Susan Hodgers. Terrence Roger. Liam C. Anderson. Kelvin Clein. Pretty sure that one was a fake name, but okay. Ben Nelson. Elizabeth Steward.

I had names, faces, degrees, accolades, phone numbers, and addresses - but still no Jay. Over time, Howard and I gradually leveled the colossal mountain of files into a more surmountable molehill.

Won't be long now till we were reaching for air. There was so little left to look through that I was starting to get a bit worried. After all, I've still had yet to feel any tingle, any off-feeling sensation as Irene had claimed.

Thought about voicing my concerns out loud to her, but ultimately decided against it. Too early to be crying wolf when I hadn't even finished rummaging through the rest of the catalog.

Speaking of concerns… there was another in mind, another one in sight, and it also wasn't one I was able to turn a blind eye to… because every time I looked up from another insignificant folder, it'd be right there staring back at me in the face.

Irene was a peculiar sight. More accurately, her face was.

This wasn't me leering. I already had my chance for an up-close-and-personal look at her - and back then I've seen more than enough of her to last me a lifetime.

No, her eyes caught my eye - from the way they looked, the way they stared… something looked so rigid about it, I thought maybe that was just her steeling through the pain. But then I trailed along her sightline, followed her gaze, and eventually, I found myself staring at long cascading locks of silky white hair.

Those weren't eyes toughing out the pain from grievous wounds, those were eyes trying to stifle away the apprehension from surfacing through.

Ash was cleaning her cuts, tending to every slice with small dabs of cotton doused in disinfectant - carefully, attentively, every ounce of focus into minimizing her pain, doing way with her discomfort.

And in return, Irene was squirming in her seat, clenching a trembling fist… as if she was staring at a vile cockroach crawling up her shoulder.

Of course, Ash was too busy treating her arm to even notice anything was amiss. Unfortunately, I wasn't as busy… I noticed.

Now, I was just busy trying not to notice. Funny how that turned out. It was disheartening to see, sure… but I don't believe that Irene hated Ash in particular, it was just… y'know, the way things were for them. The status-quo of the mythical. It is how it is.

I retreaded my wandering eyes back to the task at hand, gazing away at a new folder that muscle memory automatically placed in my hands. Took one quick look at the contents within, and I felt my lips curling slightly in amusement, along with a puff of air expelling from my nostrils.

Howard, miserable and sullen-eyed, seemed to have taken offense to the fact that I've managed to smile about in this joyless, cruel activity we call living life.

"What's so funny?" He asked, as if daring me to snort again in his presence.

I looked back at him, flipped the folder facing outwards, and spun it around facing his-wards. Howard leaned forward, squinted his eyes, and proceeded to slump back into his seat.

"Oh…"

My smile widened. "It's little Howard Jr."

"Yeah, okay…" He muttered, looking utterly defeated both physically and mentally. "Go have your laugh."

I would if there was something to laugh about. To me, it was just an interesting find. Mr. Game Director's employee profile in my hands. Says here he had a few stints working in now defunct studios, got recommended through a friend of a friend. So far everything aligned with his story. Started out as a debugger and climbed the ladder up to where he is now.

Well, I say climb the ladder, but it was more like he took the secret elevator all the way to the top. Gaining an all-access pass thanks to one little email. An email that no longer existed.

Makes me wonder, actually…

"Just out of curiosity," I mused, setting his folder aside. "You no longer have an email to rely on this time, so how are you going to go about making this planned sequel to Asteria?"

He glanced up at me again, a weary sigh escaping his lips. "I told you I don't need the email anymore. Everything I need is all in the imagination. I already have everything planned out."

"If you say so," I said, still a bit dubious on that claim. "So what's the story going to be about this time? If we're going by the endings, there's really nowhere else to go from there. Leonardo's dead, Terestra's dead. How are you gonna continue?"

His sight turned into a groan. "Look, is any of this even relevant to the matter at hand?"

"More than you could ever know."

It wasn't really a sufficient answer, but it was an answer nonetheless. I can understand his reluctance in disclosing something as incriminating as plot details and if it wasn't for the fact that refusing me would be - by proxy - also rejecting Irene, I think his lips wouldn't have been as loose as it was.

"It's not actually a sequel…"

I raised a brow. "Prequel?"

"Yeah," He affirmed in a whisper. "New main character, set way back before any of the events of the original unfolded. The story is less on a grand scale… this time I wanna focus on the aspect the fans liked most about the original."

"Which was?"

Howard look affronted, almost like he was disappointed. "You didn't… you didn't play the game?"

"I'm slow and steady," was my excuse, offered with a wave of a hand. "So what are you focusing on this time?"

He kept that dejected face, answering with absolutely no fervor in his voice. "The six servants of Terestra."

I felt my eyes briefly stray towards those long locks of white again, before I manage to wrench them back into focus. "You mean… like Eshwyln, you're gonna put her into the spotlight?"

Howard shrugged. "Fan favorite. People wanna know more about her… her backstory was only briefly touched upon in the original… a lot of people wanna know the reason why Elves are considered evil."

Had to try my hardest to resist a dubious scoff. "And you think you know why Elves are considered evil?"

"Haven't thought of a good enough reason yet," He admitted with a frown. "I'm working on it."

It's a bit bizarre discussing the intricacies of a character's yet-to-be-known backstory while at the same time, said character is in the very room with us not even ten feet away.

Not that Howard needs to know that, of course.

"And besides," He added, seemingly forgetting what he was supposed to be doing. "This is also a good opportunity to introduce cut-content that we couldn't put into the original."

"Ah yes," I said, knowing exactly what he was referring to. "Blightfall, right?"

"Among other things."

Could have guessed as much.

"Have this really cool scene planned out, actually," Howard edged his seat closer. "There's gonna be Blight, right? It's gonna pour on one of the provinces, say, for now, Astra alright? Naturally, the kingdom is in peril, and…"

I nodded, listening, but not really listening… reaching for another folder in my right, flipping it open wide… only to stop before I could even read past the surname.

Blinking, I looked back up at Howard. "Say again?"

"Yeah, uh…" He frowned. "The Blight on Astra gets immediately cleansed."

Now I was edging closer, listening with all my focus. "Who did you say would do it? Who's gonna cleanse the Blight?"

"You weren't listening?"

"I'm hard of hearing," I replied almost immediately. "Answer the question, Howard."

Howard gave me a puzzled look, but it wasn't as if he was going to turn away an eager ear. "Sera Nas."

"Sera Nas," I repeated under my breath. Again and again. Familiarly just barely eluding me. "Sera Nas… Sera Nas…"

Until it finally clicked in my head. "The third servant of Terestra?"

The very instance Howard nodded his head, I felt as if I just unearth a gold mine sitting right by my feet.

"Sera Nas, she can… she's able to get rid of the Blight that easy?"

"Well…" Howard said, smiling faintly. Obviously pleased his tale was eliciting such a reaction. "She is known as the Advocator of the Damned on her wiki page. The arbiter of the dead? What do you suppose that could mean?"

"Wiki page doesn't know either," I said, recalling the excerpt I read way back when I was learning about magic.

'Heralded as the only true arbiter of death, though not really known why…'

Word for word, I can still vividly recall it. Guess the prequel is going to elaborate on that 'why'. Howard was going to elaborate on it.

"You gonna spill the beans or would you rather just sit there looking smug?" I asked.

Howard did both. Relaying an answer through a smirk. "Sera Nas is the only being in Asteria that is both a Listener and a Speaker."

It was my turn to go slumping down in my seat. The momentum of it blowing a gust of wind, scattering pages at the dozen in the air - but I could hardly care.

An idea was brewing in my head, fermenting fast.

My eyes, for the third time in such a short time, fell back again onto Ash. Each instance for a different reason… but this reason, this time, was no doubt the most profound of any of them.

Ash was summoned here. Jay was able to summon here. Don't know how he did it, but he did it.

So going by that logic… then couldn't we also just…?

You know what? I think I'm gonna need to consult a professional first on the matter before I go about making any rash decisions.

And this was most definitely the rashest of them all.

I stood up.

"Irene?"