"The god Mellontikos?", Cale gave out questioningly, realizing that the other dragons were similarly shocked. The name of the god of the future kept coming up, but Cale didn't understand acoustically, in what context. What puzzled him more, however, was the fact that the black dragon in his insight was supposed to have been a god. Stunned, Cale stared up at the great dragon, which returned his gaze dully.

"So it means the gods are coming back?", Fengari spoke up. She seemed very enthusiastic, but the leader reluctantly turned away.

"You have your answer. Now go... ", Palaios gave dryly and disappeared back into his cave. "... and the rest can leave too!"

He shouted his instruction so loudly that the ground shook. Instantly, the dragons broke away from the ground in fright and rose into the sky, quickly emptying the platform. Only Chioni and Fengari remained, so Cale turned to the dragoness behind him.

"What happened to the gods?", he inquired cautiously. Cale didn't understand all the commotion. Of course, he knew the Three Gods Faith and knew quite a bit about the gods, but he had never thought that they really existed. Despite the fact that his own rebirth spoke for the existence.

"We don't know, from one moment to the next they just disappeared", explained the white dragon, to Cale's surprise and lay down on the ground in front of him. Her bright eyes, meanwhile, continued to linger on Cale. "With Parelthon and Mellontikos... it definitely happened more often that they came and went when they wanted. But the problem is Parousia, the goddess of the present. I knew her, you should know. Parousia lived since the beginning of time, thousands of years before we were all born. It seemed that a world without her would not exist, and yet it happened. She disappeared and with her the other gods. The only thing that is left of them is their mana, but it is also decreasing. To us, it always seemed as if the gods had turned their backs on us."

"That means I'll never be able to talk to Mellontikos?", Cale stated regretfully. At this point, he simply ignored the term 'god' and focused on what he had originally come here to do.

"That's the question. You seem to be an Apostle chosen by Mellontikos himself. Thanks to his abilities, you should have been given a glimpse of the future, which in turn means they still exist."

Only now could he understand the excitement of the dragons. Because of his vision, the dragons assumed that the gods would return. But why had they left in the first place, and why did the god Mellontikos even show up in this insight? What exactly did he want from Cale?

"Wait, does that mean the other gods have Apostles too?", Cale asked.

"Of course. Each of them is capable of giving living beings their gifts. Mellontikos is just the one who makes the most use of this abilities. He is the one who is always trying to protect the world from coming dangers."

Cale looked down at his hands as he realized what this meant. Some High-Magicians have seen the past, some the present, but most have seen the future. Did that mean that each of them had been selected by one of the three gods? And if that was really true, why?

Abruptly, Cale became nervous as he realized something else.

"You said you knew the godness Parousia. Was she also a dragon?"

"Parousia had taken the form of a dragon, yes. You humans worshiped her as the Dragon Queen", Chioni explained calmly. In contrast, Cale was struck by the blow.

His first death had been caused by the goddess Parousia, and at the same moment the god Mellontikos had made him an Apostle. Was that the reason he was revived again and again? Had Mellontikos not been happy about this and therefore tried to keep his Apostle alive? But then why had they all disappeared and why had Mellontikos never explained what he wanted from him? Why did he leave Cale on his own for almost 300 years?

"Who exactly... is Velence, then, whom you spoke of just now?", Cale inquired cautiously, while in the back of his mind he was still processing the information about the gods. They really existed?

"Velence is the leader of the dragons, or at least he was until the gods abandoned us and there was a falling out between... us siblings", Chioni explained calmly, looking almost mortified at the statement.

"The gods...", Cale began nervously, looking into Chioni's silver eyes. "... did they disappeared seventeen years ago?"

"Ho, listen to that. And I thought you are stupid. So you felt it too", Palaios spoke up again. Cale held his head as he sighed softly.

What was this mess he found himself in? So his current situation was the work of gods? The three gods Parelthon, Parousia and Mellontikos? One of these gods was responsible for his death and the other for his becoming an Apostle? And after their disappearance, there was strife among the dragons? Was that the reason they had... left the island in the first place? They were not rebels or refugees, but quarreling siblings? What... had happened?

"I don't understand", he finally admitted, running a hand through its hair. The gods, the Apostles, the insights, the waves of attacks, his rebirth. Everything was connected, only Cale couldn't find the beginning and the end. Everything was interconnected and interdependent, as if in an eternal cycle. "When I met the Dragon Queen, she had killed me. All this time, I've been assuming that she's the one who sends the creatures after us humans. And now you're telling me she's been gone for seventeen years?"

After the statement, Cale looked up and caught the white dragoness turning to him in surprise.

"How can you be dead and yet alive?", Fengari interjected instead, stepping up next to Cale so that he could now see her body as well.

"Have you ever heard of Mellontikos handing over the gift of rebirth to anyone?", Chioni softly chimed in as Palaios slowly emerged from the darkness again.

"No, never. It is a privilege that the gods reserve only for themselves."

"Do you think that's why Parousia disappeared? Because Mellontikos interfered too much within the present?", Chioni inquired.

"I can't imagine that. Even if that's the case, her existence wouldn't just disappear from the world like this", Palaios replied thoughtfully, keeping his serious gaze on Cale. "I rather believe that it is us who have disappeared from their world."

Almost simultaneously, the two dragons turned their attention to Cale, who flinched nervously. None of the four present produced another sentence. Cale was not the only one who had unanswered questions. The dragons had them as well. What had happened? Where were the gods and what were their intentions?

"Allow me to ask a question", Cale spoke up, pulling down his mouth guard. When he had set out to find the dragons, he had definitely not expected things to turn out this way. First and foremost was the fact that he was... that he was actually considering asking a dangerous question right now.

"I'm listening?"

"Are... the dragons attacking the humans?"

"Why should we?", Palaois admitted, almost amused, as he raised his head. "We dragons are strictly forbidden to come into contact with you humans. Besides, we don't really care about humans... as long as they don't attack us first."

Cale closed his eyes. He felt truly stupid. The whole picture was starting to come together on its own. His own death and the people's mistaken belief that the dragons were the evil of the world had left him completely blind. From the beginning, humans were the catalyst for everything. If Cale had not come to the Holy Island with bad intentions, would the Dragon Queen have killed them in the first place? What would his life have been like if he had conversed respectfully with Parousia? With the goddess of the present, whom even the dragons respected?

"I think coming here was a good decision. I'm beginning to understand what's going on", Cale lifted, running his hand under his hair to free it from the sweaty jacket. "When the Dragon Queen killed me, the god Mellontikos must have interfered and sent me back in time. Only this is not the same timeline, but a completely new timeline. Another Apostle once said to me that we might live in a kind of duplicate of the original world. However, the only thing that has not been copied are the gods themselves."

"You are an interesting specimen of your species, I'll give you that. Are you really being reincarnated?", the large dragon gruffly admitted, causing Cale to nod.

"Yes. When I die, I wake up in my 5-year-old body, which overlaps with the 17 years since the gods disappeared."

"By the three gods", Fengari spoke up, and at the same moment the tall dragon began to laugh loudly. It was a strange sound that could in no way be compared to the laughter of a human being, but the rhythmic nature and movement suggested that Palaios was amused.

"An Apostle of Mellontikos... being reborn. I think we live in really strange times. That I would ever witness such a thing", the big, dark dragon interjected, stepping forward and rubbing his head against the white dragon. They seemed to be a pair, something Cale was only now really realizing. "Then we still have hope."

"Not to take away your joy, but if I knew how to end the cycle, I would have done it long ago", Cale immediately quelled the dragons' glimmer of hope.

Abruptly, Palaios stopped in his application and detached himself from the white dragoness. He glanced at Cale and then back at Chioni, but made no comment. The black-haired mage guessed that the statement did not please him much.

"That's enough, Palaios. We can mess with the Thormods even without the help of the Goddess, now that there is a possibility that they didn't leave us behind on purpose", the white dragoness gave her word and rubbed her head against the big dragon's head. Cale got scared at the same moment.

Had he just caused the dragons to start a war?

"Who are the Thormods?", he nervously chimed in, and could feel the big dragon getting angry. Fengari seemed to be feeling the same way, as Cale could feel her mana kicking in.

"Bastards. Horrible people who don't...", Palaios began to curse. Chioni, however, spread her wing in front of the great dragon's face, interrupting his outburst of rage. Instead, she stepped closer to Cale and straightened up.

"The Thormods are a group of people who some of us would rather see dead. They gave me this thing, and I haven't been able to use my abilities ever since."

The delicate dragoness lifted one of her front feet and let Cale look at the white scales on her chest. Immediately he saw the black spot, which he knew all too well. It was a marking.

The mark of a Kormandent.