A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

After asking his moral quandary, Ymir looked at Erik curiously, wondering what his answer would be. Ancient wisdom hid behind those eyes, which appeared capable of seeing straight through to his soul.

Which, for all Erik knew, might be just what they were doing. This giant was both ancient and powerful beyond anything or anyone he'd ever met before. Previously, that honour was reserved for Elora's mother, Morganae, but although Elora and he weren't entirely sure about Ymir and Audumla's ranking, they were absolutely certain that Morganae was far younger.

Still, Erik forced himself to remain calm. Whatever this man's power, he and Audumla wanted something from him, and it wouldn't do to quake in their presence… as that would give them all the power.

Whatever the case, Erik didn't need any time to think about his answer. It's not like this was the first time he thought about this particular issue: how far would he go to save one of his loved ones?

"I'll go as far as is necessary to save them, even if that ends in my death," Erik stated calmly, as if the answer was obvious. "You say the choice is between saving one or saving some, but I deny that statement. Saving one is saving them all, and losing one is losing them all."

Ymir looked at him with genuine surprise. "Are you saying they'd leave you, if you failed to protect just one of them?"

But to that, Erik appeared shocked as his eyes widened, and his body recoiled slightly. "What?! No! Of course not!"

Recovering quickly, he snorted and crossed his arms with a solemn frown. "What I'm saying is… failing to protect one of them once, means I can fail again. And then where will it end? But, if I save one and die in the process, I trust my girls to continue looking out for each other and surviving without me."

Now understanding his meaning, Ymir smirked at him and raised an eyebrow. "And what choice do you think your girls would prefer? Do you not think you're essentially taking the easy way out? You're saddling them with the grief of your death, while you get to feel nothing at all. Plus, if that fairy of yours was merged with your body at the time, I believe she'd die, too, no?"

A little indignant, Erik opened his mouth to respond… but then couldn't find the words. Instead, he became gloomy and glared at Ymir with an expression of supreme annoyance.

Seeing his reaction caused Ymir to chuckle apologetically. "My apologies, little friend. Debating philosophy and choices is a bad habit of mine. I didn't mean to call your determination into question."

Erik's expression relaxed slightly, and Ymir sighed. "I simply can't save you every time your body nearly explodes. Doing it this time depleted quite a lot of my saved energy, and I'd prefer not having to do so again."

By now, Erik's expression had entirely returned to normal as he shoved Ymir's difficult questions down to be answered another time. Or never. Instead, he eyed the giant cautiously. "Did you really save me? I know I went a little overboard that time, but my body's endured worse."

Ymir smiled slightly, confidently. "Any proof I could show you might as well be fabricated, but yes. I kept your body together during that, frankly, hair-brained act of yours."

He raised an eyebrow. "So, can I trust you to stop killing yourself, or should I introduce a limiter to that nifty little fusion core your fairy designed for you."

The fact this man could apparently do that immediately alarmed Erik. Narrowing his eyes, he growled, "Don't you dare put any limits on my freedom."

"Ooh, scary, hahaha!" Ymir started laughing thunderously. It was deep and rumbling, but not really meant to mock. It was more amusement at the ridiculousness of being threatened by a third-ranker.
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Erik didn't seem amused, however, and narrowed his eyes at him. Even if he could see Ymir wasn't mocking him, it still felt like he was being laughed at.

"Hehe, don't worry," Ymir said as his laughing slowly died down to a chuckle. "I'm honestly not sure what schemes little Audy has thought up, but I know you're an important part of that, and I wouldn't do anything to risk your willing cooperation."

That revelation made Erik frown sceptically. "What do you mean you don't know what she's planning? Don't you two work together? I thought you were going to take this time to explain the plan to me?"

His question made Ymir shake his head sadly. "No… little Audy and I have not spoken in… I don't even know how long. I've been asleep for most of it, but even now, I can only speak to those linked to this planet, or actually on its surface. Little Audy is neither, right now…"

It was then that Erik was reminded of Ymir's death in his dream. He looked Ymir up and down before nodding slowly. "Right, you died in that dream, or vision, or whatever that was. But I'm starting to suspect that didn't stick. So, why don't you start explaining what this is all about? You may not know Audumla's plans, but you can at least explain the context."

"Absolutely," Ymir nodded with a small smile. "That's why I brought you here, after all. I know you've still got doubts about going to look for Audumla, so I hope knowing what's at stake will motivate you."

"Alright…" Erik nodded, quite obviously curious about what Ymir had to say. Yet, there was one thing he wanted to know first. Something that had been eating at both him and Elora for a while now. "But first," he frowned. "Why did you send me to Africa a year ago?"

This was the thing he and Elora had been most confused about ever since finding the dimension Audumla had left behind for him and then arriving in Africa. Not only was Edda likely not in Africa yet when Ymir directed them that way, but he'd also miss out on the dimension and everything Audumla had planned for him there.

"Did you not know about the dimension she'd left behind there?" he wondered aloud. 'Technically, that would explain somewhat, but for some reason, I doubt it's that easy. And why did you suggest I could find Edda in Africa, when she likely wasn't there yet at the time?"