Vastarael leaned back slightly, resting his weight on his palms. There was a hesitance in his posture. He didn't know how to start, how to tell her the thing that had haunted him every waking moment of his life.
"Adelasta… there's something you need to know."
She tilted her head slightly, her expression calm but curious, and Vastarael felt that knot of uncertainty tighten in his chest. But he pushed through. He had to. If she was going to marry him—if she truly wanted this—she deserved to know the truth.
"My Fate... it's not something I can run from. It's been a shadow over me since the day I was born. I'm destined to die in the embrace of love. My Fate… It's a tragic end, Adelasta. I've always known that falling for someone would eventually kill me. That's why I've avoided love. It's not because I don't feel anything.. it's because I'm scared. Scared of what it will take from me. Scared of what it will do to the person I love."
He forced himself to look up at her, expecting shock, sadness, maybe even fear. But her face didn't change. She didn't flinch. Instead, she nodded slightly, her lips curving into the faintest of smiles.
"I know."
The words hit him like a thunderbolt. He blinked, stunned by her answer.
"You… what?"
Adelasta shifted slightly, folding her legs beneath her as she leaned forward.
"I know about your Fate, Vastarael. I've known since we were six, during our Reversal Ascension. When we bonded, I saw your Destiny and Fate. It was written in your profile as clearly as day."
Vastarael's mouth opened but no words came out. The shock was written all over his face, his golden eyes wide as he tried to process what she was saying.
"You… you've known all this time?"
She nodded again, her gaze never leaving his.
"Yes. And I've thought about it a lot over the years. About how unfair it is, about how cruel the it can be. But more than that, I've thought about how to fight it. How to help you escape it."
Vastarael shook his head, his brows furrowed in disbelief.
"You can't just 'fight' Fate, Adelasta. It's not something you can fix or avoid. It's inevitable."
"You really are dumb, are you?"
"What… what are you talking about?"
"You're Aeterium, Vastarael. When you die, your soul will be reincarnated. It'll find a new body, one strong enough to house your power. That's how it works, doesn't it?"
"Yes," he said slowly, unsure where she was going with this. "But reincarnation takes years. Centuries, even. By the time I'm revived, everything and everyone I know will be gone."
"Not me," she said without hesitation. "I'll wait for you, Vastarael. No matter how long it takes."
His breath caught in his throat. The sheer conviction in her voice, the absolute certainty in her eyes...
"Adelasta, you can't… that's—"
"I'm going to be your wife," she said, her tone as steady as ever. "That means I'm with you for the long haul, whether that's a few years or a few millennia. And I'm not just going to sit back and let Fate take you from me. If you die, I'll wait for you. But more than that, I'll make sure you remember who you are."
"How? Aeterium reincarnate with their power but not their memories."
"You have Memory Extraction, don't you?" She asked, a sly smile tugging at her lips. "Before you die, you can extract your memories, all of them, and give them to me. I'll keep them safe, Vastarael. And when you're reincarnated, I'll find you. I'll use those memories to bring you back. You won't just be some hollow reincarnation of yourself. You'll still be you."
Vastarael stared at her, utterly speechless. It was so simple, so obvious, and yet he'd never thought of it. He'd spent so much time dreading his Fate, so much energy trying to outrun it, that he'd never considered the possibility of meeting it head-on and finding a way to turn it to his advantage.
"You'd really do that?" He asked softly, his voice barely above a whisper. "Wait centuries... millennia, just for me?"
She reached out, placing a hand gently on his.
"Of course, I would. Because I love you, Vastarael. And I'm not letting Fate or anything else take you away from me. I know that you'll make a very good husband. Why would I let Fate take the most handsome Immortal away from me?"
Her words hit him like a tidal wave, crashing over him and leaving him breathless. For so long, he'd been terrified of love, terrified of what it might cost him. But in this moment, staring into her fiery orange eyes, he realized something he'd been trying to deny for years.
He loved her too.
"Of course, that's only if you don't become a Timeless," Adelasta added. "That's the worse case scenario. Since you're in a Timeskip, you can die without the influence of fate and I know that you won't let yourself die here."
"How do you—"
"I think you forgot about my Bane, Vastarael," she giggled.
She giggled.
Vastarael froze, his golden eyes locking onto Adelasta as if she had just spoken in a language no one in Spheraphase had ever heard.
She had giggled. Giggled. Adelasta Viaca Vazakiel, the icy, unshakable, and endlessly composed Adelasta giggled. It wasn't just any giggle, either. It wasn't forced, nor was it the kind that slipped out in rare, fleeting moments of levity.
No, it was a soft, melodic and dangerously casual sound, as if she hadn't just dropped a comment so absurdly sharp it could cut through the very fabric of reality. And Vastarael? He was losing his mind.
Meanwhile, Adelasta, oblivious to—or perhaps fully aware of—the storm she'd unleashed within him, tilted her head slightly, her crimson hair cascading over her shoulder like molten fire.
"I think you forgot."
"And that means..."
"It means that I can perceive everything you do. Everything you think. All of it. And also to the surroundings."
"Everything?"
Adelasta's lips curled into the faintest of smirks, her eyes narrowing playfully.
"Everything. Since I became your subordinate during our Reversal Ascension at six because of my Boon, I've had access to your thoughts. Not in the way you might think, though. It's not like I read them. They're more like… whispers in the background, always there, always present. Seventeen years' worth of your thoughts, Vastarael."
He blinked. His mind stuttered, screeching to a halt before catapulting into overdrive. Eleven years? She'd been listening to his thoughts for eleven years? Every fleeting musing, every half-formed idea, every private moment of doubt, fear, or frustration, all of it?
"You're… joking," he said weakly, though a part of him already knew she wasn't.
"I'm not," she replied, her voice gentle but firm. "I've heard everything, Vastarael. The moments you cursed your fate, the times you doubted your destiny, the times you thought about me."
He stiffened, his entire body going rigid as her words hit him like a physical blow.
"You… you can't mean—"
"Oh, I absolutely do," she interrupted, her tone now carrying a teasing edge that sent a flush of heat crawling up his neck.
"I know about every time you've looked at me and wondered why I was so cold at you. Every time you thought I was beautiful but refused to admit it to yourself. Every time you questioned why you stayed by my side despite how cold and distant I tried to be. All of it, Vastarael."
His jaw worked soundlessly, his usually sharp mind utterly failing to form even the simplest of responses. He felt exposed, as though every carefully guarded piece of himself had been laid bare before her. It was overwhelming and... terrifying.
"And right now," she continued, her voice softening as she leaned forward slightly, her gaze locking onto his, "I can perceive your thoughts just as clearly. You're confused. Conflicted. There's love there, even if you're scared to call it that. There's adoration, whether you realize it or not. There's the desire to fight for your future. And there's… the feeling of desire. For me. For this moment."
"..."
"I also know that you met Thyrexxa, Primordial of Time. I also know who you were before you became Vastarael. I also know about Greshina Emberforge. Seriously, you had a beautiful lover before me? And you want to get her?"
"..."
"As your first wife, I shall be the one to decide who you are going to love and she is not one of them. I don't like her. How do you leave someone for sixty years tortured in a facility just to take him back and then expect him to love you back? She is NOT going to be yours. That will be one of my terms of our marriage. If you meet Greshina Emberforge in the near future, forget about her."
He inhaled sharply, his eyes widening as her words struck him with a precision that felt almost surgical. She wasn't just guessing. She knew. She knew everything he was feeling, everything he was trying to bury, everything he was too afraid to confront. It was as if she'd reached into the deepest, most hidden parts of his soul and pulled them into the light.
Adelasta tilted her head slightly, her expression softening as she watched the war of emotions play out across his face.
"You've spent your whole life fighting your Fate, Vastarael," she said gently. "Fighting the idea of love because you think it will destroy you. But what if it's not love that destroys you? What if it's running from it?"
Vastarael swallowed hard, his heart pounding in his chest as he struggled to process everything she'd said. She was right. But knowing it didn't make it any less terrifying.
"And if it makes you feel any better, I didn't always listen. I tuned out when I felt it wasn't my place. Even I need my privacy, after all. Why do you... ugh, never mind."
"You know who I was before I became Vastarael?"
"Of course I do. And I don't judge you for it. After all, you're still Vastarael Richinaria in my eyes. Who cares if you were reincarnated into another world I don't know?"
For the first time in his life, Vastarael didn't know what to do. Adelasta knew everything, perhaps even more than Phaenora herself.
"Let's do the vows, husband. We've been talking long enough."