—CORIANA VALUCIA—

I stood at the prow of my father’s ship, this would be the first time I would be visiting Otium and I was excited. Who wouldn’t be? This was the legendary Otium, a Paradise on Agleon that was created a year ago. I already saw it in the distance, the Outer Ring where we would first have to pass before reaching the Middle Ring. We soon reached the Outer Ring and was passing through one of the channels, Custodians opening the gate with magic and waved us through. Once we were past, a Custodian appeared on our ship and with magic, furled the sails, now manipulating the current to carry our boat to the designated dock.

It was Dock 187 and after thanking the Custodian, my father and I disembarked, my father going off to claim a sport to set up his shop while I oversaw the transfer of the cargo. It went smoothly as there were Custodians who patrolled the streets, making sure that none were breaking the laws of Otium. The day was bright as I joined my father at his stall, holding out various items and calling out what they were,

“This here in my hand is a rare jade from the North of Occasus! Not only is it beautiful but it can be imbued with a spell of your choice so you can use instant-casting! This is a must have for any who practice magic!”

I continued my call for a while, failing to attract more than a few mildly interested stares until finally, I managed to reel in a few customers. It was a young boy accompanied by two adults, both female. I was a bit confused but I didn’t question this, that would have been rude to the customer,

“Hello, customer! What would you like to purchase?”

The boy was silent, merely looking over the products before he called, “Custodian, could you verify the quality of these items?”

A Custodian appeared and with a brief perusal of the items on the table, it said, “None are fake.”

On the inside, I grew prideful, Of course, everything is real! The Valucia Trade Empire does not seek to trick its customers!

But on the outside, I kept a pleasant smile on my face, it would be unwise to appear hurried while selling. Patience was key when one was dealing with customers.

After a few moments, the boy finally said, “Tell me more about this jade.”

He picked up the jade that I had previously advertised and I began to tell him, “It is one of the few materials in this world that can be imbued with a spell inscription, allowing one to use said spell as long as they have enough energy to cast it. For example, if I were to imbue that jade with the inscription of fire, by putting energy in it, I can then cast fire instantly without having to chant the spell. This can be done with any spell as long as the inscription fits on the jade and the caster has enough energy to power the spell. Even non-casters can use spells with this jade although their efficiency is terrible when compared to true mages.”

He looked at it with an unimpressed look, placing it back down. He then picked up an amulet, a pretty trinket which was a twin of the other, allowing any two people who possessed these sister amulets to communicate with one another, no matter how far away.

I explained this to him and he looked at it with mild interest, finally saying, “I’ll buy it and the jade. How much?”

I nodded and replied, “That will be twenty gold.”

The two women were startled and were about to protest but the boy raised his hand, stopping them.

He then said, “Ten gold, I can understand the amulet being expensive but the jade? I don’t think it’s that rare.”

I shook my head, “The jade is far rarer than you think, it is only obtained within the far reaches of the North and there are few who dare to brave the cold wastes. As for the amulet, its price is twelve gold, making the jade eight. But tell you what, I’ll add another jade and we’ll bump the price up to twenty-five gold.”

He refused, “No, I will pay no more than twenty.”

I offered, “Then twenty-three gold.”

He held his chin up and repeated, “No more than twenty.”

I countered, “Then twenty-two!”

He still held up his chin and at this, I too held up my chin. We stared at one another for a few minutes before he finally gave up, chuckling.

He turned to my father, “You daughter as a good future in the merchant business.”

He then turned to me and said, “Very well, twenty-two it is!”

Business was conducted and the strange boy was on his way. Father patted my shoulder, congratulating me with that small gesture before inspecting the wares. He was always a man of few words so I wasn’t offended. Business carried on as usual afterward, father going off to barter wares with other merchants while I stayed at the stall to sell. Before it, the sun was high in the sky and my belly was grumbling. So telling one of my father’s men to take over temporarily, I headed off in search of food. I soon found a food stall that was magically self-sustaining, the various food items replacing themselves after one was taken. I took a few for myself and some more in a bag that was conveniently provided to share with everyone else, they would be hungry as well.

Sure enough, they were and my father’s men were thankful that I had brought them food, smiles all around while we chatted, one of them forgoing eating at the moment to watch the stall. After finishing eating, one of them replaced the man watching the stall and as he ate, we chatted about many things. Mostly we talked about how great Otium was, about the free food as well as the lack of crime. Before, my father’s men had to be armed at all times to prevent armed robbery but here, they could relax. This place was truly wonderful, it really was.

But as we were enjoying our break, the sky suddenly darkened and inside the barrier, a rip in space appeared, hellish creatures flying forth...

———

The Surveyor sighed, it seemed that Night had indeed allied herself with End. How troublesome, now it had two deities to take care of. Resigned to this fate, it decided for now to activate the defenses of Otium. The crystals atop the many towers and the main one on the Pyramid began to glow and hum with energy, pure energy shooting out in the form of chain lightning while the Pyramid Crystal shot out large beams of energy which scythed through the demons filling the sky. But this would not be enough, there were just too many demons and so the Surveyor commanded its Custodians to protect both Otium and the innocents.

Meanwhile, all over Agleon, demons were appearing everywhere through rips in space, Occasus faring worse than its eastern counterpart. The humans were naturally far more susceptible to the corruption of demons and thus many fell although the Luxian Church was quick to respond, their temples becoming bastions of hope and safety in this dark time. At Ortus, the Saurians defended their lands with ease, viewing the demons as a new food source while Auster was just fine with the limitless numbers of the Crimex distracting the demons while acror-wielders bombarded them with magic.

But End herself had not yet arrived, or perhaps she had and the Surveyor was unable to sense her. In truth, she hadn’t arrived, she was merely floating in orbit outside of Agleon, having a staring contest with the Subjugator. She had, of course, charged in with the intent to destroy but the Subjugator had the offensive powers of Darkness on its side, basically all the destructive powers of the Universe. One of the many examples would be the power of a dying star, it was powerful in its normal state but once focused to fire in a beam, its power was far more devastating. Or perhaps that of the black hole, great on both offense and defense as it devours all things be they enemies or attacks.

These were the most basic of its attacks, but as Darkness had slept for a long time, there was not much else that resided in the Subjugator’s repertoire of attacks. Of course, learning from the connection that it had with the Surveyor, it could also replicate the spells of men but these would have no effect on Night. But still, these most basic of attacks were so powerful that it even gave End pause, of course, this was only possible because she was a fragment of End, if it was the True End, the Subjugator wouldn’t stand a chance. But that was because it lacked the necessary “health” to withstand her attacks like Darkness could. Out in space, it had access to unlimited energy for its attacks but other than its use of black holes, it lacked any sort of defense, making it rather easy to destroy.

Of course, with its overwhelming offense, this is no problem, few things could stand up against the Subjugator but unfortunately, End happened to be one of those few things. But it was to be expected, she was personally created by Darkness, it was a given that she would be enormously powerful, even this shard of hers. It was truly a shame, right now it was a stalemate but it is slowly turning into a battle of attrition, one that the Subjugator cannot win. But that was fine, if it could just delay End long enough so that the Surveyor may develop the seal, it would be alright. Its sole purpose was to aid the Surveyor in any way possible, it would be fulfilling its duty by facing and dying against End.

So it merely gave itself the goal of halting End for a week, preparing to fight End. It created five compressed stars which quickly turned into supernovas. It directed the force of the supernovas towards End, five beams of incandescent light colliding with End’s body. These supernovas were fired in such a way that they would hit consecutively, one after the other, it was far too easy for End to destroy one gigantic beam but it would be harder to destroy several beams fired in rapid succession. And the Subjugator was proven correct, the last focused supernova hitting End’s body, marring her face.

But it did not expect it to destroy her so it wasn’t surprised when her voice lamented, “I quite liked that face, what a shame.”

The Subjugator was silent and after a few moments, the voice of End pouted, “Don’t you talk at all?”

The Subjugator was once more silent and End sighed, “Whatever, you’re going to die anyway...” She continued, “The question is, how?”

So saying, a wave of destructive energy made its way to the Subjugator but it merely created a black hole, swallowing the destructive energy although it also destroyed the black hole. End then grinned and then unleashed more bolts of destructive energy, the Subjugator summoning countless miniature stars, planning to destroy her offense with more offense.

Back on Agleon...

The forces of Night poured forth, the unprepared armies of Athera falling before them like flies. Meanwhile, fiends burst forth from the Earth, followed closely by Crystallum. Chaos soon reigned supreme all over Agleon, the fiends wreaking havoc while the Crystallum were occupied fighting both them and the demons of Night. But there was another force that was on the move, the Teryo whose ancient enemy were the demons of Night. Anticipating this day, Ieros had given them bodies that were far superior to the ones they possessed, bodies of crystalline darkness. Now possessing bodies that could not only channel their great power but amplify it, the Teryo once more taught the demons to fear their name.

Meanwhile, the Surveyor made its move for the first time, heading to the North. There it stopped at the ruins of the Premen city, heading to the exact center. There was a reason for this, for all Premen cities were built on a node of power, specifically where the energy veins of Agleon was most closest to the surface. One could absorb power from it and this was the Surveyor’s intent, to absorb the energy needed to seal End. All the excess energy was stored in the Shard which fortunately held just enough to complete one of the two methods that the Surveyor had in mind. But only one, not both of these seals. Therefore, the Surveyor had to make a decision, which method would it use? The Absolute Mirror or the Devourer?

Personally, it would rather use the Absolute Mirror but if forced, it would use the Devourer, sacrificing itself to devour End. This would result in both of their deaths, a result that the Surveyor did not want, not because it would die but because it would fail in its mission. Failure was unacceptable, Darkness had decreed that it learn and it will learn until he awoke once more. Well, a temporary failure but failure is still failure. It would eventually come back into being with the seeds that it had placed but it would have wasted valuable time, time that the Surveyor did not wish to waste.

So that was why it was here, to collect the necessary energy and to plant a seed, a seed that would be nourished by Agleon’s pulse for the years to come. This seed would receive a full copy of the Surveyor’s Library to ensure that all that it had learned will not be forgotten. It would take time for it to grow but that was of no concern, as long as it would continue the Surveyor’s purpose, the Surveyor had nothing to complain about. So with its purpose here complete, the Surveyor left, calling the Teryo to protect this place with their lives. The Teryo did not question the command of their master and rushed to obey, taking defensive positions around the Seed.

And thus, with the survival of its seed assured, the Surveyor returned to Otium. Here it remained, defending Otium from the demons which charged through the rip and answering the call for aid from the Emperor of Athera. Soon, its armies of stone marched upon the surface of Agleon, slaughtering the hordes of demons which had previously marched uncontested. And so a week passed with Agleon managing to hold off the demon invaders but that was about to end, for the Subjugator had been destroyed. The Surveyor was aware of its end and thus prepared to meet End herself, preparing to intercept her the moment she entered Athera.

But even if it possessed omniscience of all things that happened on Agleon, that didn’t mean that it could act fast enough. Therefore, when End made her arrival, she destroyed the capital of Athera in one fell swoop. She plummeted from the sky and smashed into the capital like a meteor, vaporizing everything in a three-mile radius. And at that precise moment, the stone armies that slaughtered the demons stopped moving, their mission had been to protect Athera but with the complete and utter annihilation of Athera’s capital, where most of Athera’s armies had been gathered, there was no longer any need of their services.

So they stopped working and the Surveyor re-absorbed the dark matter that had gone into creating them. Without the support of the stone armies, the Atherans could only flee to the South. Meanwhile, in the North, the orcs had made their move, no longer blocked by the shadow creatures of the Surveyor. The horde of hordes then marched South, annihilating all before them. And so humanity fled southward, the elves soon following after their sacred forests were burned. The only race to stay behind were the stubborn dwarves who holed up in their mountain fortresses, defending themselves with ease against the orcs and demons with various gadgets that these creatures had no defense against.

And the cause of all this stood still in the crater, an inhumanly beautiful being, her marred face quickly healing due to the destruction she had wrought. She took a look around Agleon and grinned, she was finally here. Then she felt a presence appear and she smiled, turning to face the Surveyor in the form of Ieros. She couldn’t hold back anymore and she darted forward, hugging Ieros before he could react. But Ieros soon turned into shadow and reappeared some distance away, the flesh and clothing that had been destroyed by her touch regenerating.

End pouted, her innocent face hardly fitting with the desolate scene surrounding her, “Why’d you run away? Am I that ugly?”

Ieros merely replied, “This body of mine is not strong enough to withstand your power.”

She frowned and then asked, “Oh I know! You could change your body’s composition to one that I cannot destroy!”

Ieros sighed, “There is are very few things that you cannot destroy End, even in this weakened form of yours.”

She chuckled, “Yes, you’re right. How silly of me... oh well. Come on brother let’s play!”

So saying, she darted forward but this time Ieros was prepared, stepping through a gate and reappearing somewhere else while also casting a spell of creation. Around them, a large city began to rise around them, trapping both of them in a large empty city. Glancing at her new surroundings, End clapped her hands with delight and stomped her foot, destroying everything in a hundred foot radius but to her surprise, the Palace began to regenerate, the damage that she had caused healing in a matter of seconds.

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She then laughed, “Oh dear brother, do you think this will stop me?”

Ieros shook his head, “I know that it won’t, not the way you are now. You are simply too powerful as you are now, it is impossible for me to destroy you if I wish to survive.”

The smile fell off her face and she adopted a curious look.

Ieros continued, “So I will do the next best thing, I’m sorry End but death may be better than what I shall do to you.”

Her face growing serious, End’s aura ignited, destroying everything in a sphere six feet in diameter.

She then grinned maliciously, “I just hope it’s interesting, brother.”

She then darted forward and Ieros made a copy of himself, the copy acting as Ieros’s shield as he began to amass the energy needed to activate the seal. His eyes began to glow with a silver light and while his left hand grasped the Shard, his right hand was held out before him, silver energy coalescing into a sphere of liquid silver energy. As Ieros siphoned more and more energy from the Shard into the sphere, the energy began to condense into a liquid-solid, not unlike mercury in appearance. But unlike mercury, it was perfectly reflective, like a liquid mirror. This was an Absolute material, the Absolute Mirror, able to reflect all sorts of energy, even that of End’s.

But as an Absolute, the cost of making even a tiny amount of the stuff was enormous, far more than the cost of making crystalline darkness. For the sake of comparison, the amount of power that the Surveyor had stocked up will be a hundred oceans of liquid energy, both including the power it held in itself and the Amulet of Absolution. Even a single sea of liquid energy was of nearly unlimited power, it was equal to the amount of energy that a star would produce over its entire lifetime. But to make a pound of an Absolute Mirror, it would require ten oceans of liquid energy. With such an unimaginable quantity of energy going into creating such an item, the Surveyor would have to sacrifice all of itself just to produce ten pounds of it.

Fortunately for the Surveyor, the amount needed to seal End properly was just below ten pounds, although it would leave it virtually powerless, reduced to the power level of an Archmage. But an Archmage would be more than enough to deal with a sealed End, at least that was what the Surveyor had calculated. The Surveyor was truly lucky that End was but a fragment of her true self for when she was whole, there was nothing that she couldn’t destroy. The only reason Darkness was able to keep her out was that it was infinite, it had endless amounts of dark matter that were constantly rebuilding the wall that End was constantly destroying, the rate of matter being used to rebuild being far quicker than the rate at which End destroyed it.

End, seeing the Absolute Mirror doubled her efforts to try and defeat the copy of Ieros. She recognized the Absolute Mirror and was not foolish enough to let Ieros finish creating the necessary amount to seal her. And unfortunately for Ieros, his copy was not going to last much longer, partly because of End’s fierce assault but also because Ieros was draining it of power to convert into the Absolute Mirror. And so when End cried with triumph after destroying his copy, Ieros was prepared, manipulating the Absolute Mirror into a shield shape, using it to block End’s attacks.

End’s attacks grew more desperate and powerful as the Absolute Mirror Seal neared completion, although this came at a great sacrifice on the Surveyor’s part. Much of its strength was gone and it was all that it could do to keep the shield between it and End. Even Ieros’s body was not free from the consequences, all the flesh had been stripped from his body to be converted into more dark energy which was then added to the Absolute Mirror. But this was the limit, both Ieros and the Surveyor were unable to spare any more energy without compromising the plan that the Surveyor had created.

Meanwhile, End’s attacks had destroyed much of the palace although it was slowly regenerating only to be destroyed again. Finally seeing that her magic wasn’t going to work, she decided to use physical attacks, although doing so reflected the damage back onto her, although this was of no problem to her. She just continued to attack, seeking to overwhelm the mirror with as much offense as she could muster.

Meanwhile, Ieros moved on to Phase Two, stretching the shield outwards until the thickness was not much more than the width of a hair. With this sheet of Absolute Mirror, Ieros then surrounded End with it, using the last dregs of the Surveyor’s power to do so. But before it surrounded her, End was able to punch through Mirror, for the destructive aura also negated the energy of her strike, making the Mirror unable to reflect her fist as the Mirror couldn’t reflect nothing. As she did so, the rest of the mirror wrapped around her, fusing with her skin. And thus, most of her body except for the right hand which had punched through the mirror was now no longer capable of channeling destruction energy.

But there was a price for sealing her, this made her skin, which had fused with the Absolute Mirror, act like reflective armor. This made her practically invulnerable to attack, seemingly a major flaw but this would have been no problem if he had been able to seal her properly. With her power sealed, she would not be able to escape this palace as no matter how strong her physical strength was, she lacked the ability to destroy a large area in an instant, thus the regeneration of the palace was more than enough to deal with her.

Of course, the Surveyor had failed to seal her properly but the Surveyor had already come up with a counter, although this would require its sacrifice. It had planned a way for it to escape once it had sealed End but now, with her like this, it knew that it had to stay behind to keep her busy enough to prevent her escape. So it sealed itself inside as well, using what powers it had left to keep her inside, doomed to fight her for eternity. And being sealed from the outside also meant that the duties of learning had passed on to the Seed it had left, the current Surveyor had failed in its mission.

And so the Surveyor resigned itself to its new eternal duty, using its severely depleted powers for defense, blocking any escape attempt by End. Even reduced to this much, the Surveyor was able to perfectly block her through Ieros, it no longer needed to act as a human and thus got rid of Ieros’s personality, leaving only a body that reacted to the Surveyor’s logic. It was not unlike a computer program which automatically detected threats and dealt with them all in an instant. Finally, this fight had come to an end, End being far too weak to destroy the Surveyor while the Surveyor was accomplishing its goal just fine, which was to prevent End from using her power to escape.

Upon realizing her defeat, End congratulated the Surveyor, “I commend you for your clever plan brother, you’ve defeated me.”

The Surveyor was silent, instead prepared to intervene should she try to escape.

End sighed, “Relax, I know I’m not going to escape from here any time soon, let’s just talk.”

The Surveyor did not relax in the slightest but it did oblige End’s wish. After all, this was a chance to learn and given the purpose it was created to live for, the Surveyor was undeniably curious about End. So it created a table and two chairs, taking one seat while End took the other. Then the Surveyor did a strange thing, it created a glove that was imbued with the power of the Absolute Barrier. It was obviously made for End’s right hand so she wouldn’t destroy the table or chair by accidentally touching it. End accepted the gift and marveled slightly at the ability to touch things without destroying them before gazing at the Surveyor, whose only body was now the skeleton of Ieros.

Finally, she smiled sadly and said, “You really are the son of our Father, to trap me so ingeniously and to even sacrifice yourself to do so. Tell me, does it not trouble you that you are forever trapped inside here?”

The Surveyor shook its head, “Not, not at all. There will be a copy of me which will carry on the duty I had been created to complete, therefore I have no qualms with sacrificing myself.”

End chuckled, “You’re just as emotionless as him too, not hesitating to give up what should be precious to you. And perhaps that’s a good thing but personally, I can’t imagine living life without emotions. Emotions are what spice stuff up you know, they allow you to enjoy living.”

The Surveyor said, “But it also has its drawbacks, for the times you feel happiness and other such enjoyable emotions, you will also feel despair and pain. Also, emotions add unnecessary and unpredictable variables which will invariably cause unnecessary problems.”

End smiled, “As I said, that’s what makes life interesting, to not know what’s going to happen. Just look at these humans, they only live for a century at most and yet those who learn to live properly do it without any regrets once they die, they are satisfied with the road they’ve taken. They enjoyed living and are satisfied when its over, their life has meaning. Compared to you, who has an infinite lifespan and what not, you’re rather boring.”

The Surveyor just said, “It doesn’t matter if I’m boring.”

End then slammed the table with her gloved hand, “That’s exactly what makes you boring! You don’t care! Don’t you have anything you care about?”

The Surveyor replied, “I care about completing the mission I was given but as it will be completed by my copy, I no longer need to care.”

End sighed, “I can see that this is going nowhere.”

The Surveyor was silent for a moment before asking, “What else do you wish to talk about?”

End shrugged, “Well it’s hard to have a conversation with someone like you.”

The Surveyor said, “Well I do have another personality for you to talk to, although it’s just the one.”

End sighed, “Anything is better than the current you.”

The Surveyor then cast illusion magic, taking on the appearance of Ieros with a smile on his face and clad in simple clothes. The Surveyor then let the persona of Ieros take command of its body and retreated within the Amulet of Absolution, prepared to interfere should End try to escape.

—IEROS—

I opened my eyes and suddenly saw that I was in a large room sitting across from the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She possessed flowing black hair, pearl white skin and entrancing silver eyes which seemed to get deeper the longer I stared into them. Those same beautiful eyes were staring right into mine and I was at a loss for words, what was I supposed to do?

Eventually, I managed to stammer, “Ah, um, who are you?”

To my confusion, the strange woman laughed, the sound of which was most pleasant to the ear, making me feel rather depressed when it ended.

Once she stopped laughing, there was an exquisite smile on her face with those full red lips as she said, “My name is End.”

End? What a strange name. But I dared not say that lest I offend her so I nearly whispered, “What a beautiful name.”

She tilted her head in a most endearing manner and said, “You’ll have to speak up dear.”

My heart thumped at the mention of “dear” and I spoke a little louder, “What a beautiful name.”

Upon hearing it, she chuckled, “Why, thank you. I never imagined that you’d be such a darling.”

She smiled and I became lost in that smile, really, I couldn’t formulate one proper thought. Upon realizing that I had been staring for too long, I quickly bent my head down, blushing as I tried to think of a suitable reply.

I heard her charming laughter and I glanced up, finally asking a proper question, “Um, if this does not trouble you too much, where are we?”

The woman known as End then stopped laughing, her face filled with a deep sorrow, “This is my prison, a palace created by a being to keep me from fulfilling my life’s sole desire.”

Unable to bear her being sad, I tried to comfort her, “Don’t worry, I’ll find some way to get us out of here.”

She then burst out laughing, leaving me confused, “Oh this is too much, he’s like a completely different person! My, your acting is quite superb Surveyor.”

Suddenly, my amulet emitted a voice, “I’m not acting End.”

End was silent at this, finally saying, “So, he’s real?”

The voice affirmed, “That is correct, End.”

She then looked at me strangely, stretched out her left hand.

But when her hand met my cheek, I felt nothing at all and she sighed, “Oh, I forgot that your appearance was only an illusion.”

I look down at myself, I was an illusion? Sure enough, when I looked with my mage’s eye, I saw that I was indeed an illusion.

As I was overcoming this shocking revelation, End asked my amulet, “Surveyor, can you not create a body for him?”

The amulet, no, the Surveyor said, “No, doing so will weaken me, allowing you to easily overpower me and escape. That is something I cannot allow.”

End then said, “What if I gave you the energy to do so?”

The Surveyor replied, “That may be possible, although why would you create a body for this construct of mine?”

End smiled coyly, “I’m a woman dear brother, I have needs that can only be satisfied by men.”

The Surveyor spoke, “Well as long as this does not turn into an escape attempt, I do not see anything wrong with this. Very well End, please place the amulet in your right hand, without the glove.”

She then stood and walked over to me, pulling off her glove as she did so. With her now gloveless hand, she reached out and took hold of the amulet, slightly leaning forward as she did so.

She then asked, “What do I do next brother?”

The amulet replied, “Just start sending energy to your palm, I shall take care of the rest.”

She did as she was told and I grew shocked as I felt an enormous amount of mana accumulate in her palm which was then manipulated by the amulet, collecting it into a single sphere. Then it began to purify that sphere, taking pure energy from it and absorbing that energy. This was a time-consuming process, the sphere of unusable energy just growing and growing. After a time, it stopped, apparently finished. It disposed of the waste and sat still in End’s hand, glowing softly.

The Surveyor’s voice then broke the silence, “I now have enough. Replace your glove and return to your seat.”

End replaced her gloves but she did not return to her seat, instead, she watched me with those beautiful eyes. The amulet was silent, presumably busy with whatever it was doing. Meanwhile, I just lost myself in her eyes, this woman awoke feelings within me that I never knew existed. Normally all I would feel is fear if a woman was this close to me but she was just too beautiful, so overwhelmingly beautiful that I couldn’t bring myself to think of her as a danger. Suddenly, I felt energy pulse from the amulet and I looked down, shocked to find that I was now a skeleton. But before I could cry out, I saw energy flowing out of the amulet and begin to coalesce over my bones, forming red flesh. In a matter of moments, I was fully flesh and blood and I patted myself, reassured that I could now feel.

It was then that I felt her fingertips graze my cheek, hesitant at first before her entire hand cupped my cheek. I looked up and she was looking down on me with a strange look, a mixture of disbelief and awe. We were like that for a long time, just staring into each other’s eyes until End finally withdrew her hand. She stared at her hand for a few moments more before she sat back down, seeming to muse over something.

I took this moment to speak with the amulet, “Um, Surveyor, was it? May I ask just who are you?”

The amulet said, “I am the Surveyor, proxy of Darkness.”

His words reminded me of a being that used to accompany me a long time ago, an old, old friend, “Sentinel?”

The Surveyor replied, “Yes, that is one of my forms.”

I asked, “So... You’ve always been there for me?”

The Surveyor, no, Sentinel said, “Of course, you are the first and only human I created. I had to watch over you to make sure that you did not come to great harm.”

Upon hearing his words I was stunned, he created me? But that’s... no, it’s not impossible. My parents always talked about how they found me in the forest with the Sentinel watching over me, that would explain my affinity with darkness and judging from how the Surveyor recreated my body, would also explain my affinity with creationism.

Confused, I finally asked, “Why did you create me?”

The Surveyor was silent for a moment, finally saying, “It was to learn.”

I demanded, “To learn what?!”

“To learn about humans of course,” the Surveyor replied, as if it was obvious, “I had already learned all I can just from observation, the next step was to live among them through you.”

I was shocked, utterly shocked. Did that mean that it knew everything about me?

As if reading my mind, the Surveyor said, “I know everything about you, you are my first specimen after all. It would be a waste if I didn’t know everything.”

Suddenly, End’s voice snapped me back to reality, “Stop teasing him brother, humans are quite fragile creatures.”

The Surveyor said, “I merely answered his questions. It was his fault for not being prepared to receive the answers.”

I was about to retort when End embraced me from behind, her arms hugging me protectively, “Don’t be like that. You say you observe humans but you don’t know a thing about them.”

The amulet was silent, finally saying, “Yes, because it was not I who pushed them to the breaking point. I would eventually gain such knowledge but Ieros was not such a person, therefore I did not have a chance to test a human’s limit.”

At this End grew silent, her face tense when I glanced up at her.

The Surveyor continued, “Why do you insist with your act? Is it to prevent Ieros from knowing what you really are? Why you are imprisoned here?”

Finally, she spat, “Yes brother, yes! This is the one being that has not treated me like some sort of monster ever since I came into being! Therefore I don’t want to become a monster in front of him, because I don’t want to disappoint him.”

Once more, the Surveyor was silent, “Hmm, I see. Very well then End, I will remain silent. It will be more advantageous for me to let you continue this act, that way you will not try to escape. If you would like, I will erase his memories of our conversation so it will remove any and all suspicion from his mind.”

But End refused this, “No brother, just leave.”

The amulet was silent once more and this time, it did not speak again. It seemed that it was truly gone and I was suddenly aware of a weight being lifted off of me, its very presence had been oppressive but I just hadn’t noticed. Sensing his disappearance, End sighed with relief and let go of me, although I wanted her to continue hugging me. I momentarily thought about their strange conversation but I immediately ignored it, it did not matter to me what dark past she had, I will change her so that her dark past is hidden. I will do it because... well, I love her.