Einar had thought that there would be hope when he saw his stepfather. However, that hope was extinguished when he saw his depressing form.

Was that truly the Old Man who he had known for his steel will? Or could it be that his broken and shattered soul had turned him into someone so weak? It was something unavoidable.

“They have not gone out for a week now,” Rubina said. “I fear that they’ve lost hope as well.”

“I don’t think so,” Einar said to her. “My Old Man’s broken, and she fears that he might leave her without her watch. I told you already, right?”

“Indeed,” Rubina said, adjusting her robe’s hems. “That’s why I’d preferred to be with you two. Hmm, I’d never thought that I’d be ending up this way. Like you as well.”

“Yes,” Einar scratched his head. “I never thought of it like this. Well, you did fix me up real good.”

“I did,” Rubina twisted on a chair overlooking a pond.

Einar sat as well. “How long will we last?”

“Who knows? I’ve already accepted that one day that Burnt Woman will destroy this paradise we have or ourselves. I envy our children, they’ve lived long lives free of such reality they are facing.

“I want them to grow up. I wanted grandchildren.”

“Sorry to hear that, or this your new way of wanting to have more children?”

“Can you take it?”

“I have to ask Camilla first if she wants to as well. Pardon, but Camilla is a treasure that I loved more than anyone else.”

“Including me?”

“Equal at least, but don’t be fooled. I’ve always wanted to have a big sister and a wife. My palace was filled with lovely ladies, you know?”

“Oh,” Einar raised a brow. “I guess even at this eternity we learn something.”

“Fortunate aren’t we? Not everyone has the fortune to live this long.”

“And that fortune isn’t going to last long,” said Einar. “I can feel her power breaking through every world. Dermis took his life because of this feeling. He was sensitive than most of us. Rubina, I don’t want to lose you all.”

“It’s the same for me,’ she smiled gently. “I want to live forever with my family. You are all my treasure. But you know it already, Einar. We’ve done everything we can. We’ve killed most of the hostiles in this world, and tried everything to delay the impossible. We spent a millennium of finding ways, but there was no way. It’s the same as tearing through space. We aren’t deities, Einar. We lacked something that would allow us to step into that threshold.”

Einar looked at her with complicated eyes. “I didn’t fear. No, I still don’t fear death because it is not within my control. But I fear your death, and our children, I fear theirs as well. I don’t want them to die.”

She leaned on him. “Silly. How could you falter when you preach such beliefs for too long?”

“Because I have a family now. Isn’t it natural to do that?”

“We’ve lived too long. Years became months and days like weeks. Tell me, do you regret living life this long?”

“No, of course, I don’t. I had all of you. There were times that made me want to despair, but when I have all of you by my side I felt alive.”

“I can say the same. Just let go, you always say that. Even in the end, we are together, isn’t this the best for us?”

“It bothers me how lenient you are with this.”

“Einar, I have the second most sensitive senses here in our Oasis. Dermis, despaired and saw it as a chance to take his own life. How he could live when he had already lost his own reasons? Our soul could still live on for many years, but that is assuming we can survive this. Besides, the bond is there for a reason, and no matter what we will find each other. That’s how the bond is. Or do you not believe in it?”

“The Old Man and her is the living proof of the bond. Still, to be parted with you just feels so wrong.”

She smiles. “You’ve grown sweet. Ah, the days where you barely notice.”

“I was a fool, but I wizen up.”

Rubina stared at him. “I am afraid. You can see it.”

“Yes, I do.”

“But I believe that we will find a way.”

“I do as well. That’s why I spend most of the time here in Oasis with our family now. Camilla, she had already accepted what it there to come. I think she thinks she’s already in heaven. Besides, who said we are giving up? If we can do something when she comes to this place then we’ll do something. We’ll fight, but until then stay with us. Worry not about the future, but remain in the present with us. That’s all I ask from you, my Einar.”

“When did you become so strong?”

“I was always strong. I had to be. I don’t want to lose to the fear of her arrival. And I understand that she will choose what a mother’s choice would do. I know because if I am to be placed in her position. I too would pluck out my babies from this suffering they don’t deserve. No mother would stand this kind of evil.”

Einar wished that they had the power. But it was simply beyond them. They had the time but not even that was enough to pull the babies out of the pods. Taking them from the pod would mean death unless he or she can sustain the infants. And when the infants are out of their pods then the end of the world would come.

The world that they inhabit would wither away instantly into the void. Einar could tell that it was the end. That the War Maiden, the Burnt Woman would not fail.

Einar shook the thoughts away from his head. He turned his attention to the house he built. The community that he helped flourish into something worthy to be called a paradise for a few. It was the Oasis reborn.