How about Evi?”

“We’re not naming our daughter after you. You’re already named her guardian if anything happens to us.”

Nothing was going to happen to them. They were the two most powerful creatures in the universe, and they took care of each other, and, if that failed, Krane had managed to steal a full supply of rejuvenation serum before he’d left the Imperials high and dry. One shot went to Kai. The others were mostly given to Elia, head of tech development.

In her lab, the scientist worked on synthesizing it. Took a few years to manage, but now, those who earned it got a shot. Clera also got a few drops, so she could create a similar serum for animals.

Reluctantly, Nalini gave a shot to the neko when he was of age. She also finally named him. He was called Evil. It fit.

Satisfied with nothing short of excellence, Elia was still working on the serum, trying to find a way to make their immortality inherent, hereditary. She’d manage to change their genetic makeup within two hundred years, changing the face of the entire galaxy.

Kai was always worried, with good reason, knowing the Imperials had their eyes on them. They feared them, but fear was a weakness that, left unchecked, could cause a fair bit of devastation.

The inhabitants of their sector were the first to truly make themselves immortal.

He only grew more worried with time.

Their race didn’t like to be associated with the Imperials. They were different in many ways. There was magic in their blood. Within a few generations, practically each one of their families had at least one mage. Their very nature made them wilder, needing that exchange of power to feed their magic. But they were also smarter. Faster. One of them was worth ten Imperials.

“Enlightened,” Kronos proposed one day, when he’d returned from his training on Tejen, a grown male with a lot of tricks up his sleeve.

He was lethal. His favorite weapon was manipulating time, because no one else managed to do so.

“We could be called Enlightened.”

“That’s pretty bigheaded,” Nalini had to say.

Kai shrugged. “Maybe, but it fits.”

And so, they were renamed.

The year Nalini gave birth to their twins, they made the decision that created a brand-new world.

Kai held Gaia in his arms, her little fingers wrapped around his thumb, as Nalini nursed Uranos. Daddy’s girl and Mommy’s boy. Twins.

Gaia wasn’t just Kai’s little treasure, though. She also was Kronos’s. He picked her up as soon as someone put her down on her bed, ensuring that she’d be the most spoiled little thing in the world.

In a few hundred years, he’d marry her.

“We need to protect them. The children. Our children’s children. Those that come after. One day, the Empire will attack.”

“And we will win,” Nalini replied, but that didn’t appease Kai.

They’d probably win. Probably wasn’t enough now that he was a father.

“This galaxy is vast. There’s a whole lot of unknown territory, and we both know the Imperials have stopped searching since they encountered the EndsDay.” A territory from which no one came back, marking the start of the unknown universe.

“You want to explore the unknown?”

One nod. Stiff.

“It’s too dangerous.”

She was no coward, but sending their subjects to their doom didn’t appeal to her. “Volunteers only.” He shrugged. “Some might dare it.”

Nalini looked down at little Uranos.

“Volunteers only,” she repeated, not expecting that once they were of age, both of her firstborns would wish to go.