Several minutes passed as Uriel and Shade reflected in silence. After contemplating and assimilating everything, the conversation continued.
"And what happened that made you have to go back in time?" Uriel asked.
Cronos's expression darkened. A long, deep sigh escaped his lips—one that carried the weight of failure.
"We failed. That's all."
"What do you mean?"
"You see, Master. A few revolutions ago, after you arrived at Fallen Grace and learned of the current situation..." Cronos stopped.
"I think I'm getting ahead of myself," he murmured.
"Anyway. The Great River, as you know, flows from the past to the future in a cycle that repeats upon itself—eternal and unchanging. That is how the Terror Demon built this tomb with the corpse of an impious titan. Thousands of years ago, there was a woman called the First Seeker who sought the Estuary. She searched for a long time until she found it—and what she found defiled her, turning her into the source of the Great River's corruption." Cronos paused, letting the information sink in.
"The First Seeker, having been defiled by corruption, spread like a tumor through the city of Verge, and from there it began to spread over the years, gaining more and more strength. Many fought against her, and many were taken by her—both humans and creatures. For many years, this persisted. Even with the arrival of the Serpent King's people, this did not change.
During what I believe was the first time—before your revolution—you arrived at Fallen Grace. Of course, back then I was barely an Awakened. After learning everything that was happening with the First Seeker, you decided to make a plan to eliminate the source of corruption and escape the Great Tomb of Ariel with all its inhabitants. It was an ambitious plan—more ambitious than that guy's plan." A melancholic smile spread across Cronos's face.
"You taught me and other generations the path of natural ascension, as well as runic sorcery and dark sorcery. For several years. Somehow, you managed to obtain a large quantity of materials, and we began constructing a ship with Ananke's help from Weave. The ship would be capable of navigating across the Great River, indifferent to the time of those born of the river as long as they were on its deck and within a limited range around it."
Uriel stopped him at that moment.
"Are you saying I built this ship?"
"The first one, yes."
"Well, it seems you have a good design for ships and interiors," Shade joked.
Uriel ignored Shade, who pretended to be offended.
"Anyway, once the ship was ready, we began gathering champions from across the Great River—from the river nomads, from other cities built by the Sibyls, even from that old serpent." Cronos smiled as if remembering something amusing.
"Oh, and that was quite fun. In fact, Master Shade, if you remembered what you did in Twilight, you'd be proud."
Shade raised an eyebrow.
"And what did I do in Twilight?"
Cronos gave a sly smile.
"Oh, I'm not going to ruin that surprise. You'll find out in due time. Anyway, Daeron—who had his own plans to destroy the First Seeker—joined us. But there was a problem: the Great River. To carry out our plans, we needed all its inhabitants, and since the distance was enormous and time spared no one, we did something terrifying... We destroyed the Great River."
Uriel's eyes widened.
"W-what?" His voice stammered in shock.
"Destroy the flow of time? How?"
"I don't know. Those memories are blurry and disconnected. But somehow we did it. The Great River stopped, and without it, we were able to consecrate everyone in Fallen Grace and begin our siege plan against Verge and the First Seeker," he explained.
Cronos's voice sounded sad.
"But something happened. We failed. Millions were corrupted by the First Seeker's power. Tens of millions of Awakened, up to Transcendents, died or were corrupted. At the end, out of the several tens of millions we had, only a few million remained. Daeron—the only Supreme of the river—was infected and became a nightmare creature, which you faced and killed at great cost. You burned away an enormous part of your life, and your wounds were terrifying—to the point where you were destined to die within a few years after that battle. Everyone was corrupted. And so ended the first loop," Cronos said.
Uriel clenched his fists.
Hearing that—hearing that his plans had failed and that he had led tens of millions to their deaths—was a bitter pill to swallow.
"In the end, only three people remained: you, Ananke, and me. Ananke and I were Supremes, of course, while you were still a Transcendent. In a final effort, we used the Estuary to travel to the past. Using a spell we created after long years, it would send one of us to the past with the knowledge of that loop, so that we would be better prepared and make better plans.
In a twisted way, the fortunate—or unfortunate—one was me. At that time, I was confused about what to do. I knew what would happen, so I began constructing everything in advance. I recreated the Time Killer and sailed to the farthest reaches of the future, where I found you and explained everything. And so we improved our plans."
Cronos looked at his now-empty cup and refilled it with more tea.
"We did almost the same thing. First, we went to Weave to recruit Ananke, then multiple champions and the Serpent King in less than a year. Then we destroyed the Great River of Time again, and with that, everyone traveled to Fallen Grace. This time, we lasted longer because we understood the nature of the Seeker's powers.
We did great things. Just like in the first loop, we fought and failed. We decided to build a kingdom outside of time—instead of fighting, we would hide, leaving the First Seeker alone, unable to consume anything, and let her starve to death.
This worked to some extent. But again, something happened. That bastard Daeron wanted to destroy the First Seeker with his own hands. By then, he was already a Supreme, and the three of us argued, each taking our own stance.
In the end, an annoyed Daeron went off, gathered his own army to besiege Verge—and failed again, taking everyone who followed him with him."
Cronos sank into his chair, his face contorting into a bitter expression.
"The same thing happened, but this time Daeron—who had become a great titan after his corruption—attacked our hiding place with his entire army of corrupted. We fought, we resisted, but in the end, we failed. You sacrificed yourself, immolating your seven soul cores to destroy Daeron and the entire horde of corrupted, to give us a chance to survive.
We survived, but in the end, we were also defeated. I was the only Supreme left by then, but it wasn't enough. I fell into depression for a long time. I tried many things, made plans, and using my Aspect, I glimpsed the distant future—looking at multiple possibilities for victory, to bring salvation to the river's people. After finding a way, I went back in time and repeated everything. This time, things were better for a while." Cronos smiled.
"We killed the First Seeker after hiding in a place where the flow of the Great River—or the remnants of her primordial essence—became trapped, and we waited.
When we emerged, the First Seeker no longer existed, nor did her corrupted, because they had devoured themselves.
This time, I thought we would win and escape that cursed place. But then the abominations from the future and the past arrived. We fought day after day, year after year, for a long time. Tens of millions died in the process. When only a few million remained, Daeron was corrupted again by a seed—but he was still sane. We made a plan. Using his sea of souls and his bones, we created pocket dimensions to store everyone in a state of suspended animation, to escape Ariel's Tomb."
"So I suppose something bad happened, right?"
"Yes. Somehow, a cursed being emerged—a repulsive bird and its progeny—that annihilated us before we could abandon the tomb. We failed again, but this time we got the farthest. So you stayed behind, buying time against the cursed-rank abomination, while I went back to the past. And that brings us to the present. This is the fourth loop and the third conversation we've had since the first loop."
Uriel sighed upon hearing Cronos's explanation. Knowing he had failed three times discouraged him, but in a way, it also encouraged him—because thanks to his previous attempts, he now had a rough idea of what to do.