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Perhaps that was the very reason why the Children loved this place so much--why they seemed to eternally yearn for it, despite some of their claims.

He continued on up the mountain, and soon enough, he reached its icy peak. The fierce winds buffeted his white fur as he sat down again and drank everything in.

The view. The air. The souls. The auras. All the way to the horizon.

Mountain peaks were good for that. And the taller the better. This one seemed to be the tallest in the region, and so the wind would be at its most informative up here.

With a few different leads to go on, it was time to make a decision. Did the order of pursuit matter? In the grand scheme, not at all. Yet some of the Children would certainly be more time-consuming than others.

But with Ettol out of the picture, perhaps time was now on his side again.

Too often, throughout the Ages, the Children had been able to rebirth themselves or each other at a faster pace than he could hunt them down. That was why the Heavenly Prison was better than simply killing them. It further slowed their return.

And Ettol, of course, had been a particular thorn in his side in that regard. Being the Child of Rebirth gave him a special penchant for such pursuits, always trying to create suitable vessels wherever he went, in the off chance that one of them might someday become a new incarnation for his brethren, even without his direct involvement.

A truly obnoxious opponent.

Now, the pace of Reemergence would slow. Hopefully.

Unless, of course, one of the others decided to take up the cause. That was not unheard of, either. Ettol, after all, often had trouble finding suitable vessels for himself. Koh did not know the precise details, but from what he understood, Ettol required vessels of a very rare kind. Not simple carriers of Supreme Will, like most of his kin.

In fact, for him, the Supreme Will may have even been a hindrance. It was hard to know for sure, even after all the time that Koh had spent at his side, silently learning about him.

But here and now, who might be of most concern? Makirë was troublesome, sure, but was she the most pressing threat?

Probably not.

The most pressing would be anyone who might be aware of Ettol’s sudden absence and decide to step in for him--or worse, attempt to free him.