[Yes. It's all Direction. Plenty remains mysterious about Breaking Chasms, but they are absolutely tied to it – the written word DAWN.]

Skullius twisted in confusion. This wasn't what he'd meant to say regarding the orbits of the Breaking Chasms, but all the same, his interest was stolen.

So many mysteries. Among them was this, the obscure writing found on the edge of this Reality: DAWN.

There was another transcription of a laugh from the guidance field.

[You've roused my excitement dangerously. You and that shill you fought… you accomplished this one thing in such a short time… each. I'm almost tempted to believe Void had a purpose in allowing all this chaos.]

Skullius, reeling from his confusion, sighed in frustration. "What did Void allow?"

Another transcription of a laugh. [You thought a Divine without the slightest inclination for the Power of Dimensions could rip apart Void's body using her own powers and expose the Absolute Sun? Laughable indeed. Do you have any idea what the YOMMR` would have done if they'd known all along that Void was simply hiding the Sun beneath her flesh? They would have strained to obtain enough of the |Greater Cosmic Law| to breach her body].

Skullius sighed again, more frustrated than before.

He hadn't bothered to consider it, likely because it had no bearing on the future, but it checked out.

Void's body was so dense, sturdy, and unpredictable that disasters of cosmic proportions spawned on its surface regularly, with some of them being dangerous even for the Primeval Deities. It made no sense at all that Fulgardt, even with a Voided Death Aspect that allowed him to grab obscurities, would be able to rip her flesh apart.

Void… had done it on purpose.

But why?

Skullius remembered how Boron had said he'd been tasked with killing Fulgardt. With that context, it made no sense at all for Void to allow Fulgardt to break her body. Boron had tried to kill the Immoral with his spear before the Acceleration, after all.

So why?

Skullius met the racing countdown on the edge of his vision. He tensed.

Ten seconds remained, and with the slight lag between his and TITEMIUS' conversation, he wouldn't get to ask as much as he wanted. Thus, he made a choice. Sifting through all the information he could have ever wanted, he decided that the best question he could ask was…

"How do I free you from your prison?"

TITEMIUS laughed.

[Forget it. If it was something someone of your caliber could accomplish, I wouldn't still be trapped here. Besides, you already provided me with the solution].

Skullius jolted. "Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz?"

He stole a look at the timer. Five seconds. He could squeeze in another question.

"What exactly is the DAWN? What is its relevance to anything at all?"

TITEMIUS paused a little too long – longer than Skullius was able to keep his composure.

"Well?" he said through his teeth.

Finally, TITEMIUS answered. [The DAWN is— Oh, there goes my window. I've given all that I can within the margin you proposed].

Skullius cursed under his breath. The bastard had intentionally taken his sweet time answering the question. The reason for that became yet another mystery.

Skullius expelled his fury with a sigh. "Fine. How much was all that information worth?"

Again, the Primeval Deity didn't reply immediately.

[I sense that adverse tone from you. Don't worry. The Voice of Worlds feeds itself into high-level Contracts, ensuring fairness. There was no lie in what I told you. Whatever I wished to keep hidden was not replaced with falsehood. I can't quite ask for some great article of trade that exceeds the value of the information I gave you either, for the same reason].

"Great. So, what are your terms?"

[Nothing. Yet].

"What?"

[There's nothing you possess that I'm in want of at present. I already acquired what I truly needed – that Parlous Nature. Until you develop something else that intrigues me, I'll hold onto this favour].

[…]

[Your connection with TITEMIUS has been severed]

Skullius pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just great."

He tempered his flaring emotions and sat in complete silence, digesting the great mass of information he'd been fed.

It was great indeed. So many things were happening within the wider reality, so many forces making arrogant moves unhindered.

The YOMMR`. The QUESSR`.

The Unyielding Vaengir.

The orbit of the Breaking Chasms and their relations to the edge of Reality, where the word DAWN was seared.

Void's intentions.

To think that a version of Skullius was willingly placing itself in the midst of this chaos. That was the most Skullius thing to do, though. The present Skullius was just about to do something similar.

The Hybrid Warmoth thought about Future Skullius' Contract with COLMUUN, and how he stole the Void rank suit of armour that once belonged to the Warmoth.

So, all that was for the fight with AKHASHA, was it? Was it even enough?

"Master!"

Skullius turned to find a sweating Gerriey behind him, a Strawler next to her. The look on her face soured Skullius' mood further.

"What's wrong?"

Gerriey took a moment to swallow a lump of saliva and then several more to figure out how to say what she wanted to say in a proper manner. Before long, she threw caution to the wind.

"The Unlimited Stars… They're all trapped there!" she cried. "Kintar insisted, and then Yuyui, Grim, Savast, and Baddan all followed her lead. We deviated from our original course, and then we ended up here, but now… now they're trapped!"

Skullius slowly rose to his feet and dispelled the chair he'd made.

If there was anything he could count on, it was Kintar doing something foolish or foolishly wise. This time, though, he didn't count on her doing something that would lead to him obtaining some sort of existential awakening.

He should have expected that things would end up like this as soon as Pherdanta was sent off with another task.

"What did that little sockethole do now?"