"You know, I've never liked dark spaces," Barkhad whispered, arms wrapped tightly around Kisserin's sides. "And the only thing worse, is, of course, small spaces."

Kisserin continued to squirm ahead, the walls of the main labyrinth barely containing her bodice. As she moved, her scales caressed the walls on either side of her, leaving behind faint, dusty impressions. Several times, Barkhad almost smooshed his hands between the walls and her ribs.

"Mm, so you must be right at home," Kisserin hissed softly. Both she and Barkhad agreed that, as a rule, silence was golden: if Grey was in a silent mood as the Watcher, well...Unfortunately for them, after hours of labyrinth crawling, silence was far too monotonous. Even though Barkhad could speak to Kisserin through his landshaper abilities, the snake absolutely refused to oblige him the opportunity.

"Halt," Grey murmured, his breath falling like a guillotine upon the desiccated air. He glanced at Tycho, then asked, "How far are we beneath the surface?"

Tycho's eyes grew round with excitement. "I reckon we're thirteen miles beneath the surface!" he stated with a visible air of self-importance. After speaking, he hung his head bashfully, as though embarrassed by his own enthusiasm.

Kisserin snorted. 'That kid's shameless." She rolled her eyes, as though trying to stare backward at the man straddling her spine. 'Though not as shameless as him.' Even as she thought this, her scaled lips pulled back into an imitation of a whimsical smile.

"Dig down," Grey muttered. "Here." He pointed to a seemingly random patch of the floor. Tycho nodded, then bounded forward with a hop. In seconds, a lengthy tunnel stretched from the labyrinth into more ambiguously-deep darkness.

"Whah--there's a cavern!" Tycho's voice echoed up, his words muddled by distance.

Without a word of response, Grey leapt into the tunnel without an ounce of hesitation. A bead of sweat fell down Barkhad's temple. 'Who was this guy before COTD?' he wondered, just as he had many times previous. 'Who were the brown-robes before this started?'

"Boons don't make you that way," Kisserin murmured in assent, as though she could read Barkhad's thoughts from the bead of sweat alone. In truth, she heard his heartbeat and felt him clench her scales just as she, too, felt the urge to burrow away. "He has no hesitation. None." Were Kisserin human, she would have shuddered; however, as a snake, she lay motionless upon the floor.

"Let's go," Barkhad said after clearing his throat, his voice filled with grudging resolve. "Besides, I'm curious what the jerboa found."

---

"Well, this place is certainly different," Bath observed, his eyes taking in the reformed city of Illusta. "Whitesun seems a fitting name." The gold and red of the city adorned the white mountain like leafy brushstrokes. In actuality, Bath thought a better name for the city was Autumn, but conceded that Whitesun still made sense.

He then looked to Juserin. As Bath's gaze found the verdora, Juseerin subconsciously bowed his head. A moment later, Juserin's body followed suit as he intentionally bowed in supplication. "Dragon," he said before turning his head toward Lisa to say, "Church."

"Waymaster Juserin, is this city's aesthetically to your liking?" Lisa asked.

The verdora nodded. "My stunned expression should be proof enough." Of course, considering the fact that Lisa grew the city herself, Juserin would never have dared to say anything else. Fortunately, Whitesun really was beautiful: Lisa's experience with Basalith, as well as her boons, enabled her to create a both functional and majestic city.

"You've already received your first boons; good," Bath noted, looking towards Lisa. "So he understands?" Bath asked without any context. However, Lisa knew exactly what he was talking about.

"He's prepared to assume the mantle," Lisa replied, smiling softly. "I told him of Basalith, the first dragonleaf city; I told him of the peacekeeper kursi and the quasi-sapients."

Bath nodded, while Juserin cringed: Lisa had explained everything while he was receiving his boons. Seeing the verdora's expression, Bath's mouth quirked into a barely-discernable grin.

"Juserin, we are preparing you to lead this world, and others, should you desire," Bath said flatly. He didn't think Juserin would mind if he...restated a few of the main points Lisa brought up. "On Illudis, the first step is training your kursi as peacekeepers to ease the transition and alleviate tensions. The second step is distributing the city-seeds and spreading COTD across this planet. The last step is fostering the growth of all sapients on the planet."

Lisa pursed her lips slightly as Bath made a glaring omission. 'All sapients?' "By all sapients, he refers to the sapients who survive the bird purge," Lisa clarified. "I outlined the process for your just a few hours ago," she said, somewhat frustrated by Juserin's clueless expression.

'How is he so easy to read?' she thought bitterly to herself. 'He's an alien politician, and yet I read him like he's an open book.' While Lisa didn't want Juserin to lie or mislead her, she would've appreciated it if the verdora at least acted like he knew what she was talking about.

"As a reminder, the birds will come on the eve of the second month," Lisa enumerated. "At this point, the parasites the Dragon placed into the water will have matured and tapped into the brains of all sapients. Based on the goings-ons over the two months, such as violent activity against another sapient for the purpose of self-pleasure, the parasites will emanate a certain pheromone. The birds will hunt down sapients surrounded by the pheromone; the level of the birds' attack depends on the amount of secreted pheromone. Understood?"

Juserin nodded his head slowly, as though he had understood absolutely nothing at all. "Understood." He paused, as though contemplating a pressing problem. "By what title should I address you both?"

Lisa recalled, with a hint of nostalgia, the many titles the leaders of the factions had called them. A small smile came over her face. "Whatever pleases you. Humans often call us by the title, 'Magnificence,' 'Eminence,' or 'Radiance.'"

Bath didn't wait for Juserin to respond to the information. "Now that you have a landshaper boon," Bath began, "you should begin restructuring the city."

"In what way?"

"You have complete power over this city," Bath reminded him, "and you should reorganize it to serve ideal ends, such as those specified by Lisa."

"We both assume you have extensive experience running cities, at least from behind the scenes," Lisa interjected. "We trust that you can oversee the city without our assistance." Lisa really wasn't worried: 'If Dean could figure it out--or that teen girl we sent to Russia--I'm sure a several-hundred-year-old kursi can manage.'

"Of course, Eminence. This city will be a model of excellence; after all, it stemmed from your seed," Juserin flattered. Lisa glanced at Bath out of the corner of her eye. 'A literal seed, at that.'

Bath nodded, then floated over to Lisa's side. "We'll return in a day to view your progress. Send all nonbelievers to the lake just beyond the violet grassland--we'll be there to assuage their doubts. Moreover, the doubters are the ones with brains: they're the ones upon whom we'll bestow city-seeds."

Having explained everything, Bath and Lisa took their leave, flying off towards the purple grass spanning the horizon and bordering a clear-blue lake. There, Bath wasted no time in constructing an enormous throne that he levitated ten feet over the water. The throne--hewn from the same white rock of the mountain--looked as though it could easily fit a house-sized giant. The space from armrest to armrest was approximately ten feet, while the throne's back extended for eighty feet into the air. He carved intricate designs into the throne, personally using sharpened digits to etch the stone. Finally, he studded the throne with glimmering precious gems.

Were Bath to depart the immediate 3.6-mile area, the throne would disappear; however, for impressing the locals, the temporary throne would suffice. As soon as Bath finished the first throne, he duplicated it so that two identical thrones lay suspended above the water.

Lisa walked over to the throne on her right, then sat down. 'Without all my boons, this stone would hurt like a bitch,' she realized. The throne lacked any kind of cushion or comfort-providing amenities. Lisa recognized the utility of doing away with such luxuries: the austerity of the thrones--excepting their ornate inscriptions and gems--supported the claim that Lisa and Bath were deities. 'Zeus certainly didn't need a comfy cushion to support his ass,' Lisa reasoned.

"So we're just going to wait here?" Lisa asked, somewhat dreading the monotony of sitting in the same place for a full day.

Bath smirked. "You make it sound so boring."

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it? People come, we give them a city-seed, done."

Bath snorted, face incredulous. "People come, we convince them we're really gods, then we give them a city-seed." Bath's mouth quirked up into a lopsided grin. "I think you'll enjoy the convincing part."

Lisa sighed. "Why?"

Bath's eyes glinted with a devilish intent. "Because you still have so much room for improvement."

---

At the center of the cavern was a human-like sapient. The sapient's legs were crossed and its eyes were shut, giving all the distinct impression that it was meditating. While the dark rendered the creature's features unclear, their general outlines were all visible to Grey and Tycho.

"I can't believe the treasure is a person," Tycho twittered. Remembering that Grey was behind him, Tycho smashed his lips together. 'I thought it was gonna be a real treasure, like vast riches, or a priceless library.'

Grey's expression was completely neutral as he stepped forward towards the meditating figure. "He isn't alive," he murmured. 'No heart beat or respiration,' he noted. Then, sensing through the Earth that Barkhad and Kisserin had arrived, Grey grabbed a small flashlight from his pocket and turned it on.

Barkhad looked on in mute horror. 'What the hell is it?' The meditating figure was incredibly bizarre: it had seven digits and four eyes. At the same time, practically everything else about the figure was outwardly identical to that of a human. Barkhad's first instinct was to dispatch this...abomination.

"It's so peaceful," Kisserin whispered, her breath streaming into Barkhad's back. He shuddered involuntarily.

"Wait, he had a flashlight all along?" Barkhad menaced, realizing that he was only able to see the meditating sapient because of Grey's illuminating light. "He's using it now to see the freaky alien?"

Just then, as Grey entered within a meter-long radius of the inanimate sapient, its eyes opened, revealing stunning, bright-green, luminescent eyes. As though the eyes signified the entity's awakening, neon green lines began to spread out over its exposed skin. They progressed in jagged, straight lines with ninety-degree turns.

"Welcome, sapients: twenty-six thousand years past, my master, Ludwig, left me in this remote cavern. In compliance with his orders, I will give all here good fortune."

"It's a robot; heavens," Barkhad hiss-whispered.

"Beneath me is the Sizikguron Arc, my master's personal library."

Tycho looked to Grey with a knowing smile. 'So it was a library after all; I was right to go adventuring with the brown-robe!"

"Why did your master leave a library on this deserted planet?" Grey asked, face tilted to the side.

"Deserted? Ah, perhaps it is deserted by now; none of you are Fezosisn, and are undoubtedly travelers." The android cocked its head upwards, as though remembering a time long past. "My master left this library to the dark: I don't think he expected any to find it."

Grey narrowed his eyes. "How are we communicating?" The android was, to all present, speaking Arabic.

"Translator."

"A translator?" Barkhad muttered, not believing the simple explanation. "Does this robot have access to the 'intergalactic internet'? Humans weren't speaking Arabic twenty-thousand years back."

The android's slit of a mouth curved up into a small grin. "Back then, you were speaking something close enough," it replied, addressing Barkhad's nearly inaudible comment.

Grey glanced back towards Barkhad before returning his gaze to the android. "And you've been listening to us," he guessed, "for the past few kilometers."

The android's smile widened. "My master has found an astute beneficiary." As he finished speaking, a click sounded out from the floor. Suddenly, at the center of the room, a green light flared out, splitting the room in two. "Beneath this is the Sizikguron Arc. My master was, understand, eccentric: while he likely never expected any to find his library, he spent his final years preparing it for an eventual successor. Treat this library as though it is priceless, for that is exactly what it is."

"What is your name?" Grey asked, stepping toward an expanding gap between the green lines on the floor.

"AI Ninety-Seven," it replied. "Creativity was my master's strong suit."

Grey studied the android, appraising its emotionless facade. Then, without provocation, the man erupted into booming laughter. Barkhad gave Kisserin a nervous look, while Tycho's tiny jaw dropped to reveal long front teeth.

"It's happening," Barkhad whispered. He turned over to Kisserin, glaring. "Will you say something!?"

"I prefer this personality," Kisserin muttered, her voice no longer restrained. "Now we can talk openly."

"But he's..." Barkhad appeared to try, and fail, at finding proper words.

"You're a real character," Grey began, his voice completely different from before. "Real funny. The master left? Deserted you?" Grey chuckled darkly. "Cruel, isn't he?" Even though Grey's words seemed to address the android, he uttered them as though speaking to himself.

The android's mouth popped open. "Cruelty cannot apply to nonsapient artificial lifeforms," the android replied simply.

"Brainwashed," Grey shook his head sadly, murmuring the word as though nobody else could hear. Without further words, he walked over to the android's side. Then, with a jerk of his arm, he pulled the android behind him toward the floor gap.

"I'm supposed to stay in this room," the android exclaimed. It struggled, but was unable to pull free of Grey's vice grip.

"He's rescuing you," Kisserin stated flatly.

"Don't even try to break free," Barkhad added. A moment after he spoke, Grey dragged the newly-distraught android into the Sizikguron Arc.

Tycho watched this scene with the most confounded expression. 'But...he's laughing? And it's so loud...'

Kisserin, seeing the confusion on the jerboa's face, decided to step in. "He's cracked," she explained. "He went from the Watcher to the Hero."

Tycho almost couldn't believe his ears. "Watcher? Hero?"

"It's what we named them," Barkhad clarified. "His personas." Observing that the jerboa appeared just as confused as before, he added, "forget it. He's crazy; just don't question anything. Literally."

"Hey, he isn't crazy," the jerboa muttered halfheartedly. 'He took us on this adventure, after all.'

Kisserin and Barkhad gave each other knowing looks. "It's a good kind of crazy: the predictable kind, with rules," Barkhad explained. "With the Watcher, don't speak. With the Hero, don't question."

"Any day now," Grey grumbled up from the Arc, addressing them for the first time since switching personas.

"On our way," Kisserin hissed down. She slithered towards the gap only a hair slower than Tycho, hauling Barkhad behind her. The chasm beyond was a fathomless black, devoid of all light except for that of the gap above.

"Moving forward...numerous clusters...books? Data?" The peacekeeper mumbled under his breath as he advanced forward. After the tenth step, a brilliant flash bathed the surroundings in white luminescence. As it faded, everyone could clearly see the first section of the Sizikguron Arc.

"It's a bedroom," Barkhad breathed. Disregarding the light--and the bedroom--Grey paced forward, parting the room's exit archway for whatever enticed him beyond.