After a few minutes or so, two Second Shadows were standing right outside a certain room, their eyes fixed on a certain artefact. It was quite the bulky item, and the two of them had “died” quite a few times to bring it out to the doorway like this.

“Ready?” Claud asked.

“Whenever you are,” Lily replied, her voice distant. The Second Shadow muffled all senses, as usual, but the two of them knew that this would probably be the final, successful attempt at stealing this artefact. While they didn’t quite know what it did, Claud was certain that it was an artefact that could store and display data and information.

“Alright. Brace ourselves.”

Claud and Lily repositioned themselves slowly, making sure to not touch the artefact until the very last moment. Touching it was equivalent to death; they had proven this principle enough times.

“Say, what happens if it turns out that the part about killing whoever it touches isn’t actually limited to the room?” Claud asked.

“Isn’t the answer obvious?” Lily asked. “Use your newfound storage ring and take it that way!”

“…While that sounds feasible, it also sounds very risky, doesn’t it?” Claud replied. “Let’s hope that it’s really limited to the room, though.”

He lowered himself into a squat. Since he was occupying the Second Shadow, Claud didn’t really care about falling over after pulling the thing out really hard. It wasn’t as if his real back would be injured, although this was quite the dangerous state of mind to be employing.

Mentally reminding himself to be careful, Claud took a deep breath. “On the count of three, then. Three, two, one…now!”

With a terrific tug, Claud pulled the artefact out of the room, and Lily, who was waiting for the whole thing to clear the door, immediately picked it up and made a break for it. After she whooshed past him, Claud rolled to his feet clumsily, before picking up the pace and chasing after her immediately.

The alarm bells ringing in his head were doing a very good job at justifying his actions as he raced away from the building. Although he was in his Second Shadow, Claud didn’t want to lose this avatar of sorts and waste a whole bunch of mana again. His job was to pick up the artefact if Lily’s Second Shadow was destroyed for some reason; to die pointlessly from the growing sense of danger behind him would delay them by a day or something.

Without warning, the roaring, quivering sense of dread stilled and vanished like a soap bubble.

“I’m out! Bringing the artefact over right now!” Lily’s cheery voice, though muted, smacked him in the face and made Claud grin.

“Nice,” Claud replied. “Alright, I’m going to get my shadow to return—”

The interior of the building darkened, and without warning, the sense of dulled, muted sensations that plagued him whenever he used the Second Shadow vanished.

A white world rose up all around him, and Claud felt his heart pound. Something had gone wrong; whatever mechanism that was behind this had managed to pull his actual consciousness from the safety net that was the Second Shadow.

Shivers ran down his spine as a massive presence engulfed him, one that seemed to surpass even Lesser Half. His mind seemed to come to a standstill a heartbeat later, as an enormous snakelike figure coiled in mid-air and let out a massive roar.

The coiling, intense figure shrunk down to the size of a human a few seconds later, and a shrouded figure appeared in front of Claud.

“Who are you?” the shrouded figure asked.

“Me?” Claud’s tongue moved on its own. “I appeared here without warning.”

“You must be a thief, then,” the figure replied. “What did you steal?”

“I’m an explorer of ancient ruins.” Claud’s mind raced. “I took a…weird box-like thing, and the building went mad. Made it out, but then I suddenly just popped up here for some reason. What is this place? What am I doing here?”

The figure paused. “Who knows? Even I am not too sure who I am now.”

“…What happened?” Claud asked. “Do you need any help?”

A bout of laughter followed. “I like you, boy. You are very interesting. You are the first person I’ve met that would offer aid even when you’re in such a circumstance. Is it fearlessness? Or is it confidence that your plight will ultimately be resolved?”

Claud looked at the shrouded figure. “I like to think it’s the latter.”

Laughing, the figure turned away. “I am but a fragment of a fragment. There is little to actually think about. My days are peaceful, and I care not about what happens. But…I have a question. Where did you come from?”

“Where did I come from?” Claud asked. “As in, before I came here?”

“Correct.”

“It’s the Celestia Ruins,” Claud replied. “Above the Nihila Sovereignty of the Grandis Empire.”

The figure abruptly stilled. “The Nihila Sovereignty…of the Grandis Empire? And this is a set of ruins, hmm? It seems that…I was successful, at least. At the very least, I can roughly guess what this place is.”

“Okay, so what is this place?” Claud asked.

The figure looked at him, a sense of amusement radiating off his shrouded figure. “We may be in the same space visually, but all is not as it seems. However, if you came to the Celestia Ruins to explore…I should warn you. The place you came from is almost certainly a superimposed reality. A place made from itself and its various iterations, made from looping cycles over and over again.”

Claud narrowed his eyes. “Can you elaborate?”

“Are you sure you want me to?” the figure replied, a hint of warning in his words. “Your mind will give way under the weight of this knowledge.”

“…Tell me what I can know, at least.”

“You would make me go this far?” the figure guffawed. “Worry not, little one. The Celestia Ruins represent a possibility fixed in stone, but this possibility has not content with its fixed fate. With its will alone, this possibility has resisted for a dozen millennia, maybe more.”

You might not even have said anything, right? You’re just making the whole thing sound even more cryptic somehow! Tucking that complaint into the back of his mind, Claud looked around the place. “So…um, can I leave?”

“...Sure. I’m not sure how you came in, but there is a clear trail marking your entrance here,” the figure replied. “However, before you leave, I shall…help you one time.”

“Help me?” Claud asked. “Why?”

“Our meeting here is…a miracle of sorts.” The figure gestured with his left arm slowly. “It will almost certainly never happen again…and things like this happen for a reason. The ripples in fate are spreading with the Axiom’s passing, and one of those ripples have connected the two of us. Therefore, I will offer you help.”

“I do not understand.”

“Neither do I expect you to,” the figure replied. “It’ll be disturbing if you did. Now, you may have seen the final moments of this Celestia, yes? What strikes you the most?”

Claud paused, and the vision he saw rushed into his head. The silvery hulks, the three beings in the middle, and—

“That golden light.”

“Yes.” The figure sighed. “That golden light. It is the light of beginnings, the radiance of a mandated creation. For many, it will be a blessing, a promise of salvation. For you, however, it will be a curse, a promise of damnation. Be wary and prepared, little one. It will come for you. Do not rest on your laurels, and never relax. With a single thought, your world can fall apart.”

As those words thundered through his head, Claud felt his head shake, and his vision blurred for a moment. The world around him began to fall apart, revealing a familiar darkness.

The voice continued to speak, echoing in his ears even as the familiar sight of the plaza began to materialise in his eyes. “All things have their own destinies. Whether you defy it or abide by it, your end will come all the same. Good luck, little one.”

Silence fell in his head, and the muted darkness came apart. The sensations of Claud’s barrier-bed and that of a metal band around his head came smashing into him a moment later, and he let out a groan.

“Claud?” A set of warm hands removed the Second Shadow from him instantly. “What happened? Why are you so pale?”

Claud raised his hands. “I’m fine…somewhat, anyway. I just had a very weird encounter, that’s all. Just now, something incredible happened to me. I think I saw a survivor of the Celestia Ruins, and that survivor was probably on the level of the Coloured Gods. Or at least Lesser Half.”

Lily looked at him. “You aren’t pulling my leg, huh.”

“Wish I was.” Claud hugged his knees. “Right, what happened to the artefact? Let’s deal with that first, and then I’ll tell you what I saw.”

“Mhm!”