The abandoned school was the same as ever. The throne of discarded furniture still stood tall.
When Ashen arrived at the empty classroom, he naturally took his place beside the highest point of the heap. Not even a moment later, he felt a hand ruffle his hair.
Looking up, he saw Dorian, who had arrived somehow without him noticing, smiling jovially down at him.
"Asher. Welcome back, son."
"I'm back."
Ashen smiled and raised a fist bump, which the older man promptly returned before slumping into his usual spot.
"You look different. Somethin' nice happen?"
Ashen fell silent.
He knew that was Dorian's way of asking whether he was alright. For some reason, the old man always defaulted to asking if something nice had happened instead.
So… his mind replayed everything he had lived through. The Boulder. The loop. The war. The deaths. The countless killings.
"I'm fine."
The memories were cut off with those words.
He had already promised Dorian that he would handle Seravelle on his own.
He never forgot that his uncle could no longer set foot on that continent. Moreover, Ashen felt he had already received more than enough help.
He never forgot Dorian's gift.
If not for the Whisp, he didn't know how he would have survived the threats that came his way.
"Is that so…?"
"Yep… if there's anything I find annoying, it'd be this blasted bracelet." Ashen shook his wrist with an irritated look.
The Sloth Sin Lord raised an eyebrow. "Oh, that?"
Snap—!
With a snap of his fingers, the bracelet immediately ceased functioning.
He smirked. "There, poof."
"Is it really okay to do this…?"
"Sure is. Matter of fact, I'm the one who made those bracelets."
"But… won't the higher-ups say anything? It won't cause you trouble, right?"
"Son, who do you think I am? I'm the Sloth Sin Lord, the oldest human alive. Those kids would keep their mouths shut if they had any respect for their elders."
"...Besides, it's basic courtesy not to snoop around another Sin Lord's domain."
"Domain…? Yours? Which region?" Ashen tilted his head.
"Every inch of this continent belongs to Sloth," Dorian said with a smile.
'What…?'
On second thought, it was obvious since Dorian was the only Sin Lord here, but Ashen had never dared think of it that way because of Esperra's sheer size.
To put it into perspective, the two continents were roughly equal in scale. That meant Dorian's territory was effectively as large as all of Seravelle, while the other Sin Lords had to split a single continent among themselves.
"Damn… turns out my uncle's way more absurd than I thought."
"Only now do you realize? Tsk, tsk."
"By the way…" Ashen asked mischievously, "How old is the oldest human alive, anyway? Let me guess first. More than two thousand years?"
"Ohh…" Dorian's eyes widened. "That's a close guess, all right. I'm two thousand and two hundred years, to be exact. How'd you guess?"
"Let's just say I deduced it from historical events… On that note, I stumbled upon something else I couldn't quite wrap my head around."
"Shoot."
"…They call it 'Darkness.' Do you know anything about it?"
"..."
'Hm?'
Ashen lifted his head, only to find that Dorian's jovial smile had all but disappeared.
"...Ashen. Where did you hear that from?"
"Uhh… It's the ability I got from the Whisp. In short, it lets me witness true historical events firsthand. The information itself came from the grand library of the now-extinct vampire race."
"The vampire race… primordials? I guess that makes sense." Dorian let out a sigh before looking at Ashen seriously.
"Knowing this would probably only cause you unsolvable distress. Even so, do you still want to know?"
"I do."
Ashen answered instantly.
"Alright then…" Dorian nodded with a complicated expression. "You already know about the Reign of Terror, right?"
"Yes." Ashen nodded. "It's an era that ended two thousand years ago, 2028 years to be exact. I don't know much aside from the name and the fact that we were almost driven to extinction during it, which forced us to relocate the bulk of the human race to Esperra."
"That's correct. And the primary reason for our near extinction was this so-called 'Darkness'." Dorian's face turned gloomy.
It was the first time Ashen had ever seen him wear such an expression.
"Of course, the word is just a metaphor for something far more terrible. We used that name because they came from space."
He pointed at the night sky.
"...Like locusts of death, they descended from the darkness of the vast universe, spelling doom for our planet."
"Many of them had bizarre abilities, almost eldritch in nature. Some of us even suffered gruesome deaths merely by calling their names… So we eventually settled on calling them Darkness, since from darkness they came, and to darkness they brought us."
"But now, they are known under another name…" Dorian's eyes shifted to him.
The heavy silence stretched on for who knew how long as Ashen waited in bated breath for an answer he already knew.
"...They are called Outer Gods."
"And let me tell you a secret, Ashen… the peace you see now was not brought by victory. The truth is, we are merely hiding. And they are circling our hiding place like starved beasts, waiting for us to poke our foolish heads out." His voice dropped into a patient, dreadful tone. "Just like a hunter stalking its prey."
"And sooner or later… we will be caught. Because that is the fate of prey."
His expression turned helpless.
"I just hope… you won't have to face the Darkness, son. But from the way you are progressing, I guess that's a foolish wish."
"...Uncle."
Ashen did not know what to say.
He was not overly shocked by the threat itself. He already knew of the Outer Gods. He also knew they would strike sooner or later. That was why he had even been willing to march into Narkal territory and wage war with those filthy beasts.
He did not want any distractions when the true enemies eventually came.
It had just never occurred to him that the threat he was fighting against had existed for more than two millennia.
And that it was not merely seven.
But a horde.