Alright, let us go back to a month ago when the Second Epoch Cycle started.
This is a clean, precise flashback built from Darling's own recollection. I wasn't there physically. I only know what happened because I traced it later through his memories.
A month ago, Darling and Asenane left for their honeymoon on a vacation island realm that had been specifically recommended for its peaceful atmosphere. It was supposed to be quiet and detached from anything resembling interference. After everything they had endured in the Sinking Void, they chose a place designed for rest.
They arrived through a Praesit transit station built at the highest point of the island town. The architecture was elegant but modern. It was the kind of station built to impress visitors the moment they stepped off the train. When the Praesit carriage came to a smooth stop, they left together.
Then the crimson hologram appeared.
A projection simply manifested in front of them, composed of rotating crimson runes and ancient script in circular formations. The message in its center was clear:
[The Second Epoch Cycle Has Begun.]
Darling froze instantly. He began scanning the station interior, the ceiling, the platforms, everything. Asenane spoke first.
"Darling, can you see that?"
He turned to her, visibly surprised.
"You see it too?"
"Yes."
During the First Epoch Cycle, selection had been personal and violent. The chosen had received a tattoo-like burn that carved itself into their skin that led to their 'death.' That mark had been the confirmation. It had forced them into participation. This time, there was no burning sensation, no teleportation or forced displacement. They remained exactly where they stood inside the Praesit station.
Darling checked his body instinctively. There was no symbol. He assessed his internal energy flow for irregularities. Nothing was amiss.
"If the Second Epoch Cycle has begun and we were selected, there would be a mark."
Asenane studied the projection. "Perhaps the method changed."
"Perhaps. Maybe we were not selected?"
That possibility lingered between them. The hologram pulsed once more and then dissolved into crimson fragments of light that evaporated into the air. The station returned to stillness as if nothing had happened. Darling exhaled slowly and made a decision.
"This will not interrupt our honeymoon. If there's no quest directive, then something about this cycle is irregular. I won't chase irregularities without cause. If the system wants my attention, it can request it properly."
They left the station.
The doors opened to reveal warm summer air and an immaculate coastal skyline. The sky was a flawless blue with slow-moving white clouds. The sunlight was bright but not harsh.
The first thing they noticed was the silence.
The station parking area stretched outward with rows of parked vehicles. Roads curved down the hill toward the town. Traffic lights were functioning — cycling from red to green to yellow — but no cars were moving. Decorative trees lined the sidewalks. A fountain near the entrance continued to run.
There were no people.
The Praesit station had been built on elevated ground, giving a full view of the coastal settlement below. When they walked to the edge of the hill and looked out, they saw a beautifully structured seaside town. White houses with terracotta roofs lined narrow streets that led toward a wide, pristine beach. Balconies were decorated with flowering vines.
But there was no life.
Darling began scanning immediately. He extended his perception using his Mystic Eyes of Awareness across the town's radius.
Nothing responded.
He retrieved a folded map from his inventory. Reynolds had given it to him before their departure, marking the location of the summer house they were meant to stay in. Darling unfolded it carefully, aligning its orientation with the town below. With his enhanced vision layered over his Mystic Eyes, he searched the beachfront district.
He found a modest summer house near the shoreline. It was not excessively large but not small either. It had white exterior walls, light blue shutters and a terrace facing the sea. It was positioned close enough to the water to hear the waves clearly.
"That is our destination."
Asenane followed his line of sight, though she relied more on directional sense than enhanced optics.
"What is this place?"
Darling folded the map and kept his eyes on the silent town.
"The more relevant question is why is it empty."
°°°°°°
They made their way down the hill and toward the summer house without incident. When they reached the beachfront district, the house looked exactly like it had from the hill. Darling unlocked the door using the access token Reynolds had provided.
It was just a normal beach house.
The living room was cozy with soft sand-colored couches, a low wooden table, woven rugs and decorative seashell arrangements placed with intentional aesthetic effort. Large windows let in sunlight that reflected gently off the ocean outside. The air possessed a faint smell of salt and polished wood.
The kitchen was connected to the main space. There were clean countertops, neatly arranged cabinets, a refrigerator unit, an actual stove and modern appliances. Everything looked ready for use. It didn't even look abandoned.
There was a staircase leading downward to a basement level — probably storage or emergency utilities — and another staircase leading upward to the second floor.
Upstairs had exactly what one would expect: bedrooms with neatly made beds, side tables, wardrobes, a balcony room facing the beach and smaller rooms that were clearly designed for normal residential function.
And that's when Asenane's voice called from one of the side rooms.
"Darling, can you come over for a sec?"
Darling walked down the hallway toward the room she was in. When he stepped inside, he found her standing in front of a porcelain toilet. She was staring at it like it was an artifact from an alien civilization.
To be fair, to her, it might as well have been.
She turned to him, gesturing gently at the object.
"This room is strange. What is this brittle white bowl made of stone?"
Something clicked in his mind.
When he first transmigrated into Spheraphase, he noticed something subtle but never consciously analyzed it.
Divine Beings don't use toilets.
Spheraphasian physiology is fundamentally different from humans from Earth. When they consume food, the excess matter is incinerated within their digestive tract by their internal energy. There is no biological waste in the traditional sense.
For those at the Divine Rank, food is mostly symbolic for them anyway. They do not require large quantities to survive. Their energy systems convert what they need and vaporize the rest. To Asenane — who had existed as a Spheraphasian her entire life as a Krepsuna— a toilet was an incomprehensible white bowl made of brittle stone.
"In Spheraphase, we don't require sanitation infrastructure."
"Sanitation?"
He realized she didn't even have the conceptual framework. He straightened slightly and cleared his throat.
"It's... nothing to worry about."
She nodded slowly, still looking at it.
"What is it for?"
He considered describing the biological necessity of waste elimination in human physiology. He considered explaining bowel movements to a literal Divine entity.
"You wouldn't understand."
"Explain."
She stepped a little closer to it but he immediately intervened.
"You shouldn't touch it."
She looked at him, mildly confused. "Why?"
"It's symbolic."
"Symbolic of what?"
"Human fragility."
That wasn't technically wrong.
She studied it a moment longer, then stepped back, seemingly satisfied that it posed no threat. And that's when Darling's mind began spiraling into a completely different direction.
If Divine beings do not require toilets, then why does this realm have them? This wasn't Earth. This wasn't a different civilization.
This was a vacation island realm within Spheraphase which meant one of three things: mortals lived here, the realm was designed to accommodate Transmigrators or someone intentionally built it to mimic human civilization patterns.
He stared at the porcelain structure with growing intensity. If Spheraphasians don't require waste systems, why build plumbing? Why build sewer networks? Why design infrastructure around a biological function that the dominant species does not possess?
Was this town—
"Veneri."
Asenane's voice cut cleanly through his escalating internal thesis.
"Yes?"
"You're thinking too much."
"I am not."
"You are."
"About what?"
"The Second Epoch Cycle."
Ah. Right. That.
He almost forgot that a cosmic survival event had just casually announced itself earlier.
"I told you, I will not let it interrupt our honeymoon."
He was not thinking about the Second Epoch Cycle.
He was having an epiphany about Spheraphasian physiology and the suspicious presence of compatible sanitation systems in a supposedly empty realm. Which, frankly, was very on-brand for him.