Clyde and Asqa remained in the bedroom. The silence wrapped around them. Despite their exhaustion they had begun to tap into the healing potential nestled within their altered bodies from the power granted by the Ancient One himself.
They sat cross-legged on the massive bed with eyes closed in perfect stillness. They channeling the residual dark energy that now flowed through their veins combined with healing power.
Threads of light and shadow weaved around them, drawn from the magic of the cosmos and the alien essence of their benefactor, the outer god.
It wasn’t an instant recovery but the process was vastly faster than any natural healing.
Clyde’s breathing steadied. The burns on his arms were gone. The aches faded. He slowly opened his eyes and glancing sideways at Asqa.
Her body was enveloped in a swirling aura of white and dark energy like moonlight and void dancing together in perfect rhythm.
She was still deep in her meditation. Her healing is slower than his.
They had not changed into fresh clothes yet. The tattered robes were cast aside but both still wore the same ruined shirts and trousers with bloodstained and scorched marks.
Healing was the first priority and everything else could wait.
Clyde inhaled slowly. A familiar pulse tugged at his consciousness. It used to be alien, eternal, but now its oddly comforting.
He reached inward and the Ancient One answered.
His voice resonated directly in his mind. He sounded smooth and wise like a timeless voice.
"Are you alright?" the Ancient One asked.
Clyde’s lips twitched into a tired half-smile. "I didn’t think you actually cared about me."
"You’re wrong," the Ancient One replied without hesitation. "I care for all my agents. But you and Asqa... you carry the heaviest burden. You bleed more than the others."
Clyde blinked, momentarily surprised. He had always believed beings like the Ancient One — the eldritch, ancient, and unfathomably powerful being — viewed them as mere tools. He and Asqa do his bidding because its relevant to their own cause which is destroying the higher beings.
But this... this felt different.
There was weight in those words. Its sincerity. Clyde only able to sense it now.
"I didn’t expect that much compassion from a being like you," Clyde said.
"I wasn’t born from compassion," the Ancient One answered. "But I’ve witnessed it across countless worlds. And I’ve seen what those who fight for more than just survival can become."
Clyde lowered his gaze, letting the warmth of the healing energy settle deeper into his muscles.
His body was nearly restored now but his mind was still processing everything. The loss, triumph, and the echo of Zeus’s fury.
"Is that what we’re doing?" he asked. "Fighting for more than survival? I thought we already passed that stage with our power now but I just saw that we are not strong enough."
There was a long pause.
Then the Ancient One replied. "You’re not just surviving anymore, Clyde. You’re reshaping fate. The power inside you and Asqa is not as powerful as you expect it to be, but for a being that used to be mortal its pretty amazing."
Beside him, Asqa’s aura flared gently, signaling the nearing end of her meditation. The moment of quiet communion was ending.
But Clyde felt something solidify inside him. It was resolve.
They weren’t done. The scale is tipping to their side but war was far from over. Now, more than ever, he needed to become something more.
He closed his eyes again, ready to descend deeper into healing.
Suddenly, the voice of the Ancient One returned. It made Clyde’s brow furrow.
"I have a task for you."
Clyde straightened slightly. He could sense the shift in tone.
"The remaining followers of the Celestials you managed to kill... they are abandoned now," the Ancient One continued. "They have no master. No guidance. Their domains are unraveling."
Clyde tilted his head, confused. "So what do you want me to do?"
"Their domain will collapse without an anchor," the Ancient One said. "You must take them somewhere safe. Shelter them, or they will perish with the dying domains."
Clyde blinked, taken aback. He hadn’t expected this.
"You actually care about them? You want to save them?"
There was a brief silence before the Ancient One spoke again, more quietly this time—yet no less resolute.
"Yes. I am not evil, Clyde. I want my place back. I want those who have strangled the cosmos for millennia to be removed. But I do not seek to destroy the innocent. I do not wish suffering upon the mortal world."
Clyde sat in silence for a moment, the words echoing in his mind.
He had always assumed the Ancient One to be a cold force of retribution. A primordial being with no room for empathy.
But now he saw a glimpse of something else. Purpose and balance. Even compassion, twisted as it may be.
Clyde nodded slowly, the weight of the task settling in.
"I see..." he replied. "Maybe I’ve been wrong about you."
A flicker of something close to understanding passed through him. For the first time he saw the Ancient One not just as a god or a dark force but as something that alsp have feeling.
And that... surprised him more than anything else.
Then Clyde spoke, his voice low and uncertain.
"I’ll agree to save them... but only if I have a place to shelter them. And right now, I don’t."
For a moment, there was silence. Then the Ancient One’s voice echoed within his mind again, calm and deliberate.
"Take them to Sivagadh Fortress."
Clyde’s eyes widened. His breath caught for a second.
He knew that name. A sanctuary carved beyond the eyes of higher beings, and hidden very well. A place only a few in the cosmos had ever known about. Including him. Not even Asqa know about it.
"You know about Sivagadh?" Clyde asked, stunned.
But then he calmed himself, realization dawning. Of course the Ancient One would know. A being like Him, after diving into Clyde’s memories, could uncover every hidden corner of his past.
"I’m not sure if it’ll work... but I’ll try," Clyde muttered, his voice firming with quiet resolve.
The connection faded, the Ancient One’s presence withdrawing like mist receding at dawn.
Clyde exhaled heavily and closed his eyes once more, returning his focus to healing.
That will be his new purpose now.