"...Are you Ashley Burns?"
The words cracked through the cathedral’s silence.
Ash didn’t remember Max ever uttering his full name aloud in this chamber, nor had he spoken it himself. Hearing it now from the voice of an ancient stranger felt deeply unsettling.
Ash’s jaw clenched. His first instinct wasn’t awe, fear, or a grand sense of destiny. It was a deep, grinding irritation.
"Hey, old man. Stick to the deal and crush me already."
The old sovereign leaned forward.
"Please... tell me, young man. Are you truly named Ashley Burns?"
Ash let out a long, heavy sigh. He was already exhausted and barely had any strength left. And from the way this old man was looking at him, Ash knew that dragging this out would get them nowhere. Besides, there was something he needed to understand...
"Yes. That’s my name. Now, who the hell are you? We’ve never met, so what’s your angle here?"
Ash’s eyes flicked to Max, who was still frozen mid-scream, before snapping back to the thrones.
"I’m guessing my execution is on hold until we talk. Fine. But if you want me to play along, unfreeze my brother first."
The old man blinked.
"Ah... yes. Yes, of course."
He snapped his fingers. Time suddenly lurched forward. Max’s scream finally burst free, raw and deafening in the sudden noise. Yet the titan’s colossal foot still hung directly above Ash, frozen a hair’s breadth from crushing him, as if the universe had stopped at the most dramatically inconvenient moment imaginable.
Ash grimaced, bracing for an impact that never came. A cynical part of him had actually hoped for it.
’When does anything good ever happen to me...?’
The colossus wasn’t frozen anymore. The massive construct slowly tilted its stone head, looking down at Ash with something that felt uncomfortably like pity.
Then, with a low grinding sound that shook the stone beneath them, the colossus turned and lumbered toward the far side of the hall. A guttural rumble rattled the stone under Ash’s boots as the giant leaned heavily against the cathedral wall, its fiery eyes dimming until it looked like nothing more than a discarded stone puppet.
Max staggered over and smacked Ash hard across the back of his head.
"Out of all your insane, suicidal stunts, that was the closest you’ve ever come to actually succeeding! Statistically, you should be a smear of paste with slightly spread-out bone density right now!"
Ash exhaled slowly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yeah. And, as usual, I didn’t die."
He shot his brother a flat look.
"And don’t act high and mighty. You were trying to win the stupid death contest too."
Max’s jaw tightened.
"That’s because this whole disaster is my fault! If I hadn’t insisted on opening that chest back at the encampment, none of this would’ve happened!"
Ash stared at him.
’Huh... you really think that?’
Ash had almost forgotten about that incident, but Max had clearly been carrying the guilt this entire time
"It wasn’t your fault. Most people there would’ve opened it anyway. Didn’t you see the greed in their eyes? Besides, you did all of that for me... so thanks. But if we’re handing out blame..."
He gestured toward the elevated thrones.
The old man hadn’t moved. His eyes were wide and unblinking as he stared down at Ash.
Ash’s lips curled into a sneer.
"The geezer’s the one who opened the door. If we weren’t supposed to be in here, why invite us in?"
Max crossed his arms, letting out a breath.
"...Valid point. I overlooked the causal chain."
The old man remained silent, his gaze unwavering.
Ash cocked his head.
"What? Cat got your tongue? Or did you forget how words work after spending centuries in this dump?"
Max nudged his shoulder.
"Don’t provoke him. He still has the means to erase us both."
Turning back toward the throne, Max called out.
"Hey. Old man. You alright?"
The old man blinked slowly, then drew an even slower breath, as if he’d forgotten how to breathe.
"Ah... yes. I am."
His intense, unnerving gaze never left Ash.
"I released your brother as requested. Now, you will speak with me. Please..."
Ash cut him off, holding up a hand.
"Let’s make this easy. I’m not the Ashley you’re looking for. Maybe we share a first name. Maybe even a family name. Who knows? But I’ve spent my entire life in Varagos. I’ve never seen your creepy ruin of a planet, I’ve never met you, and I honestly couldn’t care less about whatever prophecy you’re guarding."
Max glanced between the two of them.
"Wait... you’re saying this guy already knew your name?"
Ash gave a tired nod.
"Not me specifically. But yeah... that’s the only reason we’re still breathing. Apparently, my Roots are playing games again, setting up this ridiculously over-produced spectacle just to keep me alive."
The old man laughed.
"Finally... You are here. You are indeed the one."
Ash’s brows furrowed in annoyance.
"I literally just told you I have no idea what you’re talking about."
The old man leaned forward, his expression softening into an oddly warm smile.
"Of course you wouldn’t know, young lord. I was told of your arrival by my lord... my god. Long ago, my lord spoke of a young human who would eventually step into this sacred hall. A youth bearing the name Ashley Burns. The odds of another person across the realms bearing such an unusual name are virtually nonexistent. And your utter hatred for fate itself... Yes. You are the one. At last... I am free."
Ash frowned. The old man had gotten it wrong. Ash didn’t hate fate. Besides, it was the other way around. Fate was the one who hated him.
Max turned toward the throne, raising an eyebrow.
"Old man, when you say ’free,’ I hope that doesn’t mean my brother has to sit on your dusty throne while you shuffle off into retirement."
The old Titan chuckled.
"Ah, no. It is nothing like that."
He paused, choosing his words with great care.
"Perhaps you will understand if I tell you a bit about myself. I hope you do not mind, young lord."
He bowed his head deeply toward Ash.
Ash’s eyes widened in disbelief.
’...Young lord?’
The old man straightened, still wearing that infuriatingly knowing smile.
"I am a Titan. My name is Ingahff Gare."
Ash frowned.
’That’s a mouthful and a terrible name. And this guy says my name is strange.’
Unbothered by Ash’s glare, the old Titan continued.
"I was the last high priest of the Temple of Return. An apostle of the outer deity known as the Hourless King."
As he said that, the voice of the soul space whispered in Ash’s mind.
[You have learned the Root of an outer god, Hourless King.]
Ash didn’t bother reacting to the voice as the old man continued.
"My lord commanded us to guard this sanctuary until the day we met you. Years... centuries... I no longer track the passage of time. One by one, the other apostles abandoned their posts or faded into dust. I alone remained. Eventually, the pilgrims stopped coming, and the temple fell silent. I spent centuries watching over him."
He pointed an elongated finger toward the slumping colossus at the far side of the room.
Max looked at the stone giant, then back at the Titan priest.
"If you’ve been here that long... can you tell us what happened to this planet? The entire surface has been consumed by the Chaos. It’s a miracle you’re even alive down here."
Ingahff looked at Max, a flicker of confusion crossing his ancient face.
"When Chaos rises, the only true sanctuaries are the temples of the gods... especially the temple of an outer god like the Hourless King. As an Eternal, I do not age. This shrine allowed me to watch the world outside crumble to ash."
The old priest lowered his head, a soft, raspy laugh echoing in his throat.
"Still... all of this was foreordained. My lord foresaw every movement of this play. He knew the end would come, and that a new world would be forged from the remnants... I am simply grateful I lived long enough to witness the first gear turn before my final hour."
Ash and Max stood side by side, completely lost in the old man’s absurd religious rambling.
Suddenly, Ingahff tilted his head, his expression shifting to genuine curiosity.
"Oh... by the way, what did you mean by that phrasing earlier? You called this place ’this planet.’ Am I to assume you mean there are other worlds... beyond this one?"
Max gave him a flat, stunned look, so utterly thrown by the question that he forgot to be afraid.
"Of course there are. Hundreds... No, even thousands of them. Honestly, this planet is one of the smallest dead rocks I’ve ever surveyed... though it certainly has an insane amount of ancient architecture for its size."
The cathedral went dead, suffocatingly silent.
The knowing smile dropped from the old Titan’s face. His ancient eyes locked onto Max as if the young man had just spoken a profound and terrifying heresy.
Max shifted uncomfortably under the intense, sudden pressure.
"...What? Did I say something wrong?"
The old man blinked slowly, then shook his head. A deep unease crept into his expression.
"No... I mean... yes. It is simply... incomprehensible. I have watched over this realm for millennia... yet you refer to it as a ’small planet’?"
The words sounded foreign, almost awkward on his tongue.
"The world I remember was endless. A realm so vast that a man could travel for ten lifetimes and never glimpse its edge. Small, you say? I cannot comprehend such a concept... unless..."
The ancient eyes narrowed.
"...Unless your world is somehow larger than the entire realm. Because in all my existence... there has never been anything beyond our skies."
Max looked at Ash. Neither brother needed words to understand that something was deeply wrong. Then he looked back at the priest.
"Old man... I’m not mistaken. This planet really is tiny. In fact, the only thing left on it is this ruined kingdom surrounding your temple. The rest of the world is just a vast forest, crawling with Chaos beasts beneath the empty void of deep space."