Chapter 129: Acardiac Arrest
Hermes’ head still rang with the laughter of the little girl. The sound clung to him like a mosquito buzz he couldn’t swat away.
When he told Ymir and Magni what he saw in the maze, silence sat between them like a fourth companion.
Ymir finally broke it. "I knew she was no good."
Hermes rubbed his face. "Well, she wasn’t really ’bad’ either. You just didn’t trust her from the start."
"Why would I?" Ymir’s tone was dry as sandpaper. "We’re in the ’graveyard of the worst monsters’, Potentia. And even though she didn’t do any damage, she’s still a big fat liar."
Magni frowned. "I would have to agree with his highness. To claim she is your daughter, Brother Modi... that was quite disturbing. But what disturbs me more..."
He tapped his chin "... Was that I have never once heard of this ’Demiurge.’ Not once. And I know everyone. From imps scuttling in ditches to the great Primordials themselves. Nothing escapes the ears of a true-born Voidling like me."
Ymir scoffed. "Are you sure, Rockhead? You even have lava leaking out of your ears sometimes, maybe that includes your retention."
Magni looked genuinely unnerved. "Your highness, you jest. But this is no small matter. A being of this importance..."
Hermes let their bickering pass. His eyes were heavy but his voice was steady.
"But it makes sense if you think about it. If she really is who she claims... maybe she’s the reason the Limbo even existed. It was first created just to bury her. And the gods didn’t just bury her body. They buried the very knowledge of her."
Ymir tilted his head. "Convenient. A god-sized rug to sweep shame under."
"Exactly." Hermes leaned forward. "If the people learned it was her who designed the Void... what would that say about the gods? They’d look like thieves. Like liars who claimed they shaped a world that was never theirs."
Magni’s brows furrowed. His large hands flexed like he was holding an invisible ax. "But to erase her so completely... not even whispers, not even rumors? I... it shakes me. I prided myself on knowing the Void’s lineage. Now I feel like a fool."
"You’re not a fool." Hermes said. "You’re just not supposed to know."
Ymir’s laugh was short, sharp. "And you are? The Demiurge whispers in your ear, calls you ’Father of All,’ and suddenly it all makes sense?"
He stared deep into Hermes’ eyes, searching for any sign of deception. But at the same time,he seemed scared to find it.
"Hermes... Do you really not know what you are? Why you are the way you are?"
Hermes hesitated. The memory of the girl’s last words burned him more than fire.
"I really don’t know. I don’t what she meant by that part. ’Father of the Void.’ ’Chaos.’ None of it makes sense to me either."
Ymir didn’t say anything for a while, deep in thought.
"Maybe she’s right." Ymir’s tone was grave as he finally spoke. "Maybe you’re the chaos that breaks worlds. And... that has to be stopped."
Magni stepped forward quickly. "Your Highness! Please don’t say such things. Brother Modi has fought at our side, saved our lives."
Ymir met Magni’s earnest eyes and rolled his own. "Relax. I’m not saying we should kill him or anything. I mean that maybe there’s a way to avoid destruction or minimize it."
Hermes let them go back and forth. He didn’t like the words Ymir spoke about him, but there was truth to them.
Before they could argue further, a distant sound crawled through the frozen forest.
Not the silence of ice, not the stillness of corpses. But roars. Snarls. The clatter of claws against stone.
Ymir summoned ice daggers between his fingers like claws, ready to throw them. "Great. We’ve got company."
Magni gripped his fire ax. "They come for us. The battle must have drawn them."
Hermes whistled for the wolf-dragon. The beast slithered close, head bowed.
"Scout for us, please." Hermes requested.
Magni translated this. The wolf-dragon gave a low growl, wings unfolding, and leapt into the shadows above.
"We need to hurry up. Get the job done and get out of here." Ymir gestured at the cryogenic tank.
The ice was gone. The veins of fire cut and dissolved. Only a single button gleamed faintly on the front panel.
The three of them stared at it.
"Well." Ymir said. "Are you going to press it, or should we sit and wait for the monsters?"
Hermes inhaled, then pushed the button.
A hiss. The door shuddered. Frost bled away.
Inside was not Eirwyn.
Hermes blinked. "What..."
It was a cocoon. No, something stranger. A translucent sac clinging to the inner walls like a parasite. Small. Pulsing faintly, alive.
Ymir wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, no shit. That’s definitely not him."
Magni leaned in, awe flashing in his eyes. "It looks... like a womb. By the Nine Flames of the Underworld, I’ve never seen like it."
Hermes’ hand trembled as he reached forward. He brushed the sac. Warm. Viscous. Alive. He recoiled.
"There’s something inside." His voice was thin.
Through the translucent flesh, he saw it. A fetus. Nearing the end of its term.
A tiny hand curled, a tiny foot pressed against the membrane. Ready to be born, but trapped.
But that wasn’t all.
Something else was attached to it by the cord at its belly.
Hermes’ stomach flipped. "What the hell is that?"
A second form. Smaller. Twisted. Only a torso and legs, no head, no heart. A grotesque lump of meat dangling like a leech.
Ymir’s eyes narrowed. "An acardiac twin."
Hermes whipped around to him. "What’s that?"
Ymir explained as succinctly as he could. "It’s basically a malformed twin without a heart. Without its ’pump twin’ to pump blood into it, it will not survive."
"How do you know that?" Hermes asked.
Ymir looked away. "Just... read it somewhere."
He turned to Magni, who also avoided his gaze. Hermes had experienced reading people’s minds, but he also knew that body language says a lot.
They’re both hiding something.
The silence pressed heavier than the snow around them.
Hermes turned back to the sac, forcing down the knot in his throat. "If this is an acardiac twin... then what does it mean? Does it mean Eirwyn bore twins? If so, where is he? Why isn’t he inside?"
No one answered.
Hermes clenched his fists. "System. Tell me. Where is Eirwyn?"
A flicker in his vision. A response.
[The original user of Rewind is right in front of the Power Thief.]
Hermes’ heart stopped. He stared at the words until they blurred.
He tried again, thinking it was an error. "Where is Eirwyn?"
The same line repeated, unyielding.
[The original user of Rewind is right in front of the Power Thief. The Power Thief is staring at him right now.]