"Lei!" Ryellia rushed over. "How are you here?"

"I have your fish here," Aleister said to Aunt Lavinia, opening his bag.

"Mom?" Ryellia looked over with a raised eyebrow.

She dismissed her. "Had I known someone would attack Castle Kaynmur and Osetia, I would not have sent him to Crystal Lake. Although," she put her finger up to her nose, "Were you attacked down there?"

"No, and you said all of Osetia is under attack?"

"Not just Osetia, but I have received reports of undead creatures attacking various cities and settlements all over my Empire." The Empress stopped next to Gilmore. "Why haven't you destroyed it yet?"

Gilmore didn't respond.

"Indulgent, as always," she said, turning around to look at the ethereal ravager. "Why even bother tying it up? We already know the meaning behind its appearance."

"We do?" Aleister asked.

"Yes, but it won't affect you, at least, not for the time being," Aunt Lavinia said. "Not even a Weaver yet you want to inquire above event beyond your understanding."

"I didn't even ask anything yet."

"Good. And you should have stayed down in Crystal Lake if nothing attacked you."

"How was I supposed to know creatures were attacking us?"

She didn't respond. Aleister rolled his eyes.

The droning noise went silent at this point. Amalgamated from a mixture of bones of different creatures, the skeletal head inched near the ceilings. Its center remained hollow, but the anima returned. A purple orb rotated between its ribcage. Each limb overflowed with energy. It raised its fist and launched a shard of bone.

Gilmore caught it in his hand and crushed it into dust. "Consider me disappointed."

The Empress muttered some incomprehensible words under her breath. She clenched her hand and encapsulated the skeleton in a crystal shell before turning her back.

Aleister felt the floor rumble. A bit of dust tickled his nose and led him to sneeze. He noticed everyone staring up and followed. The lack of a ceiling exposed the eclipse and fiery sky. The ceiling had been there just a moment ago. But—now it wasn't? Aleister couldn't wrap his head around how that could happen. As he looked at the eclipse, he found himself unable to look away. The strange pulsation returned to his eyes and his heart. Black solar flares surrounded the dark moon. He found himself unable to look away, even as his eyes stung. Even as the Vitreus vacillated between the pale colour and its natural, vibrant state. He only looked away once it moved. Down.

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"I didn't expect the days to line up like this," the Empress said.

"It cannot be a coincidence," Aunt Lavinia said, folding her arms across her chest. "The road ahead will prove much more difficult than expected than."

Aleister remained speechless up until this point. "Sorry, I think I learned too much. It would be great if you spoke in even vaguer words."

"The gods descend a trial upon our world every millennia," Ryellia said, providing him with some more context.

He rubbed his eyes. "What kind of trial?"

"Only the gods know at this moment. We will only know when the trial begins in nineteen years."

It gave him some context, yes, but ultimately not very helpful. "What happens if we fail?"

"It depends."

"Of course. I understand completely now."

Ryellia shook her head. "It's not that I don't want to tell you more, but we really don't know ourselves."

"The complete collapse of civilization before us brought the end of the now dubbed Aeon of Heros," Aunt Lavinia said. "What caused such a crisis? Well, you're smart enough to know where I'm going with this. Such a theory is speculation, so take it with a grain of salt."

"And, it is not our trial to take part in," the Empress said. "It is the trial of the chosen seven."

As the Vitreus continued to descend, it blotted out the eclipse itself. The size even larger than he imagined. Yet, it also appeared to shrink. As he witnessed the event occur, he managed to put two and two together. "Chosen seven, seven territories. There has to be some sort of connection there, right?"

"Correct," the Empress said. "Although a physical manifestation of anima in this world, each of the seven gems, are also representative of the area's major god."

Aleister scratched his chin. "What if the inhabitant choose to worship a different god?"

"Worship of other gods already happens, but, you fail to understand that Lilith's divineness flows through the land in not only a metaphorical sense, but literally as well," the Empress said in correction. "Why do you think Vallonia never sparked a war between us? Or why Kedellgrim hasn't bothered to claim the Southern Wilderness as his own? It's not because we haven't had our disputes, or he has no ambitions. That simple fact rendered expansion meaningless. Having territory in those areas won't change the fact that residents in that area will still inherently count as worshippers of the god that still holds a claim of that area."

Aleister felt a faint dizziness approach and moved his hand from his arm. His palm rested against his forehead as he combed back some hair. Saliva built up in his mouth. The smell of rotten eggs flooded his nostrils.

"I know the decisions of the gods don't make sense to us, but I didn't expect such a volatile reaction from you," Aunt Lavinia said.

Gilmore leaned down. "I think he's actually sick."

Ryellia placed her hand on his back and with a soft-spoken voice asked, "Are you okay?"

He blinked at a rapid pace and swallowed the built up liquid in his mouth. He cracked his back and stood up before letting out a cough mixed with a chuckle. "Probably not." Even though he had seen worse, the disemboweled body on the ground still disturbed him and seemed to be the final nail in the coffin. Unable to hold it back anymore, Aleister turned around and hurled out a viscous and congealed purple spew all over the ethereal reaver.