A dog walks through an endless desert, climbing a massive dune. It walks on two legs, its arms elongated and muscular like a human's. It wears nothing, other than the beautiful white fur covering its pink skin. A double-sided blade sways on his back, held in place by a single point of concentrated mana: A simple attachment spell. The blades are made from a black, glass-like material. The stars reflect off the surface, but there are no stars in the sky. There is no moon either. Just endless darkness as far as the eye can see, and yet somehow the sand beneath the dog's feet glows as if the sun's rays are hitting it.
The dog's feet glide over the sand as it walks, giving the appearance that it is touching the ground, but in reality, it hovers just above. It doesn't belong in this world. Everything it touches here crumbles. Even the ground beneath its feet. The dog reaches the top of the dune and glances at the blue and gold carpet with disgust.
"Nothing ever pleases you, does it?" Avarice says.
He is the next victim of the dog's disgust. Avarice's never-ending humor has met its match. He decides to stop talking and pours the dog a cup of tea. The dog looks at it and nods at the skeleton. It doesn't touch the drink.
"Is the curse still affecting you that badly, Abell?" Avarice asks.
"How did things go on the first floor?" Abell avoids the question, instead getting straight to business.
"So serious, jeez." Avarice takes the tea he poured for Abell and drinks it himself.
Abell watches with the same disgusted look. The tea falls down Avarice's throat and spills out of his ribcage and all over the carpet. He should have expected this. He is a skeleton, after all.
"A million years of life." Abell snarls. "I would think that your manners would have improved."
"Snappy today, aren't we?" Avarice flinches as Abell snaps at his face.
"Report, you good-for-nothing skeleton, before I banish you to the void!" He snaps, spit flying from his mouth.
Behind Abell's voice are the sounds of rolling thunder. The sand quakes underneath the feet of the pair of gods.
"Alright, alright." Avarice wipes the spit off his skull with a white handkerchief. "Hawk's dead. To make things worse, Xyron is starting to move again. One of his little... experiments was going on a rampage in Denzen."
"You forgot to mention how you failed to contain the situation. If it weren't for Celestria's champion and the Wind boy, that abomination would still be on the loose." Abell growls.
"I, uh, was getting to that." Avarice chuckles nervously.
"When will you be able to make a contract with the Wind boy?" Abell asks, pacing. "Time is of the essence. We must prepare ourselves if we are to face Xyron again. The situation cannot be allowed to unfold the same way as before."
"I would and all, but the kid's already in a contract." Avarice starts chewing on some popcorn he had waiting in his picnic basket.
"With whom?" Abell's ears perk. "Nobody alive has the power to make a divine contract, except for you."
"That was true, but right when I was being transported back from the first floor, I felt a new source of cosma appear." Avarice points at the black sky. "Which only we should be able to tap into, as I'm sure you already know, since you and Celestria killed Bemath. He was the source of Cosma in this world, or should I say in the world before it became this… whatever this is."
"I don't need a history lesson!" Abell walks away from the carpet and starts back down the dune. "I need answers, Avarice."
"How the hell am I supposed to get answers when I can't go back down anymore? Hey! Don't just leave!" Avarice yells, but Abell is already gone.