"Why exactly do I have to work with you?" I sneered, glaring at Roselia while walking through the inconsistencies and paradoxes within the Contradictory Sphere.
"It's Miss Veridielle's orders. Do you truly want to cross her?"
"...no, absolutely not."
She scoffed, then walked in front.
"As expected, and it is not as if I would... touch you while we are alone. Although I do want to—"
"Shut it." I immediately shot back, then continued with our investigation.
I guess... this is part of maintaining the stability of everything else...
My eyes drifted over the illogicalities that surrounded us, eventually coming to land on the elegant honey-blonde haired woman in front.
I don't like the idea of working with her though.
I clicked my tongue, but continued nonetheless. We walked through the Contradictory Sphere, where space folded wrong and cause-and-effect tangled like threads cut from different stories. Every step landed on something that existed only long enough for my foot to touch it.
"Everything seems... abnormal..."
Well, that said. It is called the 'Contradictory Sphere' for a reason.
Then I remembered when I had been here not too long ago.
Those amalgamations... beings and entities that should not have any structure or definitive form in the first place... had tried to become something, which completely violated the Contradictory Sphere's nature and its inhabitants.
The memory crawled under my skin. Things here weren't supposed to change. At least, not on their own.
I stopped, immediately reaching into Roselia's subconscious.
"Come back. Don't go too far. Even as an Outer God, you're not completely invulnerable."
Roselia froze mid-step. She sensed it too, whatever was brushing against the Sphere from the inside, before she flashed back to my side.
"So that's what's happening here, huh?" she murmured.
The landscape lurched, shifting in ways even the Contradictory Sphere shouldn't. And at that moment, I understood.
"Things like this don't just happen without a trigger. Those amalgamations I encountered before would never appear—"
"Without a third party involved, right?" she finished for me.
I nodded and closed my eyes, searching for the source.
"Only Fragment bearers can reshape or rewrite a being's existence," I muttered. "The inhabitants of this place don't even align with any coherent existence to begin with..."
Roselia's gaze dropped, deep in thought.
"Which means... whatever is stirring the Sphere in its entirety may not be an Outer God at all," I continued, "but something closer to Anathasia's existence."
Roselia fell silent at that, troubled, but trying not to show it.
"In that case," she murmured, "isn't this already out of our reach? Assuming your hypothesis is correct."
"It could be. But until we have evidence supporting it, it will remain a hypothesis." I slowly opened my eyes, before turning away and leaving Roselia behind.
Reality folded at my step, and in the next moment, I found myself standing at the same lattice of bubbles I maintained. The Collective Sphere.
Still nothing... even now...
"You might at least warn me before vanishing," Roselia chimed behind me, then I felt an arm suddenly wrap around my waist, making me turn around immediately and pushing her off.
"Hands off. I'm thinking here."
But instead of listening, she pressed herself against my back, her arms looping around my waist like a snare tightening.
"Such a killjoy... lighten up, will you?"
"You're being too complacent about this," I hissed, trying to pry her arms free-yet her grip didn't budge an inch.
"How cold. Didn't I take you in? Didn't I take good care of you in your earliest years~?"
There it was again-that saccharine sweetness that always crawled under my skin. Unease. Disgust. Something old and ugly shifting awake inside me.
"Don't go there," I warned. "Don't."
Roselia's body stiffened... then softened again, her chin settling lightly on my shoulder as I drifted deeper into thought.
"That being said... I suppose this will carry on for who knows how long." I whispered, crossing my arms as I sighed.
Roselia stayed silent while she made herself comfortable by using me like some sort of... bolster pillow? Nonetheless, I couldn't go back to Anathasia without any significant information to give.
But something was telling me that Anathasia knew more than she was letting on. As if... she was deliberately trying to withhold something, waiting... but whatever it was, It could tip the delicate balance I've been keeping until now.
Back on Earth
The First Outer God, with all her powers and authority, looked at the flat screen tv with a mix of irritation and confusion as she tried to beat the other on a one-on-one in a vehicle combat video game.
"You're freaking cheating! How did your bullets even pass through that wall?!" she complained, pointing an accusing finger at the boy sitting next to her.
"Bullets pass through buildings all the time... it's a semi-realistic video game, remember?" The First Outer God visibly flinched at the boy's words, then turned to focus back on the game while smashing the controller's buttons.
"I'll show you..."
I'll just rewrite the script a little to-
"And no using your Outer God abilities and whatnot." the boy added, his voice flat.
Anathasia's thumb hovered over a button on the controller, her teeth clenched before letting out an indignant huff.
"Fine... but you do the dishes if I win." she murmured.
"Sure, well, if you win, of course." Kyle replied, a small smirk tugging on his lips before casually—
"There, gotcha!" he shouted, his digital tank's shell piercing through Anathasia's, making hers go up in flames.
She froze in utter disbelief, like her brain needed a full system reboot as the controller fell from her hands, clattering next to her.
"No... way... I got owned by a guy who doesn't even understand my existence completely..." she muttered, then tried pulling her hair in frustration.
"I don't wanna do the dishes! It's so icky and... I just don't want to!" she exclaimed, Kyle watched as he leaned back against the couch, arms crossed.
"Sorry love, a win is a win."
She immediately lifted her head, glaring daggers at him.
"Wipe that smug look off your face... you won cause I wasn't being serious."
"Woman, you lost twenty times."
Anathasia opened her mouth, closed it, then pointed at the TV like it had personally betrayed her.
"This... this thing was lagging!"
"We shared the same screen..."
Her hands balled into fists, her face looking like a kettle on the verge of exploding.
"This disrespect... I won't tolerate-"
"Yes, yes. The dishes are waiting, so do a good job, okay?" Kyle smiled, not reaching his eyes as he stood up and reached over to pat her in the head.
"That being said, you still have that teaching demo that needs work. I'll help, so just do the dishes while I make your PowerPoint presentation, alright?" Kyle added, his hand still stroking her hair as she gradually calmed down, though still sulking.
"Alright... but how do you do that exactly?"
"Anathasia-were you even paying attention in class?"
"...define 'paying attention.'"
"...you didn't listen."
"...no."
Kyle let out a long sigh, dragging a hand down his face.
How is this supposed to be an Outer God...
"Hey, I never said I was perfect," Anathasia muttered. "Besides, the last thing I did in front was that presentation a few weeks ago. Teaching demos have these... learner-centered teacher-centered thingies I'm too lazy to understand, so-"
...She read my mind again. This girl...
He flicked her forehead. She yelped.
"And that's why you should listen. Omniscient or not, it clearly didn't help."
Anathasia lowered her gaze, as if shrinking until she didn't have to deal with the disappointed look in his eyes.
"I... I'll be doing the dishes now then..." she mumbled, then turned away before walking off to the kitchen.
Somewhere within the Ruins of the Eschatological Constant's Ascension
From a forgotten ending, one erased by the Loomkeeper herself. Something stirred.
A remnant.
A fracture.
A shape born from a future that no longer existed.
It clawed its way out of the discarded threads, weaving itself into a form... disturbingly familiar.
Not the Loomkeeper.
But close.
Close enough to make the empty world shudder.
"Anathasia... ----"
The voice cracked, splintered, searching.
Loose strands of narrative wrapped around it, binding into the silhouette of a woman.
A shadow of what should never have survived.
"Ah... Kyle..." it whispered, touching its cheek as dark masses spiraled and tightened around its body.
"Wait for me..."
A smile, wide, tender, and wrong curved on its face.
"We can be together again."