Ozzy walked before a large cage with giant shark-like creatures swimming behind him. He pointed with his staff towards them behold, "the trials of the realm that lies before the unknown. I have called you both for a debate for my amusement. May you hope you can amuse me for your very afterlifes depend on it. Before him stood two figures, the Sultan Saladin Ayyubi (d. 1193) and Imam al-Ghazali (d. 1111). The Saracens settled down in this other world, this world of mirrors and oceans. Around them was a timeline abode full of magic, where time clicked eternally.Ozzy continued: "Here is the topic of the debate gentlemen." Topic: "The Role of Philosophy and Political Power in Defending theos" Imam al-Ghazālī opened:
*"O noble Sultan, Islam's strength lies in the purification of the soul and the clarity of the creed. The enemies of our faith—whether philosophers within or Crusaders without—are best countered by the sword of knowledge. It is not mere military conquest, but spiritual reform and intellectual defense that preserve the dīn. I refuted the Greek-influenced falāsifah in my Tahāfut al-Falāsifah, because they introduced confusion into the hearts of believers. Our path must be the revival (ihyāʾ) of religion from within."
Ozzy: "That's quite the argument, I hope you have counter for that Sultan, you're going to need it."
Sultan Saladin responded in earnest:
"O great Ḥujjat al-Islām, your words are like arrows of light, but the Ummah bleeds under the boots of Crusaders. Spiritual reform is vital—but without political will and military strength, even the soundest theology is silenced by force. I restored Sunni Islam in Egypt not by debate alone, but by dismantling the Fatimid regime. I fight to clear the path for your scholars to teach. Is not the sword sometimes a necessary servant of the pen?"
al-Ghazālī replies:
"Indeed, the sword defends the borders, but the pen defends the soul. The falāsifah, though not wielding weapons, corrupted belief by exalting reason over revelation. My concern is not only who rules the Muslims, but how they think. A ruler may establish justice, but only sound theology can guide hearts to God. Governance should follow sacred knowledge, not shape it."
Saladin challenged:
"And yet, O Imām, without stability, knowledge is trampled. I built madrasas for your teachings to thrive, and I promoted Ashʿarī scholars to counter sectarianism. But tell me—when the Franks besiege Jerusalem, should I send them a treatise or an army? Without power, who will protect the Ummah's scholars?"
al-Ghazālī said in response, with humility:
"I do not deny the virtue of just rule. Indeed, the caliphate and sultanate serve the sharīʿah. But power must be bridled by wisdom. I only warn that the intoxication of authority may lead one to forget the Hereafter. Be a Sultan, yes—but also a servant of the Ultimate King (al-Mālik al-Ḥaqq)."
Ozzy replied: Now it's time for the Final exchange:
Saladin bowed slightly:
"May my sword guard the realm so that your pen may enlighten it."
al-Ghazālī smiled:
"And may your rule uphold justice so that truth may blossom under its shade."
Ozzy laughed and smiled: "Thank you gentlemen, but I'm quite disappointed." Ghazali and Saladin were shocked they looked towards the white rabbit who stood before them. "You claim you only fear your God and not death yet you're shaking in your boots. The debate was stellar, but you're hypocrisy is infinitely irritating." Behind Ozzy there were footsteps, Ozzy slowly turned his head. "Ah Qora it's been some time, is your father aware that you're here." Qora shook her head, "No intend to keep it that way Sustainer." Ozzy laughed: "I could do without the titles, just call me Ozzy, daughter of the King of the Apollonian Deities of the Northern Polarity. I supposed I'm the hypocrite for I just bestowed a title upon you. What do you intend to speak to me about, can't you see I'm engaging in my leisure time."
"I insist that I need to speak to you." Ozzy sighed: "You shouldn't be talking to me at all. The fact that you've spoken to me at least a few hundred times in your life is a great crime against the law of causality. But I suppose you think such an action is only slightly heterodox rather than completely un-orthodox." Ozzy turned around: "Is it about the breaking of the Sovereign and the elapse in the current timeline?" Qora nodded: "I figured you would know as much." Ozzy chuckled: "I'm well aware, and I've decided to aid in the collapse of the timeline at least to a certain degree, I'm simply testing the waters. Besides, my master wants me to challenge your ilk in the Apollus." Qora was shocked: "But I thought you didn't know your Lord existed with certainty, I thought you just had faith." Ozzy began to laugh outright: "My Lord, has nothing to do with this at least directly perhaps in a cosmic sense." Qora was becoming frustrated: "Then who the hell are you talking about rabbit?" Ozzy said: "No one you would know, let's just say he's my direct superior. Him and his compatriots have grown tired of the gods of Apollus, and intend to do away with all of you. They consider you vermin. So I sent one of their legionaries, one you thought worked directly under myself. A little horned one." Qora began to shake: "You can't mean?"
Qora's breath caught in her throat. The name hovered in her mind—unspoken, dangerous, and ancient. Her voice trembled as the truth clawed its way out: "You can't mean… Va' Zheron." Ozzy grinned. Not a smile—no, never just a smile. This grin stretched across the causal fabric of the chamber, bending light. He twirled his staff like a conductor at the end of a cosmic overture. "The same little horned one you once called brother."
[Flashback – The Temple of the Twelve Suns, 900 years prior]
A young Qora trained beneath a hanging sun made of crystal flame.
A boy stood beside her—Va'Zheron. Small, quiet, and far too intelligent for his age. His horns barely peeked from his head, and his eyes held galaxies he didn't belong to. "If I disappear one day," he said, "promise me you won't try to follow." "That's a stupid promise," she replied. "I'll always follow." The boy laughed: "You really are naive, its really cute that you feel that way. I almost wish I had a crush on you, almost," said the boy. Qora shot back: "You're such a jerk," they began to laugh as the memory faded into the past again.
[Return to Present – Back in the Spire]
Qora's fists clenched. Her divine aura began to shimmer like broken mirrors. Reality quivered in response. "You sent him into the breach? Into the Sovereign's broken heart?" Ozzy spun and tapped the side of the cage with his staff. The shark-like creatures shrieked in layered voices—each scream overlapping timelines. "Correction," Ozzy said, "I released him. I have no intention to play such games with casualty as you and other fools have done before you. He was already in the Sovereign's marrow. I simply gave him a ladder."
[Cut to: The Sovereign's Domain – The Inner Reflection]
Inside the Mirror Sovereign, Va'Zheron stood in the Heart of Shattered Thought. He had grown. Taller, cloaked in scarlet void silk. Horns now curled like sigils of forgotten math. His left hand was not his own—it glowed with foreign code and metaphysical alignment. Before him were a group of angels collecting information on advanced technological tablets, these were the Seers, a race of Angel-Like beings who recorded countless events through space-time. He reached toward a sleeping mind embedded in the Mirror Sovereign's body: a child. A dreaming girl. She looked vaguely like Qora. "Your dream is too pure," he murmured. "I'm sorry… but purity must end for evolution to begin."
Qora disappeared from where she was formally standing before Ozzy. She woke up in a vat of liquid. Meanwhile back in the Guild the event had finally ended, Amadeus, Ungar and Xerxes had made it to the first round so had Xerxes' first major rival in these trials and several others, but many others lost their lives during the trials. As they returned back to the base. Xiao began to speak about the next event but he made an auspicious announcement first: "It should be brought to your attention, that we have a new recruit for the Guild tryouts, meet Zaiyal.
Only Ungar, the old tin can, pushed forward with a mix of disbelief and dread. "Zaiyal? How did you—what in the fractured suns are you doing here?! You… you shouldn't even be on this plane—how did you enter the Guild nexus!?" Zaiyal's brow twitched. Just slightly. He looked like a man cornered by stupidity, not danger. "Tch. You still talk too much, Ungar. I've wanted to be a Ranker since the first day we walked through Helios together a thousand years ago." Ungar's face darkened. "No… You knew nothing of the guild to any of my knowledge. It was far beyond anything you knew. This is my domain." Zaiyal's eyes snapped open, sharp and cold.
He took a step forward. "Get off my fucking back, wizard. I don't have time for your insolence!" His voice hit like a blade of gravity, cutting into the floor beneath. Dust cracked beneath his feet. The silence that followed was unnatural. Unnerving.
Zaiyal was supposed to be in the Outer Realms. Back on Helios to be exact. Ungar knew he had to make contact with Helios in the present-time. Zaiyal was resting in his bed, hands behind his back at Nova's Compound. "Zaiyal, Zaiyal do you hear me." Zaiyal slowly opened his eyes. "Ungar? Ungar, is that you?" Ungar responded: "Yes, Zaiyal, are you aware of the Guildverse?" Zaiyal said with genuine confusion: "No, I can't say I am. Why do you ask?" Ungar responded: "Well I'll keep it simple because it would honestly be too much to explain in a short time but put simply it's another world of sorts and you're in it right now." Zaiyal laughed: "That's impossible, I've never left Helios in the last six months. I did once visit one of its moons." Ungar became angry: "I figured as much, I just had to check." Zaiyal became worried: "Wait Ungar what's going on, is something wrong?" Ungar responded: "Don't worry about, I'll dead with it." The conversation ended, "that fake Zaiyal must know I could done that yet he used Zaiyal as his identity. What the hell is happening?!"
[Thousands of Years Ago Quadrant 92B):
A city suspended between metal and leaf, steel and soul. Floating bridges stretched between high towers laced with vines. Transparent monorails gilded above radiant emerald canopies. Birds of data and flame fluttered through the canopy like sparks of consciousness. Amadeus walked in silence, hand gently around Maria's waist. She leaned into him—not out of weakness, but familiarity. The kind that came after too many wars, too many unsaid truths. The two walked under the luminescent roots of a living skyscraper. Above, a fusion-star flickered red—an omen for those who knew how to read it. "You're being quiet again," Maria said. "Which usually means you're either planning something reckless, or pretending you aren't afraid." Amadeus chuckled, barely. "What if it's both? I've been on quite a few adventures long before you showed up."
Maria turned to face him, brushing a finger across the edge of his coat, tracing one of the faded seams. The coat was old. Burned. Re-stitched a hundred times. A relic of who he used to be—and what he never wanted to admit he still was. "You hide behind so many layers, Amadeus. Scar tissue, silence, sarcasm." "But you forget that I remember you before you knew pain." He didn't meet her eyes. Not yet. "And you," he said quietly, "you always walked ahead of me. Even when I begged you to slow down. I never knew if I was chasing your dream or running from mine. Has that ever crossed your mind?" Maria smiled, but her eyes shimmered with sadness. "It was never about catching up. I just thought… if I kept moving, I wouldn't look back. I never wanted to regret walking forward with you."
They stood beneath the branching tower—roots of light above, shadows of memory below. Then Amadeus spoke again, slower this time. "If the day comes—when the world cracks, when people forget who they are—will you remind me of this moment? Will you refuse to let me forget?" Maria tilted her head. "What, this? The sky, the trees, your poor attempt at romance?" He gave a small, dry laugh. "No. Not the moment. You. I need you to remind me who you are. Because if I forget that, I'll forget everything that made me want to protect this world in the first place. At least that's a fear I always have, I honestly in my heart-of-hearts wish this was a bad attempt at romance but it's anything but, and that terrifies me."
She stepped closer. Their foreheads touched. "I promise," she said softly. "But only if you promise me something too." "Anything." "If I'm ever not myself… if I'm twisted, or broken, or replaced by something else—" "Don't." "—then you have to stop me. Even if it means destroying what's left of me." Amadeus clenched his jaw. His hands trembled. "I won't let it come to that." Maria shot back: "But what if it did?" Amadeus simply countered: "What IF water became dry? What if all CIRCLES became square? When existence becomes negativity and positivity becomes lack of existence then I will promise what you have asked." Maria looked down as a single tear rolled off her cheek. "Why do you always have to act like you're smarter than everyone else? Why do you have to put up a shield? Are you just afraid of people thinking less of you? Do you think that little of me?" Amadeus paused: "I promise. That I'll try." Maria wiped her eyes: "I think that's as far as I'll get, I know that was hard Doctor." Amadeus stood there reflecting to himself: "Harder than you know."
Back in the Guild World Ungar approached Tayyib. "I need to talk." Tayyib said monotony, "about the break in the timeline." Ungar nodded, "I knew you had some idea about what I'd ask, and about what's happening." Tayyib smiled: "You want to know about the fake version of your friend (meaning Zaiyal). I don't know much, but I know this. He's one of the gods of Apollonius that much is clear." Ungar tightened his grip on his non-existent heart, "That's impossible, that's against all their interests." Tayyib smirked: "Maybe so, but I don't like to prye. Look… honestly this is clearly above my paygrade at least for now. But you know what you have to do, handle your affairs and head off to Him." Ungar shook his head: "How do you know about that?! No one is supposed to know about that." Tayyib laughed: "He allowed me to know. He's broken His own rules many times before, he is after all a great deceiver." Ungar shook his head, "Very well." He walked past Tayyib, his black cape fluttering past Tayyib's dark blue cape. "One more thing." Tayyib gave him a nod. Ungar continued: "Who exactly are you?" Tayyib smiled: "Someone who's wise enough to know you're a Messenger (May He bestow peace and blessings upon you)." Ungar turned around sharply: "I don't share your convictions. But if you truly believe what you claim too, you have clearly blasphemed against your own doctrine." Tayyib chuckled: "Have I, the cycle is about to end after all, so that means there is a new round of true Messengers that girl you follow is simply the last of the many of the lines of fake Messengers (Prophets) of the last cycle." Ungar laughed: "Really I'm a true Messenger but Hermes is a false Messenger." Tayyib turned around: "I said what I said, what Hermes is is much bigger than a Messenger. She's no Messenger like you are, she's something much bigger you should know that by now." Ungar turned around in an instant but Tayyib had already left. "How could he possibly know that? I felt no malicious intent behind his words. And he happens to be correct. I need to speak to the Doctor and then I need to be off."
The girl—still dreaming—trembled beneath Va'Zheron's hand. The Seers around him watched silently. They recorded nothing now. Even their infinite digital tablets dimmed. One by one, they knelt. Not to Va'Zheron. To the data burning in his veins. "She carries the seed of the new Reality," he murmured. "But before it blooms… every false cycle must rot." He turned toward the Seers. "Begin the purge of archived Messengers. If they were not written into the Sovereign's marrow… they are contaminants." The Seers obeyed.
Ungar's boots clicked across the glass-metal floor. His cape fluttered like a dying flame. He seemed tired despite his fleshless metaphysical composition—like the weight of something above time was pulling him downward. Tayyib waited beside a fractured pillar, arms crossed. The dome above flickered—distorted constellations, stars bending in loops. "We need to talk," Ungar said, eyes locked forward. "About the break in the timeline," Tayyib said dully. Ungar frowned. "You already know." Tayyib smirked. "I don't know much. But I know that Zaiyal—that thing—isn't a person. He's a construct. A god of Apollonius walking like a shadow in borrowed skin." Ungar flinched. "That's not possible. Their interference with lower strata is forbidden." Tayyib shrugged. "They say a lot of things." Ungar then turned around and Tayyib was gone once again. "Once again?" he thought. And then he remembered. This had just happened but a slightly different timeline had just played out within the same time-space one after the other in a sense. Ungar knew he couldn't wait around; he needed to see the doctor just like Tayyib had said and then he had to leave the Guild Realm.
[Cut to: Zaiyal's Chamber – Surveillance Shadows]
Inside, Zaiyal—or what claimed to be him—stood before a projection of the Mirror Sovereign. The image was faint, refracted. "She's waking up," Zaiyal said flatly. From the screen, Va'Zheron's voice emerged—deeper now. More geometric than human. "Then prepare to abandon that form. They're starting to see through it. As predicted" Zaiyal looked in the mirror. His reflection smiled—even though he didn't. Ungar approached Doctor Amdaeus. "We need to talk and I need to make it quick." Amadeus slowly turned around, "What is it that you want now?" Ungar shot back: "Cut the shit, you know I wouldn't waste my time with a windbag like you if I didn't have too besides I'll be leaving the guild world in a moment against my wishes." Amadeus was surprised, "Leaving the guild world? How come?" He then gasped slightly, noticing Xerxes and the others trying to eavesdrop on them from a distance. "We need to speak in the language of the hidden ones, since we share a soul we're capable of it." Amadeus nodded and they both began to speak.
𒐄ᓭシภค₪λ∷۞গゐඎЖᓚ
"ᑕɸरر… You desire to reach the abode of the Higher being I presume?"
҂பシ₭ᘏҗٯᐤπر⟁ఘ†ش
"Yes. The Mirror Sovereign has started its inversion phase. I suppose you know who that is; you've been exploring the cosmos for millions of years after all. So I assume I don't have to waste my time."
෴ᚯภシЖဨքఒழձ₪Σᓷᔧ
"And Zaiyal… isn't Zaiyal. You felt it too, didn't you? I assumed it wasn't him even though I've never met this friend of yours."
ಞΨᔚ₨ҖⴹאهనçرఫЖ
"He's wearing a timeline. Not living in one. That's why causality bends when he moves."
ἣᘓफ҂۩ภ₪قپᔭシљ୫༆
"So he's not just a god of Apollonius… he's their agent of recursion."
ה₴Җණ௹λ⟁ਜᒣ׆రໃ
"And Va'Zheron… was never his pawn. It was the other way around."
גゐ۞ఋ෴₪҂ גゐ ₭ | ∷ Ψ ⟁ ᓭᘂ ש ₨ | א Ψ ᘂ∷ ᓭ ᘂ | ༆ "צ ת גゐ҂ גゐ ₭ | ∷ Ψ ⟁ ᓭيُّ، عَنْ يَزِيدَ، -∷ ᓭ ᘂ | ༆ צ ת גゐ҂ גゐ ₭ | ∷ Ψ ⟁ ᓭᓭ ₪ ₭ † | גゐ ᔧ שЖ ⟁ ∷ ஜ | ҂ ۞ ش𒐄ᓭシภค₪λ∷۞ἣᘓफ҂۩ภ₪قپה₴Җණ௹λ⟁ਜᒣ׆రໃਜᒣ׆?!రໃ෴ᚯภシЖဨքఒழձ₪Σᓷᔧ𒐄ᓭシภค₪λ∷۞গゐඎЖᓚ
""ᑕɸरЖ෴ᚯ
"I'm about to leave. I'll speak a few more words with you in the language of the 'unhidden' but I can't make this any clearer. Don't let that bastard out of your SIGHT for one second. You know what may be at stake, Doctor. I'll be back as soon as I can but to be honest I may return to the Realm of Umi with Lupus, Hermes and the others before I arrive here. But regardless, keep any eye on that thing, I cannot stress that enough. Do you understand?!"
Despite the seemingly condescending tone Amadeus seemed to take no offense and simply nodded with a serious expression. After this Ungar calmed down, "Okay well good." The language of the unseen is extremely esoteric and only a small fraction has been deciphered as is known below is a summary of what scholars have discovered about it:
The Languag of the Unseen:
𒐄
Xael
Origin / Source
シ
Shi
Breath / Life
∷
Noq
Thread / Flow
₪
Ezha
Seal / Covenant
҂
Vrul
Death / Collapse
ᓭ
Thae
Mind / Dream
ภ
Jin
Loop / Time Spiral
גゐ
Ruei
Fracture / Shatter
ృ
Tuv
Flame / Will
Ж
Kel
Mirror / Self
₭
Shaan
Blood / Bond
۞
Aqma
Divine / Cosmic Rule
ᘂ
Yarh
Echo / Memory
₨
Drukh
Secret / Hidden Thread
ஜ
Ontei
Light / Illumination
ש
Shaq
Lock / Barrier
ఋ
Mol
False / Masked Identity
†
Zhel
Judgment / Cut
Ψ
Ryn
Mind-Split / Dual Thought
׆
Lazh
Bound / Chained
༆
Heiro
Cycle / Wheel of Becoming
⟁
Qa'th
God / Force Outside Structure
ᔧ
Niv
Child / Seed
א
Umru
Echoed Name
Ζ
Zayin
Inversion / Mirror Logic
ᓷ
Mahal
Star / Celestial Law
෴
Khyur
Silence / Nonbeing
ᚯ
Tesh
Binding Logic / Rule of Three
ח
Orekh
Flesh / Vessel
Xerxes was stunned: "We're both just speaking another language, I couldn't understand anything they just said?!" Seregrin huffed: "Who knows what they were saying. But if they didn't want us to hear it it's certainly not something we should take lightly." Ungar turned away and said: "Oh and one more thing, I nearly forgot to say this. That girl is not Maria. That much is clear, she believes she's Maria but it's all nothing but a lie. So don't beat yourself over what you may have done in the past. You and I are going to be doing a lot of work together over the next century. At the very least, doctor, you'll be working with me Hermes, Talus, Lupus and the others very soon and for a long time at that, though that's not a long amount of time for you, even still. That much I can promise you. I know you know that very well but here's another thing you probably don't want to hear, but it needs to be said. You're not as bad of a person as you think you are. Just let it go, doctor." Amadeus broke into a rage, something that was extremely uncharacteristic of him. "YOU LISTEN HERE! You and I both know what I did to that poor girl! So don't even think of telling me to…" Ungar cut him off and the entire building literally began to shake with his booming voice and dark aura and black magic filled the halls of the guild. "No you listen to me Doctor!! What about that promise you said you would at least try to keep to that poor girl?! Because to me it doesn't look like you're even trying to keep it right now!! I hope you have a good answer to Providence when you fail this endeavor. So wipe away those tears and stick to your convictions." The Doctor shot back: "I don't give a damn about Providence or about myself you selfish prick!" Ungar immediately replied: "Well good doctor. Then it's simple, why not do it for her!!" The doctor gasped, the fight was over and he simply looked down. The dark energy stopped and Ungar looked down at the Doctor; he was 7 feet tall after all. "Look I'm sorry, but you know I'm right. And besides. We both know as we share the same essence that that poor girl is only the tip of the iceberg of people you've wronged, and they will all come back to haunt you. You've done far worse to most of them than what you did to her. So why not have some perspective." The doctor shed a single tear, "You're…You're right but…" there was a long pause, "I love her." Ungar turned back around: "If that's true then why not keep the promise you made. If you fail that's one thing but to ignore it, I hope you know there's no honor in something like that. You're a smart man, doctor, you know what's right." And with that Ungar disappeared.
The garden shimmered with ambient mana, vines coiling up crystalline pillars like lazy serpents. Time here ticked slower—not because of magic, but because of memory. The clash between Ungar and Doctor Amadeus had just ended. Or paused. The air still reeked of burnt veritas, the ash of truth spoken too loudly. A gust of wind passed. And then— Several footsteps coming fast ran up to the doctor. Xerxes, Seregrin, Tora, and Kasyr stormed into the courtyard, each face painted with different shades of urgency.
Xerxes:
"Doctor—what the hell just happened? That wasn't an argument…this was something other-worldly."
Seregrin (irritated):
"I've seen reality distort from spellwork before. But what you two just spoke wasn't arcane. It was… alien."
Kasyr said quietly:
"…Was that the Language of the Hidden Ones?"
Tora:
"What on earth is that?"
Kasyr:
"Never mind, you wouldn't understand."
His fists trembled. Not with rage—but guilt, calcified into bone. He finally opened his mouth—voice hoarse, barely himself. "We weren't born speaking it. We were made to. Molded by forces that should not exist within linear time." "Ungar and I… we share essence. Not ancestry. Not memory. Essence. He's what I become in another life." [Flashback Fragment: 14,000 Years Ago, Realm Unknown] A blade fell through stars. Two spirits divided by it. One carried reason. The other, remorse.
Kasyr stepped forward. He had been drawing a sigil of the shattered tree in the air, absent-mindedly. "Was that thing really not Maria?" he asked, voice shaking. "The one in the vat. The one in the Sovereign?" Amadeus whispered: "No." "It's someone wearing her memories. Living in her pain. But it's not her." Seregrin thought to himself: "Then what is she? A vessel? A clone? Or worse— An echo with no source left to return to?" Xerxes clenched her jaw. "If Zaiyal's not who he claims to be… and Maria's not herself… What the hell are we even fighting right now?"
Tora said crossing her arms:
"It's not about who they are. It's about what they're becoming. That's what scares me."
Meanwhile Ungar entered an interplanetary void and began to leave the Cosmic void and the void beyond the terminal limit where empty space existed in abundance. Ungar stepped through a glowing tear in space, his silhouette dark against the light. "I'm sorry, old friend," he muttered to no one. "But your love isn't a shield anymore. It's a chain. And you need to break it." He vanished. The others began to step away. All except Kasyr, who stood silently before him. "You still love her?" Amadeus didn't look up. "I never stopped." "Then maybe," Kasyr said, pulling a small piece of charcoal from his coat, "you need to stop running from your own drawing." He sketched a rough version of the paradox tree again. Its leaves bled. Its roots spiraled up.
A flashback over 5,000 years prior in an alien timeline of the fragments of 'the Language of the Unseen,' being discovered:
𒐄ᓭシภค₪λ∷۞গゐඎЖᓚ
Xael-Thae-Shi-Jin-Ezha... "The breath of time cannot be sealed without the origin bleeding."
҂ᘂஜ₪Ζᓷ†
Vrul-Yarh-Ontei-Ezha-Zayin-Mahal-Zhel
"When the star is judged, the mirror breaks its seal. All threads are meant to be pulled. When a thread is exposed, pull it for it is a corruption. Avoid all threads for the threads are the weakness of one's honor and a weakness in your survival in a world of beings who thrive on consistency." (Remember this line is one of the most important lines in this 200 year Saga and this epoch of the series).
Back in Icarus. Hermes woke up in her bed. Lin-Lin and Talus were both sitting beside it and excited to see her wake up. The sun never sets in Icarus. Not because it cannot, but because the gods willed it once, and now time obeys their commands. Hermes blinked, light filtering through the golden curtains of her chamber. Talus leaned on the windowsill, tracing sigils in the air with his fingers—absentmindedly weaving time and flame. Lin Lin sipped tea nearby, legs crossed on air itself, lounging like a queen over nothingness. Talus turned, his devilish grin bright as ever. Talus: "Sleeping beauty finally rises. Took you long enough." Hermes sat up. Her chest ached, not from injury—but from pressure. Something was changing in her. Her aura pulsed in half-beats. The room flickered like a broken dream. Lin Lin said cheerfully: "You went unconscious just in time for Dad to go gallivanting into the void again. But don't worry, he always comes back. Eventually. I kind of have some serious emotional issues over it though, if I'm being honest."
Hermes shook her head: "What even was that battle… Lupus, Event Horizon… I remember the glyph in the sky… and then you." Lin Lin: "Oh me? Just a daughter meeting all her daddy's friends after he left home over 1,000 years ago. No need for fireworks." Hermes looked around the room—everything felt too perfect. Like reality itself was holding its breath. Suddenly— FLASH. The wall of the tower burst inward—not shattered, but rewritten. Symbols formed midair, floating like forbidden equations:
𒐄ᘂ†⟁₪ΖΨ
Lin Lin huffed: "Great I guess we're going to the forest."
Lin Lin:
"She's starting to awaken the glyph…"
Suddenly, behind Hermes, twelve glowing rings appeared—each with a symbol of the Language of the Unseen.
𒐄 シ ∷ ₪ ҂ ᓭ ภ גゐ ₭ ۞ ᘂ ₨
The room shook suddenly and then it was all over. Lupus and the others ran in the room. "What's happening, is everything okay?! Is anybody hurt?!" screamed Lupus. Hermes found the perfect opportunity and she exploited it. "Yeah, everyone's fine you big teddybear. Jeez, I guess the facade is breaking down," said Hermes. Lupus began to blush, not out of lust but out of embarrassment. "What are you talking about… I guess the so-called Prophet is delirious." Hermes shook her finger side to side, "Nuh-uh… You're a big sweetiepie who cares about your friends and now everyone knows it. You came as a big bad space pirate but you came away as a friend and comrade. So why not quit it with the tough-guy act and accept that you're a father of two, with a beautiful wife waiting for you back at home, a great set of friends, Talus, Ungar, Zaiyal, Tatu and the others and one of your friend's is your daughter's friend Hermes the real Prophet who gave you a second-chance and sparred your life and now your so grateful that you have a new start and you can finally give up on your cold intergalactic conquests and genocides." Hermes leaped across the table and began moving Lupus's wolf mouth with her fingers, "Thank you Hermes for giving me a new lease on life." Lupus threw his hand to the side and began to scream, "I feel nothing of the sort, none of you are my friends, and sooner or later I'll conquer this world and everyone in it, this is only a stepping stone to becoming a god," said Lupus. "Then why'd you ask if we were all okay?!" Lupus began to blush again, his hand began to tremble and began to make a weird grimace as he shook, "Whatever, I don't need to explain myself to low-class scum like all of you." Everyone began to laugh. Jellal smirked with his arms crossed: "I don't care how you feel about these clowns, but if you think for one second I'm going to let you rule over the world, I intend to conquer you with another thing coming." Lupus shook his fist at Jellal, "You wanna go!!"
Lin Lin pushed aside Lupus from Jellal, "Look it's official we need to go to the Forest. It's the only way to awaken your blade fully and sync it to your soul, without it we can't defeat the Demon King and more importantly stop the Void in the long run." Narcis thought back when Daniel unleashed his power from the Spirit Blade. "Wait this is just like when Daniel unlocked the power of the Spirit Blade, I thought that was already done?" Lin Lin laughed: "Yeah my father talked to me about that like 1,000 years ago or I guess 30,000 years from now, you know time travel stuff never mind. He told telepathically beyond space and time, you know the typical deadbeat dad treatment. But anyway, yeah Daniel was a Gate-Keeper not a Rasul (Messenger) so he could have never unlocked the Spirit Blade to its full potential, nor could his successor you know your friend the final Gatekeeper Zaiyal." Everyone was shocked she knew so much. "I said he was a deadbeat not that he never reached out, he's not a monster you guys even though he totally looks like one, honestly whenever my dad shows up it gives me the creeps (she began to comically shake) but you know because of him I know all the inside baseball so don't worry about filling me in."
Talus laughed: "You know more than me, so Daniel unlocked the blade 1,000 or so years ago that must have been before we first clashed." Narcis nodded, "That was in the Spirit Realm, back where Gilgamesh and Wukong currently live. Honestly, I had no idea there was more power in that blade." Lin Lin replied: "If you don't do this Hermes you won't reach you're full potential, and honestly its not an understatement once you achieve it you'll have the potential to literally be unstoppable girl," said Lin Lin.
The Inner Garden of Icarus – Minutes Later:
The team stood assembled at the gates of Icarus's Southern Reach, a boundary marked not by walls, but by glowing runes and suspended constellations. Beyond them lay the legendary Glyphwood—a forest older than recorded time, where forgotten gods, many of them known as 'the Old Gods' still whispered and reality bent like tree branches.
Lin Lin crossed her arms:
"Beyond here, you don't get second chances. Your fears, regrets, and memories will take shape. This isn't just a forest. It's the womb of self-awareness. The birthplace of divine potential. You ready?" Hermes (with a half-smile):
"I was born ready. Or… maybe I wasn't. But I'm here now. That's what matters. Hehehe (she chuckled.)" Talus put his hand on her shoulder: "You sure you got this kid?" Hermes nodded: "You don't have to worry, I'll be okay," said Hermes smiling with her eyes closed. Jellal popped his neck and rolled around his shoulder: "Hope the trees can fight back. Wouldn't want to get bored. Actually somebody's coming, somebody some of you may know." Lupus grumbling to himself:
"Tch. Dumb kids walking into a death trap. I only came to keep them from getting erased by sentient moss… When we get home I'm going to take on the warlord who killed my father. I'm done with all this fantasy bullshit at least until I finish reclaiming my empire. Let's finish this already." Mark said snarkily: "Oh so I guess Hermes was right, you do care." Lupus (flustered): "SILENCE, WORM. Don't think just because you're dating my daughter that you have any authority over ME! You're just like everyone else, you will be one of my future subjects so enjoy your freedom now insect!!" Kazan: "Dad seriously, quit being lame." Lupus shrugged and grunted in annoyance. An elf walked up to them he was a Light Elf like Narcis instead with dirty blonde hair, prayer beard around his neck, and an orange cape as well, he was his disciple in the Pagoda; Ananda. Ananda explained that the Imam an old friend of Narcis in a former life had returned. This was something that needed to be addressed in the future, but for now Ananda was joined Hermes on their greater quest.
Deeper Inside the Glyphwood – Two Hours Later]
The Glyphwood was alive. Not in the metaphorical way—but literally. Trees whispered in tones that broke logic. Roots pulsed with faint light. Flowers bloomed in spirals of time, then vanished. Hermes felt it in her soul. A pressure pulling at her chest again. The twelve glyphs orbiting her aura began to spin. Faster. Faster. Suddenly— A spectral wraith shot out from the roots—a twisted version of Hermes herself. Same eyes. Same robes. But her smile was jagged. Dark Hermes:
"You're not ready. You still doubt. Still dream of running." Hermes flinched. "I'm not afraid of you." Dark Hermes: "No. You're afraid of who you could become if you lose control." Hermes charged. Sword of Anemnesis (or the Sword of Spirits) at the ready—her blade forged from lost memories. Steel met shadow, sparks flying in impossible directions. The others held back—this was her fight. Talus (impressed): "Damn. She's finally syncing." Lin Lin (nodding): "Good. The forest doesn't hold back. She's either going to master the blade now—or never." Hermes' blade glowed—the Language of the Unseen etched itself into the steel:
𒐄 シ ∷ ₪ ҂ ᓭ ภ גゐ ₭ ۞ ᘂ ₨
Hermes shouted:
"I am not just one version of myself!" Dark Hermes: "Then what are you?!" Hermes: "I am every possibility. Every failure that I learned. Every love that endured. Every truth that bled. I am the Prophet—but I am also the path! I am GOD'S Messenger and you are one of the Deceivers!!" She sliced upward—her blade not cutting flesh but slicing doubt from the roots of her being. Dark Hermes howled—and vanished into light. The forest sighed. Then it bowed. The blade in Hermes' hand solidified—no longer silver, but black and white layered steel, glowing with flickers of divine paradox. It pulsed with her heartbeat.
System Notification (glowing words in the air):
SOUL-SYNC COMPLETE: Blade of Anemnesis — "True Form Unlocked"]
New Skill Acquired: "Chrono-Singularity" — Bind enemy memories in a recursive loop of failure.
The sunless canopy of the Glyphwood shuddered like it had a heartbeat. Trees wept amber tears. The sky trembled. Birds of crystal exploded into fractals and vanished. The air bent. And from the roots of the world, it came. A colossal squid with countless eyes, its flesh made of memory and stormlight, rose. Its tentacles crashed through trees, mountains, entire ecosystems, without breaking them—phasing through matter like regret. Each tendril carried ancient glyphs glowing like forgotten sins. The squid was the size of a Continent. Lupus, a hardened warrior, stumbled back for the first time. Lupus roared: "What in the infinite hells is that?!" Lin-Lin shouted: "DON'T GET AHEAD OF YOURSELF! IT'S NOT OVER!!" But Hermes didn't flinch. The giant creature lowered its massive, cyclopean head until it hovered inches above her. The pupils of its eyes were like giant marbles. And then— Hermes said softly, almost with love:
"It's you."
The silence that followed broke the tension like a weeping violin string. Hermes closed her eyes. The creature spoke: "You knew this day would come. The moment you made the contract with me… You knew what it would cost." Hermes didn't speak at first, she didn't have to. Hermes looked up. Her eyes shimmered with grief… and peace. Hermes whispered.
"I'm ready." The squid extended a series of small tendrils—gentle, soft, delicate as kittens—and placed them inside her ears. She did not scream. She smiled. And then—everything shattered.
Hermes found herself in a small, quiet room. The air was thick with dust and nostalgia, like the universe had been weeping into a pillow. Across from her was a middle-aged elf man, thin, balding, wearing bifocals. He stood at the edge of the room staring into what looked like a window into nothingness—a void so black it hurt to look at. Hermes blinked, confused. She adjusted her shirt instinctively, her voice trembling. Hermes: "…Are you okay?" The man didn't turn at first. Then slowly, almost unwillingly, he faced her. Elf Man (quietly): "I haven't been okay in a long time to be honest. But today… Today is the first day I've been happy in what feels like lifetimes." Hermes tilted her head, trying to place the weight of those words. Hermes: "…What do you mean?" The man—this gentle, grieving soul—began to sob. Elf Man: "I'm sorry, Hermes. I know you feel it in your bones. I would've forgotten it too… If Ozzy hadn't let me remember, just for this moment. I'm your father, Hermes." Hermes stood, frozen. Hermes:
"But… I'm just a reincarnation of a boy from Earth. I—I lived in Japan. I was—" The Elf man shook his head: "No. That boy never existed. That life was a construct. Ozzy designed it… to feel real. But it was never real." Hermes stepped back. The weight of it crushed her chest. Her hands trembled. The Elf man walked away slowly with his hands behind his back:
"We… my wife and I… died long ago, on Earth. When we awoke… we were in the Abyss—before Ozzy. He told us that to save a future beyond comprehension… We had to give up our child. We had no choice.
We weren't being punished. We were being drafted into eternity in a manner of speaking. Without our consent he ripped the essence of what would have become you with a different life, a normal life without the titanic weight your forced to bear from our bodies putting it in a separate devine body." Hermes felt something break in her. Not pain. But truth. The man smiled weakly. He turned, and for the first time… tears spilled from both their eyes. The Elf Man said with his voice trembling: "Ozzy let me remember so I could tell you, just once… That you were loved before you ever took your first breath.
That your life mattered before it even existed. That your soul didn't appear because it had to—it appeared because it was chosen."
He reached into his coat and pulled out a small toy. A silver rattle with a carved wolf and a prophet's crown. Elf Man: "We made this for the daughter we were never allowed to hold." Hermes fell to her knees. Hermes began to sob profusely: "Then… you're…" The Elf Man nodded: "My name was Isamu. And my wife was Yuki. We became elves in this new cycle, but our souls… never stopped being human.
We never stopped… missing you. Our the one who would become your older sister and your other half, Xerxes." He knelt down. His hand brushed her cheek. As he said this her mother came up to her as well.
Isamu: "You've come so far, Hermes. Even with a false memory. Even with pain that wasn't yours. I know you felt as if your childhood was stolen from you, it wasn't fair. We know that. We can't even tell you how sorry we are. Please forgive us, we didn't want to lose you. Ozzy said you would become a light… in a place even the gods were afraid of. But we still didn't want to give you up." Hermes clutched the toy to her chest. Her tears weren't just sadness. They were release. A goodbye that had waited millions of years to be spoken. Her father placed her hand on her head; "Here, our sweet daughter. Here's the childhood you always deserved." As he did this, she saw a whole normal life laid out in front of her, her and Xerxes going to school, her spending time with her parents playing at home, getting her first puppy from her father, dating boys, trouble with boys, playing video games, watching teen drama shows, going to high school, going to university, getting married, seeing her sister get married having a large family with sixteen kids. Her visiting her parents on their death beds, attending their funerals and eventually her own child attending her funeral with a look of joy on her face as she died on her deathbed with all her family and friends around her." She began to scream but not to anger or fear but in a sense overwhelming joy. The power in the blade began to fuse with her soul.
Outside – The Real World, Moments Later
Hermes' body floated gently to the ground, the tentacles withdrawing with infinite care. Her allies surrounded her—Lin Lin, Talus, Lupus, Jellal—all holding their breath. Her eyes flickered open. For the first time, they were completely white. She looked at the stars above and whispered: Hermes: "…I remember everything now. And I accept everything. I finally accept who I am. And I accept what I have to do no matter how long it takes." The Glyphwood breathed. The squid bowed, and began to sink back into the earth. Lupus didn't speak. He just stared.Lupus (said quietly to himself): "...She's no longer a so-called Prophet. She's something else now."
Back in the Terminal Void:
Ungar appeared finally before the Cosmic Ocean he looked directly across to the other side of the space. "It took you long enough, Gettling." Ungar clenched his first, looking across at Ozzy the Rabbit, "You have some explaining to do, but I'm sure you know that." The rabbit chuckled, "I'm saddened Ungar, you never once came to my abode even though you were aware of my existence, yet you come only when there's something you need from me. You can understand how that hurts my feelings," said Ozzy. Ungar clapped back: "Cut the crap Ozzy, I don't have time for your games!" The space between them shimmered with chaotic energy, the stars above frozen like watchers of divine judgment. Ozzy, the white-furred celestial rabbit wrapped in ethereal garments, stood calm against the void—his halo spinning like a galaxy's core. Ungar's voice dropped an octave, cold and iron-bound:
"You've been meddling in this plane for too long. The timeline is in disorder, this isn't a game rabbit!"
Ozzy raised his hand, and with a flick of his long, clawed fingers, seven fiery sigils appeared mid-air. They ignited like suns. The ground cracked. From the cracks surged seven Red-Horned demons—hulking 8-foot infernal beasts of magma, ash, and flame. Their horns twisted like charred trees; their eyes glowed like dying stars. Chains of molten iron swung from their arms, and each one howled with a voice that tore rifts in the air. Ozzy's eyes narrowed. "I warned you once already, Ungar. And I gave you that warning less than a moment ago couldn't you tell by my eyes. The New Balance does not need an armored fossil." But Ungar didn't flinch. Instead, he stepped forward once—just once—and his dark cape flared outward like wings of judgment. Red light pulsed from beneath his helm. His arms unfolded with the grinding weight of inevitability. The first demon lunged.
Ungar sidestepped. His gauntlet-encased fist connected with the demon's gut like a meteor impact. It exploded—not into flame, but into nothing. Unmade. The second and third came together. Ungar raised both hands, grabbed their faces, and slammed them into the void. Gravity bent. The shockwave shredded their forms into cosmic dust.
The next four attacked as one—coordinated. Blades of fire, chains of death. Ungar finally drew his blade— A massive cleaver forged from the bones of dead stars and hatred of tyrants. With one sweeping arc, he cleaved the battlefield—cutting not just the demons, but their connection to the realm. Their screams faded into silence. In less than twelve seconds, they were gone. Ozzy stood unmoved, his gaze was still confident.
"You've don't disappoint you've met expectations of you Ungar." Ungar's voice echoed like the tolling of a final bell. "Well are you ready to fight rabbit?" The rabbit cracked his neck, "Absolutely I know you've been holding back your whole life but don't do it here this world can handle anything you or I are capable of throwing at it."
The void hung still, but the air was thick with the promise of devastation. The moment Ozzy's voice faded, the very fabric of space shuddered under the weight of Ungar's resolve. His presence was a colossal force, bending the stars themselves in reverence, as the ground beneath his boots trembled. It was as though the universe itself understood the gravity of what was about to unfold.
Ungar's eyes blazed with celestial fire, his body growing in stature, his silhouette expanding in all directions as if the stars themselves were being drawn into him. His figure rose higher, towering over Ozzy, like an ancient titan, his cape now a vast sea of darkness, rippling with untold power. His form shimmered, as if reflecting the infinite expanse of the cosmos, and his voice echoed through the realms: "You're right. I've held back. But no longer." In that moment, the air shifted—whispers of an ancient, incomprehensible force spreading throughout the planes. The very ground under their feet fractured, splitting apart in violent fractals as the vast, cosmic energy coiled around Ungar, unlocking the fury of the 600,000 Universes trapped within his being. Each one of those Universes was an entire reality, teeming with lives, stars, and unspeakable powers. And they were all at his command. His body exploded with radiant light as his form seemed to shift into something far beyond mortal comprehension, his hands glowing with crackling, primal energy. As he opened his palms, tendrils of energy surged out, each one unraveling into the fabric of reality itself. A pulsating wave of energy rippled outward as the force of countless dimensions collided into one. Universes swirled like planets, fusing into one massive, uncontainable storm of radiant, divine power.
The atmosphere vibrated violently as Ungar summoned countless new Universes beyond the reaches of his form. Each one detonated into waves of pure mana and energy, swirling into a continuous cascade of destructive force. Galaxies trembled and cracked. Stars exploded in supernovae, their light shattering across the expanse like shards of broken glass. Ozzy, standing firm against the oncoming storm, grinned darkly. "You think this is enough?" His voice rang out, a calm defiance amidst the chaos. With a single gesture, Ozzy raised both his hands to the sky. His halo spun faster, opening a gateway to another plane, and from it poured forth an immense surge of energy—an endless, blackened abyss swirling with the power of destruction. Within this abyss, time and space twisted in a maddening dance, and Ozzy's eyes glowed with an unsettling, unnatural light. "Let's see if you can handle this."
The entire field darkened, and in a flash, Ozzy's form dissolved into millions of particle-like fragments, scattering into an array of brilliant lights. The stars above flickered and twisted. From the shards of his shattered form, seven colossal forms emerged. These were his true weapons: seven massive demons, each larger than the last made from Constellations, wreathed in flame, their molten skin rippling with destructive energy. Their eyes were burning pits, and their cries caused the very air to warp. Ozzy's fingers twitched, and the demons roared, unleashing hell itself on Ungar. Their fiery bodies collided into the cosmic storm, shattering portions of reality in their wake. Their chains crackled with the weight of the destruction they were designed to bring. They lunged at Ungar, each one a force of pure devastation. Ungar, now fully attuned to the vastness of his power, stood unshaken. His glowing eyes narrowed. With a sudden surge of force, he thrust his arm forward. From the depths of his chest, the universes inside him resonated in a harmonic symphony, creating an explosion of brilliant light. In an instant, Ungar became a blinding celestial force, a weapon of unimaginable power.
He raised his blade— the cleaver forged from the bones of stars— and swung it in an arc that cleaved through the air. The very concept of space buckled under the weight of the strike. The demonic horrors, so vast and powerful, were struck down in an instant. Each one was torn apart not by force, but by the simple magnitude of Ungar's being. They disintegrated into pure light, unraveling into nothingness before their cries could even reach the stars. Yet Ozzy was not done. He materialized once again, his figure crackling with a dark, cosmic energy. The battlefield exploded with energy, galaxies folding into themselves as their time unraveled. With a snap of his fingers, Ozzy summoned a storm of black holes, swallowing the very fabric of existence. Ungar's form flickered and expanded, warping space itself as he absorbed the energy, his body stretching beyond the limits of reality, growing larger still. The very concept of his being began to distort the galaxies around them. His eyes glowed with the power of 600,000 universes, and he bellowed: "YOU CANNOT ESCAPE THIS!" The energy around him became a storm of pulsing light, while singularities formed beneath his feet, drawing in everything around him. Galaxies, stars, and even entire realities were sucked into the void. Ozzy, however, was not without his own power. With a roar, he called upon the deepest, darkest parts of the multiverse— a force beyond time and space. His form exploded outward as he merged with this darkness, becoming a singularity of void and destruction. The very stars trembled, as the void beneath them twisted and collapsed into an impossible black hole, pulling everything towards it.
The two forces collided— Ungar's celestial storm meeting Ozzy's cosmic void. The explosion of energy was cataclysmic, galaxies tearing apart in a brilliant flash of light and shadow. The shockwaves of their battle rippled across realities, sending shockwaves through the multiverse. As the dust settled, both combatants were still standing. Ungar's body was scorched, his form flickering like a dying star, while Ozzy was hunched, his energies drained, but his smile remained unwavering. The universe around them was nothing but a shattered, broken shell. Neither had won. Neither had lost. The battlefield fell silent, the cosmic storm slowly fading into a quiet, empty void. "A stalemate," Ozzy muttered, his voice breathless but resolute. Ungar sighed: "Could you not find it the goodness of your heart to stop doing this." Ozzy laughed: "Calm down I have no intention to hurt anything, have a little faith aren't aware I have vast knowledge of the unseen. Ungar relaxed, "Okay fine, but can give me any of the inside baseball. What exactly is going on here?" Ozzy laughed: "Its simple these goons i.e. the fake Zaiyal and the others wish to bring back an ancient darkness, I for my part am letting them do so even if it hurts the timeline so long as it opens the Abode of Dreams after that I'll use my power to shut it down, at least for now its not beyond my power to do such a thing. And believe me they know that I can do that as well which is why they are trying to work as quickly as possible… It won't help them; they'll make little progress in their desires." Ungar's fear massaged but he responded: "All right I'll bite, what's the Abode of Dreams." Ozzy laughed: "Isn't it obvious its the Universe or Dimension that people go to when they dream, the realm was prophesied to open up when the Fallen One unlocked her full potential i.e. your friend Hermes that just happened, so mortals must now have access to the dream world, it is clearly written."
Ungar's eyes dimmed slightly, like twin suns pulled into an eclipse. The storm around them settled further, leaving behind only the glimmering remnants of galaxies and fractured stars, as though the universe itself were listening. "Hermes..." he murmured, voice strained from the strain of wielding such apocalyptic power. "You're saying she's the one who triggered all of this?" Ozzy grinned, brushing cosmic ash off his coat, as if he hadn't just fused with primordial void and ripped a hole through spacetime. "Yes, dear old Hermes. Or rather, what she used to be. She isn't just some clever mortal with glyphs anymore, Ungar. She's beginning to remember." Ungar's eyes narrowed. "Remember?" "Indeed." Ozzy twirled a flickering particle of dreamstuff between his fingers, letting it morph into a tiny glowing eye before it vanished. "The Fallen One's not a metaphor. She fell from something very real. From Divine Memory. The Abode of Dreams is built on it—constructed from the collective remnants of all that was forgotten, buried, or locked away across countless realities. And Hermes… she was once part of its very foundation." Ungar's posture stiffened. "You're telling me she was the Abode of Dreams?"
"Close. She was one of the first Architects. But in order to walk the mortal worlds, she shed her Architect self. And now, she's remembering. Reawakening. Which is why your friends—and your enemies—are all scuttling about like ants on a melting star." Ungar turned away, eyes scanning the void. In the distance, time itself seemed to leak from the edges of broken realities like vapor. "So the false Zaiyal and the others want to control the Abode. And you… you're letting them?" "I'm managing the timing," Ozzy said coolly, hopping up onto a broken crescent of moonlike debris. "If they open it before she's fully awakened, they only get a hollow echo of its power. I can shut that down. But if they wait too long, and she regains her full memories and power... they won't stand a chance. Nobody will." Ungar glared at him. "That's your plan? Gambling with the fate of the cosmos because you think you can step in when it matters?" Ozzy's expression turned sharp—eerily serious. "I know I can. And more importantly, I have to. Because I've seen what comes next if no one plays the game from the inside." For a long moment, neither said anything. The universe groaned in the silence, stitched together from what remained. Then Ungar spoke, quietly: "If she remembers… and becomes what she once was… will she still be Hermes?" Ozzy looked down, a rare moment of solemnity in his otherwise chaotic presence. "I don't know."
The air grew heavy again, as a new ripple passed through the fabric of space—less violent than before, more like a whisper than a scream. A quiet tremor of something ancient waking up. Ungar turned his gaze toward the source instinctively. "Something's happening," he said. "Yes," Ozzy murmured. "She's not the only one who remembers. The Abode is stirring. And somewhere, in the space between dream and death, He is watching too." Ungar clenched his fists. "Who?" Ozzy's voice dropped into a tone that seemed older than the stars: "The one who sleeps in the Dream Beyond Dreams. The one even the Architects feared to speak of. The Sleeper Who Binds All. Its name honestly escapes me but its a beast un connected to the Void in origin but the Void has been exploiting it for centuries." Ungar felt a chill, not of cold, but of inevitability. Then, faintly—a whisper from the edge of creation itself—Hermes' voice: "I remember the name they gave me… and I know why I forgot it." Ozzy smiled like a man who had just bet everything on the turn of a card. "Now," he said, hopping down beside Ungar, "shall we go to the next level, I can let you have something special."
Ungar was curious as a divine cosmic tree came out from under both of them and carried them light years into the abode above. They were in an abode of three large birds with ridiculous faces, a large bird shaped like an egg and aqua marine in feather color. "What is this?!" said Ungar. A large the size of a house, being a grey being of molded flesh with eyeballs sticking out all over its gluttonous body spoke, "This is the Gateway to the Abode of Dreams, it will be opened as soon as Hermes completely awakens. It can be managed for a while, but after a year or so it will run wild which means once it's opened as the prophecy foretold it must be brought to heel as soon as possible. Either way it must be unleashed upon the world, there is no alternative." Another being a simple ball of light responded: "Yes, in the moment is almost here, soon Hermes will face the Demon King, once she does its as good as over, she will win this struggle." Ozzy laughed: "Where are my manners: this gray blob Glohar the God of Aproximations, this glowing ball of light is simply known as the Throne, and the third being is a giant bird called the Dream Kiwi the God and Keeper of Dreams and those are his timeless children." The bird pointed at Ungar, "Yo!" Ungar folded his arms together, "But why am I here." The Dream Kiwi chuckled: "For this." He unfurled his feather and a single stone came from it, a stone that was translucent. Aqua marine, blue, pink, green and the colors were moving around.
The moment the Dream Kiwi let the stone hover between its feathers, the air around it hummed with tension—like reality itself was holding its breath. Ungar stared at it. The stone pulsed softly, its colors ever-shifting like a prism reflecting memories across time. He didn't need Ozzy to explain. He knew. This was no ordinary artifact. It was a Memory Core—a Dream Relic. The Dream Kiwi lowered its wing, and the stone floated gently before Ungar. The great bird's ridiculous face twisted into something both comical and ominous, eyes half-lidded like a sleepy god, voice low and slow: "Take it, Ungar. The world beyond dreams will soon collapse inward. You will need this to remember who you were meant to become." Ungar's eyes narrowed. "What I was meant to become...?" Before the answer could come, a great chime rang out through the air, like the bell of an impossible cathedral forged from stardust and forgotten truth. The Gateway pulsed. Everyone on the tree stilled.
Ozzy's eyes widened. "It's begun." Suddenly— BOOOOM!!! The sky tore open—like someone had ripped a page from existence itself. Through the rupture, a terrifying, regal presence stepped forward. A girl clad in white, glyphs of ancient design orbiting her body. This was back in the forest. Her hair billowed like flame, eyes glowing with unreadable emotion. It was Hermes. And in the Abode of Dreams Hermes appeared and the same thing was happening to her, or rather, something becoming Hermes. Twelve rings of ancient language spiraled around her, each symbol etched in light and memory:
𒐄 シ ∷ ₪ ҂ ᓭ ภ גゐ ₭ ۞ ᘂ ₨
Her aura was no longer just magical—it was structural, like she had become a walking Law of the Universe. Her voice echoed with dual tones, past and present layered together: "I see it now. The Tower of Dreams was never meant to be climbed… It was always meant to descend." From behind her—emerging like a scar from forgotten nightmares—a figure appeared. Clad in black armor, eyes like embers, the Demon King stood still as a blade drawn in silence. His mouth didn't move, but his voice vibrated the air like crushing gravity:
"He will fall soon, as soon as he dies, the gate will fully open," said Ozzy. Hermes raised a hand. The glyphs rotated. The sky itself bent. Her voice was cold and clear: "Come, then. Let us awaken what sleeps." Ozzy, still balanced atop a floating shard of time, exhaled sharply. "Oof. This isn't the warm-up act anymore." Glohar's many eyes rotated in different directions, murmuring in glitchy tones: "Probability collapse detected. Reality thread 9B1-A entering dream density threshold. Combat risk: terminal." The glowing orb known as the Throne pulsed once. "This is it. The Realm of Dreams will open soon." Ungar clutched the Memory Core in his hand. The stone responded, locking to his energy—its multicolored lights pulsing in sync with his heart. For a moment, he saw it—a glimpse into a time before time. Himself, cloaked in white flame, standing beside Hermes in a court of stars, his name written in light and then wiped clean. He blinked. And when he opened his eyes again, the new world was already forming: a shifting labyrinth of dreamstuff and half-formed thoughts. Floating temples, spiraling symbols, and beasts made of forgotten nightmares spiraled in from all sides.
The Dream Realm was awake and it would soon open. Ozzy extended his hand. "Come on, Ungar. You've been fighting gods and cosmic horrors. Time to do something really terrifying." Ungar narrowed his eyes. "What's that?" Ozzy grinned, that rabbitlike glint back in his eye. "Fight beside your friends." Ungar gave a smirk—cold, resolute. The Memory Core embedded itself into his chest, vanishing into his body in a spiral of prismatic light. The symbols of ancient Architect power began to glow on his arms, across his shoulders, and his blade shimmered again—heavier, truer, like it remembered too. Ungar placed the Dream Stone in his chest, "I'll keep it here for now, for safekeeping." Ozzy nodded his head, "I think that would be wise." Ungar nodded as he walked to the edge of a cosmic platform ready to descend. Ozzy stopped him, a creature a being with the head of a sort of a Loch Ness Monster dressed in Taoist Robes said, "I am the Lord of the Foam, take this warrior Manu with you he will be your protector, he is well acquainted with the world of dreams and he will protect the Prophet too." Ungar nodded, Manu was an anthropomorphic Hammer-Head Shark holding a harpoon him an Ungar leaped into the Abyss and then they began to travel back to the Realm of Umi. Ungar didn't know this but his daughter Lin-Lin had brought Hermes and the others onto the back of a giant flying Sea Turtle headed straight to the part of the Great Ocean of Umi that the Demon King resided in. In the distance a Watcher with the lower body of a woman snapped into intention, "There you are." The being took off into the realm of Umi straight for Hermes, nobody knew but this being would encounter this being right after she destroyed the Demon King opening the portals of dreams and securing the timeline. The evil ones became nervous. We need to act now, al-Tayyib opened his eyes, "They're about to show their fangs."
The winds of unreality howled as Ungar and Manu plummeted through the shifting layers of the Dream Abyss. Behind them, the shattered stars spun like shuriken. Below them, the ocean shimmered—not with water, but with memory, regret, and the scent of forgotten gods. Ungar's armored form streaked like a black comet. The Dream Core pulsed in his chest, casting shifting constellations across the dream winds. Beside him, Manu, the Shark-Warrior, rode the currents of dream with ease—his harpoon spinning in his grip like a monk's staff sharpened by centuries of hunting Leviathans. His jagged smile gleamed. "The sea of Umi isn't kind to outsiders. Stick close, blade man." Ungar didn't look at him. "I don't need kindness." "Good," Manu replied, eyes narrowing like slits beneath the shark-helm. "Because you'll be lucky to get mercy." The titanic Sea Turtle, older than time itself, glided silently through the skies above Umi's deepest trench. On its back sat Hermes, glowing faintly with runes of the Old Glyph, Lin-Lin at her side, and the rest of the group—Xerxes, Event Horizon, and Lupus, all watching the storm gather far below.
A glyph on Hermes' collar shimmered. Her expression sharpened.
"He's coming."
Lin-Lin nodded. "You mean my dad?" Hermes turned. "No... all of them."
Beneath the waves, the sea churned with pre-battle tension. Towers of coral shaped like ancient kings bent beneath a dark current. In the trench's depths, the Demon King stirred, his dark throne carved from the bones of great warriors who tried to best him. He sensed her. Hermes.
And more than that—he sensed the convergence. His crimson eyes opened. "The Gate shall open… over my corpse or theirs." They finally arrived on this journey took almost two years but they arrived at the abode of the Demon King. He rose from the water like a skyscraper. Hermes took out her Spirit Blade, "I know who I am and I'm not afraid anymore."
The demon king rumbled, "It's nothing personal I know I will fall but I still have the futile desire to live." Hermes nodded: "I understand." She leapt into battle and the rest of them leaped after her the human Son Ogong, Lin-Lin, Talus, Narcis, Ananda, Kazan, Lupus, Jellal, Ebisu, Yadala and Mamara and the others, it was foretold that the young carefree boy Ebisu and Hermes would be the ones to strike down the Demon King. The battle had begun. The Sea Turtle roared as it descended into the storm. Thunder cracked across the sky. The ocean below churned like a god in pain. And from the heart of that chaos, rising like a pillar of inevitability, came the Demon King. A monstrous silhouette cloaked in writhing shadow. His eyes burned like blood-red moons. His voice did not echo—it drenched the air. "You cross my waters, mortals... to unmake a fate carved in blood." Hermes stepped to the edge of the Sea Turtle's shell. She held her Spirit Blade, now inscribed with burning glyphs of her former life. The symbols spun in orbit around her—alive. "I remember now." Lightning illuminated the entire sea. She turned to the others. "This is the moment. No more running. No more riddles. We stop him, or the Gate devours everything." Ungar landed on the shell beside her with a meteor-like crash. His cape billowed, his glowing core blazing like a small sun. Manu stood beside him, cracking his neck, harpoon ready. Lin-Lin smiled faintly. "Dad…" Ungar didn't speak. He just nodded—once—and faced the King.
The Demon King raised his arms. The sea rose with him. A wall of black water, inked with memory and death, collapsed downward toward the Turtle.
Hermes vanished. In a blink, she was above the wave, slashing it in half with a spinning sigil of light. Behind her: Son Ogong struck next, hurling a golden staff through the tide like a comet, splitting another current in two. Kazan ignited into flame, melting tendrils of shadow that tried to ensnare them from below. Narcis and Ananda, in sync, began chanting twin incantations that slowed time around the Demon King's core aura. The ocean warped. Space fractured. Dreamstuff bled into reality.
The Demon King extended a single finger. From the trench, Beasts of Nightmare erupted—dragons with masks of broken gods, serpents forged from fear, constructs of forgotten memories. They screamed not with mouths, but with the sound of trauma remembered. Ebisu, the boy, stepped forward. No weapon. No armor. Just a loose tunic and a stare too innocent for war. "Let's go," he whispered. Hermes smirked, "Let's rewrite history." A light bloomed from his body—gentle, golden, ancient. The beasts hesitated. And then… Hermes struck. Her blade, infused with 12 glyphs of the Architects, met the King's claw in a clash that shattered the ocean floor. Waves tore skyward like dying comets. Ungar leapt in next, blade raised, a second swing from his cleaver splitting the air around the Demon King's body. Blood that glowed like falling stars poured into the sea. "NOW!" shouted Hermes. Ebisu nodded. He jumped into the air with her, both of them spiraling around the King like twin meteors, glyphs and golden winds wrapping around their forms.
Their strikes were poised. The Gate pulsed in response. Behind them, Lin-Lin saw it—the Watcher. Floating in silence, her blade of fate humming. Her eyes were wide. She was waiting. Waiting to strike when the King fell. Hermes and Ebisu spun through the air. The Demon King opened his arms as if to embrace the end. Hermes shouted: "FOR THE DREAM!" Their blades came down— in a moment the battle was over the Demon King was destroyed.