After our riveting yet equally as useless talk with the God that governs over the people of Entropa, everyone dried themselves off before getting dressed and continuing our hike. Seriously, if you were to tell me I'd one day hike up Mount Ivrys with the Great Prylos of all people in my party, I would've prescribed you some pills, surely. Still, I do feel a bit disillusioned by his demeanor. As someone titled the God of Meditation, you'd think he'd be a lot more willing to help, but he's done nothing but beat around the bush thus far. Sigh, getting Grim back is gonna be a lot more difficult than we would've imagined, but hey, at least we now know it's possible.

"So hey, you mentioned something about Time Cycles." Issei made casual small talk with Prylos as we walked up the snowy path.

"That I did." Prylos nodded calmly, "But by the way you asked... Is it safe to assume you also have a general gist of them as well?"

"Aha..." Issei let out an odd chuckle, "Nah, I don't, actually. Hence why I asked."

"Hmph, very well then." He spoke without slowing down in the slightest, "Many humans believe that time, at its core, is linear in nature. There is the past, the future, and a thin line that forever moves towards the latter of the two called the present."

"That'd make sense, yeah." Issei listened on.

"However, that is not the case." Prylos pondered, "Time is in fact a forever repeating cycle. The universe is created, lives on, and dies. What remains is nothing, until... Poof."

"Poof?" I tilted my head a little.

"He's talking about the Big Bang." Issei elaborated.

"Hm, so that is what the people of your universe have titled it." Prylos smirked, "I see, quite fitting indeed."

"Anyone care to explain the topic like I'm five?" Eleanor raised her hand, "Because I'm super lost right now."

"I'll take it from here." Issei shortened it, "Basically, there's nothing, then a giant explosion occurs that creates the universe, the universe exists for who knows how many gazillions of years, and then dies. After it dies, there is nothing, until another giant explosion occurs and begins a universe anew."

"I'm still having trouble grasping it..." Eleanor grabbed onto her head as she tried to make sense of it.

"But wait, then is it safe to assume every universe is the same as this one?" I asked.

"That is a very good question, Saint Edward." Prylos praised me, "A single universe's life is known as a Time Cycle, the topic of today's discussion. But, as it were, the next Time Cycle following the current one might coincidentally be the same as this one, but chances are that something will be different. The Universe is Vast, after all."

"So when you said my situation has something to do with Time Cycles..." Issei figured, "You're saying that my universe is just another Time Cycle in the endless chain of Time Cycles?"

"No, not chain, but Cycle." Prylos corrected him, "Everything in the world is cyclical in nature, there is no chain, as that suggests a linear path."

"...But I got it right though, right?" Issei asked once again, only this time more expectantly.

"Well, that is only what I assume is the case." Prylos glanced back at him for a moment, "Though I wouldn't trust anyone other than the Knowledge God for such matters. Do not worry, you may talk to him once we reach the top and finish our meeting."

"Right, about the meeting..." Aru donned a serious tone, "What's it gonna be for this year?"

"For this year..." Prylos too got serious all of a sudden.

"What's what gonna be for this year?" Cecily asked Aru.

"It's a tradition of the Gods, mortals wouldn't understand!" She immediately shut her down.

"Awoo, awe we gunna meet yow famiwy?" Cene toddled towards Aru, still making sure he was firmly holding onto his mothers hand all the while.

"Heh, family, huh...?" She smirked before looking over at Prylos' huge back, "Hear that, Pry? We're a big happy family, the Gods!"

"Hnn..." Prylos groaned, "Do not indulge the boy any further. Egg a child on for even a second and it will undoubtedly lead to his disappointment."

"Aww, don't say that, son~!" She teased him before nudging Cecily and Cene, "He's a huge softie for kids, but since he's so big and cranky, he rarely gets a chance to play with them."

"Grr...! If we were a family, then wouldn't you be the daughter, Allucius!?" He shouted back, visibly angered at that remark.

"What! I'm older than you, though!" She retorted.

"Only by a millennium, though!" He shot back.

Eh? I'd assume a millennium's worth of difference is quite substantial, no? Well, they are Gods, after all, so maybe to them it's like the few seconds between twins.

"Alright fine, we can scratch the idea of parents." She was the first to back down, "But then an older sister, at least!"

"More like the annoying cousin who comes by every ten years." Prylos clapped back with a groan.

"Why do I keep getting demoted!?" She shouted, "That's it, mister! Bedtime, now!"

"I will not play along with your foolish antics, Allucius. After all..." He smirked, "Unlike you, I have no bedtime!"

"Gasp! My boy's in his rebellious phase~!" She cried out, "Oh, how difficult it is, the job of a mother... Am I right, pixie cut?"

"Don't treat me like we're equals." Cecily disagreed with her without a second of hesitation, "You didn't need to change any diapers, you don't know the trials and tribulations a mother has to go through for her kids."

"Sowwy..." Cene recalled the time he soiled his britches when we met the Megalomanic.

"Don't feel bad, Cene!" Eleanor encouraged him, "When on a dangerous journey like this, it's not at all unexpected for such things to happen! Really, you're being a super brave boy for making it this far without crying at all!"

"Yeah, of course YOU'D jump in to defend him, Eleanor..." Issei smirked knowingly.

"S-Shut up!" She blushed.

Hey, did I miss something? Don't tell me my sister pissed her pants on their side of the mountain. Pheh, that's hilarious! Man, I'm so gonna make fun of her after this!

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Upon making it to a vast and open valley-like layer of the mountain, everyone who's never been here had immediately jumped to the conclusion that we had reached the top, though we were hastily corrected by the Gods. Aru actually tried to prank us by telling us the Gods use this area as the meeting place to collectively play in the snow, but Prylos didn't want to tarnish his image in front of his believers any more than it already has been, so he shut her down quickly enough.

"Nonsense, do not listen to her." He clicked his tongue, "Allucius may make you think this place is safe, but that couldn't be further from the truth."

"Huh? This place is dangerous?" Othelia furrowed her brows, "But just looking at it, the only word that comes to mind is beautiful. A vast and open snowy terrain with the visage of mountaintops just on the horizon. I understand just from seeing them that this right here isn't the peak of Mount Ivrys, but I'd still like to take in the view fully."

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Yeah, I wish I brought Lune's camera with us..." Cecily slumped forward, "Not that I'd know how to-"

"Camera!?" Issei jolted once he heard the words, "You guys already invented cameras!?"

"N-Not us!" Cecily yelped, a tad surprised, "Lune just bought one once we had taken our family picture before the war. Though, that was before Cene was born, so we sadly can't retake it with him this time..."

Ah, geez. Now the air around us got heavy. I need to find a way to cheer her up quick. I really dislike seeing her all sad when she talks about Grim.

"Hey, it's alright..." I began speaking before Issei jumped in.

"Will you stop making that sad face already!?" He shouted.

"W-What?" She winced.

"We'll get him back, so stop whining already." He patted her on the shoulder to reassure her, "More importantly, just imagine how ecstatic he'll be once he sees how much the world has advanced since his little break from life!"

"Yeah, I agree." I smiled as well, "Grim can come back, and he will. We just have to do everything we can to help him come back. Besides, I can already see his jealous face once he hears how we visited Mount Ivrys with the Gods!"

"Heh, yeah." Issei smirked with a tinge of regret, "Too bad we can't show him a picture to go along with it. If only I knew of a way to charge my phone battery..."

As he said that, he took out a handsized reflective dark rectangular device. It immediately caught everyone's attention as we gawked at it's sleek, albeit worn and slightly scratched design. He pressed a button on the right hand side of it, and a small flicker of light emerged in the middle, only to disappear just a split second later, followed by his exhausted sigh.

"I could take the most beautiful pictures if I could just charge it up for a couple of minutes." He dejectedly went to put it in his pocket, "Damn this world's wacky outlets, I'd kill for an adapter."

"You would go so far as to commit a sin for this "adapter", as you call it?" Prylos glanced at him.

"W-Wah! No, I wouldn't actually kill anyone for it!" He quickly backpaddled out of fear, "I-It's just a figure of speech, though I would go to great lengths for it."

"Then why not meditate a bit?" Prylos suggested, "Ask and you shall receive, is that not the saying?"

With a flicker of hope reflecting off of his Eyes, Issei actually stopped to think about the legitimacy of the God of Meditation's wisdom, but quickly brushed it off with a snicker.

"Cheh, no way you just told me to wish for it to appear out of thin air." Issei laughed, "Dude, you're not Santa!"

"Hey, it doesn't hurt to try." Eleanor encouraged him, "Come on, I want to save this moment in time, especially with everyone here. Just sit on that rock over there and believe in the Great Lord's power."

Turning to the other two members of Prylos' church, in other words, Cecily and me, he gulped once we nodded and gave him the thumbs up respectfully. Finally giving up and placing a small blanket on the stone Eleanor pointed to before sitting down, he got into an odd pose which I can only assume is his country's meditationary custom. He closed his Eyes and began chanting "Ohm" for a few moments before getting embarrassed of all the strange gazes he was getting out of us.

"God, you're making me feel super self-conscious about this!" He shooed us away, "Go somewhere else! I can't focus in peace with you all breathing down my neck like that!"

"O-Oh, alright!" We agreed to his conditions before going behind another rock.

"Ooooohm~!" He continued his chant, "Oooohm... Oooo-Oh? Oh, oh, oh my God!"

"What is it!?" We turned the corner to see...!

"Huh, where's the adapter?" Cecily tilted her head once she saw Issei holding up his turned on "phone" device.

"G-Guys, you're not gonna believe this!" His Eyes sparkled from happiness, "I figured if I'm gonna wish for something, I might as well make it count, so I wished for my phone to always be fully charged, and look here - 100% battery life!"

Hm, it does indeed shine with super bright colors. There's a caricature of a nicely drawn White haired girl with cat ears on his screen. I wonder what that's supposed to signify...

"Oh, my dear wallpaper-chan! How I've missed you...!" He hugged his phone as if it were alive, "Man, I forgot I drew this! It's been ages since I last saw it, how nostalgic!"

"Huh, you drew this?" Othelia pointed to it, "You're actually really good at drawing. A-And that girl kind of looks, uhm, familiar..."

"Hm?" He glanced back and forth between the catgirl on his phone and the similar looking Othelia before realizing, "A-Ah! T-The hell are you saying, ha-ha...! That's just a coincidence!"

"Y-Yeah, I-I'll bet!" She blushed.

"Aww, geez! Can you take the picture or not!?" Cecily got bored of listening to the young couple's happy love comedy.

"Oh, yeah, right." He flicked his entire screen to the left with his finger, seemingly sliding the catgirl off of it, "There, you guys want landscape or portrait mode?"

"Mode?" We tilted our heads in unison.

"Ah, whatever, I'm just gonna take a panorama of the scenery and we'll finish it off with a group selfie!" He raised his hands up before pointing his device and waving it around a bit, "There! Check it!"

"Whoaaaaa~!" Everyone couldn't believe their Eyes, "That's... You got the entire 360 degree view of the Mountains! And such vivid colors...!"

"Huh? But there's no polaroid, though?" I questioned.

"It's all digital!" He smiled, "Oh, but I think I can figure out a way to print it for you guys. It might take a while though, gonna need a certain Famed Inventor to help me."

Hearing this, Cecily smiled once she realized just how incredible the Gods' powers truly were. Certainly, once she saw this, there isn't even a sliver of doubt left in her. Grim will come back to us, we know it!

"Quite an interesting device indeed." Prylos smiled as he inspected it over his shoulder, "You were smart to use your wish like that. It really paid off."

"Yeah, but it's not over just yet!" He suddenly bunched everyone closed to him as he raised his phone as high as his arms could allow, "Time for... selfies...! Gah, no use. I can't fit everyone in the shot."

"Then, may I?" Prylos suggested he use his long arms to get a better angle.

"Ohhh! With pleasure!" Issei smiled, "Just outstretch your arms and fiddle around with the angle until everyone's reflected on the screen, then press the button in the bottom middle."

"Like this?" He did as he was told.

"Oi, quit pushing!" Aru fought among everyone's taller stature.

"Here, lemme help." I lifted her up without her consent, prompting her to thrash around on my arm.

"Hey, Aru, you're being childish!" Cecily reprimanded her sternly, "Just be like Cene!"

"Awoo, can we hold hands?" Cene innocently asked, hitting her with a hard to reject offer.

"Hmph." She bashfully stopped thrashing around as she carefully obliged, "Who'd say no to that face?"

"Hooway!" Cene happily held onto her as Issei informed everyone.

"Alright everyone, this is it!" He smiled, "Say cheese!"

"Wah, c-cheese!" Othelia and Eleanor yelped.

"Cheese!" Cecily smiled happily.

"Cheese?" The Gods seemed confused.

"Cheese!" I shouted with all my might, slightly surprising everyone, "A-ha... Oops."