"The world is a Bridge, pass over it, but build no houses upon it. He who hopes for a day, may hope for eternity; but the World endures but an hour. Spend it in prayer for the rest is unseen."
- The Mughal emperor, Akbar the Great.
The battle in Umi was over, and Hermes, Talus, Ungar, Yadala, Mamara, and Ebisu stood in awe at the edge of something far greater than victory. Before them stretched the world of Umi—not just beautiful, but endless. Jungles rippled in every direction, alive with movement and color, their canopies stretching like oceans of green. Large luscious plants, and small insects of endless varieties and colors. Towering forests framed the horizon, and in the distance, waterfalls dropped from impossible heights—ribbons of silver tumbling from sky islands that floated lazily in the clouds. Above those, another ocean shimmered in the sky, mirroring the one below. Two oceans, one above and one below, infinite and vibrant, dwarfing even the cosmos in their scope. This world felt more expansive and vast than the void of outer space. It was incredible, and there was no end in sight. It felt like beauty stretched out for infinity and for eternity.
Beneath their feet, pink pools swirled with brine shrimp like living gemstones, while orange frogs with translucent skin leapt playfully between them, their croaks echoing like laughter. Turquoise waves rolled in the distance, and beneath their crystal surface swam sea monsters and creatures too massive, too graceful, too strange to name. Some were like living fortresses, others like flowing art.
The air buzzed with life—fantastical beasts soared on the wind: dragon-like shapes cutting through the clouds, horned leviathans coiling around floating spires, creatures that looked like alien gods and prehistoric titans. Every glance offered something new—creatures with impossible wingspans, others bioluminescent and pulsing with light. Some walked on land with the weight of myths; others slithered, hovered, glided, or shimmered in and out of sight.
In the distance, futuristic cities blinked with clean light, rising like glass towers and metal veins intertwined with nature. But others still were primitive civilizations—mud temples and glowing runes, stone circles and smoke signals—coexisting with the same quiet power. The ground stretched on forever, unbroken, unending. A world without walls, without edges. No one said a word. They didn't need to. Umi wasn't a place you described. It was a place that stole your breath, gave it back to you richer, and made you never want to blink again. You could stare forever and never see the same world twice. Talus said when he looked out at all of this: "It's cliche but it's true. There really are no words for this." Ungar replied with a calming voice in the normal metallic tone: "This world is no different than it was just 1,100 years ago when I last came here. Little has changed." As they continued to walk around they noticed these large tarpin like creatures with eyes like slugs, slurping up the krill and brian shrimp with their trunks as the salt water was being funneled out of their mouth. This was the circle of life, very clearly.
Talus watched the tarpin herd with silent wonder, his boots sinking slightly into the soft, sponge-like terrain. Each creature moved with peaceful intent, their long, sinewy trunks gently brushing the pools, filtering the rich brine for food like ancient, gentle machines. One of them looked at him—just for a moment. Its wide, sluglike eyes held a wisdom older than thought. He didn't know if it was intelligent or not. Didn't matter. The feeling he got from it was clear: You're just passing through. Hermes floated slightly above the group, her wings folded in, gaze tilted skyward toward the mirrored ocean in the clouds. "The balance here," she murmured, "it's sacred. Chaotic, yes—but untouched by ambition." Ebisu nodded, arms crossed. "And yet we almost tore it apart to stop Mira." Yadara, who had remained silent, finally spoke. "We didn't tear it. We protected it." She gestured to the lush sprawl around them. "Umi is more than a realm. It's a memory the universe keeps alive. One of what things look like… before we ruin them." Ungar's voice cut in: "We didn't ruin anything yet. But the ripples have begun. Even Mira's end didn't erase the wound she left." He crouched beside one of the pools, dipping a gauntlet into the water. "The magic's thinning. Subtle. But I can feel it."
Mamara summoned a wind-beetle, watching as it hovered, wings humming like a flute's breath. "We should leave soon," she said. "Let Umi heal. We've done enough here." Hermes laughed: "We have a long time to go before we leave this realm we're heading towards the abode of the Demon King. I remembered something from one of my dreams. If we or rather Ebisu defeats the Demon King I can put a Prophetic Seal on that moment in time, preserving it forever, and ensuring no one can use it to destroy me, Mark or anyone else." But Ebisu frowned. "Even if that weren't the case. Not yet. We can't leave yet. Mira's energy didn't die—it was... displaced. Dissolved, yes, but not erased. This realm absorbed some of it. That means it's changing." He turned to Talus. "And you know what that means." Talus narrowed his eyes. "Someone new will rise. Something born from the mix of Mira's essence and Umi's soul."
Hermes took a deep breath and she could smell the thick scent of saltwater in the air, it began to cause a flood of memories, some she had lived through, others she wasn't even aware of in the slightest. Daniel breaking through Sarai's ship, then it was Talus fighting Daniel at the Martial Arts Tournament several years back and Talus becoming Shiva Talus, the Prophet Talib praying in rakat at the Prophet's Temple, then a boy with four eyes cutting through hordes of primordial demonic beings, after this the image of Prussian soldiers killing Belgian civilians in the year 1914 during the First World War, followed by a creature with an eye at the center of its head, the eye opened it and the history of a thousand worlds flowed into it. After this Hermes' eyes opened and she was in a world surrounded by clocks, clocks everywhere. And a familiar face appeared. It was a small-rabbit-like creature called Ozzy. "It's been quite some time Prophet, do you know why I have brought you here." Hermes took a deep breath as she looked around, "No, I can't say I do." Ozzy turned around twirling his cane, he began to put out his hand and it showed stars shimmering through the light. "It puts a burden on someone to be a God, to have all of Creation at their fingertips, it's rather quite a cliche thing to say but it's something that's very obviously beyond human comprehension. But I guess I'm a rabbit and you're an elf so that matters little." Hermes wanted to interrupt but she held her tongue. "To become a god is something else, there are those who say they're are no gods the Atheists or at least many of them would call me anything an alien even, and yet what is a god is entirely subjective, but to be a Creator is an objective truth. And as a Creator it's at least possible (at least in many instances) to put one's self in their own work. Sometimes literally. In a world of Sages, Custodians, Prophets, Warners and Kings, can there really be a Creator or is everyone independently subject to their own creation." A long moment began to pass and Hermes thought to herself, "What is he talking about? This sounds like a bunch of useless jargon from someone who thinks they're way smarter than they really are, and who is this guy I've only met once. He's acting like we're old friends or… it at least feels that way somehow." Ozzy chuckled: "this sort of thing would get me burned at the stake for heresy against the Church, I wish I could feel that sense of dread and terror burning as a heretic or an apostate for crimes of apostasy and sacrilege and corrupting the youth like Socrates once did, but I can no longer feel anything like that. The abode of the Devas, the Arhats, the Archangels, the Jinn, and the Bhiksus is a realm apart, reality or fiction, does it really matter when the concept exists beyond yourself and your so-called existence. All that matters is your divine status and that you must sit on the Throne, and you must know if you don't others will, no matter how bad things get, things are always worse under the control of others than even under the wicked control of oneself and one's own dominion… Isn't that true Hermes?" Hermes got flustered and angry: "What the hell is this?! Why am I being bogged down by useless philosophy?! Am I being lectured to right now, is that it?! Listen rabbit, you better get this through your head, I'm God's Messenger and…" Ozzy leaped across the room and in an instant a demonic face appeared before Hermes and a dark twisted voice, "You listen here Prophet, you stand against Idols but you have built a golden idol for yourself, know your place when a God and Guardian Angel is speaking." Hermes' heart skipped a beat and just as soon as it occurred it was over. Ozzy was standing there twiddling his thumbs, he hopped a few feet in the opposite direction and said: "Do you merely think you are just God's Messenger?" Hermes was in a state of shock but she eventually found the words: "No, I know I'm the reincarnation of a goddess, and other things, why does that matter?" The rabbit pressed again: "And are all those things all that you are limited to?" Hermes began to get angry again, "What are you talking about freak, do you know something I don't." The rabbit giggled again, "You tell me you're the one who knows everything." Hermes was bewildered as it seemed as if he was just trying to get a rise out of her, but if so why'd he get so angry before.
Ozzy paused, then sat on a floating, gear-shaped bench that hadn't been there a moment ago. The ticking of the clocks intensified—some rapid, some slow, like a symphony of timepieces playing out a rhythm only the cosmos could understand. He looked over his shoulder at Hermes, eyes less playful now, more piercing. "I got angry because I felt something," he said, voice low, quiet. "And that doesn't happen often anymore. Not since I became what I am. You poked at something buried, and that's rare. So maybe you're more than a messenger after all." Hermes stood rigid, still breathing hard. "This place," she muttered. "It's trying to pull things out of me." "It's not the place," Ozzy replied. "It's you. You're remembering truths you locked away, fragments of divinity you buried in other lifetimes. This isn't a test, Hermes. It's a reckoning."
"Why now?" she asked. "Why bring me here now, when we're just trying to stop another war?" Ozzy tilted his head, ears twitching. "Because you can't stop what's coming with power alone. You've faced gods. Demons. Time itself. But what's coming isn't something—it's everything. You'll need to know who you really are before it arrives. Or you'll be devoured by the weight of your own ignorance." He stood up again, cane clacking against the invisible floor. "So let's make this simple. You're not just a goddess reborn. Not just a Prophet. Not just some cosmic pawn playing a grand chess game. You are the axis. The turning point. The point where the story collapses into reality." Hermes stared, her pulse echoing in her ears like war drums. "What are you saying?" "I'm saying," Ozzy said with a smile, "that Umi wasn't just a place you visited. It was made from your memory, well in a certain sense, it is indeed a place after all. And Mira? She killed you for a poor reason but it was because of what you truly are, the ignorant believe you're just a monster, but you and I both know there's a lot more to the story, you're just hiding it." Silence. Then Hermes whispered, "No. That's not possible."
Ozzy raised his furry brows. "Isn't it?" The clocks began to spin faster. One cracked. Then another. Time in the realm of clocks was breaking. "Look inside," Ozzy said, almost sadly now. "Before someone else does. Before Mira's essence finds its voice in you." And with that, the realm fractured like glass. Hermes gasped, and she was back in Umi, on her knees, saltwater on her tongue, lungs heaving. Talus was beside her, hand on her shoulder. Ungar was watching from a distance. Mamara's beetle buzzed nervously in the air. "You okay?" Talus asked. Hermes shook her head: "Yeah I'm fine. Just thinking that's all." Ungar looked at her unconvinced. "In any event, we have some ground to cover the trek to the Demon King which will take no less than 6 months to get there." Ebisu giggled, eyes closed with his hands behind his head, "Well we better get going, I've been waiting to fight this guy, I heard he has the power of galaxies at his fingertips. I can hardly wait."
Meanwhile back on Helios Lior and Lupus were in stretchers at Nova's Compound. Everyone was there: Lupus' wife Ashley, Demi, Sir Rhyme, Talus Martreya, and several others. Lupus was more angry than Lior naturally. Nova pointed out: "It will take about 2 days for a full recovery; the injuries are actually relatively minor." Lupus scowled: "The fluid pods in my space ship could have fixed me up in a little under an hour." Nova scowled: "Well you'll have to make due with this, two days is a short enough amount of time." Kazan ran into the room: "Father, are you okay?! Please speak to me!!" As she said this the morphine began to kick in and Sarai drifted off into sleep. Another dream like he had time and time again. In order: Talus, Sun Wukong, Erlang Shen, King Gilgamesh, Lior (the Light Crusader), and now Jellal and all his 200 children laughing at him. Towering over him like giants. This could not stand. Lupus would have to get even stronger but how? He then realized: "If I train on the way and conquer the Demon King I will achieve incredible power, by the time I wake up, Nova should be finished with his device. Then I can follow the others and retake my station at the top and reclaim my birth right."
Back in the compound Nova got on a call with Detective Mahler. Detective Mahler had been calling him frantically for the last two weeks or so. Mahler asked Nova: "What is happening, have all of you dealt with Doctor Anton Volker yet?" Nova explained the entire situation. Mahler was shocked: "...I see, wait these Watchers, they're going to presume this judgement day in about one year's time." Nova nodded. Mahler began to laugh: "I never thought Herr Nova that anything like this ever existed. I've always been quite the skeptic, I denied the God of the Christians and all other gods. I can't remember a time in my life when I wasn't an atheist and believed everything could be explained by material science. I never could have imagined any of this. I guess I was never really as smart as I thought I was." Nova replied: "I've personally always known these things exist but I never believed in God though." Mahler asked: "Why?" And Nova responded: "Because as far as I can tell you can't prove or disprove God, and that has always perplexed me… In any event, as much as I hate it, Anton Volker and the other demons are working with the others right now to defeat these things in a temporary alliance. As soon as this is all over we need to take him out though. He won't stop being a threat until he's destroyed." Mahler nodded: "I agree on both points. But I have one more question, Doctor Nova?" Nova nodded, "yes?" Mahler asked: "Do you really think that girl I met Hermes' is a Prophet or a so-called Messenger of God?" Nova leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers: "Honestly, I don't know." This caused Mahler to gasp but he continued. "But regardless of that it doesn't matter, whatever she is, she's very special, more special than she even realizes yet."
Back in City H, Anton Volker, Khadr, Jellal, the highly respected Scott M. Greer, Sir Rhyme stared down one of these crystal soldiers sent by the Watchers. City H – Was a broken skyline, metallic ash drifting down like snow. It looked like a junkyard, large pieces of concrete and scrap iron landscape dotted everywhere like an apocalypse. Sirens howl in the distance, silence choking the space between sounds. Standing in a crater of shattered time, the Crystal Soldier flexed its jagged limbs—each movement chiming like clashing swords. Its body refracting light, mimicking the dying sun in a kaleidoscope of impending doom. Anton Volker—now wearing the flesh of Belthasar, eyes glowing with infernal hunger—licked his lips. "Let's see what kind of blood runs through the crystal." Scott Greer adjusted his blazer, the wind barely rustling his 6'2" composure. He cracked his knuckles and said calmly: "If this thing breaks even a single part of my drip, well lets just say there's not enough wolf's blood in the world to calm me down." Khidr, demonic and long-haired, coiled his fingers. Tattoos slither across his skin like cursed snakes. "He's not from this plane. Can feel the dimensional residue. You sure it's just one of these things?" Jellal floated in mid-air, his eyes half-lidded in disdain. "One? Tch. Don't insult me." Sir Rhyme, glowing with the golden calm of enlightenment, stepped forward barefoot. "He is not your enemy. He is simply a reflection of what you are becoming." He opened his palm. A lotus blooms mid-air. Sir Rhyme, sword drawn, long cape fluttering, roars with bardic pride. "Enough talk! Let the song of battle begin!"
The Crystal Soldier launched forward without a sound—just the burst of shattered pavement underfoot. In a blur, Khidr disappeared. Appears behind the soldier, drives his fist into its back. CLANG. His knuckles fracturd. "...This guy's dense." The Crystal Soldier pivoted— and fired a prism blast straight through the buildings behind them. The beam cut a 60-degree arc. Skyscrapers collapsed in silence. Volker appeared in front of the beam—his shadow mouth opened and ate the light. "Too slow," Volker growled, and his arm turned into molten chain-blades, flinging toward the Soldier. But the Crystal being caught them mid-air and shatters them, which sent shards of cursed metal across the battlefield. Scott Greer steps up. "Let me show you an IQ of 187." He tossed a small disk on the ground—instantly a tactical illusion field burst forth, fractal versions of himself were moving in the chaos. He blitzed behind the Soldier, ramming an anti-dimensional spike into its spine. It screeched, light warping around its body. "Gotcha," Scott says. But the Soldier glowed—and absorbed the spike. "…Huh." Jellal finally moved.
Wings flare out. "Void King Arts: Demon Prince Annihilation." The sky fractured above them as an ethereal army of Jellal's conjured demons descend, each wielding a cursed blade. The Soldier stood motionless—until it sent a single pulse— All of them were gone. Dust. "Impossible," Jellal whispers. Finally Sir Rhyme had enough he jumped up with his hand out in a single beam of light and destroyed the creature. Its energy immediately entered Hermes' sword in the past. Scott announced: "Another one down." While Jellal retorted: "And many more to go."
Meanwhile, one day had passed in Umi and the landscape was possibly even more mesmerizing than during the day. At night, Umi becomes something else entirely. In the day, it's striking—sunlight shimmering on endless water, waves glittering like scattered coins under a golden sky. But at night? At night, it's sacred. Almost as if it's like the abode of God. There are legends that at a certain point in this realm descriptions become like approximations for them as they are far beyond human comprehension. The water turned black, but not with shadow—with depth. Like ink that remembers stories. Bioluminescent creatures flickered beneath the surface in waves of blue and violet, pulsing like breath. Stars above mirror stars below, so the line between sea and sky almost vanishes. If you stand still long enough, you can forget which way is up.
Lantern-fish drift lazily across the horizon, and the coral towers—alive and ancient—glow from within, soft and pink like a heartbeat. Far off, windchimes made of pearl and bone hum in the sea breeze, creating a sound that feels like a lullaby from another life. There's a quiet in Umi's night that doesn't exist in the day. Not silence, exactly—just a kind of peace you can't explain. A stillness you feel in your bones, the kind that makes you think you've finally found something you lost a long time ago. Something akin to that of a statement by the Andalusian Muslim saint Ibn al-Arabi (d. 1240 AD) who once described the presence of God being: "Where all necks break, and hearts and souls shatter before it." And when the moon hit just right, casting its silver net across the ocean, Umi didn't feel like a place at all. It felt like a memory. Like home. They all sat around the fireplace at night. Mark commented: "You know something I never thought I would be involved in anything that mattered. So being here now really changes everything. It's a feeling I'm sure you're all used to." Ungar shook his head: "I never feel like I'm involved in anything important. Though I've come to the realization that it matters not how I feel." This surprised Mark, Ungar was the last one in the group you'd expect to hear that from. Mark asked what Ungar meant. Ungar sitting Indian style with his arms crossed said, "It's hard to explain. Rather I misspoke. It feels as if I'm involved in something important but I play an un-important role in it." This surprised Mark as well: "You seem to have one of the most important roles." Ungar laughed: "Maybe so. But it certainly never feels that way. The thing that gets me through it all is seeing you kids grow." This shook up Mark. "When I first met Kaido and then Daniel they were both immature and naive, but they grew to become great warriors, we just saw Daniel's story end recently. It was an important one, most of us wouldn't be here today if it were not for him." Talus nodded: "It's nice he could leave the way he did. As much as I miss him, even still he left behind the perfect legacy." Ungar continued: "It's not just them though it's Hermes, well I guess she's asleep and you Mark." Mark replied slowly and hesitantly: "Me?" Ungar chuckled: "And to see what kind of person my master, Ebisu, was. And the leadership skills he wielded. All the abstractions fall away like rain water when I see the reality of the youth growing old." Ebisu giggled: "I'm sure you're still the sentimental one when we come to meet huh?" Yedala asked Ebisu: "Hey Ebisu. What happened to all the people serving under you? Where did they run off too." Ebisu chuckled: "Samson said he was leading them to Ironfore 'a city that was due north.' But I'm sure we'll meet up with them again."
Mamara said: "I'm sure we will. But I need to get some sleep." Ungar noticed that Hermes was saying something in her sleep. "Ozzy, Ozzy." Ungar was suspicious, he wondered what she was speaking of. The next day, as the sun rose above the horizon our heroes set off; they were close to a nearby village when Ungar spoke up to Hermes as she was speaking to Mark and Yadala. "Hermes, I need to talk to you," said Ungar. "Really what about?" said Hermes. "It's kinda sensitive, it will only take a minute. We'll just speak 50 feet away in that direction." Hermes nodded and they flew off 50 feet as the others temporarily stopped in the distance and waited. "What's this about Ungar?" Ungar turned around sharply, whistling: "Who is this Ozzy?" Hermes was surprised: "How do you know that name?!" Ungar said frankly: "I heard you mention it in your sleep." Hermes was relieved: "Oh is that all. It's some rabbit spirit who visits me on occasion now only twice. I hardly know anything about him. I thought he wrote up my contract with my avatar the first time we met but now I'm not even sure about that." Ungar was stunned: "You've met Osbourne, that's literally...….impossible." Hermes was deeply perplexed to say the least: "What do you mean impossible?" Ungar shook his head: "I'm going to tell you something important, it's extremely sensitive information. More sensitive than anything else I have access to or rather that's within my knowledge." Hermes' heart skipped a beat: "Ungar you have access to what in human conception would be unlimited outcomes, realities, worlds, etc. there's no way it could be the most sensitive thing you know." Ungar replied: "Well it's the most sensitive thing I know of this world." Hermes' heart dipped further: This was even less comforting than the last statement. Hermes replied: "I'm listening." Ungar walked away a few feet and turned around: "Long ago approximately 1,400 or maybe a little less years ago in this world I traveled to the abode of the Caterpillars not the Caterpillar that was corrupted and turned evil but the dwelling of his race who are scribes of great amounts of cosmic information. I heard they knew even the fundamentals of this world, I wanted to humor that theory so I only asked them one question: "What is the meaning of life?" The caterpillars replied instantly: "Easy, the meaning of this life is to test you for the unknown." Hermes' eyebrow raised: "A test?" Ungar continued to speak, I'll tell you what they said.
Long ago more than countless trillions of years ago more like what a mortal human being would consider multiple eternities an ancient cosmic being was born from a primordial cosmic ocean his name was Osbourne and he was a rabbit. He was left with some vague idea of his origin at the time, and he was a servant of his God, a God who's name was only known to him or rather a name he had given this god that was personal to him. He had access to another world, possibly a few, but could not really interfere until a soul died in that world. After the soul died Ozzy would weigh the soul and its essence on a scale. When it was done Osbourne sent the soul to a single world, this world. The soul is reborn and is tasked with completing a series of tests. But not all souls qualify, many are destroyed or sent back to an abode like heaven or hell. Only the ones most qualified are allowed to enter what Ozzy calls: "the Ocean." Ozzy puts the soul into a tank with three cosmic sharks and if it survives it can enter the world. Every soul in this world is from some other world or possibly a few other worlds. This is why Daniel, Kado, and Hermes were reincarnated into this world. But all the people we've met throughout the entire span of our adventures with the exception of those Angels in heaven and the heroes from the alternate universe and a few others are the recycled souls of those who died in that other world. Ungar's essence goes far beyond these worlds but these worlds are intrinsically connected to Ozzy. When the soul eventually goes through what's often countless loops of reincarnation it will eventually ascend to what is called "the Higher or the Unknown." Which is unknown, to Ozzy it's like sending the soul into a void of emptiness. There is no knowledge of what occurs to those souls. When people dream in the world where they came from when they lived in that world they are seeing what can only be described as their possible futures and outcomes in the next world if they cross over or rather if they are able to cross over. It's as if they're dying in their sleep every night when they go off to sleep. In a bizarre way, this world that the story of the book occupies is the after-life. Ozzy is a servant of what he refers to as the one true God but he has no proof that this God exists, yet he still has faith in it. Ungar for his part stated: "I found it interesting when years ago the Archangel Michael said: "We have faith that God, the Lord of the World exists, though we have no knowledge or proof he exists in this world, we still hold onto that faith. Which is the source of the power and organization of the abode of Angels." So much like the Angels Ozzy has no idea objectively speaking if his God exists, yet he continues to follow him, even with his limited though compared to mortals' vast reserve of knowledge." Hermes was stunned: "We're in the after life?" Ungar laughed: "I'm not but all of you are. You know when people say: 'I think I died I went to heaven, well you can now say that you've literally done so, this realm is not ultra-metaphysical perse but it is metaphysical, this explains some obvious metaphysical realms like this one being the realm of Umi.'" Hermes thought for a moment: "Wait?! Why is it impossible to meet Ozzy?" Ungar said: "Because no soul that Ozzy sends to this world is allowed to remember Ozzy. Only those that were not sent here like the Caterpillars have knowledge he exists, and I only knew because I have access to them and because of my extra-dimensional existence but… No soul sent to this world is ever seen again by Ozzy. He abandons them forever, never showing himself and no one remembers so they have no idea he exists, when the trial is over and they enter this world they don't remember any of it. They only would know him if he revealed himself and Ozzy believes it is against his God's will to show himself to any of those souls in this world after the trial, except… for you." Hermes finally understood and now the confusion Ungar had felt began to dawn on her: "But wait, why would I be any different?" Ungar replied: "I don't know. But there's no doubt. You are far more important than any Prophet or anyone else in this world that came before you. You… are the chosen one. In this world you are the only one to ever be chosen." Hermes fell to her knees, "Unbelievable, I…had no idea."
Ungar knelt beside her, but didn't touch her. The weight of revelation wasn't something you could lift off someone—it had to settle, like dust after a storm. "I wish I could tell you what it means," he said quietly. "But even I'm not sure. And that's saying something." Hermes stared down at her palms, like she was searching for signs—scars, marks, light. Something. Anything. "Chosen… for what?" Ungar looked out at the rising sun over the distant water. "That's the part that terrifies me. Even the Caterpillars don't know. They record truths that haven't happened yet, but when it comes to you… their scrolls were blank. Like reality hasn't made up its mind. Like you don't exist or rather you're a complete unknown." Hermes stood slowly, brushing the dirt off her knees. Her voice was steadier than she expected. "So what you're saying is—I'm not just in the test. I have a different role to play." Ungar didn't answer, but his silence was confirmation enough. In the distance, Mark waved. Yedala had started walking toward them. Time wasn't stopping for revelations. Hermes turned back to Ungar. "Do you believe him? Ozzy I mean?"
Ungar's eyes narrowed. For the first time in a long while, the immortal looked… human or atleast felt human somehow. "I believe he believes that much is beyond certain. And if a being like that holds faith in something beyond himself, then maybe that's more powerful than any proof." Hermes nodded once, slowly. Her heart still thudded, but now it did so with a strange calm. Like the storm inside her had hit its peak and was beginning to recede. She whispered, "Then I guess I better stop treating my role like it's accidental." Ungar chuckled. "Welcome to the real world. This isn't some fairy tale. The stakes are as real as it gets." They walked back to the group. The moment Hermes stepped back into view, Mark looked at her differently—not with suspicion or awe, just a quiet respect. Like somehow, he sensed she'd crossed an invisible line, and she wasn't just Hermes anymore.
Talus had heard everything his pointy ears could pick up sound from an incredible distance he thought to himself: "Hmmmm… it all makes sense. About Hermes and that we're in a test. Well…" he looked up at the sun and smiled: "I know that Daniel passed, that much is clear."