Thief of Time

“Father.” Dia felt something twist in her heart as she looked at the man that had raised her. While there wasn’t much of a change in terms of physical age, she could sense a vast fatigue from him, one that hadn’t been present before.

“Stay safe, my little daughter.” He patted her head. “I’ll continue to look for materials about what might have happened to your brother. I believe the gods are responsible for this…and something tells me that the Indigo God might be the person behind his condition.”

“The Indigo God?” Dia asked.

“The God of Perpetuity,” he replied. “Do what you need to do, my daughter. Don’t let his efforts go to waste.”

“Yes, father.” Dia looked at the vast platform that was shimmering. “I won’t.”

He forced a smile onto his face, and then looked away. “It would seem that I might need a new spouse after all, if you’re really unwilling to inherit the dukedom.”

“Um…I don’t mind, but the stepmother must be a nice person,” Dia replied. “You can pick anyone and I won’t mind, Dad. As long as she’s a nice person. Besides, you’ve been lonely long enough.”

“Indeed.” He sighed. “I’ll think about it. Now, Mister Schwarz, did you leave a few barrels for me?”

“Yes, Duke Lustre.” The bartender bowed once. “Thank you very much for your patronage.”

“Father, you do know that his alcoholic drinks have impossibly high purities, right?” Dia interjected. “It’ll cause a lot of damage to your body.”

“I’m a tetra-folder, it’ll be fine.” He paused. “And it’ll be nice to spend my sleeping hours drunk. Better that than nightmares…don’t worry about me. I’ll drink in moderation.”

Dia lowered her head in silence, and a set of warm hands patted her head again.

“Don’t worry about your old man, little Dia. You should figure out your own affairs instead. You have a lot of things to do, after all. Don’t worry about me until you’re done with that Distortion, got it?” Her father tussled her hair again. “I’ll be fine. I still need an actual heir for this dukedom, seeing as how you’re so disinterested in it.”

“I apologise…”

“It’s fine, little one.” Her father patted her head again. “Right, has anyone managed to stir your heart yet? If there’s someone like that, you must bring him back for me to examine.”

“There isn’t anyone,” Dia replied. “I doubt there’ll be much too, anyway. The world’s coming to an end and everything, after all. Cosmic Egg…”

“…So it seems.” Her father shivered. “It’s a bit cold for some reason.”

Dia tilted her head, but before she could press the topic, her father let out a sigh and said, “Good luck.”

Ushering the four of them onto the stone platform, he took a step back and waved at them quietly. Dia took in the sight of her father, burning it into her memory as faint blue light rose from all around them. She rarely used the teleporter, and the process wasn’t as comfortable as the actual skills or similar spatial movement skills, so she had to brace herself.

Her stomach, as expected, attempted to conduct a backflip as the cocoon of blue light swept them towards some unknown destination with a massive jerk. It was not that different from a hook that had been embedded in her stomach pulling her forward, and for a moment, she felt like a little fish or something.

The stomach-churning feeling died away a few seconds later, and Dia steeled her mind. The desire to vomit was formidable, but as long as she guarded her mind—

“Blergh.”

“Damnit, Schwar—blergh!”

“Gwargh!”

After throwing up her breakfast, along with everyone else, Dia turned to Schwarz and glared at him with tearing eyes. The others weren’t an exception either, and the bartender twiddled his thumbs.

“Sorry.”

“Weak,” Dia muttered. “Just weak.”

Schwarz jerked once, and he took a step back. Thankfully, he avoided the copious pile of half-digested breakfast, but…

“You took damage from that?” Farah asked. “Unbelievable. I think I’ll hold back on the retorts now, just in case you take more emotional damage and fall into a pile of goop.”

“Let’s just cover this shameful deed up and never speak of it again,” Risti muttered.

After burying the pile of vomit in a deep enough hole, the four of them looked around. Her father had the foresight to teleport them to someplace outside Licencia, presumably because everyone would vomit shortly afterwards. Truly, as expected of her father…

With some pride in her heart, Dia followed the others back through the gates of Licencia. The queue at the gates were as needlessly long as usual, although she could spot a heightened security presence. In fact, there were numerous battalions of Moonlit troops waiting around, and even five incredible presences that reminded Dia of Moon Emissaries. More importantly, however, there were gigantic swaths of tents that were erected outside the city, a second city of sorts that was positively thronging with people.

It looked like a festival, if she had to be honest.

“And I was wondering why everything seemingly fell on Dia,” Schwarz muttered. “But it’s clear that your brother wasn’t going to put all the booze in one bottle. Or maybe he wants to help clear the way for you specifically, Dia.”

Dia looked at the troops, who were dispersed in a manner that seemed strategically important, but she didn’t know enough about warfare to actually make a judgement. However, there were a significant number of airborne troops, and there were even circles of energy that floated alongside every group of airborne Moonlit soldiers, which made Dia cautious when she looked at them.

“Yeah. He definitely wasn’t going to have me bear all the burden alone,” Dia replied.

“Well, he is your brother after all. Even if he ended up forcing you to flee back then,” Farah replied.

Dia glared at the ground for no particular reason, and then said, “That punk. He could have told me everything, right? It’s not like I wouldn’t believe him!”

“Would you now?” Farah asked. “And besides, it’s possible that these are things he couldn’t say at that time. Or maybe there’s something preventing him from saying it to you. The possibilities are endless.”

“Considering how there are people capable of bypassing Authority and words that the divinities don’t want said, that feels like a flimsy excuse,” Dia grumbled. “And besides, my father knew about that too, and was even convinced, presumably with hard evidence. Why can my father know, but not me?”

Risti clicked her teeth. “Maybe you becoming the Salvation Star was contingent on not knowing about it at all? That’s a very salient possibility, if you look at it from that angle. If you know about the Salvation Star, you’ll stop being the Salvation Star!”

“That’s…not impossible,” Dia muttered. “It was quite the shock to me…but I remember the event that made me the Salvation Star, though.”

“Killing a Bearer of Destiny, right?” Risti folded her arms. “Hmm. Or rather, the first person to kill a Bearer of Destiny.”

“It’s not just killing a Bearer of Destiny, though,” Dia replied, before opening her Status. “There’s more to it…”

[Skill: Salvation Star (Prime)

Skill effects: This skill is awarded to the first non-Bearer of Destiny who kills a Bearer of Destiny while the Omen is active. The skill owner has drastically increased resistance against all direct attacks and negative effects of Absolute skills. The skill owner has drastically increased resistance against all direct attacks and negative effects created by alien beings. The skill owner is nearly impervious against all direct attacks and negative effects created by the Moons, the Dark, the Coloured Gods and entities of the cycle. The providence of the world will fall upon the skill owner.

Additional remarks: This skill will evolve upon the Omen’s death.]

“Yeah, it’s not just about killing a Bearer of Destiny,” Dia continued. “The Salvation Star skill is awarded to the first non-Bearer of Destiny who kills a Bearer of Destiny while the Omen is active. It’s such a very specific condition. Interesting enough…”

“Hmm?”

“Well, there are other parts. I never really thought about it, but I do have a variety of resistances against alien beings, divinities and entities of the cycle, whatever that last thing is,” Dia added.

“Which is probably why your brother wanted you to become the Salvation Star, huh. Still, how did he foresee the death of a Bearer of Destiny at your hands?” Farah wondered out loud.

“Probably Future Sight, I suppose?” Dia shrugged. “Damn it. The more we see, the more confusing the whole thing gets. It’s as if there’s something vast that’s moving us all into a direction…”

She gazed at the Moonlit soldiers for a moment, and then shook her head. Did these soldiers also think the same way? What would they think, if they found out that there was going to be a massive Distortion that would require the combined might of the Moons to even consider suppressing?”

Or were they already aware?

Taking a deep breath, she looked at the city that would soon undergo the biggest ordeal since its construction. There was only a week left.

Not much time to prepare.