CHAPTER 41: THE UNRAVELLING

"Are you sure about this?" Asked a voice like cooling lava.

Magni’s parents—massive, flame-wreathed beasts of varying shapes and smolders—watched their son with glowing eyes. The air shimmered with their heat.

One of them, his mother perhaps, draped in molten metal robes, reached out a hand that resembled a cracked furnace.

"You know the human world is cold to your kind," she said.

"I’ve never minded a bit of frostbite," Magni grinned, puffing smoke from his nostrils. "Besides, it’s not about comfort. It’s about learning. Helping Hermes. And maybe understanding what makes people like Ymir cling to their humanity so tightly."

A pause.

Then his father nodded solemnly. "Then go. But don’t lose yourself trying to understand others."

The family erupted into cheers—boiling, fiery roars and volcanic belches of support.

Hermes stood beside him, a little overwhelmed, even now. Every goodbye from Magni’s relatives involved a scorching embrace or a ceremonial tossing of coal treats into his hair. He still smelled like smoked bacon.

But eventually, the farewells ended, and they walked together down the long obsidian tunnel leading to the Rift’s heart.

The Void shimmered around them, always shifting like a dream. Yes, it really was like a land of dreams, where everything is possible and the only rule is chaos.

After a long silence, Hermes glanced sideways.

"Why do you serve Ymir?" He had always wondered about it, but never found the time to ask.

But since his parents easily let him go as soon as he mentioned Ymir, then there must be something more than just their fake rivalry on TV. This kind of loyalty doesn’t come out of nowhere.

Magni blinked, almost as if surprised by the question. "Serve?"

"You call him your ’ice prince’. You follow him around like a lap dog. You could do anything, go anywhere... and yet you do his errands, even pretend to be his enemy just so he would gain more popularity."

"Hmm." Magni scratched his chin. "Is it really that important? I thought that Brother Modi would already understand why."

Hermes waited. No rush. In the Void, time bent anyway.

Magni cleared his throat. "I guess I should explain it in a way humans would understand. I may be made of fire, but my family—our whole bloodline—still worships the Winter Goddess. Skadi."

Hermes furrowed his brows. "Ymir’s ancestor?"

Magni nodded. "Yes. We were once enemies, aeons ago. Then... not. It’s hard to explain. Fire and ice, you’d think they’d destroy each other. But sometimes, they make steam. Energy. Balance."

Hermes tilted his head. "So it’s tradition? Religion?"

"Reverence," Magni said softly. "Especially now, as we inch closer to the Unravelling."

A shiver rand down Hermes’ spine when he heard that word.

"The what?"

"The Unravelling," Magni echoed, his voice taking on a theatrical lilt. "The moment when the Rift will lose its restraint. When the border between the Void and human world unspools like old thread. Skadi and Surtr—the Winter Queen and the Volcano God—will return. And everything will change."

Hermes was quiet. "You think it’s really going to happen?"

Magni shrugged. "The Void doesn’t lie. But it does love riddles. Some say the Unravelling is just myth. Some say it’s already begun."

Hermes rubbed his chin. The Unravelling... The human world and the Void, becoming one...

Would that be a bad thing or a good thing?

After all, the Void and the human world did nothing but fight each other. But who started it, really?

In history books, Voidlings were painted as invaders. As monsters that want to wreak havoc and consume humans. But is that really true?

He knew he wouldn’t get answers to that right away, so he went for a smaller question: "And Ymir? What does this lineage mean for him?"

"He’s Skadi’s heir. That makes him... important. Dangerous. Blessed. Or cursed." Magni grinned. "Depends who you ask."

Hermes chewed on his lower lip. "If she’s a Goddess, why would she even have a child with a human?"

"The Void doesn’t ask for reasons," Magni said, a twinkle in his eye. "Maybe it’s love. Maybe it’s a prophecy. Or maybe she just wanted to see what would happen."

"Sounds irresponsible."

"Exactly! That’s what makes her a god after all! Gods are always irresponsible."

They reached the mouth of the Rift. The swirling veil quivered as if sensing them. Hermes looked back, once. Just once.

Then they stepped through.

***

The moment their feet hit solid ground again, Hermes felt the difference.

The wind smelled like grass and summer rain. The sky was soft blue, unbroken. Birds chirped somewhere in the distance. He could even hear the rustle of distant trees, swaying not in impossible patterns like the Void, but simply... swaying.

Magni inhaled loudly.

"Ahhhh... The human world." He smiled widely. "It’s so peaceful and nonviolent."

Hermes scoffed. "Not always."

They walked a little farther. The Rift became less visible the more distance grew between them, melting into a shimmering haze.

And then—

"Ah!" Magni said, tilting his head. "Look who’s here, Brother Modi!"

Hermes followed his gaze.

By a tree just ahead—tall, ancient, the very tree where Thales and the Luxurias had once clung to life as the Rift birthed him... sat someone familiar.

Aphrodite.

He looked up from his book, blinking slowly. His pale pink hair stirred in the wind. A flower petal fluttered from a nearby branch and landed on his shoulder.

He didn’t brush it off.

Hermes stepped closer. "Aphrodite?"

The boy closed his book, a soft smile ghosting his lips.

"What are you doing here?" Hermes was caught by surprise. After all, he was rejected the last time they saw each other.

"I was waiting for you," Aphrodite said.

His voice, still calm and strangely melodic, barely rose above the rustle of the leaves.

Hermes blinked. "Did Elder Thales tell you we went into the Void?"

He shook his head. "No. I just... knew."

Hermes didn’t know what to say to that. He glanced at Magni, but the Voidling was pretending to be fascinated by a butterfly.

Then...

Aphrodite reached out and took Hermes’ hand!

"Will you come with me?" He asked, still looking only at him. "Just the two of us. To the field."

Hermes’ breath caught. "The one where we used to play?"

Aphrodite nodded.

There was something in his eyes. Something quiet, but weighty. Not sadness. Not joy. Something like... nostalgia.

Hermes felt his chest tighten.

"Okay."

They walked, hand in hand, as Magni waved and muttered something about ’catching up later.’

And the field awaited—unchanged. Still littered with saffron and anemone flowers. Still radiant in the sunlight.

Still theirs.