When Asala finished activating the beacon for the Midpath once more, she looked up to Li with a curious tilt of her head.

"Prithee tell me, Seer, if this be not too personal, why doth thee keep thy past secret? So much of thy knowledge hidden? To mine eyes, tis' evident that thy knowledge shouldst enlighten this world greatly," said Asala. 

"I know surprisingly less than you think," said Li. "Just enough to know where this world is headed without proper guidance. Which is why I'm here in the first place."

"But wouldst it not behoove thee to share thy knowledge with me?" Asala eagerly manifested a sand tablet and held a stylus over it. "Thy divinity, for example, and what it wishes for. Thy past in the East, for surely one of thy caliber has had a most interesting past rivaling even that of the Seeker."

"I understand how much you want to know, and I can respect that. I truly do. I was once a scholar myself, or something like that," said Li as he reminisced about studying through college and graduate school. "But for now, I would like to keep my past hidden."

"I understand," said Asala with a respectful nod, the sand tablet disappearing in her hands. She began to slither back to the Vukanovi, but Li stopped her with his words.

"But in time, you will know about me," said Li. Asala turned back to him with wonder. "Everyone will." 

He thought about when he wanted to reveal his true nature as a being beyond a god. At first, he did not want to reveal it to Old Thane, but as he began to think about it, he came to increasingly realize that the old man's love for him was not contingent on whether he was a divinity or not.

It was Tia's care for Li that made him realize that. There was something about familial bonds that overcame boundaries of being, no matter how deep or wide they were.

But he could not guarantee that same level of acceptance to the other mortals that his garden would eventually come to encompass. Approaching as a god that had reign over death, very much looking the part as well, would not be conducive to mortals accepting him.

He would first expand his influence, the name of his guild, the faith he had flowered, and when the mortals could understand him as a force of Order, someone that could bring some good to the chaos that plagued them, then he would assume his full nature as a god meant to shepherd them.

"Ah, then it doth seem that I must wait in line with the rest for thy knowledge," said Asala with a crestfallen look, her face looking down with her lengthy black hair hanging low. 

"You are joking, right?" said Li.

"Of course." Asala flipped her hair back with a smile. "Tis' a show of theatre. Mine sisters are quite capable in it, though it has been long since I hath practiced any act." 

"I see. Makes sense that plays and historical recordings would go hand in hand together," said Li. 

"And there will be no grander story than that which will be told from thine adventures, I am sure of it," said Asala as she waved her hand, creating a platform of sand to form under her and float her up to the top of the Vukanovi. "If thou would wish to keep thy knowledge for a grand reveal, then I am all for it." 

The vukanovi opened up, and she lowered herself down. 

"Story, huh," said Li, reflecting on the nature of his longevity.

Asala recorded history, immortalized it in records and in stories, and yet, he understood that the concept of that would mean something so different to him. He was immortal. He would live through everything, remember everything – history would simply become a part of him. 

The idea of that would have seemed so very overwhelming just a few months back, but now, it seemed natural. Not that he had lived many years, that was yet to come, but the prospect of facing it did not elicit any nervousness from him anymore.

A good thing, thought Li. He was getting ready to bring Order to this world. Long term. 

===

In the morning, the vukanovi reached the Shibboleth. 

Li looked around to see everyone sleeping except Asala who stayed up all night to see the Shibboleth with great excitement. For nobody had ever seen the great divide between the western and southern continents since the Third Darkening a hundred and fifty years ago. 

"Everybody, wake up," said Li, projecting his voice to ensure nobody stayed asleep.

Old Thane, Vilga, and Sheela woke up in an instant, their eyes flitting open and their bodies tensing up in lighting quick succession.

Mason and Mercer groaned collectively as they rubbed their eyes, driving away their grogginess.

Tia was the last to wake up, blinking slowly with heavy eyelids as she yawned, but even she soon had her eyes open wide in wonder as she looked at the screen in the Vukanovi projecting the outside world.

The Shibboleth, as its name would suggest, was indeed a massive divide.

But massive was underselling it. The Vukanovi stood on the edge of a cliff face perfectly horizontally shaped and flat, as if created by a massive knife slicing the land apart, and reaching far out into the horizons, and in the far, far distance, obscured by clouds, there was another cliff face, much, much higher up, that also seemed to stretch from side to side infinitely. 

"It would be a waste to look at this place through a screen," said Li. "Asala says nobody has seen this sight for a hundred and fifty years. We should respect it by getting to it with our own two eyes."

"Aye, I'll try me best," said Old Thane with a smile.

"And when did you start cracking blind person jokes, old man?" said Li with a shake of his head.

"Adventuring does bring out my joking side," said Old Thane. "And it has been long since I have adventured. Expect many more out of me."

"Try not to overuse them," said Li. "And I'll describe it to you best I can, old man. But I figure even you'll benefit from getting some fresh and new air. Now let us get a move on, all of you."

Outside, the sheer scale of the Shibboleth became clear.

It was quite literally a continent-wide divide, the two separate cliff faces stretching out so far that even Li's enhanced sight had trouble perceiving the far end of it.

"It is said that in the wake of the great Convergence, Helios wielded the almighty Sunspear to strike down Zeras, the primal Burning One, and that one blow split apart the lands to forge what is known now as the Hinterlands and Eldenia."

"A continent splitting attack, is it?" noted Li. "Not bad."

"Not bad?" muttered Mason as he gawked at the huge, clean slice in the land. "Surely, there has been never a blow to match the power of that light since."

"If you manage to stay alive, maybe you will be lucky enough to witness one," said Li. "Now then, I think Asala has more to say, so keep your ears open."

Asala nodded and pointed up, beyond the cliff face they stood on to the other one. The other cliff face must have been dozens of kilometers away, barely visible, but even from this distance, it was possible to tell that the other side, the Hinterlands, were situated at a far higher elevation, almost nearing the clouds. 

"There lies the Gigant," said Asala. "Realm of all that is giant. And it is heartening to see that it has survived all this time, even through the Third Darkening. Pray, do take breaths, tell me howst thou feels."

Mason and Mercer took in short breaths. 

"Feels like I cannot take in much at all," said Mercer. 

"Perhaps we are too far high up?" pondered Mason.

"That, and the high concentration of magical energy in the air," noted Li. "Far denser than usual."

"Tis' so." Asala continued to point to the other side. "And there, the air becomes ever thicker, ever stronger. Air fit for giants, but not for the common man."

"Will we even be able to breath up there?" asked Mercer.

"How will we even get there to begin with?" said Mason. "There is naught but empty space and an immense fall between here and there."

"Your breathing will be fine. I will see to that," said Li. "As for getting there-," He motioned to Asala.

Asala slithered up to the edge of the cliff face, the ground underneath her lit up by a faint white sheen that demarcated a path. Here, the Midpath started to fade again, far away from the last beacon as it was. But conveniently placed at the edge of the cliff face were two indentations meant to hold obelisks. 

"I shalt light these beacons, and they shall create forth light stretching to the other end. This is the final stretch of the Midpath that had once connected two continents together: a bridge created through the great serpent's magic and the sun god's solid light." Asala placed her hands over the indentations, and they began to light up. "But alas, it doth not seem that the sun god's light will grace us now."

Li had talked with Asala about the Midpath and the bridge it formed during the ride here. The light from her goddess would basically create a framework for the bridge, but it was Helios's light that would fill that frame in with actual solid, protected light. 

However, Helios's constructs no longer functioned in the world. They had not since some time after the Second Darkening, likely coinciding with the sun god losing his brother to the abyss. Not to mention there was nobody in the party sufficiently connected with Helios as a priest to activate anything the god might have left behind. 

"The sun god will not grace us with his might?" asked Mason in some disbelief. 

"No," said Li. He put his hand out, narrowing his eyes as he estimated what the structure of the massive bridge would be like, what it would take to create it and renew it in his own image. "But I will."