This girl… Just the look in her eyes—I can tell she is Gazen’s daughter. It doesn’t matter if the blood within her veins originated from my forlorn, though I can sense his mana swirling within her soul. Regardless, this girl he intended to rescue is even more impressive than he expected.

  “I think I also heard the term spoken once, from a very old man.” My Sage’s daughter kept her guard up as she sat in her own chair. I had seen many a fool impaled from sitting in a conjured chair, but the impression I got was that this girl truly wanted to talk now. The fight left her body as if returned to the aether.

  The least I could do was make her feel comfortable enough to speak. I sat down across from her and even took a sip of water. It tasted astronomically better than the poor spring this island on the outskirts produced.

  “I once had many brothers and sisters, believe it or not.” The girl’s eyes widened. It seemed she had at least some inkling of what we were. “There were actually many more like the one you so despise. You’ve encountered a few such powers, right? If I’m not mistaken… you even have one of your own.”

  That dried branch she conjured was deeply saturated in a mana more sinister than any I had ever felt in my long life. It was not easy, but I knew I had to disarm her of it if we were to reach an understanding. Any longer, and she may have even turned me into her next power.

  I tried to choose my words carefully, but the girl narrowed her eyes at me again, “Chrysalis… I am still figuring out what it means, but it brought the second greatest sorcerer I have ever known to the point of death. My own power—no, that bastard’s power that I’ve been stuck with… you know something about it, don’t you?”

  Curiously enough, this girl seemed to have an ability to speak into the soul like greater spirits did inherently. I could feel her emotions leaking through every now and again. I didn’t know anything about her power, but there was actually something I could share after having her rest beneath my light until now.

  “There is one mistake you are making,” I let a grin creep onto my lips, “That… bastard who Gazen took you from holds an entirely different power. I wish I could tell you more, but… I know nothing of your own. All I can discern is that it is just that—your own.”

  “Then tell me about his.” As soon as something important drifted about, this girl straightened her back and left no room for misinterpretation. “What power allowed him to use me to his own ends… and just who the hell is this bastard who would dare call himself my father?”

  At the death of the Age of Yore, we so-called ‘demons’ came to be. I could speak all day of our origin, but it was clear she wasn’t here for that.

  “Before names could ever be given, that monster was known by one word: causality. It represents his domain over this world. Every action he takes causes a landslide of reactions across the sky. Sometimes large, sometimes small. Near, or ever further. Over time he learned how to manipulate this power to attain desired results, essentially predicting and directing time itself.”

  The girl seemed speechless, naturally. Bright blonde hair hung over the girl’s face as her gaze grew distant, but suddenly, she turned serious. Looking me in the eyes, she burned with resolve.

  “Causality, huh? Recently he told me that I finally reached my potential… that I would always be in his grasp.” A defiant fire burned in her eyes, “If I didn’t know any better, I would say my curse sounds like causality as well, but you claim it’s different…?” A fearless laugh bubbled up from Gazen’s daughter, “I think I understand now. My own power is something he has always hoped for. His greatest work… is in my hands. That can only mean I have the upper hand.”

  Something about her smile made me laugh, but she didn’t seem any less wary, “Can I please… ask your name, daughter of Gazen?”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Call me Cira.” She chuckled, “Now I think you were telling me a story.”

  “Right… Causality did not care for his kin. But by killing us… he found a way to collect our powers. All at once, nearly every one of us across these vast skies fell into his hands. The only way to save my people was to go into hiding as soon as I could, but I hardly survived that day myself.” I looked into Cira’s attentive yet nervous eyes, and almost thought of sparing her from this next part, “The only way to save my people was to go into hiding. You see… I do not believe he could use the powers of our kin himself, but by supplanting them upon another soul… that much was evidently within his ability.”

  A long silence ensued as the girl turned pale.

  ___

  What is this demon saying…?

  “What do you mean… supplanting them upon another soul?” Cira’s mouth dried out and she felt a heat well up in her chest. “Don’t tell me…”

  The demon looked at Cira with a knowing gaze, “I’m sorry… but it’s true.”

  No… I refuse to— “If what you say is true… why don’t I have horns, like you?!” Cira was grasping at straws here. “Wouldn’t I know if I were a—”

  But she couldn’t finish her sentence.

  There’s no way I could be a primordial demon… I’m hardly twenty years old. That’s not primordial at all.

  “Cira…” Connie’s heavy eyes didn’t falter, “us ‘demons’ are often known as the laws of this world. Whether in life or long after death, we are a part of it. What your—what the demon Causality wanted to do was use our remains to create a new law. One unconstrained by fate.”

  “No… but—” Cira regretted ever coming here, “That can’t be right… aren’t I… aren’t I human at all?”

  There was a brief, but noticeable silence before the demon continued, “Cira… I’m sorry. You probably don’t carry much of your mother’s blood any longer. Especially if Gazen was right about the reforging—”

  “Stop. I don’t want to hear it.” Cira couldn’t take any more. Her vile demonic heart threatened to stop if she heard another word about her cursed origin and predicted destiny. “How can everything he ever told me… be a lie? He said—he said my actions make me human!”

  “And they do.” The demon offered a pained smile, “Don’t they?”

  “I…” Cira felt tears well up in her eyes again, “I can’t do this anymore.”

  The demon’s eyes widened as the aether seemed to swell up. All of a sudden, Cira was once again in that golden cloudscape, laying in the grass of her garden.

  Breeze Haven…?

  Just what is this place?

  Nowhere felt less dangerous or more comfortable than right here, and Breeze Haven wasn’t going to give her an answer anyway.

  I guess I’ll just lay here for a while.

  Cira must have taken a nap because when she awoke, the sky was far less golden. The clouds were mostly white, and she recognized the familiar spatial plane she called home.

  How strange… was it a dream?

  She felt mana pulsing from her waist and reached into a pouch. From it Cira withdrew out a pendant far less extravagant than the one Io gave her, and realized it was the one Eliza left in her care to track down their base.

  It appears I’m not far.

  “I guess the Boreal will have to wait even longer, Dad.” Cira tried not to think about how he also probably expected her to make her way here as well, “Let’s see what your old friends have to say about all this prophecy nonsense… On second thought, hopefully nothing.”

  Part of her regretted leaving before finding out more about that demon and the primordial genocide, but she was in the mood to experience the future. The past wasn’t going anywhere.

  Let’s see… The sky is clear, and at this rate I should arrive by tomorrow morning—ish. Did I wake up too early? Well, I could go for some dinner. Nina was asleep on the table for some reason, so Cira grilled up some eel from the other day and settled into a book while the sun still showed, but something kept nagging at the back of her mind.

  “I can’t help but think… I’m forgetting something very important.” While the eel had good flavor, it was unnervingly chewy. Cira had become surprisingly busy ever since that rock fell, so she tried to reflect on the recent past—ignoring the parts she didn’t want to think about for now. “No, it’s nothing to do with Paradise, and I’m pretty sure my business with the witches is concluded for now. Just what could it be…?”

  In the last few bites, she felt a bone prick her cheek. It used to gross her out, but after eating so much fish in the dead skies year after year, not so much. Cira used the bone as a toothpick and tossed it back onto her plate, officially putting the eel behind her.

  “Hang on…” Cira and the fish bone had an intense staring contest for a moment until a Lamplight went off in her head. “The ancient evil!”

  In a panic, Cira knocked her chair over stumbling to her feet. The ruckus woke Nina up with a start. She blinked her beady eyes in confusion and followed the hasty sorcerer down the stairs. Swearing and cursing her own forgetfulness or perhaps her abnormal sense of priorities, Cira slammed her palm against the treasury door.