As The Polymath regained his breath, he stood back on his feet, unwavering. Behind him was none other than the house containing forbidden knowledge.
'The blood of the Blessed Mother saved me this time, but I cannot rely on such a divine object.'
To obtain the ancient blood of the Blessed Mother, or otherwise known as the Supreme Archon, is by no means easy.
Polymath's role as an Ephor granted him that Authority, and that same Authority is what distinguishes them from normal beings and earns the right to call themselves Ephors, acting as pillars of Equinox.
'Though I'd hate to recall the memories of the forbidden knowledge, the history of this place is… fascinating.'
While others would deem it sad, cruel, or even madness, he found interest. And a will to learn. That was the role of the Ephor of the Council of Resonance.
He was not one specialized in battle, but no one would surpass him in intellect and strategy.
'I can't help but wonder, who is 'HE'? According to the diary, HE cast his gaze upon this city, Caelum Leonis. If a mere gaze could cause such ruins, could it be a… Paragon?
'Impossible. A Paragon would never gaze upon a stained world like ours. Unless those people here had found a way of catching the attention of transcendent beings… They must've possessed technology that surpassed what Equinox had even dreamed of.'
Lost in his thoughts, he lingered for a few more moments, his fingers rubbing his chin, as the blazing house behind illuminated the area.
He closed his eyes, reminiscing about the sound of the beautiful flame and thinking deeply about the matter at hand.
In between that sound, a faint noise was heard. It was the noise of jewelry, a sound so close yet so far.
Quickly, he regained his senses and opened his eyes.
"You seem lost, renowned scholar." A womanly voice was heard behind the Polymath.
He quickly turned, his black robe with gray-green highlights blowing in the air.
At the same moment he'd done that, he saw nothing but the flames of the house.
In but a mere moment, her voice resounded again.
"You seem lost, ∎∎∎∎." she whispered into his ear from behind, managing to get past his guard twice.
He slightly turned around, only to see shining black eyes mixed with a deep red.
'A child?'
Her appearance was not particularly that of a child, but her height and body structure spoke otherwise.
The Polymath huffed, "Who are you?"
"Who am I… you should ask that to yourself, or selves," she answered, grinning.
The Polymath stared at her, a frown appearing on his face.
"You speak and act in riddles, and your appearance shows nothing but trickery. You are a waste of time."
Having said that, he turned around and started walking in the opposite direction, without sparing the woman an actual conversation.
She had already seen through his problems of being mixed with another soul, his mind fusing with an 'anomaly', as he deemed it.
That was indeed the only thing that had caught his attention. However, she seemed not to be the type to cooperate. It would only waste his time.
"The Fifth Branch, the Ephor of the Council, the First Sage of Aidonis. All these titles and names, but you can't know your true name. Hence, my arrival."
The Polymath looked at her quietly. "Hence, your arrival?"
She nodded, a sleek smile still covering her face.
"My purpose is to remind you of your name, as clearly, you've strayed off your path, Polymath. I am Ivory."
"I see my path better than anyone, Ivory."
Her eyes widened, as her face showed a small hint of sorrow or regret. The Polymath couldn't distinguish.
Silence hung over the air once more, only as he turned and continued walking.
She followed, as she felt the sudden need to.
"How did you end up here?" she asked.
The Polymath stayed quiet for a few moments, recalling the unusual upbringing that had brought him to this location.
"I don't know. All I remember is that a daring scientist asked me, 'Who are you?' After he asked that, the world seemed to shatter, and I was brought to this village."
She shook her head in refusal, "No, it wasn't shattered. Your consciousness was brought upon here."
"You can tell?"
She giggled, "No. But I've probably spent too much time thinking about human emotions."
'What an odd response.'
After walking quietly for a bit more, an odd structure came into sight behind the numerous houses.
A round, shining orb was placed at the center of a massive building that towered above the village.
"Now, what is that?" he asked.
Ivory squinted her eyes until she saw what The Polymath was referring to.
"Ah… It's nothing of importance."
He stayed silent for a bit, then finally opened his mouth to speak.
"Interesting. I'd love to investigate it."
"...No. Your duty is to remember your name," reminded Ivory, holding The Polymath's cold hand from continuing forward.
"How else am I supposed to do that, without understanding the unknown in front of me?"
She clicked her tongue, "Your own curiosity will kill you."
He opened his mouth to talk, but chose to close it. Those words echoed in his head, as they were told to him by a significant person in his past.
Ivory continued, "Some things are better left unknown."
"...Fine, show me the way."
Ivory let go of his hand, then nodded.
***
They walked towards where The Polymath first came from, and after a few minutes of walking, The Polymath noticed odd apparitions.
'Huh? Those are people. Is it another hallucination?'
Ivory looked at him, her face serious. "Ignore them. This is just to toy with your brain."
"You won't believe this! The Expedition Party found a way out of the forest, and they even brought back another Divine Scroll. We've been blessed!" A delighted apparition, with a blurry appearance, spoke loudly.
'Tch… How abruptious. I would have imprisoned him if it were in Equinox.'
"Another Divine Scroll? No one can stop us now!" Another apparition responded, joy in their voice.
The apparitions shimmered against the backdrop, their forms defined by a hauntingly beautiful, fading blue glow.
They continued to walk; meanwhile, Ivory's head was facing the ground like she was refusing what she was seeing.
The voices and whispers of the people continued as they rejoiced, finding more of the Divine Scrolls, and another thing that had stuck with The Polymath.
"Praise the Gray King."
'The Gray King… Could it be connected to the diary of an Unspoken King, and 'HIM'?'
As he pondered that thought, he started hearing the distant cries of a child.
A certain blue liquid, seemingly blood in the form of memories, reached his foot, causing him to halt.
Despite that, Ivory continued. "Ignore… them…" she muttered to herself.
The cries became louder as more apparitions appeared, bathed in a shining red.
"Why? We entrusted everything, we devoted and sacrificed everything!" A sorrowful apparition cried.
The Polymath's eyes narrowed as he continued walking.
Another apparition spoke, "We've crossed the Century Boundary, now we pay the price for our sin."
The apparition would appear, then oddly disappear after they finished talking.
'Almost as if… somebody set it up.'
Ivory continued heading forward, ignoring both the apparitions and The Polymath's halt.
Another apparition appeared next to The Polymath.
The Polymath gazed at the apparition, while the apparition gazed above, acceptance in their eyes unlike the many other apparitions.
"Death Titan..." The apparition whispered.
The Polymath diverted his gaze, similar to the apparition.
After doing that, it felt as if the world itself came to a stop. The wind stopped blowing, the oceans ceased to flow, and the sky burst with countless stars.
The Polymath's left eyeball exploded, Ephor blood splattering everywhere on the stony ground.
Quickly, without even a second thought, he dropped to the floor, his palm on his gravely injured eye.
"This is… more forbidden knowledge! How… How?!" His voice resonated with the apparitions in pain.
As he looked up, he saw that Ivory had come to a halt as well.
Slowly, her body disintegrated along with the other apparitions, making it obvious that after all this time, she was also just an apparition.
With more things to worry about, The Polymath didn't exactly give it much thought.
Precisely where Ivory was standing, a round creature resembling a worm erupted out of the earth and swallowed everything in its way.
Similarly, a second white worm emerged, swallowing the first worm. Even more disturbingly, a third one emerged with the same procedure.
At the end of the much obscure scene, a beast growled from behind and struck through the worms, resulting in filthy purple blood splattering over The Polymath and Ivory.
Luckily, The Polymath had activated a small but effective wall of Infracta that took the blow.
The white beast growled once more, pushing the soulless corpses out of the way.
"I commend your spirit, beast, but alas, this is where you'll meet your demise." He said, his left eye closed as red blood rolled down his cheek.
After a dark-blue halo emerged behind his head, reality began to break apart once more.
He closed his fist, then, The Polymath accepted this outcome.