With the ritual ended, silence returned to the hall. The presence within the Silent Cross could no longer be felt, probably having returned to the depths of their slumber. The ancient voice of the aged man had also disappeared as though it never existed. Not even his weary breaths remained as Uriah silently walked out of the gate that opened in the distance. He took his first step into the open world and realised once more that he was in a different place entirely.

The cold stone ground was similar, but there was none of the crystalline ores that emitted their faint lights all around him. This world was just a bleak and grey planet, a cosmic grave for those who were not quite dead. And he had risen from among them. How many times was it now that he died only to rise again? It was a foolish question. After all, he had only fallen into the Final Slumber once. How could he have died before?

A splitting headache assaulted him as he realised his memories were a jumbled mess. There were those that belonged to him, and others that did not. It was incredibly difficult to even differentiate between them as he felt as though both were his own memories. What would happen if he could not reconcile his identity? Would he lose himself to them? Or would his mind just shatter before he could even begin to Dream.

Fortunately, at that moment, something of a divine intervention saved him from the torment. A string appeared in his vision, flickering in and out like some kind of visual glitch. Its colour was difficult to describe, but the closest he could think of was milky white with a hint of pink. It was such a comforting colour that he nearly yawned and gave in to sleep, as though that would free him from the suffering he had to endure. But he clenched his jaws and reached out to the string, grasping it like it was his sole lifeline. And in that instant, he understood what it was.

[A fractured seed of a nascent ascendant authority has been discovered within you.]

[You have obtained the trait: Eyes of C|@r!ty]

[The nascent ascendant authority is fractured. Its core essence is dissipating. If the core essence is not supplemented with another, the authority will be lost forever.]

Eyes... they burned within their sockets, threatening to scorch his entire head. Uriah barely held back the urge to scream as a flood of fractured memories came with them. Fractured authority and fractured memories, he had been on the receiving end of a calamity that would have surely destroyed any other person. If not for who he was, he would have definitely vanished, fading into the dust that fell from the threads woven by the Loom of Eternity. He would have joined the countless nameless and inconsequential sand that lined the banks of the Eternal River.

Yes, he was...

[$08#!(8 has taken notice of you.]

[$08#!(8 has taken interest in your unique predicament.]

[$08#!(8 has replaced the core essence of your fractured authority.]

[You have obtained the trait: Eyes of the Dreamer]

His eyes closed for but a moment, yet that brief moment was enough for him to sink into the very depths of his fragmented memories and... Dream.

Before him was a grand mountain, a celestial stake that impaled the very flesh of the world, pouring its prismatic blight through every vein. Its pillar of light touched the very stars and still reached far beyond it, seeking that which none could see. The light seemed both new and ancient. It reminded him of the light of the stars, the past made manifest in the present. Their flames were not his to wield.

As he stepped forward, a tranquil silence greeted him. There was a disconcerting sense of relief in the atmosphere as though the death throes of a tormented world was all but a lie. This was the golden field of reeds that entire worlds could only Dream of, a paradise of Eternal peace.

The heaven-reaching mountain... lay before him.

He had returned.

"Mother!"

The strained voice of a woman rang out from beside him. He could hear the tears and anxiety within, barely held back from bursting out. He turned his head and saw his sister, Vivi. She looked like she wanted to rush ahead, but something was stopping her. Gazing forward once more, he found a woman who looked both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. Even from a large distance away, he could see her lustrous red hair that seemed to create an illusion of burning blood. Even with the backdrop of the curtain of light that seemed to surround the mountain, she looked especially bright. But the coldness of her eyes was striking as she looked at her children with increasing disappointment.

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"Even now, you call me that? Have we not reached the end of our second journey together? Do you still scorn us? Do you still... scorn me?"

Her words were dripping with anger and loneliness. Her face grimaced from the pain of betrayal she felt. Even though neither of her children understood what she meant, she still bore the pain. In fact, it was because they could not understand that she felt even more pain, felt more betrayed. Had she not shown enough of this world? Had she not shown them the grander future that awaited them if only they followed her? She felt inadequate, always had. In front of these two who no longer even recognise her, she felt so incompetent.

"Ah, Valerya, don't waste your breath. They will never understand nor will they ever want to. They are our Rex and Regina, the treasures of the Alma. They will never accept our lowly opinions."

From the curtain of light came a man's voice filled with charm and confidence. He stepped out into the open, standing beside the red-haired woman as he looked at the two from a distance. He was smiling, but the smile seemed empty of any emotions. There was only a cold and calculative glint in his eyes. The stone horn on his head pulsed with power, ready to unleash it at any time. And in the midst of this chaos, his neat and clean business suit was decidedly out of place. This was Kincaid, the...

"Cheyulah, that is my name. I hope you remember at least that."

"What are you doing here? I thought we agreed that I would handle them?"

Valerya turned to Cheyulah with a displeased frown. Although they were working together, it did not mean that they were on the best of terms. Their goals simply aligned. After all, they both wished only for the prosperity of their people. Even though Valerya hated Cheyulah to core of her being, she hated the fact that her voice could not even reach the ears of the two she treasured the most, the two who should have been at the forefront, fighting for the future of their people. She hated the fact that she and all the rest of them had been condemned.

"Come now, Valerya. I promise I won't interfere, but you know that it is necessary for them to remember. At the very least, the Regina Alma must remember if we are to find Lua once more. She holds the key to the heart of Lua."

Valerya fell silent, acknowledging his words with a mere sigh. She looked back to the two who had just crossed the chaotic domain of the Trustad Plains and was mildly surprised. All this while, she and Cheyulah had been speaking of things that no one but the Alma or the Prisma could understand. But there were always exceptions to everything. Two among them failed to remember who they were and lived their lives in Corrin as though they were mere humans. But as Vivi looked utterly lost and confused, the other only looked sad.

"I saw it. In my passage through the Trustad Plains, I saw what happened. A world collapsed beneath the weight of the sins its people carried. Its very flesh became the grave that housed their misbegotten souls. Is that what you're trying to do here again?"

Valerya's eyes widened in shock as she truly did not expect such words to come from him. Cheyulah's brow rose up as he seemed even more interested in the unfolding events. This was something outside their expectations. That the Rex Alma would regain his memories first was something of a miracle as he was the one who swore to kill himself rather than harm Lua. Cheyulah became a little intrigued at this development and could not help but ask.

"O great Rex Alma, when I learned that you chose to live the life of a middling human child who could not even do anything besides hunting down beasts, I nearly died of laughter. Have you recalled your memories yet? Do you remember your name? Or do you still refer to yourself as the boy you had killed?"

Cheyulah smirked in disdain as he watched the man in the distance raise his hand. His silence was palpable, as though the answer could not come to him. Vivi looked at her brother in confusion, her heart beating from the mounting anxiety. She was a Divine, but at this moment, the world seemed to have forgotten that. Even she herself had forgotten as she watched her brother grasp the air before him. He sighed in exasperation as a flood of information entered his mind through the thread that he had grasped.

Only he could see the thread. It was clear like flowing water. It was almost invisible, imperceptible if not for the fact that he could intrinsically feel it. After all, it was his thread. It was everything that was him. And although he only checked for the relevant information pertinent to his current situation, it was already enough to make him feel exasperated. The truths he had learned in that simple touch was the very reason he had never dared touch his own thread from the moment he had acquired the Eyes of Clarity. He was afraid. Deep within him, he knew he would not be able to go back if he touched it.

But now he did. And now he knew... he was not Galeon. He did not die and live again. He had killed someone, an innocent little boy. And he had stolen his place in this world, stolen his name. The Vernal Bloom knew it all along. It told him already. He was Prisma and Prisma was him. He was...

"Yulaiah, the Shade of Babylos."