Red and Cosmo strolled for several kilometers along the recently erected rows of hastily constructed clinics.
These modest buildings were not only to treat the injured, but to prevent disease outbreaks, protect vulnerable people, and maintain healthcare under the new conditions of hortusole until the population was sufficiently settled.
Cosmo made certain to provide whatever assistance he could to the medical staff who requested his intervention or executive authority, all while allowing Red to make full use of his granted hour of inquiry.
He had also been certain that his nosy officer would be the one most likely to exploit the privilege to its absolute limits, and he had been fully prepared for it.
Of course, Rita was still following behind them, and he found himself forced to repeat the same speculation he had voiced to Yon.
"For both our sakes and hers, it's best to pretend she isn't here for now."
That was what Cosmo had said, though it proved far easier spoken than done, as both of them unconsciously slowed their pace whenever she lagged too far behind.
After all, Rita was quite small in stature, while the two of them stood noticeably taller than average.
She was also somewhat younger than the others, having only recently turned seventeen, whereas most of them were over eighteen, with Oliver and Clarisse being twenty-one and twenty-two respectively.
It was likely because of this that their protective instincts toward her had existed from the very first day the new Nebula had met.
Red's questions arrived one after another, ceasing only when they were called away to attend whatever important or mundane task required their attention.
Yet Cosmo was surprised to discover that none of them ever crossed the boundaries of what he was permitted to answer.
"Realization can manifest in two different ways. One is a personal shift into a Prime. A transformation, if you will. The other is an external encroachment upon the world. An overlay of an ideal reality laid across the fabric of this one. To put it simply, it's essentially the simulation of a false alternate dimension." Cosmo explained in response to another of Red's inquiries. "The reason I told you all to cover your eyes and ears and stepped in front of you was that I couldn't be certain which one Artoria had prepared. I had to be ready for both possibilities."
"And if it had turned out to be external, what would you have done?" Red pressed. "It's not like you can do it as well, so how exactly would you have saved us?"
"Well..." Cosmo appeared somewhat reluctant to answer at first, but after a moment, his expression suggested he had resigned himself to honesty. "There's a certain skill I've been trying to learn. I've never tested it on a living being before, but I thought it might succeed if I executed it in the heat of battle. Since it's completely untested, however, there was a much higher chance it would fail. So technically speaking, I didn't have a guaranteed way of saving any of you from the mess I needlessly dragged you into. In fact, you all likely would have perished."
The response caught Red completely off guard.
"Are you sure you should be telling me that?" he asked with visible concern.
"Well, you asked." Cosmo shrugged. "Besides, if I hope to retain any respect you might have for my capabilities, it won't be by lying through my teeth. I risked your lives because of an impulsive decision, and I should bear whatever consequences come from that."
"It's..." Red's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
But he quickly looked away and rubbed the back of his head.
"Actually, it was obvious you did it because you were angry on behalf of my sister. And honestly, we were all feeling the same way at the time. You were the one person most capable of making that decision and carrying it through, so I don't think any of us who were there actually minded."
Cosmo glanced toward his officer for a brief moment before a faint smirk tugged at his lips.
"Really... Thanks for that. I'll try to keep it in mind, though I won't be making that mistake again."
"It's nothing," Red replied. "By the way... what was that skill you mentioned you were going to attempt?"
"Oh? Nothing too outrageous. Just teleportation."
"..."
Red stopped walking entirely, mouth hanging slightly open.
"What?"
"Teleportation?!" Red exclaimed. "How is that even possible with your authority?"
"It existed only as a theory at first, but there are signs it can be done using everything currently available to me." Cosmo clarified. "All I have to do is... well, actually, I think I'll keep that part a surprise until I'm certain it works."
"Come on, that's against the rules."
Red finally resumed walking.
"I actually have a good reason for keeping that particular card close to my chest," Cosmo said. "I promise it doesn't contradict anything I told you before. Honestly, I thought you'd be asking more important questions. Like the Cold Day."
"I'd want to," Red admitted, "but I know you would have told me already if you could."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"If there's anything I've learned from everything that happened on Hortusole, it's that no amount of knowledge is enough to explain every situation. There will always be things beyond our sight, beyond our imagination. And those new wonders are capable of appearing with every waking moment."
Cosmo smiled at the observation.
"You'd be right." He nodded. "I've traveled across countless boundaries throughout the Conmundia. Yet even now, I don't know a quarter of what they truly contain. And the mysteries humanity cannot explain aren't limited to the Cold Day, either."
"Right... there's the Day of Heirs," Red responded.
The Day of Heirs, also known as the "Reset," was an inexplicable phenomenon that even the humans of Earth, despite their ignorance of anything beyond their own boundary, were forced to experience every year.
No one retained any memory of when the phenomenon had first begun, but it was theorized that all internal and external memory beyond a certain span of time within each boundary would suddenly vanish every twenty-ninth day of September.
The duration retained differed from one boundary to another, but for Earth, it was three hundred years.
That meant every year, all records older than three centuries simply disappeared. Even Eminents fortunate enough to have lived that long retained no recollection of anything beyond that limit.
To cling to the brighter side, the people of Earth had developed a tradition in which they buried records, heirlooms, and personal belongings beneath the ground in makeshift time capsules.
Each was preserved with its own hopes, sentiments, and wishes attached to it.
"My answer to you that day was that the Cold Day might be something you could come to understand through Veil, and I wasn't kidding." Cosmo continued. "Knowledge is hardly ever truly lost as long as those governing entities exist. The Apostles, I mean."
"You've mentioned them several times before, and I understand the whole incident involving Rita and my sister had something to do with a servant of one. Who exactly are they?"
"Anchors," Cosmo answered. "They are the beings that uphold and maintain their respective concepts, preserving or altering the workings of the universe. Their whims shape the world, and their presence stabilizes the laws of reality in the supposed absence of its creator. If anything in existence knows the truth behind all, it's them."
Red felt an uncomfortable sense that he had just been entrusted with knowledge far beyond his standing.
Still, he couldn't exactly complain.
After all, gaining such knowledge had been his original goal.
Now, however, he was beginning to grasp the immense weight that came attached to it.
"They are incomprehensible to ordinary creatures, so the only mortals capable of interacting with them are those who have been bestowed a 'Seed' and chosen to follow their will."
"Seeds? Does that imply they can cultivate new Apostles?"
"Not exactly. I don't even know if it's possible to become an Apostle." Cosmo shook his head. "Those Seeds are more like passes."
He continued.
"Eminents aren't limitless in their growth, and there are only a handful of methods capable of breaking through that threshold once a certain level is reached. The only surefire way to continue advancing beyond that point is by receiving a Seed from an Apostle. If you're capable of achieving that, then certain knowledge may become available to you."
Red's eyes narrowed at the particular manner in which Cosmo delivered that last statement.
"But would you recommend it?"
"It isn't my responsibility to answer that for you." Cosmo calmly sidestepped the question. "If that opportunity ever presents itself, the decision will be yours, and yours alone."
He didn't elaborate any further, and he wouldn't even have to since a woman suddenly approached them from farther ahead.
Cosmo had seen her before.
At that prior moment, however, she was in far less than ideal condition.
She wore a simple black garment with a design that complemented her light green hair.
Despite not being an Eminent, there was an unmistakable presence about her that caused her to stand apart from those around her.
She was the leader of one of Dravark's colonies and one of only two colony leaders who had survived.
Sorune, Leader of the Riders.