“Who could've guessed that we’d end up in a forest again,” Saria commented, observing the surroundings as the group advanced through the long winding path.

Sofia shrugged, “All things considered, that’s not too strange considering the other places I’ve explored until now. I don’t even know what it would take to really surprise me at this point.”

“You always end up in the weirdest places somehow. I should really be following you around more.”

“I’m not going to stop you if you do. There’s plenty to do before the next trial. I need two more dead gods after this, and I’ll have to travel for the essences.”

Saria nodded, “Guess I’ll help keep you company, unlike you I basically have nothing pressing to do these days.”

“Didn’t you have some secret project with Everelle?”

“Oh, that, yeah, her idea actually. Since our classes are perfect for the job, she was thinking of opening a dungeon in or near your city, with me to play the final boss.”

“Even if I forget about the logistics of that… What’s the actual idea? To get people to come rob and beat you up?”

Saria laughed. “Something like that, yeah. We were thinking about it more like… A business? Anyone up to our level can pay an entry fee and come challenge the dungeon. Everelle can adjust the difficulty to their level. It’s actual combat training without putting yourself in much real danger, and if you beat me at the end of the dungeon you get a prize.”

“Nobody’s gonna ever get a prize then.”

“Heh, I wouldn’t fight at full strength, I’ll make it difficult but not impossible. As long as they perform well for their level, you know.”

“A dungeon business is certainly an idea. Any comment, Pestle?”

The fairy who was still walking ahead turned back, “Pesle is approve,” she said with a thumbs up.

“You just like the idea of having an opportunity to fight even in the city, huh?”

“Sofia understand Pesle well!” Pestle confirmed, looking proud of herself.

The lighthearted discussion continued until the group found themselves at the entrance of some kind of shrine or temple in the forest. The doors were open, the walls and pillars made of old black wood seemed ready to crumble at the lightest touch, and the place generally looked completely abandoned.

“We’re close,” Sofia observed, “The god is inside.”

“Probably the ‘elder beast’ too,” Saria added, repeating the robed Sunless’ words.

A ghostly voice echoed from inside the shrine.

Marked ones. Come. Closer.

Saria and Sofia looked at each other for an instant, and Saria took the initiative, “Let’s not make our host wait.”

Closer.

The group cautiously entered, walking past a broken altar, and followed the source of the voice to a large courtyard behind the shrine temple.

A gigantic Sunless creature was wrapped like a snake around a strange monolithic pillar pulsating with shifting runes. It was the exact same kind of incomprehensible object that she had once seen during her short ‘battle’ against Ormoncleth’s envoy in Sun’s temple. The Sunless itself was hard to describe, if anything, Sofia would liken it to a smoothed-out Kleptra with a long neck, but it being almost completely pitch-black made it hard to even understand properly. Entire lines of red cross-shaped Sunless eyes covered its body, with a much larger one sticking out of its head like a strange frontal mask.

The long neck of the beast stretched out to bring its main eye closer to the group.

The Lords have claimed more marks, it confirmed, its large eye observing the trio from up close, before pulling back. The end comes again.

“You mean the Looming?” Saria asked, completely unfazed by the creature’s strange appearance.

If that is what you want to call it, the beast answered, the red crosses on its body shrinking and expanding in rhythm like a breathing organism. Why have you entered my sanctuary?

Sanctuary? He must mean the entire place past the door, not just this shrine.

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“We are searching for two things,” Sofia answered, “One is a spell schematic left behind by the Lords, and the other is the corpse of a dead god that I can feel somewhere nearby.”

God? The beast asked in incomprehension. Gods are fiction. There are only people and the universe.

Saria raised an eyebrow, “Then what are the Lords? The universe?”

The universe, the beast confirmed like it was the most obvious thing.

“And the looming?” Sofia asked next.

The universe.

“So the universe is in conflict with itself. Reassuring,” Saria commented.

Deadly conflict exists everywhere, even in the cells of your own body.

“How do you know all this?” Sofia asked, seeing that the beast seemed to be agreeable with answering more questions.

The universe told me.

The Lords did, then?

Sofia pointed at a round stone arch behind the creature’s pillar, “Maybe you don’t call them gods, but I can feel the corruption oozing out from the corpse we’re looking for from this arch.”

From the arch, you say? The beast repeated, looking back at the stone structure, The fiend, then? It is there, yes. It was no God.

“How did it die?” Saria asked, “Is there an issue with us taking it?”

It attempted to shatter a mirror and paid the price. You may collect the remains.

“A mirror…” That’s what Orator called the toybox on the throne I’m pretty sure. “The skill we are after, right?”

A mirror of the universe. It has been entrusted to me. Answer my questions correctly and you may look at its reflection.

“Riddles, really? Alright. What happens if we answer incorrectly?” Saria asked.

For each question you get three attempts. Fail and you will not be allowed to gaze upon the mirror’s knowledge.

“I suppose that’s fair. Is there a time limit for our answers?” Sofia asked.

None. Yet your time is ticking. My sanctuary corrupts. Stay too long and leaving will no longer be an option. Such is the price of sanctuaries.

That sounds awfully like the hidden moon’s light world…

“How long do we still have?” Saria asked.

Minutes. The beast answered without any sense of urgency.

Minutes?! “Please get on with the question right away, venerable elder beast!”

The beast seemed to have been waiting for this moment, it raised its long neck, and deployed large black wings that hid the red sky. First question.

Saria Aphenoreth. How many have you killed?

The expression on Saria’s face changed to a rare one of surprise. “It knows our names… How many have I killed… How many what?”

The beast stared silently.

“We don’t even know if we need a precise number, the answer just needs to be correct,” Sofia quickly analyzed.

“I know, do you mind if I use up our attempts, Sofia?”

“I trust you more than I trust myself.”

Saria nodded, and answered the beast, “Three hundred and eighty six.”

That much?!

The elder beast’s neck stretched again, its large head coming up close to Saria as if staring right into her soul.

Incorrect, it stated, its head returning into position. Two attempts left.

“It’s not how many people, then,” Saria said with perfect composure. “My second guess is… Twelve million, six hundred fifty three thousand and twenty,” she said, reading a number off of an invisible system window. “All my kills including monsters, since level one,” she explained for Sofia and Pestle.

Again the beast’s long neck stretched, and again, Incorrect.

This is your last attempt. The mirror will be lost from all of your sights.

“Well, this might end sooner than we expected…” Saria said, turning to Sofia, “Any ideas? I still have a few guesses.”

“I do, probably the same ideas as you. I would have started with the same guesses, too. I don’t think ‘none’ is our best shot here, so it’s some flavour of the opposite, or an even more specific number,” Sofia answered.

“My thoughts exactly. If the answer is another precise number, we’ve already failed. There are too many possibilities. Either only monsters, only people I directly killed with my own hands, or even one of the numbers I gave just a bit off because I miscalculated. Now I am more inclined to think it’s a philosophical question… But I don’t think something like ‘too many’ is a very satisfying answer…” as she rambled on, Saria started to look a bit nervous, which was a very rare sight.

Sofia placed a hand on her shoulder, “We are on a time limit. Don’t worry too much and just guess. You know I won’t resent you even if you get it wrong, big sis.”

“No, no… I do not get riddles wrong… I think I got it. Do you trust me?”

“Always.”

Saria nodded, and looked up at the oddly majestic Sunless beast once more.

“The answer is: More than I could possibly know.”

The beast’s neck stretched once more, it came closer than ever before, the red cross of his head only millimeters away from Saria’s face who stood still like a rock.

Correct. It finally announced after a nerve-wracking suspense, its head taking some distance again. His black wings started to expand, covering more of the red sky, before stopping after a few seconds.

Cells, possibilities, people, futures. You have killed countless and will kill countless more. Such is life.

Second question.

Pestle, Page of Yvraveteth. What is your purpose?