"Chaos..."
"Why does that name feel strangely familiar?"
"And yet I can't recall any record connected to it."
"There is no unit by that designation anywhere in my memory."
"Could this sense of familiarity have come from Zandar?"
Lygus walked through the crowd, quietly turning the matter over in his mind.
For some reason, the name Chaos gave him a faint feeling of recognition.
It was not strong.
More like something he might have heard once in passing during the long span of his existence, only to encounter it again after an immeasurable amount of time.
He checked the young man's data once more.
Nothing unusual appeared.
Every reading indicated that he was an entirely ordinary human being.
With no evidence of abnormal behavior, Lygus finally stopped dwelling on the matter.
He came to a halt in a small plaza and looked up at the sun still hanging in the sky.
"This is cycle 26,724,561."
"Neikos 496... how much longer can you endure?"
"That determination of yours, that refusal to change no matter how many times the cycle repeats... it really is impressive."
The data accumulated across such an enormous number of eternal recurrences was staggering.
So too were the rage and hatred that had built up alongside it.
That desire for destruction had grown beyond measure.
Lygus was in no hurry.
He had all the time he needed.
After all, the flow of time within Amphoreus was drastically different from the outside universe.
A mere moment beyond this world might correspond to centuries or even millennia within it.
It did not matter if this eternal recurrence continued for another ten million cycles.
Or a hundred million.
Eventually, that resolve would be worn away by the endless passage of time.
And when it finally disappeared completely...
Everything that remained would become nourishment for Irontomb.
...
"A mechanical life-form suddenly appearing in a world styled after Greek mythology..."
Caelus thought about the encounter as he walked.
"I suppose it could be justified by the requirements of the simulation, but it still feels out of place."
Before long, he returned to the tailor shop.
The blonde woman was still seated behind the counter, needle and thread moving steadily through another piece of fabric.
"Hello, Miss Aglaea."
"I'm here to collect the clothes I commissioned."
"Welcome back, Mr. Caelus."
Aglaea greeted him with the same gentle smile.
She turned and removed the finished garments from a mannequin behind her.
The first was a moon-white robe woven with golden thread.
Its wide sleeves fell loosely at the sides, while pale-gold abstract patterns reminiscent of drifting clouds decorated the fabric.
A faint silver-blue glow traced its edges.
The design was simple yet mysterious.
Still, once worn, it looked less like everyday clothing and more like something meant for an important ceremony or formal occasion.
Caelus was also quite satisfied with the outfit made for Cyrene.
It did not possess quite the same presence as the clothes she normally wore in her mature form, but the difference was not particularly large.
He took out a heavy bag of coins and paid the remaining balance.
Just as he was preparing to leave, a young girl's voice suddenly came from outside.
"Aglaea! Little Phai caused trouble again!"
A red-haired little girl came running toward the shop.
The moment Caelus saw her, he immediately recognized who she was.
The Saintess of Janusopolis.
The one whose actions had helped ignite the Golden War.
The girl blessed by the Titan of Passage.
"...Harmony?"
Caelus was genuinely surprised.
He carefully analyzed the nature of the power inside her and the underlying structure supporting it.
He had originally assumed that the Titan of Passage, whose authority involved opening countless gates and freely crossing between worlds, would correspond to Trailblaze.
Instead, its power was aligned with Harmony.
That was unexpected.
"Hello?"
Tribbie stared uneasily at the stranger who was looking directly at her.
Aglaea noticed Caelus's gaze.
Assuming he had recognized Tribbie from the distinctive ornaments she wore, Aglaea immediately stood, stepped out from behind the counter, and placed herself between them.
"Sir, I assume you've recognized Miss Tribbie?"
"Yes."
Caelus answered calmly.
"The Saintess of Janusopolis."
"She divided herself into countless fragments and sent those incarnations across the world to spread the oracle of Kephale, the Worldbearing Titan."
"That oracle became one of the sparks that ignited the Golden War."
"Every ruler now controls at least one of the Saintess's incarnations, sometimes several."
"Each of them wants the authority to interpret the oracle according to their own interests."
"And after those incarnations began escaping, most of the city-states started hunting them."
Caelus looked at Tribbie.
"Even under those circumstances, you're still willing to appear openly in public?"
"It seems Okhema intends to shelter and protect you."
In truth, Tribbie had simply been in too much of a hurry to conceal herself.
She had rushed over as quickly as possible and happened to run straight into someone capable of recognizing her.
Although many rulers were indeed hunting the incarnations of Tribbie, none of them dared issue an open public warrant.
Doing so would give their enemies an ideal justification for war.
Their rivals could condemn them for persecuting a sacred messenger while using the situation to rally public support.
So the rulers worked against Tribbie in secret.
Publicly, they still claimed they wanted to welcome and protect her.
As a result, most ordinary civilians knew very little about what was truly happening.
Only bounty hunters who had accepted secret contracts, and assassins privately trained by the various city-states, were fully aware of the situation.
Whenever possible, those assassins were even instructed to capture Tribbie's incarnations alive rather than kill them.
But the war was becoming more vicious with every passing day.
The conflict was no longer driven purely by political advantage.
Hatred had begun to take over.
As that hatred grew, control over the interpretation of the oracle became less important.
And so did Tribbie herself.
Perhaps before much longer, she would no longer need to worry about being hunted by the rulers at all.
By then, the war would have entered its bloodiest stage.
Caelus watched Aglaea and Tribbie leave.
After thinking for a moment, he decided where his journey would take him next.
The coast.
He wanted to see the Black Tide for himself.
...
Caelus set out once again.
This journey, however, was far less peaceful than the ones before it.
War had already spread across the land.
At first, the conflict had been driven by profit.
Territory.
Political power.
Control over the interpretation of the Titans' oracle.
But over time, those motives became buried beneath something far more personal.
Hatred between nations.
Hatred between families.
Hatred between individuals.
The common soldiers fighting on the front lines had almost forgotten why the war had begun.
Now, many of them needed only one reason to keep fighting.
Your father was killed by a soldier from the enemy nation.
So you wanted revenge.
That was hatred.
Your homeland was occupied.
You once played and laughed in golden wheat fields there.
Now those same fields were nothing but blackened earth after being burned to the ground.
That was hatred.
Soldiers raided your home.
They took your money.
They took your food.
Your wife was violated and humiliated until she finally took her own life.
You lost your sanity.
You joined the war.
And from that day forward, whenever you saw a soldier, you killed them.
It no longer mattered which side they belonged to.
Eventually, an arrow from another soldier ended your life.
And the families and friends of those you had killed would remember you as an enemy soldier.
Their hatred would take root in turn.
The seed would sprout.
The killing would continue.
And with every death, more seeds would be scattered.
The entire land had fallen into war.
The flames of hatred were consuming everyone's reason.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)