“Oh. Wow.” Jun said bashfully, leaning in close to me once again. “I mean, I know I’m the only person he really knows in this world, and we are technically engaged, but… it still feels nice to know. Is it safe for us to take off our armor?”

The End nodded. “It is more than safe. The environment of the Ossuary simulates what it is like to be inside of your armor, even if you are not wearing it. You will be stronger, healthier, and so on and so forth. Doff your gear at your leisure.”

Jun’s armor disappeared with a thought to reveal her smiling face. A wave of warm sensations came over me as I did the same, and I pulled Jun into a hug right after. It was no surprise that she smelled like flowers, but… her smell had changed a little. From plainly sweet, like nectar, to something sweet yet… green? Like the smell of a snowy evergreen forest mixed with maple syrup. I was caught off guard for a split second, but I found myself thoroughly enjoying the change.

Because she didn’t smell like Keratily any more. She was free.

“Enjoying the smell of me?” Jun teased, but instead of replying, I just pulled her a little tighter. She laughed in surprise, then nuzzled into my shoulder and sighed with content. “...Love you.”

“Love you too.” I whispered right back, eliciting a happy murmur from my fiance. This life really was starting off better than the last one, even if it had a few of its own dings and bumps to iron out.

“You two are absolutely, utterly adorable.” The End said with a happy chuckle. “If I could, I would give you all the time in the world to rest. Unfortunately, we only have two and a half hours together to go over everything we need to discuss. You can come out now, Mortician.”

Mortician peeked out from behind one of the columns with a goofy smile plastered on their face. “We knew you two would be good for each other. When will you be having–”

“No.” I said sternly before Mortician could finish their question. I had a feeling it would include the word ‘children’, and I was not ready to talk to Jun about that. “Don’t finish that question. And to completely change the subject;” I said as I turned to The End, “why did you bring us to this part of the Ossuary?”

“A good question.” The End said seriously. “And I shall answer with one of my own; what do you know about corrupted cores?”

“...I know I have one.” I said helpfully.

Jun shrugged. “Next to nothing, except that I have one too. Thanks for that, by the way.”

I raised an eyebrow at the fact that Mortician nodded in confirmation to Jun’s words, not The End. “We have one as well, but we never had a core that was not corrupted. Is it possible to ‘corrupt’ something that did not previously exist?”

The End’s ribbons seemed to flow from the floor as it gently ushered Mortician towards us, turning them around when they were right next to me. It nodded to itself before taking two steps back.

“Yet another good question, and I would be far more impressed if I had not been the one to pose it to you just minutes ago.” The End said with a smirk in its words. Mortician blushed, their face taking on a deeper gold tint, and looked away from me. “Nevertheless; yes, that is the largest question about corruption. It is not a beginning. It is the end of something, and then its continuation as another. Materials are always required.”

The End gestured simply at me, its motions filled with pride. “Sebastian provided his own materials for the corruption, which when combined with the broken shards of his previous life, fashioned into an incomplete core. That is why his core is constantly gaining new effects: it is not finished. It is //NULL in a world of completeness.”

I supposed I should’ve felt a little more overwhelmed by that revelation, but then again, it wasn’t really anything new. So I settled for nodding at The End, who took that as its cue to move on to pointing at Mortician.

“For Mortician, their core was compiled from the conglomeration of oils you extracted from the slyk. Every thinking being in this world requires a core to exist, and I took advantage of that fact to corrupt you with a core of your own.” The End explained. “So very similar to Sebastian, yet uniquely different. You carry the burden of the Celaura within you, and they all aided in the creation of the jewel you now bear. I will ensure their experiences live on within the archives whenever you have the time to share.”

Mortician nodded, but decided to bow instead halfway through. “Thank you. It… it means a lot to us that we will not be forgotten.”

Something about that phrasing weighed on my heart. Not ‘remembered’, but ‘not forgotten’. Almost the same meaning, but a whole lot heavier.

The End must’ve seen the change in my face, because it solemnly nodded before turning to Jun. Who, apparently, had a corrupted core now. Good for her. And, also, how? I definitely hadn’t done it.

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“And finally, Juniper. The only one who had a proper core before that was fully corrupted into something… well… not quite new, and not quite different. Yet indisputably more powerful.” The End said with something like… reverence? “I had been wondering what would happen if a static core were to be corrupted, and now I have my answer. Absurd things. Possibility for growth where none previously existed. I will be watching your progress almost as fondly as I will be Sebastian’s.”

“I guess that’s fair.” Jun said with a smirk. “You do have your favorite, don’t you?”

“My first chosen in the long billions of years I’ve been alive? No, no; how could I play favorites?” The End chuckled knowingly. “Or, should I say, my Envoy?”

“That reminds me; what does that mean, anyway?” I asked. “Is that what let me first talk to Mortician and make the hazards into one?”

The End shrugged and blew out a long breath. “I haven’t the slightest idea. This is brand new to me as well, but it is probably safe to assume that that was a perk of being my Envoy. Most likely safe. …Eighty percent safe at worst.”

Eighty percent was fine for me. “So, what are you going to do to us? This place seems pretty ceremonious to me, so what’s going on? Is this the official induction into the family?”

“No. This is a… how should I put it… a small celebration for Mortician. For them to make a very important choice.” The End said slowly, as if making sure every word had time to sink in. “When the three of you leave the Ossuary… there is an opportunity for Mortician to remain behind. Sebastian and Juniper cannot have this branch extended to them, but because Mortician is truly one of my own… they have the option to stay with me. They would be utterly safe in my care.”

I balked at the option at first. And at second. And… well, at third-through-ninth as well. But eventually, I ceded that maybe, just maybe, Mortician would want to stay behind. The thought of it was almost poison to my good mood, but if it was what they truly wanted, then what kind of a friend was I to argue?

A quick turn of my head showed Jun having the same conflict of interests as I was. We locked eyes, and she reluctantly nodded. Even if her gaze was screaming otherwise.

Then I turned to Mortician. Relief flooded over me. They looked absolutely appalled at the mere thought of being left behind, and seemed to be shocked beyond words. But they didn’t need words. They needed to be shown that we wanted them with us, so they didn’t even start to consider staying behind for our sakes.

I reached over and grabbed Mortician by their shoulder, pulling them into a much less intimate hug than I was giving Jun on my other side. They looked up at me with eyes full of reluctance, as if they weren’t sure they were allowed to deny The End’s invitation.

“We’d love it if you came with us.” I said confidently, putting on my best smile to sell the offer. “We’ll support whatever choice you make, though, if you want to stay.”

Mortician looked between me, Jun, and The End in turn, their resolve growing over time until they nodded and smiled wide. “We’d like to stay with Sebastian and Juniper. And even Okeria, though we won’t tell him that. So we apologize, but we will not be accepting your generous invitation, benefactor of my benefactor.”

The End tilted its head upwards, then spoke with a smugness I could only associate with an ‘I told you so’. “See, Caretaker? Asking only served to sow pointless feelings of doubt among them. No, don’t say anything; accept that you were wrong and stop worrying about the young ones. They’re far stronger than you think.”

Someone’s reluctant yet joyous muttering echoed out from above, growing quieter and quieter until it disappeared completely. I could only feel satisfaction and pride radiating off of The End, and to be honest, I felt pretty satisfied and proud of my little group as well. We’d gone through some serious shit for being so fresh to this world, and aside from a few… fairly fucked up things, we’d come through relatively unscathed.

“So now what?” I asked, perfectly comfortable where I was at that moment. Mortician broke off of the hug, but stayed closer than they had been before it. Jun didn’t. “We’ve got a few hours here. Is there anything you can teach us? Or anything we need to know? Because I’d love to see the archives if there isn’t anything important.”

“There is one incredibly important topic we need to discuss, and then a few smaller ones that I would ask you to lend me your time to go over. The first, absolutely most important topic of all… is Endra and the Embodiments.” The End’s tone shifted to deadly serious, making me instinctively stand as straight as I could at the sudden change. It’s voice was as cold as ice, and thank God that chill wasn’t directed at us. “I have watched the ‘lessons’ Persephonia left in her inheritance over and over again for the past few days, as something within those two recordings bothered me greatly. I still have yet to fully grasp it, but there is a mystery held within that has to do with one small bit of editing that I had to delve into the file itself that the system saved.”

The End swiped its hand through the air, and suddenly we were in that smoky cavern where Nia had taught us about wearing layers. Something that, in retrospect, really didn’t deserve a full lesson. Not like the node ‘stars’ did, at least.

“I have scoured the all-world for this hazard. It does not exist.” The End said plainly, yet with so much venom it stung. “Not the outside hazard, to be clear; the sub-hazard Persephonia records this specific lesson from. This cavern does not exist. There are no records of it in any of the location data I have on the all-world. It is fairly old data, to be clear, but there were no records of spatial rends that coincide with new hazards until humanity was brought in. Yet after all of my rewatching and vigorous checking, I found one single piece of evidence.”

The End made a grab-and-pull motion, and the video shattered like glass. The pieces rained down around us, sticking into the floor like falling knives but brushing harmlessly against my skin. The End held out a hand, and a single piece fluttered daintily down to rest in its palm. It wasn’t that much different from all the others. Smoke, glowing orange carvings on the visible part of the wall or ceiling, and as it played forwards… it skipped in real time. Just slightly so, but enough that I had a feeling I knew what had happened.

“This is two separate recordings spliced together.” The End revealed. “One of which was recorded three days before Juniper’s trainees were sent to the all-world, yet made to look as if it was one continuous film.”