Edlyn pushed herself off Eli, wincing as she rubbed her sore backside. The air here felt like cool spring water on her skin.

“Ow… Ed-chan, were you trying to sit me into an early grave?” Eli kneaded his aching thighs and stood, humor a steady flame in his eyes.

She shot him a mischievous smile, then flung her arms wide. The wind wrapped around her like silk; the scent of old forests seeped into her bones.

“Yeah. This is the kind of place that breathes right.” Her laugh was a clear bell in the open sky.

Eli stepped beside her and ruffled her hair, gentle as a breeze through bamboo.

They leaned into each other, gaze drifting over the view. Edlyn’s smile softened; she lifted her face to him. “Tell me—if the age of magic never ended, wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

“Isn’t tech good too?” Eli’s fingers found her crown again. His smile carried the warmth of dusk.

“Mm. I’m not saying tech is bad.” She clasped her hands behind her back and gave him a honey-sweet grin. “It’s just… this feels like our world. Doesn’t it?”

“...Yeah.” Eli chuckled and shook his head.

“Anyway… thank you for everything.” Her smile folded away; her eyes grew solemn as moonlight. She stepped in, looped her arms around his neck, and pressed her lips to his—slow, certain, like two rivers joining.

Eli closed his eyes and answered her, taking in the girl before him, savoring her like rain after drought.

When they parted at last, Edlyn’s cheeks were red as boiled shrimp. She burrowed into his chest, too shy to look up.

She finally lifted her gaze, voice a soft thread. “Then… what will this world become?”

Eli shook his head. “I don’t know. There’s no Abyss here. No Celestial God. None of the figures who once stirred the storms. But there’s us.”

Edlyn tilted her head, looking at the man she loved, who loved her back. Her beauty slipped out like a blade from its sheath.

To put it simply, Eli had copied their old world. He set a mirror planet along the skin of the original cosmos. The laws here were the same as before—magic unshackled, tech still young, a river not yet dammed.

Somewhere in his traveling through time, Eli had sensed Edlyn’s heart beat louder for those old winds. So he hid the plan, spent thousands of years growing this mirror planet, and on her birthday, he brought her here.

“Mm. Then… let’s go see what the you of this world is up to.” Edlyn wiped her tears and smiled, sugar-sweet.

Eli’s grin was pure contentment. He took her hand, and they drifted closer, as if the air itself wanted them entwined.

Edlyn looked up; tears slid from the corners of her eyes like beads of dew. “Eli… I love you so much. Why are you so good to me? So good it makes me feel I don’t deserve you.”

“Silly girl. Everything I do is for you. If you don’t deserve me, then what am I?” Eli dipped his head, bumped her nose with his, and laughed.

“Thank you… thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me. What’s mine is yours. Isn’t it?”

“I… I’m just so moved. I… I…” Her tears fell like spring rain.

Eli’s heart clenched; he drew her tight, chin near her ear, voice a quiet shore. “Don’t. Seeing you cry hurts.”

“Okay… I—okay.” She hid her face in his shoulder. Her tears soaked the fabric, a small sea.

“Eli… I’m suddenly scared. I… I can’t lose you. Not for a single moment.” Edlyn raised her head. Her tear-wet face bloomed with fierce resolve.

“Don’t say that, silly. We’ll walk to the end of time—no, beyond it. We’ll stay together, forever.” Eli brushed away her tears. His smile held steady like starlight.

“Mm.”

“Listen. You’re beautiful. You’re strong. You once ruled and unified the Demon Race when chaos kept cracking the land. You led armies, won every battle, broke every wall. You protected your family. You loved Yulia and Bruyarl. You loved the Celestial God and the Abyss. You loved Angela.” Eli’s voice paused, reverent.

He knelt, took her hand, and kissed it like a vow.

“You were the face of chaos—yet you brought order to the Demon Race. For the sake of ordinary people, you fought the will of the universe at my side. The cosmos has found its proper orbit again, and you deserve the credit. What part of you doesn’t measure up to me, silly girl?”

“Mm. You’re… so cheesy.”

“It’s all true, isn’t it?”

“Mm… mhm… Eli… I love you.”

“I do too. No more tears, silly girl.”

“Stay with me forever. Don’t leave. Please?”

“I think I’ve already answered that, haven’t I?” Eli laughed, then bowed his head and kissed the weeping girl in his arms.

…

“Nice view. Elf Race never disappoints.” Edlyn leaned into Eli as they sat atop the Sky City, eyes on the horizon drawn like a blade.

“Well, they’re nature’s favorite children. Getting this kind of blessing fits.” Eli’s arms circled her as he smiled.

“You’ve given the Elf Race so many advantages. Aren’t you afraid they’ll wipe out humans when war comes?” Edlyn giggled behind her hand, light as a bell.

“They won’t. They’ve always loved peace—except for a rare few.” Eli rested his chin on her head, voice soft as moss.

Edlyn slipped from his embrace, pointed skyward, and whooped, “Hahaha! Eli, look! A dragon!”

Far off, a black dragon carved the wind with its wings. It whooshed across the sky like a shadow-knife.

“Looks like the Dragon Race finally hatched true.” Eli smiled.

“That’s wonderful.” Edlyn cupped her chin, eyes bright with envy. “Back when I was the Demon King, when the Supreme Demon Ruler led the Demon Race to war, I had a dragon mount. Shame I ate something bad and humans ambushed us. It got killed.”

“Later, the Dragon Race fell—dead or shattered. You almost never saw them again.”

“Want to go catch one now?” Eli grinned at her, teasing.

“Mm… maybe not. Let them spread first. The land still lacks life, and the newborn civilizations are thin.” Edlyn sighed, tucking away the urge like a knife back into its sheath.

“Hahaha. If you say so, what can I do?” Eli ruffled her hair, fond as sunlight.

“I think…”

“Mm?”

“I’ve been stuck at one-fifty-four for ten thousand years because you keep patting my head.”

“...Uh… how would that work?”

“People who get patted don’t grow tall!”

“Who told you that?”

“The internet! I Googled it!”

“And you trust what a search engine spits out?”

“Why not! I don’t care—you need to make me taller!”

“Taller won’t suit you, dear…”

“But—”

“Besides, I love the way you are. Why change that?”

“Oh-ho! Loli-lover!”

“Tsk! Edlyn! How old are you! A legal loli—who wouldn’t love that!”

“Ahhh! You jerk! I’ll bite you!”

“Ah! Wife, gentle! I was wrong—ahhh!”

…

“Where… is this?” The man lifted a hand, brow tightening like a drawn bow.

He drifted in the void, eyes hazed by confusion. “Who am I?… Where am I?”

“Been a while.” A familiar voice rose behind him like a remembered song.

He turned. A man in white robes, looking twenty-something, stood before him like a quiet pillar.

“Who are you?”

“You forgot me?” The white-robed man sighed. “Right. Even you couldn’t recover after that blow.”

“Do you know what happened?” The man’s gaze was hollow. His voice carried helplessness like fog.

“Mm… honestly, I’m astonished. Your life won’t quit. You actually didn’t die.” The white-robed man’s wonder rang clear.

“Uh… you mean I should have died?” The man frowned, puzzled.

“Not necessarily.” The white-robed man smiled. “I’m the Source of the Universe now. You won’t be able to grow that strong again.”

“Source of the Universe? What’s that?”

“You don’t need the details.” His tone turned gentle, like rain on dry earth. “I found you because I hope you’ll be the god of living beings, help them grow. A world without a guardian god sits on a thin ledge—and there are invaders out there.”

“I… don’t quite get it.” The man’s eyes searched his face, lost as a stray in winter.

The white-robed man chuckled, offered his hand. “It’s fine. In the long river of history, you’ll understand.”

“Is… that so?”

“Mm. Let me introduce us properly.” He smiled, calm as a still lake.

“What…?”

“My name is Eli Aestor. In this world, call me the Creator. Your name is Zero. You’re the universe’s guardian. Your duty is to keep it at peace.”

“...Is that… true?” The man’s confusion lingered like mist over water.

Eli smiled. “It is. If you revived, it means the universe accepts your place. Go on without fear.”

“All right.” The man’s mind stayed clouded, but since this Eli said so, he could only brace himself and do the work.

After all… he still knew nothing about what he was.