"And thus concludes the graduation ceremony of the thirty-second class of Montgomery Dahlia's Academy!" cheered Montgomery, clapping his hands together. Cheers and applause erupted from the audience gathered at the theater, and the thirty students who had graduated- including the Simon, Mina, Lawrence, Dianna, Chix and Alphonse- rose, and exited the stage after each shaking the headmaster and hero's hand.

That night, the six of them waited for Montgomery in the same room where he'd promised them the scythe- the tucked-away room at the edge of campus, where an illusion disguised an empty armory as a densely-packed storage room. It had been a long six months of school, and the six adventurers were eager to be free in the world once again. While the remainder of the students were free once they had graduated, Montgomery had specifically instructed them to wait here for him, so that he could give them his scythe as well as to answer any questions they had for him before they all left.

At last, the door opened, and the hero joined them. Montgomery Dahlia, who had disrobed from his elegant finery he'd worn to the graduation ceremony and had slipped into his casual clothes (if one could call such an extravagant outfit his casual clothes), stepped into the room, a wrapped polearm slung over his back.

"How is everyone?" smiled Montgomery as he entered the room.

"Good," Simon smiled back, noting that the blade of the polearm across Montgomery's back was significantly shorter than a scythe's would be. "How about you?"

"Great," sighed Montgomery happily. "It always warms my heart whenever a class graduates. And after last year, I'm so glad everything went off without a hitch."

"What happened last year?" Mina shuddered.

"A meteor dragon crashed into a practical exam. Lots of people died."

"What?!" Simon exclaimed. "How come I've never heard of this?!"

"I tried to sweep it under the rug, to be honest," answered Montgomery. "Besides, meteor dragon attacks are legally classified as unforeseeable accidents. Nothing to be done."

"That's... concerning," Dianna muttered.

"As much as I'd love for every student to graduate, some things simply aren't meant to be. Rather than dwell on their losses- which I most certainly have done plenty of already- I prefer to focus on the good and the now. Like the graduation of all this year's students, perfectly safe and sound. That's reason to celebrate, isn't it!"

"I suppose," Simon shook his head.

"And moreover," continued Montgomery, "passing along this- or should I say these- weapons!"

Montgomery hoisted the polearm over his shoulder, and then pulled out from behind his back what seemed to be a small blade and a bundle of arrows.

"I went ahead and had the scythe reforged for the three of you that use weapons," explained Montgomery. "For Dianna, a dagger," he unwrapped the blade and presented it to her, the purple-yellow blade glimmering in the dull light of the room. "For Mina, ten arrows," he handed the arrows to Mina, who quickly stashed them in her quiver, "and for Simon:" Montgomery unwrapped the polearm, and revealed a halberd, its blade yellow and iridescent purple, glinting in the dim light.

"Wow, thank you!" exclaimed Simon with surprise.

"I figured this worked far better than expecting one of you to learn to use a scythe," chuckled Montgomery.

"Thank you so much!" said Mina happily. "I'm glad we were able to distribute the weapon among all of us."

"What the fuck!" whisper-shouted Lawrence. "First all you guys get cool foreboding dreams, and then you all get cool weapons! Lawrence wants something cool too!"

"I figured you might say something like that... besides the dream part..." Montgomery laughed. "So here, a special gift."

Montgomery withdrew a small seashell on a necklace, and handed it to Lawrence.

"This necklace allows you to breathe underwater," Montgomery explained.

Lawrence looked at Montgomery with pure dismay. Montgomery stared back at him with a smile, unblinking and unmoving, for almost thirty seconds. Then, he cracked, and burst out laughing.

"Nah, I'm just messing with you!" laughed Montgomery. "What it actually does is store a single spell use, potentially giving you an extra spell each day, at the cost of a spell from a previous day. Pretty useful, no?"

Lawrence continued to stare at the man. Then he too cracked, and burst out laughing.

"I'm not gonna lie, you got me so good!" laughed Lawrence. Montgomery laughed alongside him. "I was so ready to beat your ass! Thanks for the gift."

All of them laughed together.

As the laughter died down, a serious look crossed Simon's face, and he turned to look at Montgomery.

"Now, about those dreams Lawrence mentioned."

"I was wondering what that was about," smiled Montgomery.

Simon proceeded to explain the dreams the three of them had, with occasional help from Mina and Dianna, who each explained their own respective dreams. Montgomery simply nodded along in silence, until they were finished. He then explained everything Dagon had told each of them, and how he wondered how that related. It took some time, summarizing as best they could without leaving out details they believed to be important, and Montgomery asked questions rarely but when he did, it took some time to answer them.

"I see," Montgomery nodded at last once the three of them finished their explanations. "Well, I'm no expert in dreams and magic and prophecy, and I can't say I've heard of a Black Throne or Gabriel, but I can tell you one thing: I've had a similar dream in the past."

"You have?!" they all exclaimed.

"I did... and the when I followed the steps in that dream, and went to all the places it told me to go... I met Millie."

"So..." Mina stammered, " you're saying that if we follow what happened in our dreams... we'll meet a Praetor?!"

"I can't say for certain," Montgomery shook his head, "but I can say that's what I've experienced. Dreams like that, they stick with you- I can tell you all remember most of the details even now. I still remember mine."

"So... what should we do?" asked Dianna.

"I think you should follow them. My dream didn't lead me to my death- it led me to one of the most fateful encounters of my life. I don't believe your dreams would lead you to your deaths- I bet they're leading all of you to equally fateful encounters."

"That..." Mina smiled weakly, "does help, at least a little."

"That does make me want to ask," Simon perked up, "why didn't you kill Milleboreas?"

Montgomery sighed. "I couldn't. That simple. Even now, I can't. Even with all that siderite holding it down, I can't. Millie's a tough nut to crack."

"Oh, on the topic of questions," Mina chimed in, "I was wondering what the tattoo on Milleboreas' neck was."

"That's an easy one," replied Montgomery. "It means 'six' in the language of the Praetors. All the Praetors have a tattoo of their number, in their language."

"All of them?" Simon asked.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"All of them. It's basically the only way to identify them."

Dianna raised her hand suddenly, grabbing the attentions of everyone assembled. She slowly put her hand down, a mixture of embarrassed and dejected. She seemed almost ashamed of what she had to do next.

"...One final question," Dianna began solemnly. "When we were first introduced to the Praetors, and you spent so much time talking about 'the way of the world' and all of that- why did you keep looking behind us?"

Montgomery stared at her blankly in shock, then broke out into laughter.

"You noticed that?! God damn, you really are something special." Montgomery shook his head, sighed, then let a darkness fall across his face. "Herriez, if you wouldn't mind."

The fabric of space tore open in the corner of the room. A black void ripped open, and out stepped what looked to be an ordinary human man. Despite its normal and masculine appearance, its brown hair and brown beard, its soft and yet chiseled features, its average build, and its robes that were elegant but not extravagantly so, a chill immediately went up the spines of the six adventurers gathered in the room. Its raw aura defied understanding, its gentle smiling face belying a deep and terrible malice, and every atom of its being radiated magical energy, so much of it that it felt as though the entire room was flooded with raw magic. The atmosphere became smothering, as his sheer power seemed to push aside those assembled in the room as though it were physically manifest. And most notably of all, tattooed on its upper right arm, was a horizontal line, and three dots in a V-pattern below it.

"What the hell is going on here, Montgomery?" Dianna snapped.

The individual sighed. "What have I told you about contacting me when I'm busy, Dahlia?" Its voice was melodic and deep, but not wholly malicious.

"I know, I know," Montgomery threw his hands up in self-defense. "But this is a special circumstance. These six are the ones in possession of your Ark."

A look of shock crossed the face of the individual, Herriez. "Oh? Then you would know the name of Our Ark?"

"The Zailiens," Simon replied fearfully, "but the soul of the ship is named Cetus."

Herriez shook its head with a smile. "Then it is true. Tell me, will you do me the honor of allowing me on board, if only for a moment?"

"No is a fine answer," Montgomery nudged Simon.

"I don't see the harm in it..." Simon paused, "but I think that might be the problem. You'd probably kill us the moment you got inside or something, am I right?"

Dianna nodded along, approving of Simon's approach.

"Perhaps. No, I will admit it, if you see right through me. You must have certainly intuited by now that I am incapable of entering Our Ark, lest I would have done so already. I will admit when I am bested."

Simon nodded, pretending he did in fact intuit those things.

"And what's stopping you from killing us now?" Dianna inquired.

"Him," Herriez pointed at Montgomery, and at the siderite rapier he had picked up without any of them noticing. "I would not so much as stepped foot in this room had I the intention of doing anything to harm you all, or in any way slighting this man. Right here, right now, is perhaps the most danger a Praetor has been in since Braemon slew Nylah those years ago."

"And you will do well to remember that," menaced Montgomery.

"Cool your bravado, Dahlia," laughed Herriez. "I do not intend to do so."

"So what's your deal?" Lawrence shouted.

"Simple," chuckled Herriez as it leaned against the wall, relaxing as though its life were not in mortal danger. "I am Praetor the Eighth, the Sovereign Ruler of All Humanities. All of you, were we in better circumstances, should be kneeling to me, your rightful ruler- though I suppose Dagon and I technically co-rule you two," it gestured to Lawrence and Alphonse. It laughed, seeming to find great amusement in this. "More importantly," Herriez continued, "I guard the Order Absolute."

"And what might that be?" inquired Dianna.

"Simple: It is the single most important rule in all the world. The simple rule that separates us-" it gestured to itself- "from the Enemy Absolute."

"I've heard that before!" exclaimed Mina. "What is this Enemy Absolute, and what does it have to do with me?"

Montgomery looked expectantly towards Herriez. "They have your Ark. You might as well tell them."

"That is where your mortal mind is mistaken," Herriez shook its head. "It would be absolutely sublime if you all waste your lives, flying Our Ark and accomplishing nothing with it, until the day you die and we may take Our Ark for ourselves. We can wait- well, I can, I'm not certain about the others. My point is that, as far as I am concerned, your lives are short. You can build dynasties, and those dynasties can crumble, and it shall be nothing but a long week to me. If in that week, you can do absolutely nothing to disrupt the Order Absolute, then all will be right with the world. I will tell you nothing, not because I am petty, but because I am patient."

With that, space tore open once more, and Herriez slipped away to an unknown other space.

"Hate that guy," Montgomery shook his head, "but he's obsessed with me."

The six of them stared at Montgomery in silence. Furious, hateful silence. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Montgomery nearly began to break out into a sweat, avoiding eye contact as much as he could with the others. They all simply stared at him, silently, judgmentally, and angrily.

At last, someone broke the silence.

"Mind explaining what you're doing in bed with a fucking Praetor?!" shouted Dianna defiantly.

"Please don't call it that. There's plenty of fanfiction between us," muttered Montgomery remorsefully.

"I'm!... going... to pretend I didn't hear that," Dianna seemed equally remorseful for asking.

"But to answer your question," Montgomery perked up, eager to both defend himself and to distance himself from the subject, "we speak regularly. As it turns out, every hero has met at least a handful of Praetors, and Herriez greets every single one."

"Why is that?" Mina inquired.

"Part tradition, part necessity," explained Montgomery. "Think about it this way: if you were the king of a nation, and there was a general of another nation that had become that had become that nation's number one general, you'd probably want to meet them at some point, no? Especially Herriez; since it's the Praetor of the humanities, it's more like the king meeting with its own top general. Of course you'd do that, right?"

"I guess so," nodded Mina.

"Pretty cocky of you to call yourself the top general," Lawrence laughed.

"Am I wrong?" smiled Montgomery.

"...Probably not," Lawrence shook his head and chuckled.

"So you and this Praetor... Herriez... what exactly is your relationship?" Dianna pressed her interrogation.

"Well, for one, Herriez guards the Order Absolute," answered Montgomery. "To answer your question from earlier, the Order Absolute is basically the big scary thing I can't tell you about. Since I teach so many students, and I know the deal with the Order Absolute, Herriez keeps a close watch on me to ensure I don't tell anyone about it."

"Why can't you tell anyone?" asked Mina.

"Herriez's rules. It's the only one allowed to tell anyone the truth behind the Order Absolute."

"Why is that?" asked Simon.

"Don't know," Montgomery explained with a smile. "Probably a bit of control issues, but mostly I'd say if I wanted to keep something secret, being the only one who gets to tell anyone about it would be a pretty good way of keeping it a secret."

"How does he- it- keep other people from telling, anyways?" Dianna asked.

"Simple," Montgomery shook his head. "Herriez watches everything. It lives in a demiplane- a pocket dimension- that it uses to observe everywhere on Hoenheim."

"It's gotta miss something sometimes, right?" Lawrence insisted.

"Nope," Montgomery smirked. "Not once. I've heard stories. Plenty have tried, and they've all been stopped in their tracks by Herriez."

"What does Herriez even do if you try to let it slip?" asked Dianna.

"Best case scenario? It tells you to shut up, you shut up, it leaves. That's if it likes you. If not? Poof- you're gone forever."

"He- it- kills you?" Simon asked.

"Kind of. It blinks you out of existence- I don't know where you go, but you're just gone. Oblivion."

"So it pretty much kills you," Dianna nodded. "But no afterlife and no reincarnation."

"As far as I'm aware, that's right," Montgomery nodded along.

"So... You're not friends with him- it! You're not friends with it?" Mina asked curiously.

"Naw," Montgomery waved her away. "We just talk occasionally. And get drinks sometimes. Every now and then it gives me a book recommendation, it's usually pretty good. ANd, uh, sometimes I borrow books from it, or use it as a second reference for some of the textbooks we use here."

The six of them stared at Montgomery blankly.

"I... see why there's so much fanfiction," Lawrence mumbled.

"It sounds like you're friends," Simon said blankly.

Montgomery inhaled deeply and slowly, and then let out a long and frustrated sigh. "Yeah..."

The six of them erupted into an uproar.

"What the hell were you teaching us to fight Praetors for if you're friends with one?!" shouted Dianna.

"I thought the Praetors were the enemies of the humanities! Why are you hanging out with one?!" Simon yelled.

"Are you two dating!?" Mina added.

"What the fuck, man?!" Lawrence stepped forward intimidatingly.

"Listen, listen, listen!" Montgomery attempted to calm them down with a quick raise of his hands, to mild effect. "It's hard to explain- like, if it were Milleboreas, we'd never be friends- that guy eats people! Naraku, Ghayal, The Prince- they're all monsters, and I wouldn't once dream of ever trying to come to a compromise with them! But Herriez is... different. Herriez, Beatrice, Yileon- some of them are kinda, just... guys. They're not obsessed with power or domination, they aren't trying to spread evil- they just want to live their lives, and their ridiculous power lets them do that however they want. I can't fault them for that. They're just people, like you or I."

"I guess..." Simon crossed his arms and furrowed his brow, unsure of how to feel.

"I'll be watching you," Dianna scowled.

"I wouldn't have taught you how to kill a Praetor if I was on their side!" insisted Montgomery.

"So you wouldn't be upset if we killed Herriez?" Dianna turned his words against him, and stared him down.

Montgomery sighed. "I'd be upset... but I wouldn't hold it against you or anything. I would understand- I think. I'm not able to say for sure how I'd feel in the future."

Dianna glared at him even harder, if that was even possible. "I just want to know why you never told us earlier. Why did you wait until I called you out to tell us about Herriez?"

"Frankly?" sighed Montgomery. "It slipped my mind. I'm so used to Herriez that I sort of forgot that you six never met it."

"Seriously?" Lawrence asked sarcastically.

"Seriously," Montgomery laughed dejectedly.

Perception Check: 43

Everyone fails.

"I'll believe that, then- for now," Dianna nodded, and decided to leave it at that.

"Thank you," Montgomery sighed, the tension in his body releasing. "Now, if we're ready to move on- I've already got a quest for you."