Shivers ran down Eik's spine as he tried to process what he had just heard. His lip quivered as he pushed out a response. "I'm sorry. I think I might have misheard you. Would you be so kind as to repeat what you just said?"

"That while you may not be ready quite yet, I know that you have the potential to make a difference?"

"No, no, not that. The thing you said after that."

"I know what you are?"

"How on Earth did you know that I'm a Worldbreaker?" he exclaimed as quietly as he could, paranoid about someone potentially listening in on their conversation despite the oracle's assurances that nobody would.

"Hello," she said, tapping her temple and blinking her third eye for emphasis. "Powers of prophecy and precognition. Seer of the truth of the soul. Ultimate soothsayer of Moon Shall Swallow. I know about you because you have a role to play."

"So, what, you just know everything about me? What did I have for breakfast eighty seven days ago then? What is the name of my cat? How many fingers am I holding up behind my back?"

She chuckled. "I don't know any of that, Eik. I only see short but significant snippets, and it is seldom very clear. Usually not even clear enough to make heads or tails of, to tell you the truth. But I've seen enough to know that, when I heard you were brought here, I had to speak with you."

"What is a Worldbreaker anyway?"

For a second she looked confused. "Yeah, I suppose it doesn't exactly come with an instruction manual in the beginning, does it?" she said with a tilt of her head.

"In the beginning?" he repeated.

"Apparently, as you progress and grow closer together, more of your Worldbreaker's history is revealed to you."

"But you know about it already?" he asked, the franticness of hope seizing him as he flew to his feet from the seated position he had taken on the floor next to her. "Tell me! Please tell me!"

"Hey, hold on, Eik. Yes, I can tell you what little I know about Worldbreakers in general, but I don't know anything about your Worldbreaker specifically. Worldbreakers are not only incredibly rare in the first place, but they are all extremely secretive regarding their powers and their origins. Not to mention how most of them tend to grow reclusive as they age."

Some of the zeal faded and he sat back down. "Please tell me anyway."

She pursed her lips as she contemplated how to start. "As you know, the Lord of the Moon was what we refer to as a Prime Entity."

"Gih the Madman told me before he punched me, yeah," Eik nodded.

"He does that sometimes. Anyway, the Prime Entities were unbelievably powerful beings that predated the establishment of the system. While I don't know how true this next part is, it is said that the system was introduced by nature itself as a cosmic countermeasure against the Prime Entities. Their existence was so consequential and unbalancing that the very world changed in response."

"A cosmic countermeasure?" Eik asked, his head spinning from the weight of the information. "Were they really so terrible? That they needed to be opposed by nature itself?"

She nodded gravely. "Naturally, they weren't all the same. Not all sought power or destruction mindlessly, of course, and some might even have been benevolent, but I don't really know anything for sure. It's all knowledge passed down in the cult. But one thing all Prime Entities had in common was near absolute power."

"And that's why they were called Worldbreakers?"

"They are called many things. But some of their monikers are derived from that power and the capability it brought to obliterate whole worlds at a whim. That's why they were called Worldbreakers. They have also been referred to as Annihilators, among many other names."

Eik sat staring silently at her, the thought swirling chaotically inside his mind.

Profound Toxin had been a Prime Entity? Was it still? How did that work? Within the depths of his being, his own Worldbreaker roiled and undulated in something akin to mirth. Eik was pretty sure he knew whether or not Profound Toxin had been benevolent back in the day.

"So you're saying…" he began, searching for the words. "You're saying I'm the inheritor of a Prime Entity?"

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"That's exactly what I'm saying. I'm sure you're growing faster and more explosively than any of your peers, no?"

He didn't respond.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked.

"Do you know the names of any of the other Prime Entities? Besides the Lord of the Moon, I mean," he asked.

"That wouldn't have been its name back then, although I don't know what it called itself. If it even had something like a name. And no, to be clear, I don't know about any of the others. Why, what's yours?"

He narrowed his eyes and huffed a laugh. "I think I'll keep that to myself for now." Profound Toxin quivered with approval. "So there's an inheritor of the Lord of the Moon out there as well?"

"Honestly, I don't know if there is one somewhere now, bu there has been in the past."

"You mean there can be more than one?" Profound Toxin, you two-timing bastard!

It wobbled, as if to say it would never do him dirty like that.

"Not at the same time, no. As far as I know, Worldbreaker inheritors essentially become ageless demigods as they mature. Both of the inheritors of the Lord of the Moon were likely killed by other Worldbreakers, although we don't know for sure."

"There must be other Worldbreaker out there besides me, and surely their powers have already matured incomparably more than mine. Why not seek them out?"

"Of course, but they are not within my sphere. You are."

"Your sphere?" Eik asked.

"My sphere, yes. That's what I call everything that I am sufficiently related to for my powers to recognize it. It also needs to be relevant to my goals, emotions, fears, all that kind of stuff. I know of no other Worldbreakers, or if I do, they're not as likely to be of help as you, at least."

"What makes you think I would help you?" Eik questioned.

"You will help because this is relevant for the future of you and your entire world as well. If Moon Shall Swallow succeeds with its plans, everything will be wiped away by the Lord of the Moon."

"Why is it called the Lord of the Moon anyway? It seems a little arbitrary, doesn't it? Like, which moon is it the lord of?"

"I don't know that either," she admitted.

"You don't know? But you're the oracle of Moon Shall Swallow. Isn't it your whole job to know that kind of stuff?"

"Yeah, well, I don't, okay? It's all based on the prophecies of the first oracle of Moon Shall Swallow—the foundation on which the whole organization was established. They're the one that spoke of the Lord first," she hissed and leaned forward and put her head in her hands. "Aarh, shit! I feel like I don't know anything these days! I don't even know if I'm doing the right thing here! What if I'm wrong?"

Eik, seeing her determination waver, scrambled to jump in. "No, I think what you're doing is noble and I'm sorry that I didn't express that right away. It can't be easy to be confronted with a reality that doesn't match the world view you've held for your whole life. Trust me, I know what that feels like."

She glared up at him. "And how the hell would you know how that feels?"

"My world—Earth, as we call it—was launched into the Unified Mass ten years ago. I lived through the introduction of the system, the changing of my entire world, and the mass killings of my people by monsters."

"Oh," she mumbled quietly. "Yeah, okay, I suppose you do know what it feels like, huh?"

"I think so yeah," he said with a nod. "Although I wish I could say I didn't."

"Yeah, me too," she said and leaned back with an exhausted exhalation.

"Are you really willing to go against the cult's beliefs?" Eik asked.

For a few long moments, she didn't speak as she genuinely chewed on his question. "Yes. Yes, I think I am. I have to. I have seen that what they believe is false, and I do not wish for them to carry out a deed that would damn them. Also, we're not a cult, Eik."

"What are you then?"

"… A sect," she said after a couple of seconds of hesitation.

"Alright," he conceded. Whatever floated her boat. "And you want my help?"

She nodded. "You keep coming up as an important figure ever since you entered my sphere, so yes."

"And what would you need me to do?" Eik didn't see much point in going against her on this at this point. In an otherwise hopeless and inescapable situation, this might just be the only way to get out alive.

There also didn't seem to be much use in anticipating deception on her part. He was already in the custody of Oru, the Devouring Maw, who seemed to be firmly in S-rank like Andihar Dayarunar. If they wanted him dead or subdued, they were perfectly capable of making it so regardless of whether they pulled one over on him first or not.

His best bet seemed to be to trust her, although he was loathe to do so. She was definitely different from the rest of the cult loyalists but then again, she was an oracle. Who knew what kind of powers of manipulation she commanded.

She doodled on the paper in front of her, clearly uncomfortable with the topic, although she had been the one to bring it up in the first place. "The first step to preventing the reawakening of the Lord of the Moon is to disable the Stirring Cradle."

"What's the Stirring Cradle?"

"It's the site of the reawakening. It is the result of thousands of years of research and fine tuning. It is very delicate and absolutely crucial to the mission of Moon Shall Swallow. If you managed to breach the site and destroy the mechanisms, you could set back the awakening by years. The Stirring Cradle would have to be rebuilt."

"And you said you are getting ready to perform the awakening ritual within the next few years?" he asked.

She nodded, jaw tense. "And that would be the end of… everything."

"And how am I supposed to carry out such a task alone?"

"I will impart the knowledge of its location and the parts that must be destroyed directly to your mind."

"You can do that?"

"To a very limited degree, yes. Having knowledge practically injected into your brain like that without a genuine learning process is not necessarily very healthy, but in this case it's just too important to risk you misunderstanding or forgetting the details. But I'll keep it to a minimum, so you'll be fine," she assured him. He just hoped she knew what she was doing. This was all happening fast enough to make his head spin. What the hell had his life become?

"Where is this Stirring Cradle anyway?" he asked.

"Beneath us."

"It's under us right now? In this fucking huge, fanatic-infested temple? I'm never getting down there alive!"

"You can."

"How?"

She looked him straight in the eyes. "We need to break you out."

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