"Lord Tebu, are you the strongest being in Tron?"

Adam sat at the easternmost edge of the island, facing the large head that had risen above the surface of the water before him.

As he rested his chin upon his hands, and his hands upon his knees, the youth found himself in an uncharacteristically pleasant mood. At last, he had someone to talk to—someone other than himself.

Loneliness was never a companion he enjoyed.

"Strongest?" asked the ancient colossus. "I have never thought about such things."

Adam's lips twitched, and he thought out loud, something that was beginning to become a habit now:

"That's exactly what the strongest being in the world would say…"

"What does it mean to be the strongest?" Asked the giant turtle, his blue eyes flashing with traces of amusement.

"I don't know." Adam shrugged, then lay down on his back, glancing at the drifting clouds. "Being the strongest would mean no one would ever bother you, or try to scheme against you, or hurt your loved ones. Eh, I don't know what I'm talking about really…"

Gazing at the seagulls circling high in the sky, he murmured to himself, "What am I even talking about? Have I lost it?"

The enormous head of the colossus shifted ever so slightly, his voice deep and resonant like the rumble of the waves:

"Strength shields, yes… but it does not silence envy. It cannot guard you from betrayal. Nor can it mend the wounds in your heart. I have seen Magi with power enough to reshape lands, yet they perished, not by the sword… but by loneliness, by pride, by the emptiness they carried. Strength is a wall, Adam. Useful, yes… but walls alone cannot make a home."

Adam pondered on the ancient being's words. He believed there was deep philosophical meaning in those words. Yet, the constant ravings inside his head prevented him from thinking too deeply.

"Ugh, so annoying…" He clutched at his head as he slowly sat back up.

But the next minute, he froze.

He hurriedly blurted out, "Ah, Lord Tebu, I wasn't talking to you! It's the voices in my head! They're just very annoying… ah, yes… the voices. Haha, you must think I'm crazy, right?"

"Yes, you are crazy indeed," said the colossus. "I have noticed that you talk to yourself quite often."

"Yeah…" Adam nodded, his lips curling into a smile. "It's a necessity, really. Well, I think it is. If I don't focus on talking to myself, I'm forced to listen to the voices in my head… uh, you know what? Never mind. May I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

Adam was very eager to talk about this topic. His lips parted, and he said with a hint of excitement in his voice:

"You mentioned yesterday that Mabi was also called the Land of the First Magi. Does that mean the ancient elves of Feypore were the first ones to practice magic?"

The colossus remained silent for a few moments, his blue eyes flickering with reminiscence. At last, he said:

"Feypore… yes, I remember them. Four… perhaps five thousand years ago, time blurs after so long a slumber. But yes, I recall it. Feypore was considered the greatest arcane civilization of its age, and Mabi was their home. But make no mistake… they were not the first spellcasters of Tron."

Adam was deeply intrigued by Tebu's words. The history of this world had always been blurry to him, much of it buried under the relentless ravages of time.

He possessed only a vague outline of the timeline, beginning with the destruction of Feypore, followed by the emergence of the Twilight Brotherhood and the Cult of Bones. Around the same era, most of the great nations and empires had also taken shape.

But anything that preceded the fall of Feypore was shrouded in mystery. Adam didn't even know the exact period when Mathias the Free departed from Tron, nor the precise time of his return. He had never had the chance to study the world's history in any depth.

In the Southern Federation, he had read the history of the Southern Federation itself. In the Empire, he had focused on the chronicles of the Empire. From the Brotherhood, he had never bothered with anything beyond the founder's journals and arcane textbooks.

Perhaps now… at least, he could begin to uncover the true history of Tron.

"Were they humans then?" He asked. "I mean, the first spellcasters?"

The ancient turtle deliberated for a few moments, then said, "When I was still young, this planet was inhabited solely by beasts. The humanoid races that walk the world today… they were not always here. In truth, there was no natural sequence to their evolution. They did not grow. They did not ascend from the lesser creatures. They simply… appeared."

This knowledge would have thoroughly shocked anyone else. But Adam was different. He knew slightly more about the world—the universe, in fact—than a regular Magus of Tron.

"Ah, yes, of course." He casually waved a hand. "That's because the four races of Tron, well… they aren't from Tron."

Adam pointed at the sky and said with a faint smile, "They come from beyond the stars."

"That was my conjecture as well," said Tebu, a trace of doubt flickering in his ancient eyes. "But Adam… why do you speak with such certainty?"

"The spirit of a secret plane back in Ulier told me about it," Adam answered truthfully. There was nothing to lie about anyway.

"He once told me that the creator of the secret plane had ventured beyond the stars and returned to Tron in his twilight years. It was through him that I learned the four races of Tron never originated here. They come from a place known as the Greater Universe.

"And their arrival was born out of necessity… overpopulation and the drive for cosmic colonisation. To prevent societal collapse, the Magi in the Greater Universe relocated their people to distant, uninhabited worlds to relieve the pressure. Of course, there was also a desire to expand their species and assert dominion and whatnot."

"So, you too are aware of worlds beyond our own? Truly, Adam, you are a most intriguing one," said the ancient colossus.

"Yeah, I know some things…" Adam shrugged.

The giant turtle heaved a long, weary sigh, sending vast ripples on the ocean. "You remind me of someone… a friend, perhaps. He, too, used to once speak of the Greater Universe with eyes full of yearning. Alas, he perished long, long ago."

"Oh?" Adam asked with feigned interest. "Who was this person?"

"Wagner," the colossus murmured.

"His name was Aldo Wagner."

Of course, Adam already knew this thanks to reading Aldo Wagner's journals. But what Tebu said next shook him to his very core.

Tebu parted his massive maw and said:

"Before he died, Wagner left behind his legacy somewhere within the coral island. Perhaps it is fate that I met you. If you find that legacy, Adam… then it shall be yours."

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