“See? Trust me now? The other names I’m a bit wary still though,” Cecless whispered, leaning a bit over the table, “The queen especially is a bit freaky. Wouldn’t recommend. But if it’s my love! I can call him anytime! Though he rarely answers…”

“Right… I’ll tell you how I got the mark then.”

“It must have been pretty recently, right?! The looming wasn’t growing so fast until a few years back!” Cecless commented, leaning back on her chair, waving her legs.

The looming… So it’s not just a new god…

“You have its essence too?”

Cecless nodded, “Of course! We are the marked ones after all!”

“Sorry… I’m not sure I follow…” Sofia said, wearily looking at the dragon hiding under countless layers of gray fabric.

“Hmmm… Well I’ve not really explained that to anyone else so it would be hard for you to know unless someone from the lost epoch told you… Alright let me give you a quick rundown! It’s very easy! The great Entropy created mana, so we have to face the looming. I think.”

“Y- You think?”

“Hmmhmm,” the dragon approved with a nod from under the fabric.

“That’s… Not explaining much. But he created mana then? Did he tell you that?”

“No no. I’m very curious so I try to figure this stuff out myself,” Cecless explained, “Anyway, you don’t have to worry about any of that. This Cici here will take care of everything!” she confidently said, pointing a thumb at herself.

“... Are you sure you can handle that?” Sofia asked, starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together in her mind.

“You doubt your senior already?! Haven’t you seen my level? I’m very strong, you know,” the Dragon complained, sulking on her chair.

And not very sane, from the sound of it…

“Can I ask a few more questions?”

“You still haven’t answered mine, but I should be generous to my juniors…”

“I will answer, I’m just trying to understand first… The looming… Is it the cataclysm that ended the lost epoch?”

“Yes,” Cecless simply answered without an explanation.

“And you think you can ward that off alone?” Sofia reiterated her previous question.

“I’ll know after I try!”

“Not very reassuring… Do you even have any idea what exactly we’re up against?”

“The looming,” Cecless answered confidently.

“Alright… And you mentioned the creation of mana, how is it related?”

“Well… It’s hard to know for suuuure sure. But I have some theories,” Cecless said, leaning over the table again, “Wanna hear it?”

“Of course.”

“Actually I changed my mind,” Cecless said, pulling back, “Figure it out yourself. I gave plenty of hints already! You don’t have to worry about it anyway, you’re too young. You should leave dangerous stuff to the oldies! That’s only what’s right!”

“...”

“Ah, don’t look at me like that! It’s not that bad anyway! Cataclysme this cataclysm that! In the end all races survived the change from the lost epoch to now. It’s not like the universe is ending or anything!”

“If most of the people on the planet end up dying it might as well be for us…”

“It’s not that bad I said,” Cecless said, waving off Sofia’s concerns, “but I guess it’s only normal for his marked one to worry about the consequences hmm… You could have joined the party if you were born some twenty thousand years earlier, but really you’re too young so, trust a fellow deep envoy hmm? I’m not letting our story end that easily!”

Sofia sighed, “I had a feeling bad things were coming… What about the Phageid? Are they part of the cataclysm too?”

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“Oh the squids? No they’re just hungry! They followed the stream of souls all the way to us and that’s it. I’ll let the others handle it, I have to focus on the looming.”

“The stream of souls?”

“Well yeah? Did you think the ‘heroes’ make it here on horseback? I’m not too sure why it all gathers here to crash into the core but that’s what happens,” Cecless explained with a shrug.

“This is a lot to take in…”

“I’m just helping with your curiosity! Don’t think about it if you don’t want to. Ah! Of course you can’t tell any of that to anyone else! Trust me, it’s not fun what happens if you blab too much.”

“You would know?”

“Hmmhmm. But I don’t remember the people I’ve lost so it’s not too bad.”

It sure doesn’t sound like she took it well…

“Can I tell other marked ones?”

“There are more already?!” Cecless asked in shock.

“A few of the people close to me got the same mark as me.” Better not bring up Shaily…

“Oh… Hmm… It’s probably fine to tell them. I think? I’m not sure. Is that it for your questions?”

“Just one more. Do you know about the Eddarinians?”

“Oh? You know more than I expected, you must have a curious nature too,” Cecless said, suddenly sounding a bit calmer than before, “A stupid madman discovered the home of a lost epoch marked one before I did, and started to try accelerating ‘the cataclysm’ by creating a dumb cult. So I killed them. That was the Eddarinians.”

“You… You did? I heard it was the Kleptras…”

“Hmmhmm. I pit them against each other.”

“... Got it… That explains some things… It’s my turn then, isn’t it? To explain of I got the mark of Aphenoreth… It starts with scripture…”

“What an interesting story!” Cecless commented when Sofia was done, “I’m jealous! He even touched you! Ooooo, I’m so jealous! Nobody ever touches meeee!”

Uncertain of how to answer that, Sofia just quickly changed the subject, “Well… I hate to cut this short but there are still plenty of people waiting outside…”

“Uhuhuh don’t worry about that, it’s only been a second, you didn’t notice?”

“Wait…” Sofia muttered, in shock.

“Eheh, looks like I’ve been found out. I’m busy chasing a traitor right now so I couldn’t come in person. Since you want to stop there I’ll go now, but I’ll come see you again! Byyyyye!”

Without any more explanations, the dragon disappeared like a cloud of smoke blown away by the wind.

Sofia sat at her table in silence for a bit, both hands under her chin.

So Edrazeketh is Entropy… Looming is not actually a god it’s the coming cataclysm that ended the lost epoch. The stream of souls… Mana…

Sofia let out a loud sigh.

“It feels like the stronger I get, the problems keep piling up instead of getting resolved…”

Another sigh.

One step at a time. The city first. Allies. The ring and Edrazeketh’s essence. Trials. Scripture. And we go from there. Pointless to worry about everything from the start huh…

Fixing her hair by habit, Sofia stood up from her chair, and walked toward the bone curtains to confirm what she already knew.

Without too much surprise, the world outside was a uniform white void.

“Figured… That means I have no way to know whether the person I just talked to was truly Cecless the dragon. But whoever it was, they were able to say the annihilator’s name without issue… And they must have Orator’s essence.”

In complete silence, Sofia spent a few seconds curiously observing the white void beyond her room, it felt quite different in its nature compared to what she was used to, but not in a way she could explain.

“[Paradise Toybox].”

Reality fractured like a mirror, with a sound of shattering glass, the white void disappeared, and Sofia was back on her chair, in the meeting room, watching the previous guest leave through the curtain.

I can’t believe I got pulled into a toybox that smoothly… I didn’t even notice anything until she hinted at it...

“Grandma!” Sofia called out after the person leaving was out of the room.

Erredis quickly entered the room, “Do I need to kill someone?”

“No no! I was just wondering about something.”

“Still worried about that fairy? I didn’t kill him. I just plucked a few wings, those things will grow right back.”

“it’s not that. I was just wondering about a person I saw in the audience during the trial. I was convinced they would come today but I’ve not seem them outside.”

“Who?”

“They waved at me back then, a strange person hiding under a pile of gray cloth,” Sofia describe.

Erredis frowned, “She waved at you? I missed that. That’s one of us Dragons. Don’t go near her, she’s crazy enough to make me look like an actual saint.”

“Well, you are one.”

“Ahah. You’re likely the only one who can say that without twitching. Is everything alright with the people I’ve let in?”

“No issues so far. Everyone has been very polite, even if some deals I have been offered seemed a bit shady. Thanks for helping grandma!”

“If you’re that thankful come with me build my workshop first when we’re done,” Erredis answered with a wink, leaving the room.

You’re going to move your workshop here?

Sofia had a hard time getting her smile under control before the next person entered.