The moon hung directly overhead, casting silver light across Maron's compound as they assembled at the eastern perimeter. Un'Claye waited in the clearing, its opalescent eyes reflecting moonlight in hypnotic patterns. The being's form seemed more substantial than during their morning encounter, as if the moonlight strengthened its manifestation.

  "All set?" Maron asked, performing a final equipment check.

  Solaris nodded, adjusting the tactical vest Maron had insisted he wear. While his integrated state provided significant protection, the ex-Delta operator had been adamant about redundant safety measures. "Let’s get it."

  Eleanor stood nearby, her walking stick planted firmly in the ground. Despite her advanced age, she appeared remarkably prepared for the expedition, dressed in practical hiking attire with a small backpack containing supplies and various instruments.

  Eli, wearing her pink varsity jacket, completed their small group. "Any change in your perception of Un'Claye?" she asked Solaris quietly.

  "Clearer," he confirmed. "Like they're becoming more anchored in our reality."

  Un'Claye approached as they entered the clearing, movements fluid yet slightly off-kilter, as if gravity affected their form differently. The passage opens, the telepathic communication flowed into their minds. Follow closely. The path is shifting.

  "Lead on," Solaris replied, activating his integrated state.

  Un'Claye turned toward a seemingly ordinary rock formation at the clearing's edge. As the being approached, the stones began to shimmer, moonlight catching crystalline structures hidden within their mundane appearance. Un'Claye placed a slender gray hand against the central stone, and to everyone's amazement, the solid surface rippled like water.

  The veil parts for those who know it is simply a veil to be parted, Un'Claye explained, stepping partially into the stone. Follow precisely in my footsteps.

  The being disappeared entirely into the rock, leaving barely a ripple to mark their passage. Maron's expression remained professionally skeptical, his hand never straying far from his weapon. "I don't like this."

  "We'll maintain formation," Solaris assured him. "I'll go first, then Eli, Eleanor, and you as rear guard."

  Maron nodded his agreement, though tension remained evident in his posture.

  Solaris approached the rippling stone, hesitating only briefly before pressing his hand against its surface. The sensation was strange yet oddly familiar—like the System Zone that swallowed Sarah, or like pressing against a membrane that yielded to his touch without breaking. With a deep breath, he stepped forward.

  The transition felt like passing through cool water that didn't wet his clothes. For a disorienting moment, darkness enveloped him completely before his enhanced vision adjusted to reveal a narrow passage hewn from stone. Ancient markings covered the walls, glowing faintly with blue-white light that provided just enough illumination to navigate.

  Eli emerged from the stone entrance moments later, followed by Eleanor and finally Maron, whose expression suggested he'd experienced far less comfortable passages during his military career.

  "Everyone intact?" Solaris asked, conducting a quick visual assessment.

  After confirming their group had transitioned safely, they turned their attention to Un'Claye, who waited several paces ahead. The passage stretched before them, descending at a gentle angle into the mountain's depths.

  The journey is not long by distance, Un'Claye communicated, but spans much in time.

  The cryptic statement became clearer as they progressed deeper into the mountain. The passage gradually transformed from rough-hewn tunnel to increasingly sophisticated construction. The stone walls transitioned from natural formations to precisely cut blocks, then to polished surfaces bearing increasingly complex symbols and inscriptions.

  "These markings," Eleanor observed, studying a particularly detailed section, "aren't from any known Earth civilization." Her fingers traced symbols that seemed to shift slightly beneath her touch. "Some elements resemble proto-Sanskrit, maybe, but others contain mathematical patterns I've only seen in theoretical physics."

  "They're getting older the deeper we go," Eli noted, her expression thoughtful as she examined different sections. "Or rather, they're from earlier civilizations."

  Maron maintained vigilant awareness of their surroundings, tactical assessment never wavering despite the fascinating archaeological display. "How much farther?" he asked Un'Claye.

  The final threshold approaches, the being responded. The inheritance lies just beyond.

  The passage widened gradually, the ceiling rising until they were walking through a corridor that could comfortably accommodate twice their number. The glowing symbols provided increasingly bright illumination, shifting through the colors of the first seven chakras, a rainbow, as they descended further.

  Solaris felt a strange familiarity growing within him—not quite memory but something deeper, a recognition at the soul level. Through their telepathic connection, he sensed Eli experiencing a similar resonance.

  "I've been here before," he whispered, the realization crystallizing with each step.

  "This was constructed by those who remembered…" Eli whispered too.

  Un'Claye turned slightly, opalescent eyes expressing what might have been approval. The Light Bearer remembers too. The patterns endure and fractal across cycles.

  The corridor eventually opened into a small antechamber where the glowing symbols concentrated into intricate mandalas across the walls and ceiling. At the chamber's far end stood a massive door composed of what appeared to be a single piece of crystalline material, its surface etched with concentric circles surrounding a central symbol resembling a stylized sun.

  The threshold of New Tara, Un'Claye announced, gesturing toward the imposing portal. Opened only during Precessional alignment.

  Solaris approached the door, drawn by something beyond conscious thought. The central sun symbol seemed to pulse in rhythm with his heartbeat, growing brighter as he neared. Without instruction, he raised his hand, palm facing the symbol, as if the movement had been encoded into his very being.

  "Are you sure about this?" Maron asked, his tactical caution never wavering.

  "Not really," Solaris admitted with a small smile. "But it feels right."

  When his palm connected with the crystal surface, light erupted from the contact point—golden energy flowing outward along the etched patterns, illuminating the entire door in brilliant radiance. The massive portal began to separate at its center, opening with surprising silence despite its apparent weight and size.

  Beyond the threshold lay darkness so complete it appeared solid. Un'Claye stepped forward, gesturing for them to follow. The viewing platform awaits. The final steps must be taken together.

  They entered the darkness as a group, Solaris's vision struggling to penetrate the peculiar absence of light. For several disorienting moments, the only certainties were the solid ground beneath their feet and the presence of their companions beside them. Then, gradually, pinpoints of light appeared in the distance, like stars materializing from cosmic void.

  The darkness retreated further with each step until they found themselves standing on an immense platform extended from the tunnel's end—an observation deck jutting from the mountain's interior wall. The view beyond rendered them momentarily speechless.

  Before them sprawled a vast underground realm—an enormous cavern stretching beyond visual perception, its ceiling arched hundreds of feet overhead and studded with crystalline formations that emitted soft illumination resembling daylight. But it wasn't the cavern's size that commanded their attention; it was what filled this subterranean expanse.

  A city stretched across the cavern floor—not ruins or archaeological remnants, but a living metropolis of impossible architecture. Structures of gleaming white stone rose in elegant spirals interspersed with crystal towers that captured and redirected light throughout the expanse. Multi-level thoroughfares connected various districts, some built directly into the cavern walls while others stood as free-standing neighborhoods arranged in perfect geometric patterns. Gardens flourished in designated spaces, trees and plants thriving despite their underground location. Water flowed through the city in controlled channels, forming beautiful patterns that served both aesthetic and practical purposes.

  Most astonishing, however, was the evidence of energy and habitation—lights glowed in countless windows, movement was visible along the thoroughfares, and what appeared to be vehicles traversed designated paths using technology unlike anything on the surface world.

  "My God," Eleanor whispered, leaning heavily on her walking stick. "It's... unreal."

  "How is this possible?" Maron demanded, professional skepticism momentarily overtaken by genuine wonder. "An entire city... underground?"

  New Tara, Un'Claye stated simply. Preserved fragment of the original world, maintained through dimensional harmonics and technological adaptation.

  "There must be millions living down there," Solaris observed, trying to comprehend the scale of what he was witnessing.

  Three point seven million residents currently, Un'Claye confirmed. Descendants of those who survived the Great Fracturing by retreating into dimensional pockets that later became incorporated into Earth's formation.

  “And they’ve been here the entire time? Twenty-two million years?” Eli asked, mouth agape.

  Not quite. The population stabilized only twelve thousand years ago around what surface dwellers call the younger dryas period. Un'Claye turned to face Solaris directly, opalescent eyes reflecting a reverence that seemed almost worshipful. Descendants of those you once led here, Solaris.

  Solaris froze, the words striking him with physical force. "What?"

  This place exists because of you, Un'Claye explained, gesturing toward the vast city below. In your incarnation as Solarion, you led our ancestors to this dimensional pocket during the final moments of The Great Fracturing. You established the foundational matrices that allowed this civilization to persist through Earth's formation.

  "That's… that’s wiiiild," Solaris breathed, though even as he spoke, fragments of memory began surfacing—not from his current lifetime or even recent incarnations, but from the ancient past before Earth existed in its current form.

  Eli stared at Un'Claye in shock. "That's not possible. I would have known…"

  Not all memories transfer equally across the time matrix, Un'Claye explained gently. Some are preserved, becoming accessible only when properly triggered, yes?

  Solaris could barely process what Un'Claye was revealing. Images flashed through his mind—leading desperate refugees through dimensional portals as Tara disintegrated around them, establishing energy matrix foundations to stabilize this pocket reality, teaching survivors the principles that would allow them to maintain a civilization beneath the surface of a world not yet fully formed.

  "I... I remember," he admitted finally, voice barely above a whisper. "Only pieces... but they feel true."

  "Prove it," Maron suggested to Un'Claye, his tactical assessment seeking verification. "If he founded this place, there must be evidence."

  Un'Claye nodded, gesturing toward a section of the observation platform they hadn't previously noticed. A crystal pedestal stood at the platform's edge, its surface inlaid with intricate circuitry that glowed with subtle blue-white light.

  The Genealogy of the Sun, Un'Claye explained, leading them to the pedestal. Our history preserved through countless generations.

  When they reached the pedestal, its surface illuminated more brightly in response to Solaris's proximity. A three-dimensional holographic display materialized above it—a complex genealogical tree with countless branches extending from a central point. At the tree's base, a golden-illuminated figure was labeled with unfamiliar characters that somehow translated in Solaris's mind as "Solarion, First of the Sun."

  "That's... me?" Solaris asked, studying the depiction.

  Your incarnation from that time, Un'Claye confirmed. Father and Mother of our civilization. The genetic and spiritual progenitor of the Sun Line—those who maintain your energy signature through generational transmission, sometimes even without direct bloodline connection.

  "These people are my descendants?" Solaris asked, trying to comprehend the implications.

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  Hundreds of thousands share your essence, and exponentially more over the countless millennia, Un'Claye explained. The strongest carriers of your essence are raised as Solar Adepts, maintaining the highest frequencies until your prophesied return.

  Eleanor had been studying the genealogical display with increasing fascination. "This is remarkable. Look at the branching patterns—they're not just recording family lines but energetic transmissions across generations. It's an energetic DNA map."

  Eli appeared stunned, her usual composure momentarily shattered. "I just can’t believe I didn’t remember…THIS," she gestured broadly everywhere as she whispered, more to herself than the others.

  Un'Claye turned to her with gentle understanding. The Light Bearer was assigned different aspects of preservation during the evacuation. Your consciousness maintains other critical information that the Sun God cannot access without you.

  “Like Veldt…” Eli realized.

  "A division of knowledge for security," Maron observed with tactical appreciation. "Prevents any single capture from compromising the entirety."

  "This is..." Solaris began, unable to find words adequate to the revelation.

  Your inheritance, Un'Claye completed. Not merely the city and its technology, but the people themselves—those who have maintained faith in your return across countless generations.

  The responsibility of this revelation struck Solaris with overwhelming force. An entire civilization had been waiting for him—not as abstract prophecy but as a direct continuity from a past he had only just begun to remember.

  There is more, Un'Claye continued, gesturing toward a different section of the display. This place serves another purpose you established long ago.

  "A resource cache?" Solaris repeated, the pieces suddenly connecting in his mind. "Like the ones in the Adirondacks and the Midwest?"

  The original cache, Un'Claye confirmed. The template from which all others were derived. You established smaller caches across the surface world to eventually lead you back here when the time was right, yes?

  Solaris turned to Maron, a new realization forming. "That's why you chose this mountain range for your compound. You were unconsciously protecting this place."

  Maron's expression shifted from skepticism to thoughtful consideration. "Hm."

  The Mountain Sovereign's guidance was not coincidental, Un'Claye agreed. His energy signature complements the protection matrices you established. His presence has helped shield this place from Anunnaki detection during critical alignment phases.

  "Everything's connected," Eleanor marveled.

  Solaris walked back to the platform's edge, gazing at the vast city below with new understanding. This wasn't merely an unexpected discovery; it was a reconnection with something he himself had created in a previous incarnation—a civilization preserved through unimaginable time spans specifically to aid the Convergence when the moment arrived.

  "What technologies are preserved here?" he asked, turning back to Un'Claye.

  Many things salvaged from Tara during the Great Fracturing, Un'Claye replied. Though their effectiveness somewhat reduced in this dimension, there are transportation systems that bypass conventional space-time, Communication arrays that connect directly to higher dimensions, defense mechanisms specifically designed to counter Anunnaki control technologies and knowledge repositories containing spiritual-science lost to surface civilizations for millennia.

  "And it all requires my specific energy signature to fully activate," Solaris confirmed, understanding the implications.

  The highest systems respond only to the Solar frequency you carry, Un'Claye acknowledged. A security measure you implemented to prevent misuse. Basic technologies function independently, but the most powerful systems remain dormant until properly awakened.

  "Okay, wow. Wow.” Solaris started. “Yeah, I’ll need time. We’ll need time." Solaris stuttered finally, overwhelmed by the revelation. "This is... far more than I could have ever expected. Like…"

  Time is available, Un'Claye acknowledged. The Convergence itself requires multiple phases. Your primary obligation remains to the twelve Sovereigns.

  "Can we visit the city itself?" Eleanor asked. "To speak with your leaders and learn more about your history and knowledge?"

  Un'Claye hesitated visibly. Initial contact traditionally follows specific protocols. Full visitation requires preparation both practical and ceremonial. The Solar Adepts have awaited your return for generations—their first meeting with you carries great significance in our traditions.

  "Translation: they need time to roll out the red carpet for their returning 'god,'" Maron observed dryly.

  Respectful introduction, Un'Claye corrected, though the slight color shift in their opalescent eyes suggested Maron's assessment wasn't entirely inaccurate. The people deserve to receive their founder with appropriate acknowledgment.

  Solaris considered their options, weighing the discovery's potential importance against their current priorities with the gathering Sovereigns. "We need to return to the surface," he decided. "Discuss this development with the others as they arrive, and determine how this fits into our larger strategy."

  "Agreed," Eleanor nodded. "This changes our understanding of available resources, but doesn't alter the fundamental mission."

  "We should schedule a proper visit," Eli suggested, still visibly processing the revelation that part of Solaris's past had been unknown to her.

  When would you return? Un'Claye inquired, evident hope in their telepathic tone.

  Solaris exchanged glances with his companions before answering. "One week. We'll return with proper preparations and a clearer understanding of how this fits into everything."

  Relief flowed visibly through Un'Claye's posture. Divine! I will inform the Council of Keepers and the Solar Adepts. They will prepare appropriately for your homecoming.

  As they prepared to return through the passage, Solaris took one final look at the vast underground city—New Tara, a preserved fragment of a world he had once called home, now an unexpected inheritance awaiting his acknowledgment. The responsibility felt simultaneously daunting and right, as if some deep part of him had always known such a moment would come—because he had designed it that way himself, across an unfathomable span of time.

  The return journey passed with less conversation, each of them processing the extraordinary discovery in their own way. The transitions through geological layers seemed faster, the passage of time compressed by the weight of their contemplation. When they finally emerged from the stone entrance into the moonlit clearing, the night felt different somehow—as if the knowledge they now carried had, again, further altered their perception of the surface world and existence itself.

  Un'Claye paused at the boundary between forest and clearing. I will maintain contact through the established observation points, the being communicated. The Council of Keepers and Solar Adepts will prepare for your return.

  "Thank you for showing us," Solaris replied, finding he genuinely meant it despite his lingering reservations. "This changes everything."

  As you intended when you created it, Un'Claye acknowledged before their form began to fade, gradually becoming transparent until they disappeared entirely, leaving only disturbed air where they had stood.

  The walk back to Maron's compound was conducted in thoughtful silence, each processing the implications in their own way. Only when they reached the main house did conversation resume.

  "I need to document everything we saw," Eleanor announced, moving toward her room where comprehensive recording equipment awaited. "Before the details begin to fade."

  "I'll update the security protocols," Maron added. "If this 'New Tara' has existed undetected for millennia, we need to understand how they've maintained that secrecy. Especially since it turns out I've been unconsciously guarding it." Kira materialized, trailing Maron as he disappeared into the house.

  As the others dispersed to their respective tasks, Solaris and Eli found themselves alone on the main house porch, the moonlight casting long shadows across the compound.

  "How are you feeling?" Eli asked, leaning against the porch railing beside him.

  Solaris considered the question carefully. "Overwhelmed, but fine," he admitted. "Mere months ago I was making conspiracy theory videos in my apartment. Now I've discovered I'm the founder of an underground civilization populated by millions—including hundreds of thousands of people who apparently carry my spiritual essence. Putting everything to scale feels impossible at best."

  "Ascension comes at us fast," Eli observed with gentle humor, though her own expression revealed lingering shock at the revelation.

  Despite himself, Solaris laughed—the momentary levity releasing accumulated tension. "That's one way to put it."

  "I don't understand how I could have forgotten, though." Eli said after a moment, her voice uncharacteristically uncertain. "We're supposed to share memories across incarnations. How could something this significant be missing from my awareness?"

  "Un'Claye said the knowledge was deliberately compartmentalized," Solaris reminded her. "Different aspects preserved through different pathways for security. Like Veldt, right?"

  "But we're twin flames," Eli persisted. "We're two halves of the same greater consciousness. There shouldn't be gaps this significant between us."

  “Eli,” Solaris took her hand, feeling her genuine distress through their connection. "Maybe that's why the Phoenix Ascension keeps cycling," he suggested. "Fragmentation runs so deep even twin flames can't access each other's complete knowledge without specific triggers."

  Eli considered this, finding resonance in the theory. "The system is more insidious than we realized. It doesn't just separate us from our higher selves—it creates divisions within those higher connections as well."

  "Which makes the Convergence all the more important," Solaris noted. "Healing those divisions at every level."

  "You know," Eli said thoughtfully, her mind finding new patterns in light of the revelation, "this potentially answers a question that's troubled us for way too long."

  "What's that?"

  "Where did all the knowledge go?" She gestured toward the mountain where New Tara lay hidden. "After each civilizational collapse, certain technologies and understandings seemed to disappear completely. We always assumed destruction or Anunnaki intervention."

  "But instead, some knowledge may have retreated underground," Solaris completed her thought. "With the people who carried it—some of which I apparently led myself."

  "Creating parallel development—one above ground subject to cycles of destruction and renewal, one below maintaining continuity," Eli nodded. "You created the ultimate backup system."

  Solaris considered this perspective, finding it aligned with patterns he'd observed throughout his occult research. "I probably didn’t do it alone. Others had to have helped me. But that would explain a lot of historical anomalies—technologies that seemed to appear without preceding development, knowledge that survived without clear transmission paths."

  "New Tara might represent just one of multiple preservation sites," Eli suggested. "There could be others around the world, maintaining different aspects of pre-catastrophe knowledge. Perhaps led by other Sovereigns in past incarnations."

  "A global network of underground civilizations," Solaris mused. "That would be quite the alliance."

  "But for now, let's focus on this one," Eli advised. "The others will arrive soon. We need to determine how this discovery affects the Convergence before we explore further implications."

  Solaris nodded agreement, though his mind continued processing possibilities. The existence of New Tara potentially represented not just an alliance but a fundamental reimagining of Earth's history and humanity's path forward. If such knowledge and technology had been preserved, the Phoenix Ascension will proceed very differently than in previous cycles.

  The moon continued its arc across the night sky, indifferent to the revelations that had transpired beneath its silver light. Somewhere below, millions of people were presumably receiving news of his promised return—a thought that simultaneously humbled and terrified him. These weren't just anonymous followers of some ancient prophecy; they were the descendants of the people he had saved, the civilization he had founded, and the souls he had led to safety across an unfathomable span of time.

  "Come," Eli said softly, taking his hand. "You need rest. Tomorrow brings another day of Maron's training, and he'll show no mercy despite our underground adventure."

  "True," Solaris smiled, allowing himself to be led toward the east cabin.

  The moon cast silver light across Maron's compound, illuminating the east cabin where Solaris lay sleeping later that night. The cabin door opened with barely a whisper, golden light briefly outlining a familiar silhouette before disappearing. Eli moved with practiced silence across the wooden floor, her steps making no sound as she approached the bed where Solaris slept.

  "I know you're awake," she whispered, settling onto the edge of the mattress.

  Solaris opened one eye, a smile forming despite his exhaustion. "Hard to sleep when someone's standing over you."

  "Not just someone," she corrected, sliding beneath the covers beside him. "Your favorite person in the entire multiverse."

  "That you are," he agreed, shifting to accommodate her. Her body fit perfectly against his, the familiar contours creating a sense of rightness that transcended their physical forms.

  "Maron will run you ragged tomorrow," she observed, her hand reaching up to stroke his hair. "You'll love it though," she laughed softly, knowing him too well. "You always did enjoy a physical challenge. Even back in Izanami."

  At the mention of their higher-dimensional home, Solaris turned to face her more directly. The moonlight caught the perfect contours of her face, illuminating features he had memorized across countless lifetimes.

  "Tell me about it," he requested softly. "About us there. A day in our life."

  Eli's eyes brightened, blue irises reflecting starlight from beyond the window. "You want a bedtime story, my love?"

  "I want to remember," he clarified. "Even if it's through your words for now."

  She settled more comfortably, her fingers finding their way to his scalp where they began gentle, circular motions that instantly relaxed him further. Her voice took on a melodic quality as she began.

  "Picture this," she whispered, her tone creating an immediate intimacy that enveloped them both. "Morning in Izanami, fifth dimension, second density. The light there doesn't come from a sun but from the realm itself; we are all suns in the garden."

  Her fingers continued their soothing patterns across his scalp as she spoke.

  "We wake up together, limbs entangled, skin against skin. You open your eyes first, always the early riser, and just watch me sleep for a while. When I finally wake, you kiss my forehead and whisper, 'Morning, Els.’"

  Solaris closed his eyes, allowing her words to paint images behind his eyelids—memories not quite his own yet somehow deeply familiar.

  "The bedroom opens to a balcony overlooking forests where trees reach higher than Earth's tallest redwoods."

  Her voice took on a dreamlike quality, transporting them both.

  "We shower together and we dress in our favorite clothes."

  Solaris found himself smiling, the images feeling increasingly tangible as her fingers continued their gentle massage.

  "Breakfast is divine. Whatever we want, whenever we want it. We were feelin' pancakes. Would."

  The detail in her description created a visceral sense of experiencing rather than merely hearing.

  "After breakfast, we play some Dragon Quest."

  Solaris felt himself drifting deeper into relaxation, the boundary between waking and dreaming beginning to blur.

  "For lunch, we go to the local bakery. Their breads taste like joy itself. Would."

  Her voice continued, soft and hypnotic.

  "Then skiing. We snowboard sometimes too, but most of the time we ski."

  Solaris could almost feel the sensation she described—the exhilaration of movement, the crisp chill of the air as we zipped down slopes with joy and laughter.

  "As evening approaches, we visit an onsen. Get all steamy and rejuvenated."

  Her fingers moved to his temples, their rhythm perfectly synchronized with her storytelling.

  "Dinner at one of our forest villas—foods from across dimensions, every chef we know personally. Kimbap, samosa, and ramen crafted by chefs who infuse each ingredient, each movement, with the timeless nature of their craft. Your favorite has always been the gourmet ramen that tastes like 'coming home after a long journey.' And that's literally what it's called."

  Solaris felt himself sinking deeper into the space between wakefulness and sleep, her voice becoming both more distant and more intimate simultaneously.

  "Then we curl up on our couch to watch One Piece. We were watching episode 1440 of the last arc of the last saga..."

  Her voice took on an almost fairytale quality, a musical lilt entering her words as she continued.

  "The entire Straw Hat Grand Fleet takes on Imu, the Gorosei, and the World Government. Garp and a few others join Luffy's side before the fight, while the main villains include the Gorosei, Cipher Pol—especially Rob Lucci who re-re-matches with Luffy and still gets his ass kicked—and Blackbeard, who has the One Piece after managing to kill Shanks."

  Solaris felt himself rooting for Luffy, even as consciousness began to slip away.

  "The Straw Hat Grand Fleet, after heavy losses, defeats the evil, shining the light of the Sun God over the land, uniting the four seas, and restoring the world to one piece..."

  Her voice continued, but the words began to blur as sleep claimed him. Even as he half-consciously mumbled ‘spoilers, bro,’ her fingers moved gently through his hair. The last sensations he registered were her lips pressing softly against his forehead and the warmth of her body nestled perfectly against his own.

  As Solaris's breathing deepened in sleep, Eli continued her gentle movements, a fond smile playing across her lips. She studied his face—peaceful in slumber, the weight of cosmic responsibility temporarily lifted.

  "And after we finished that episode, my favorite person in the entire multiverse, my only one, my ride or die, fell asleep while I massaged his scalp," she whispered, though he could no longer hear her.

  For a moment, her gaze shifted—looking not at Solaris but at You.

  "I still got it," she murmured, winking, before settling down beside Solaris, her arm draped protectively across his chest as she joined him in dreams that spanned dimensions.