Within The First Trial

"I'm sorry, I've never been to The First Trial. This was a gift to me. What is that?" I asked Cole.

If he has an Eye of Providence... how did he get it? I was there for the aftermath of the Providence fight, and her body was untouched until I left... who went there...?

"A Trial to breed Deities. I'm sure you've heard of Deities at least, right?" Cole asked me. I nodded.

"I traveled there with Fico soon after Providence's defeat to gather her strands... but it seemed somebody already stole them. The only thing I could salvage was her right eye. I've been wondering where those strands went... but you seem to have all of them, Dani." Cole told me. I was freezing up. How did he get there?!

"We did take care of Providence's body... but it's pretty sad, seeing that Sky Asterio was the one to kill her and take her strands, or so Fico and I thought. She was watching over Sky for his entire time in The First Trial, but never knew that he was knowledgeable to take Providence's Strands." Cole revealed.

So much was happening... Fico had been watching Sky all along...?

Shike, Belle, Boo, Alexia... and two other people I met there were with him. Myth and... Mitra, was it? No, those are both men. Who else... Eo? No, not that close to Illya... Naomi... was her name?

Then, was Fico hiding under the persona of Naomi all along? I had to report this back as fast as possible...

"Are you seriously implying that Sky took those strands from Providence and gave them to me? Give me a break." I said, shrugging off the accusations.

"I'm not saying that. I'm just saying it's suspicious." Cole clarified.

"We'll talk more about his location tomorrow. Sorry, but you'll have to wait until then." Ruby said, pushing me out of the barracks. Once we were a good distance away, she turned to me.

"How much of what he said was true? I don't know much about the past between that world and Sky." Ruby whispered to me.

"All of it. All of it was dead-on accurate. To the tee. It was... impossibly true." I told her.

"Then, it sounds like we have more problems ahead of us. I'll get Cole out of here, per your wish to keep Sky safe." Ruby said, keeping her gaze away from me. I nodded and sought to get everybody together one last time to explain everything.

…

…

…

"Why did you call us all here, Dani? Dinner is ready!" Charlie complained. However, I shut up him with a slight punch.

"It's important. Too important. I'll start by saying this. Sky and Illya have been lying to us." I sharply said. I wasn't mad, but I was still confused for the true reason.

"Eirikr. He's the next opponent, isn't he?" I said, looking at Sky specifically.

"I kept his name a secret to let you guys live a fulfilling life, and I planned to fight him alone. I realized while in this cell that was unrealistic, and was waiting for the next opportunity to ask you for your help. I apologize for keeping it secret until now." Sky told us all.

"We aren't mad at you. Well, I'm not at least, and I'll help you no matter what. But, that isn't what I wanted to talk about today. Cole has an Eye of Providence, just like me." I said. Illya turned her head up toward me.

"What? That's... I supposed only one of them were passed down..." Illya said, making sense of the situation.

"Then, how did he get-"

"How did he get there? This part requires Shike and the others." I said, cutting Illya off.

"Fico had always been in The First Trial, since Sky entered for the first time. She invaded that place, and I believe her identity to be under a girl named Naomi." I told them.

Every single one of them had sat in shock, considering the possibility... and Alexia sucked in her regret and nodded.

"We never saw her die. We confirmed Owen's death, but Naomi just vanished... it was really Fico this entire time?" Shike asked himself.

"That's right. Cole... he's a formidable opponent already. He claims he's twice as strong as Illya. He knew too much about my body with The Eye of Providence, and he told me that both Fico and him are searching for Sky Asterio to kill him. Then... he told me about the past. You killed Cole's family, and your friends, he was saying." I looked to Sky.

There wasn't a sliver of doubt in my mind he would ever do that to us, but I wanted to know why...

"Cole never got the whole story." Illya chipped in to save the group's morale.

"You guys truly want to know the story of Sky Asterio? I don't have enough time for it, but I can tell you right now, that he didn't even scratch the surface." Illya said. She was getting angry for Sky at this point.

"His friends betrayed him. His friends set him up and killed almost every single one of his friends who wanted to defend him. I don't remember who was who, but everybody was dead, and Sky's friends blamed it on him. More specifically, it had been Cole who blamed it on Sky, and the government launched their attack at Sky. Cole was the very man who initiated that set of blamed attacks on Sky, and Sky viciously ripped his family apart in front of him before eating his flesh. Sure, maybe that was overkill, but I never doubted him for a moment. Cole was the one to steal everything from Sky, and he acts like he's the victim... but that's not true..." Illya said. Her eyes were filled with rage, and Sky put his hand on her shoulder.

"You didn't need to justify my moves to them. My friends know I would never hurt them. Dani's tone of voice proved it... however... I understand just how important it is to murder Cole now. To plant the seeds of doubt into a comrade... he should've known nothing would grow like that within Dani, and his stupidity should be punished. Illya, I want to get out of here and kill him." Sky perfectly said.

"Don't be silly. It's not just you... We want to kill him as well." Carl said. He adjusted his shirt while saying his piece and smiled.

Carl had definitely changed.