The silence stretched a little longer after Sylven’s words. It settled heavily across the small room.
The faint warmth of the tea did little to ease the tension that had taken hold of the air. Sylven remained seated. His small fra was still but his expression was far from idle.
His eyes lowered slightly as he fell into thought, the earlier calm now replaced by deeper and more contemplative expression. It was clear he was weighing every piece of what he had just heard and connecting it to what he already knew about this world and the Sky Anchor that sustained it.
Across from him, Erend remained quiet. His gaze lingered on Sylven to asure him and considering how much to say and how much to keep hidden.
He had already chosen not to reveal everything, especially the truth about the Void Architect and their role in this situation.
That piece remained locked behind his silence for now for caution. Trust had not yet been earned just because he was also a Dragonborn. Not fully.
Sylven eventually lifted his gaze again and let out a quiet sigh after reaching a temporary conclusion rather than a solution.
His eyes moved between the three of them before settling on Erend.
"What do you want to do about it?" he asked.
There was no hesitation when Erend answered.
"I want to destroy it."
The response landed sharply.
Sylven’s expression changed imdiately, his eyes narrowing just slightly. It was not exactly in anger but still pretty close to offense. It was subtle but unmistakable.
He leaned forward a bit, his gaze sharpening as he studied Erend more closely.
"That would take away this world’s source of power," he said.
Erend didn’t look away.
"Letting it stay ans letting the corruption spread," he replied. "And worse... there’s a chance sothing else will co for it. Sothing that shouldn’t have it."
That answer lingered.
Sylven fell silent again but this ti his eyes did not lower. Instead, he looked at the three of them more carefully and more deeply than before, as if he was seeing sothing beyond their surface.
His gaze moved from Erend to Aesa, then to Eccar, and sothing in his expression changed once more in realization.
"You three..." he said slowly, "you’ve been through many worlds, haven’t you? Done a lot already."
"Yeah. Pretty much." Eccar gave a small shrug, his tone casual despite the tension.
Sylven held their gaze a mont longer before sighing softly.
"You’re still holding sothing back from ," he said, though there was no accusation in his voice. "I can tell. But that’s fine. You don’t trust yet."
He leaned back slightly, his expression steady again.
"I still want to help," he continued. "But destroying it... that’s not a solution here."
His eyes hardened just a little, not with hostility, but conviction.
"If the Sky Anchor is gone, this world loses its foundation. I’ve been here long enough to understand that. The people here rely on it. They can’t survive without it."
His words carried weight, grounded in experience rather than theory.
"That kind of destruction..." he added quietly, "it would kill people. A lot of them. That wouldn’t be any different from letting the corruption spread."
Silence followed again.
Erend, Aesa, and Eccar exchanged glances, each of them understanding the weight of what Sylven had just said. Neither option stood clean. Neither path ca without consequence.
Erend finally spoke again. "We will have to think about it."
But even as he said it, his thoughts were already moving.
The Void Architect would co. That much felt inevitable. And if that happened the fragnts would be gathered. The Creation would be completed and whatever that led to it, it wouldn’t be sothing they could allow. Destroying it remained the most direct solution.
And yet... Doing so would bring disaster to this world.
The sa conclusion ford in all three of their minds at once, heavy and unavoidable.
This wasn’t a problem that could be solved easily.
Eventually, Erend let out a slow and long sigh, the weight of everything pressing quietly against his chest before he finally gulped down the rest of his tea then pushed himself up from his seat.
His gaze lingered on the table for a mont, then shifted back to Sylven. There was no resolution in his eyes, only the acknowledgnt that none of the choices in front of them would co without consequence.
"We’ll go for now," he said. "If sothing happens, I’ll inform you."
Sylven watched him carefully, then gave a small nod.
"I hope you co to a wiser conclusion than just destroying it," he replied, his tone calm but firm, carrying the quiet insistence of soone who had already seen what would happen to this world if the Sky Anchor got destroyed.
Erend didn’t respond to that. He couldn’t. There was no promise he could make, not when every option led to sothing terrible.
His silence lingered for a mont that was enough to make it clear that the outco was far from certain.
Then he raised his hand. Space twisted instantly in front of him, forming a portal that pulsed with controlled energy.
Without another word, Aesa and Eccar stood and moved with him.
The three stepped through together, their figures vanishing into the distortion as the portal collapsed behind them leaving no trace of their presence inside the small house.
Sylven remained seated where he was. His eyes fixed on the empty space where they had just disappeared.
The room felt quieter and heavier. Their departure had left sothing unresolved behind that made him anxious.
He slowly leaned back in his chair, his gaze lowering as his thoughts began to turn inward again.
The calm mask he had carried before was no longer fully held. His expression settled into a far more serious expression that looks far more mature than anything that should have belonged to a boy of his age.
He understood the weight of what was coming. The fate of this world would depend on it.
—
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