Prologue

  Plenty of time had passed, although, Siran wasn't sure exactly how much time had passed when he finally woke up. He and Zia were still in the endless white void known as Valhalla. Zia was just waking up as well, and Siran could see that both his and Zia's injuries from the fight against Naris had all fully healed. "W-... why are we still here?" Siran asks.

  "Is something wrong, Syr?" Zia asks. "Does this not usually happen? Are we stuck here!?".

  "Relax..." Gaia says calmly. "I wanted to talk about a few things before I sent you back to your world".

  "... like what?" Siran asks. "Does this have to do with the fact that you're helping us? Because I've been rather suspicious about it, y'know. Not that you're particularly a mean person, but why would a god help us?".

  "That is... exactly it, actually" Gaia says. "There's a little bit about the truth you perhaps would never know unless I told you. However, I don't think I have the time to explain all of it now".

  "... why?" Zia asks.

  "Because, your world is moving on without you" Gaia says. "Don't you have some important people to attend to?".

  "Don't you have a short version of this story?" Siran asks.

  "There is no short way to explain this" Gaia says. "However, I would like to both warn you and apologize. First and foremost, I am deeply sorry about the mess I've dragged you into so far".

  Siran crosses his arms and waits in an awkward silence. "This is uncomfortable" he says.

  "It was my fault" Gaia says. "Naris's existence, I mean. However, it's your soul he was attached to. Which is also why I feel that I should warn you".

  "My soul?" Siran asks.

  "Wait, is Naris still alive!?" Zia asks.

  "No, that's not it..." Gaia says. "You see... Siran's soul is... unique? No- that's not it".

  "Am I cursed?" Siran asks, then waits a few seconds, then starts to laugh.

  "That was rather displeasing, actually. I do not see why you are laughing" Gaia says.

  "Oh" Siran suddenly pauses.

  "Wait, so Syr has two curses then?" Zia asks.

  "That's not what I said" Gaia says. "He has his cursed appearance from Naris... but that's it. No, this thing about his soul... hmm- how do I explain this?".

  "Carefully?" Siran asks.

  "You and Naris were like... brothers" Gaia says.

  Both Siran and Zia freeze. After a while, Siran finally speaks up, saying "That wasn't a very careful explanation at all! Also, brothers? This isn't very funny, Gaia. I'm a human!".

  "Correct" Gaia says. "But you weren't before".

  "Before what?" Siran asks.

  "Well... before you were born a human" Gaia says. "I can't explain this to you... too much time. You two need to go, now".

  "H-hold on!" Siran yells.

  "Maybe another time, Siran" Gaia says calmly as the void seems to fade around both Zia and Siran. "Just a quick warning though" Gaia says, "there's been more going on in the background of all of the combined universes than any of you may ever realize". Zia and Siran both feel as if they're falling, and suddenly vanish from Valhalla. As Gaia sits alone in Valhalla, she says "I've taken up too much of your time. You still have people depending on you". As Gaia sits alone in silence, she remembers the day Naris had awoken on Earth, the day Naris tried to destroy the world. Gaia felt his presence strongly as the seals on Earth were first destroyed, as Naris regained his power. She felt it so strongly that she could even hear his voice. Maybe it was that his lust for power was just so strong, or maybe she could feel him as his mother. The words he spoke still rung in her ears. "You trickster! You damned fox!" Were the words Naris spoke when Siran first tried to stop him by absorbing his body. At that moment, Gaia knew she had to save him. "Naris knew from the start who Siran was..." Gaia says to herself. "Naris could see his soul... he knew it was Ishmael. Or at least... a part of him".

  The day was May 8th, 2195 when Siran and Zia woke back up in the ruined city that used to be Omnium Guild. When the two of them woke up, something felt strange. The energy, the Endoindustria left over from their last battle with Naris felt different. The Endoindustria pulsing, radiating and tearing away at the earth didn't feel the same as the energy that came from Naris. Neither Siran nor Zia could put their finger on it, but somehow the energy felt different in some strange way. Like it was manipulated and tampered with, but left in its rightful place without any of it being stolen. This made Siran and Zia uneasy. They looked around the demolished city, but they couldn't find anything or anyone left. Eventually, they came across the ruins of what used to be the capitol building. The broken flask that used to hold Naris's endo still remained in the rubble of the building. Siran and Zia searched through the building to see what they could find. Eventually, Siran found a folder filled with lots of paper, with historic events all documented with a small font, all written by hand. "What's that?" Zia asks after she noticed that Siran had stopped moving for quite a while.

  "Documented history from the perspective of many people..." Siran says. "This is... an entry about me?".

  "What?" Zia asks as she slowly walks up to Siran.

  "This is all... documented history from The Naris Catastrophe" Siran says. "This is the entry of when I showed up at that military shelter and promised to teach people magic!". Siran points his finger at some text and reads out loud: "The entity claims it is on our side, and this entity also claims that it can teach humans to wield magic. As strange as this occurrence sounds, a solider of mine, Mason Phelloma, claims that what he says is true. With our resources running low, we have no choice but to see where this road takes us

  - General John B. Recken".

  "Makes sense that they wouldn't trust you at first, I guess" Zia says.

  "Of course they wouldn't" Siran replies. "But... General Recken... he's the old fart that started the Mages Guild". There was a short pause, then Siran says "There should be more records than this! What happened to the rest of the world?".

  "I'd doubt the rest would be here" Zia says.

  "But The Ly'Lum was supposed to hold onto all of these records!" Siran says. "They were supposed to be the ones who prevented history from repeating itself with their library of documented history! It's even how they got their name! And yet-".

  "And yet" Zia interrupts, "they were the ones who almost repeated The Naris Catastrophe in the end...".

  "... right" Siran says in a soft tone.

  "I'm sure they're other copies of these documents elsewhere" Zia says. "If you feel that responsible about the past...". Zia roughly pats Siran on the back, then says "we can always go collect those documents... rebuild that library that was supposed to be there to save humanity. It's the least we could do after... well- after shutting down an entire country".

  "Then..." Siran says as he thinks. Siran pauses, then suddenly "we're getting the crew back together!?" Siran shouts in excitement.