Something pokes my cheek, causing me to groan and groggily crack my eyes open. "What's the timestamp?"

A soft laugh tickles my mind, blowing away the haze of sleep. "Good morning, dummy," Elisa says.

"May I request my regular form of address, please."

"Not until you've learned your lesson."

"A fair arrangement."

"The correct reply." Her voice loses the playfulness and turns apologetic. "Sorry for waking you, but it's getting late. And we've got a lot to do today." Then the playfulness returns in full force. "Plus, you've got a lot more making up to do, dummy. Can't do that while asleep."

"Nothing's going to explode if we stay a bit more in bed."

Pure terror descends upon the elf. "Who are you and what have you done with my Lucius?" she asks in a serious tone, only to start giggling right after. Elisa then cuddles up to me and finds my hand, holding it tight. "Lucius..." she starts but stops herself, shaking her head against my body, fluffy hair tickling my face and neck. She quietly hums and sighs in contentment.

"I'm sorry for lying to you. I let my fear guide me, and I compromised everything I tried to accomplish. Worst of all, my selfishness has brought you, and everyone else I love, so much pain and suffering. Thank you for remaining by my side when I've given you every reason not to."

Elisa inhales slowly, her breath in hitching several times. After a soft exhale, she smiles. "You apologize too much, dummy."

"Were you going to ask me about the Empty Maw?"

"I... I was. You don't have to say anything if you're not ready. It can be tomorrow, it can be in a month, it can be never."

"No, it's okay." A projection springs to life, showing me in front of a different gate first, one she has already learned of.

***

"Did you wink at the camera?" Elisa asks, steady pulses of power thrumming out of her.

"Well, I knew I'd be showing you the delve eventually, so I wanted to insert some levity at the end."

Her hold on me tightens yet again. My gentle touch caresses an arm, trying to calm her down. The pulses get less frequent, losing the intensity. "Do I even have to say it?"

A sigh escapes out. "...I'm a dummy."

My head gets patted a few times. "Good boy." Her hand then starts to run through my hair, but her whole body imperceptibly shivers, freezing her in place.

"It wasn't you."

"...Might as well have been." Elisa overpowers the visceral reaction and resumes her display of affection. "Also, your last line was really corny."

I fake some outrage. "What? You take that back."

A huff brushes against my skin. "Fine. A little corny." A yawn forms on her lips. "Maybe more time in bed isn't the worst idea. All the compounded exhaustion is hitting me again. How did you handle managing the whole planet so intricately, anyway? Even with all your helper systems, it was overwhelming."

"Hmm, it is quite taxing. The total processing power I had to dedicate was a whopping zero point zero, zero, zero, zero—"

"I think I got it."

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"—zero, zero, zero—" A gentle bump interrupts me.

"Smartass."

"Was I not a 'dummy'?"

"Oh, you can be both. Trust me." After another longer yawn, she continues, "Wake us up in... two hours?"

"Okay."

Soon, Elisa falls asleep in my arms once again. This is the first time she's had any real sleep since I left, stuffing herself full of whatever relevant drug I have in my knowledge banks. I brush a lock out of her serene face. Three months of constant work, cleaning up and looking after the mess I left behind. And what a brilliant job she's done.

When communication between me and my network was disrupted, Elisa was given total operational control. A contingency I had set up the day I told her the truth about myself.

The moment I entered the dungeon, an alert woke her up. Many cameras capture the elf tear open space and appear in front of an already closed gate, the powerful enchantments of the Empty Maw containment facility shattered into nothingness. A beam of pure destruction strikes at the bloody boundary, now impenetrable. Miad moves to try and de-escalate, only to get thrown back by hurricane-like winds.

A star is born above the facility, a focused ray descending from the new celestial body, turning everything around the gate into a molten and bubbling hellscape merely by proximity. Through the bending heat, my many satellites and other surveillance equipment show Elisa pounding her fists against a red wall, each strike throwing molten rock, the lava splashing against a multi-layered energy shield narrowly containing it and the collateral damage from her spells in place of the already evaporated away protective building.

As her efforts finally become futile in her mind, she collapses to the liquid ground, as if temperature does not affect her. The warnings and messages flashing on her neural interface are read. With barely a thought, heat drains from everything around her, cooling it to normal in a matter of seconds.

Vrih and Miad cautiously draw closer, instructing the other dragon warriors to stand back. Just as they start speaking to her, Elisa's gaze lifts up, an expression I never again want to see on her face.

Only days later, my existence, actions, and identity are leaked by a Union senator. The Dwarven Republic fragments, spurred on by Xyll's influence. Sha'Myr names himself Ruler and declares war on Querin and Lohrin. As global conflict becomes inevitable, Elisa adds a third moon to the sky.

The previously completed Project Transcendence is deployed, putting a stop to aging, and earning the undying, pun unintended, support of Drakonia. My technology is also shared, putting a stop to most other problems.

With that, the situation settles in one aspect and becomes volatile in another. Direct hostilities are deemed too risky with Elisa holding the 'end everything' button. The people that find themselves in the 'against' faction are not all in agreement, seeing as being against offers far fewer incentives.

But as time passes, with my absence, and with Elisa's declaration hanging above their heads, Xyll's cause gains more traction. New alliances form and strengthen, the world split in two, even if the pieces are uneven in our favor.

Oh, and apparently, there's a new dungeon variant now. Simply delightful...

I give the sleeping elf a quick peck. Good job not blowing everyone up. I'm sure the urge was very strong.

When the two hours elapse, Elisa stirs by herself. She stretches and quietly asks, "You awake?"

"Mmm."

"Hungry?"

"Very."

"Want to order in?" Elisa offers as her eyes unfocus.

It seems like that with material issues solved, culinary services—and most others—have exploded, instead of the other way round. "Sure. Though, no meat please. I'm still not ready."

Her eyes dart around. "There we are."

"Elisa?"

"Yeah?"

"You've done an amazing job. I'm proud of you."

I receive an amused huff in reply. "Obviously. I just did what you would have."

"I love you so much."

After a moment, she briskly murmurs out, "I love you too." Then she even more briskly gets up, trying to unsuccessfully conceal her embarrassment.

We get ready for the day, and our food soon arrives. A warp, that Elisa approved, deposits the steaming containers in the designated location, an empty table. The elf has ordered some vegetarian noodles for us, the broth thick and rich.

While I am disregarding cutlery altogether and drinking straight from the reusable bowl, Elisa asks, "Where are we starting first?"

I finish the bowl with a satisfied sigh. "We could go from easiest to hardest, or from hardest to easiest."

"What do you define as hardest?"

A shudder shakes my body. I look around with suspicion. Confident that the coast is clear, I whisper out, lest she hear me invoke her name, "Erysis."

Elisa nods in agreement. "Let's start with those two, then. I'll protect you from my feral apprentice."

When we are finished with our late lunch, the elf sends an innocent message to Erysis and Nexen, asking for their presence to discuss some made-up and quite minor issue.

In a minute, a teleport brings them inside. Elisa and I are standing next to each other, there to greet them.

I smile at my two friends, seeing them after so long. I also take a few quick snaps of their stunned expressions. "I'm back," I say. Erysis blinks close and clutches onto me for dear life. Nexen collides with us both a split second later, forcing me to use a bit of force to prevent a topple. An unsteady voice repeats, "...I'm back."

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