh?” was heard.

 

Elena, Andrei, and Yue were the most shocked once they saw the resemblance while Wang Hao Yu and Viktor were much more critical of the thought.

 

“Uh no.” Viktor murmured.

 

“H-How could I look like him…?” Wang Hao Yu muttered.

 

“He looks like Viktor but acts like Yue.” Mai immediately exclaimed.

 

“I—“ Yue was going to say ‘I do not act like that’ but he realized that was quite rude and that it was also probably inaccurate so he silenced himself.

 

“I’m half a foot taller, have very clearly white hair, and very obviously golden eyes,” Viktor said with a raised eyebrow.

 

Wang Hao Yu was very clearly none of those things. He had long black hair,  hazel eyes, and was only around Yue’s height if not slightly shorter.

 

“Your noses are identical, your eyes are the same shape, your jawline is the same...” Yue started listing off similarities.

 

“You look like you were cast from the same mold.” Loc chuckled.

 

“Reincarnation?” Giang suggested.

 

“Definitely not.” Loc, Zoya, and Yu Ze said in unison.

 

“This,” Yu Ze pointed at himself and at Yue, “is reincarnation… That,” He points at Viktor and Hao Yu, “is something different…”

 

“How can you be so sure?” Mai asked, a little confused.

 

“If you’re here you don’t reincarnate,” Zoya explained.

 

“It’s just a coincidence then…” Wang Hao Yu murmured, he returned to Yu Ze’s side.

 

“Anyway… on the topic of this ceremony…” Loc murmured, changing the subject to something less peculiar.

 

“To say it plainly, you lucked out. In theory, you were supposed to become just a standard god but it seems like you’ve all retained your personalities in the end…” Zoya murmured and shook her head.

 

“Must be nice being real gods.” She added with a sigh.

 

“It’s been around 12 hours since you arrived. You should leave soon. That’s around 1 month in the outside world.” Yu Ze explained and pulled out an hourglass that was almost out of sand.

 

“It’s been a month? Really?” Yue asked, turning to Elena and Andrei since they had been on the outside for the longest time.

 

“It was just 15 days after you left when we entered the dungeon…” Elena murmured.

 

“Well…we were planning to be gone for much longer… but if the three of us are here, who knows what’s going on out there…” Yue murmured.

 

“…but how do we get back?” Viktor asked.

 

“It’s Simple, go through a dungeon,” Zoya explained and snapped her fingers.

 

A dungeon opening appeared in front of them. Before anyone (of the group of people who came from the outside) could ask how she did that she cut them off.

 

“You know how to come back here but don’t be in too much of a rush…the outside world needs you much more than we do.” Zoya chuckled and then used her finger to point at all of the people from the outside. As she pointed the dungeon rushed over to them and dragged them in.

 

—-

 

Everyone was pretty surprised to find themselves at Black Tortoise temple but not as surprised as the followers who stared for a second before panicking over having stared at two other members of the 4 who weren’t Black tortoise.

 

Including Arseny, they all bowed and apologized profusely. The only exception was Anya who was just glad that they had finally returned.

 

Yue and Huy both summoned masks for themselves, just out of respect for the followers’ wishes.

 

“You can look now,” Yue murmured.

 

“What happened?!” Anya quickly asked.

 

“...I’ll explain it all later…” Elena murmured and turned back to Viktor. She had a bad feeling suddenly and when she saw him, she immediately noticed what it was. And it wasn’t just Viktor. Mai and Andrei were in the same condition as well, if not worse.

 

The three of them looked like they were struggling to breathe and in Viktor’s case, his nose was bleeding. 

 

“Viktor/Andrei/Mai!”

 

Followers with medical knowledge rushed to help but Viktor and Mai quickly collapsed. Yue caught Viktor immediately with a panicked expression and Huy had been holding Mai the second he noticed she wasn’t well and looked worried beyond belief.

 

Andrei was certainly not fine but he was still conscious. This only worried Elena more though, If a full human like Andrei was doing better than Viktor who was only half-human…this was something serious. Andrei was probably only conscious because he was immortal.

 

“The sudden change of worlds is too much for humans…” Andrei said through coughs.

 

—

 

Everyone was relieved when it seemed that Mai and Viktor had gotten better but it took two days and three nights of constant healing from not only the black tortoise followers but also from Yue, Huy, and Elena. 

 

Mai woke up first and it was almost like she had never been sick at all. There was one major difference though…on her back she had the same mark that Huy had when he was hiding his wings. Huy was too worried about her condition to let her try and see if she had the wings as well but this led to Andrei getting another check-up… in the form of someone trying to pierce his skin with a knife. 

 

He had inherited Elena’s ability, only to around the same level as Viktor or Natasha but he definitely had the ability now.

 

Yue briefly heard about these changes but he didn’t really listen, Viktor took longer than Mai did to wake up. He was no longer struggling to breathe or anything but he didn’t wake up until three more days had passed. 

 

Yue hadn’t slept since they arrived and at first, it felt like it was having no effect on him but as they reached midnight on the 6th day since they returned, he was beginning to struggle. His exhaustion wasn’t just due to staying up for over a whole week, his change in forms from the ceremony, and the amount of power he used to heal Viktor throughout the week were also taking a toll on him.

 

“Yue?”

 

Yue had almost fallen asleep so he jolted awake and then looked in front of him at the bed and stared at Viktor.

 

He stared for a second, first at the fact that he was awake and then for a second at how Viktor’s eyes had essentially become the gold version of his own eyes. He then thought back at how Viktor was finally awake and rushed to the bed with tears flowing down his face.

 

Viktor had planned to ask what had happened while he was asleep but for around 25 minutes Yue was just crying and once he finally stopped crying he fell asleep. Viktor sighed a little and moved Yue so he was properly covered by the blankets. He just watched as Yue slept while holding on to him for dear life.