The door burst open, and Major Hagan Fawn strode in, his cream-and-gold mane flowing behind him. Oracle Iris Pometheia followed close behind, her massive hippo frame filling the doorway. Her greyish-brown skin was slick with sweat, and her large brown eyes were wide with barely contained excitement. Her third eye was closed, but it pulsed faintly with an ethereal lavender glow.
She waved her massive hand, her voice booming across the throne room. "Hello, everyone!"
Her eyes landed on Aurélie, Atlas, Bō-Zak, and Vesta, and her face split into a delighted grin. "Oh my! We have visitors! How exciting!" Her gaze shifted to Atlas, her eyes widening further. "And look! There is even a Mink with them!"
Queen Amaris's voice cut through the chaos, warm and commanding. "Iris! Please come here."
She gestured to a plush empty chair beside her, its cushions designed to accommodate someone of Iris's substantial frame. "Sit."
Iris beamed, her massive form settling into the chair with a groan of protest from the furniture. "Why thank you, Your Highness."
Amaris leaned forward, her deep brown eyes fixed on the oracle with intensity, she had long ago learned to trust the whispers of the unseen. "Iris. What do you hear?"
Aurélie lifted a brow at the comment, her steel-gray eyes fixed on the oracle with flat suspicion.
Iris tilted her head, her jowls wobbling as she considered the group before her. Her third eye flickered open, the lavender glow intensifying as she studied Aurélie, Atlas, Bō-Zak, and Vesta. Her voice dropped to a distant, dreamlike register. "Hmmmm... your companions are close."
She looked off into the distance, her eyes unfocused. "My sister nears the bridge where the mist will collide. The lightning waits for her arrival. The others will find what has been lost, and the guardian will wake once again. It calls to its unknowing vessel like a beacon in a storm."
Her brow furrowed, and she chuckled softly. "The leviathan sleeps in the harbor, even though it has been provoked."
King Volt became rigid, his hazel eyes sharpening with sudden concern. "Should we—"
Iris raised a hand, cutting him off. "There is no need, sire." Her voice carried calm authority, she long ago learned to trust the visions that came through her. "Our people are with them. As witnesses. All is as it is meant to be."
Her gaze shifted to the generals, her third eye pulsing with soft light. "High praise should be given to the Generals."
Volt nodded, his hazel eyes fixed on Nyx. "Of course."
Nyx nodded, a rare sense of relief crossing his dark features.
Vesta leaned toward Atlas, her voice barely a whisper. "She is like Jannali."
Bō-Zak chuckled, shaking his head with quiet amusement.
Vesta's head swiveled, her bright violet eyes fixed on Atlas. "Right? Don't you think?"
Atlas narrowed his eyes, his voice flat. "Yeah, songbird."
Iris's head tilted, her curiosity piqued. "Jannali? Is that her name?"
Vesta nodded, her rainbow hair bouncing. "Oh, yeah! She—"
Atlas placed a hand on Vesta's shoulder in silent command, his blue eyes fixed on the oracle with flat warning. Vesta's head swiveled, trying to read his expression. Her voice dropped to a sheepish mumble. "She's one of our friends."
---
Lieutenant Bolale Hero stepped forward, her compact frame vibrating with barely contained scholarly intensity. Her voice was breathless with urgency, given a gift she could not refuse. "Sire, if I may?"
Volt leaned back in his throne, his voice warm with approval. "By all means."
Bolale cleared her throat, her coke-bottle glasses sliding down her snout. Her eyes fixed on Atlas with the flat intensity of a scholar who had finally found the piece of a puzzle she had been seeking for years. "I have a question for you." Her voice was precise, measured. "What tribe are you with?"
Atlas shook his head, his rust-red fur rippling with the motion. "I am not from this island."
Nadir jumped from his seat, his blue-gold eyes blazing with excitement. "Really? How is that—"
King Volt cleared his throat, the sound sharp and commanding. Nadir froze, his enthusiasm deflating as he sank back into his seat.
Bolale's voice was flat and confidence, a scholar who had found confirmation of her theories. "As I thought." Her gaze was fixed on Atlas, unblinking. "Where are you from, then?"
Atlas replied, very matter of fact, "I am from Zou."
The room gasped. The Minks stared at Atlas with wide eyes and open mouths.
Atlas looked around, his blue eyes narrowing with confusion. "I was unaware that Minks existed outside of Zou."
Bolale nodded, her glasses sliding down her snout with the motion. "Yes, of course." Her voice dropped to the patient cadence, a scholar explaining a complex truth. "That is because of our lost history."
Atlas's brow furrowed. "Lost history."
Bolale nodded, her voice rising with the excitement of findong an audience for her life's work. "Yes. Allow me to explain."
She moved to the center of the room, her compact frame vibrating with the anticipated intensity of a scholar about to deliver a lecture. "Ushirika may be better known as the Cradle of the Dawn. Several hundreds of years ago, the Mink tribes were separated, each with their own purpose."
Her voice rose, carrying the weight of centuries of forgotten history. "We are the descendants of the Maigotsuki Tribe. You are a descendant of the Zou Tribe—guardians of the Road Poneglyph and wardens of the betrayer Zunesha."
Nadir's voice cut through the silence, awestruck and breathless. "Wow. That is so cool."
Atlas crossed his arms, stroking his chin with the careful deliberation, processing this new information. "Okay. That lines up." His blue eyes narrowed with suspicion. "So what happened? And if we were tasked as guardians, what is the purpose of the Maigotsuki?"
Bolale looked at King Volt for approval. Volt nodded, with warm curiosity, a ruler who valued knowledge above all else. "Continue. I am curious as well."
Bolale nodded, her voice rising, an urgent scholar about to deliver a revelation. "Well, as you can assume, information has been lost over several centuries. But what our ancient texts tell us is this: Ushirika was once part of a great nation that was lost to a flooding event. There were many tribes other than just the Minks, but the Minks took on the burden of guardians and wardens until the time of the new dawn—when those who have never met will surely meet."
Atlas's eyes narrowed. "Nice riddle."
Bolale nodded, her glasses sliding down her snout. "It is quite cryptic. However, the role of the Maigotsuki—and the reason you are here—are not."
She moved to the center of the room, her voice rising with the urgency, about to deliver a truth that had been buried for centuries. "You see, the century lost to the Void is also the century in which the great Single Sovereign opened a permanent gate through the abyss. He struck a deal with the Archei that empowered him to subdue the world to his whims."
Bō-Zak whistled, his gold-flecked eyes narrowing with interest.
Aurélie raised a brow, her steel-gray eyes fixed on the scholar with flat suspicion. "I assume you are speaking of the World Government."
Bolale nodded. "Yes."
Aurélie continued, her voice flat and measured. "But the governing body is the Gorosei."
Bolale pointed a claw in the air, her voice rising with the certainty of a scholar who had found the truth. "Is it?"
She paused, letting the question hang in the air.
"Our texts say that the deal struck by the single sovereign was this: the Archei bestowed their left eye at his behest. In exchange, the left eye of the Archei would consume the Vitriol Womb and drink dry the Anima Mundi of the planet."
Her voice dropped, carrying the weight of a terrible truth. "The left eyes of the Archei came to be called the Hitotsume."
Aurélie, Atlas, and Bō-Zak exchanged a look, their expressions shifting from suspicion to recognition.
Vesta blurted out, her voice bright and oblivious. "Oh, we know them!"
She shrank back when Aurélie glared at her over her shoulder. Her voice dropped to a sheepish mumble. "Sorry. I will stand here quietly. Promise."
Aurélie turned back to Bolale, her voice flat and commanding. "Please continue."
Bolale nodded, her voice rising with the urgency, about to deliver the final piece of a terrible puzzle. "The Hitotsume came through the gate and consumed the world, as promised by the single sovereign. But they consumed too much."
Her voice dropped, with the weight of a terrible truth. "When the single sovereign was unable to subdue the Hitotsume, he reached through the abyss once more. He formed a pact with twelve devils who would assist him with containing the Hitotsume—in exchange for constant rebirth and rejuvenation."
She paused, her glasses sliding down her snout. "With the aid of these twelve, the single sovereign was able to overpower the Hitotsume. But the gate—the gate through which he had brought them—had already been sealed. He was forced to contain the Hitotsume within the earth itself."
Atlas stepped forward, his blue eyes narrowed with suspicion. "And the Minks are the guardians of this gate?"
Bolale shook her head, her voice rising with urgency, about to deliver the final truth. "The Minks were one of the tribes that assisted with sealing the gate. They scattered the elements needed to open it once more."
Bō-Zak sighed, his gold-flecked eyes rolling with theatrical exasperation. "This sounds complicated."
Vesta nodded, her rainbow hair bouncing. "I have no idea what is going on right now."
Bolale continued, finally finding the words to deliver a truth buried for centuries. "Our texts tell us that with the aid of the Sun God, Nika, the tribes worked together to stop the single sovereign from gaining power and consuming the world."
Her voice dropped, with the weight of a terrible hope. "The Sun God made a pact with the four guardians to stand by the gate until his return—in which he would force the Hitotsume from this world. The ancient tribes worked together, sealing the gate until the time had come for those able to expel the Hitotsume to return."
Aurélie's voice was flat, her steel-gray eyes fixed on the scholar with cold assessment. "Was it necessary for the gate to be sealed? Do you think the Single Sovereign would have used the gate to return the Hitotsume?"
Bolale shook her head, her glasses sliding down her snout. "That is a question that has been lost to time. The motives and what could have been—"
General Nyx Parn stepped forward, his voice cutting through the silence like a blade. "So, is now the time? Is the new dawn upon us?" His dark eyes fixed on the newcomers with the intensity of a soldier who had spent his life waiting for this moment. "Are these the ones we have been waiting for?"
---
Everyone's heads whipped around when Iris Pometheia bolted from her seat.
Her massive frame shook with the force of the vision that had seized her. Her third eye blazed with ethereal lavender light, her two main eyes glazed and distant. Her voice echoed across the throne room, multiplied and resonant, as if a dozen voices spoke in perfect unison from somewhere deep inside her chest.
"I HEAR THEM!"
She looked out the window, her gaze fixed on something invisible to everyone else.
"THE DRUMS! THEY BEAT ONCE MORE! THEY—THEY ARE—"
Her voice cracked, her massive frame trembling with the force of the vision.
"IT IS UPON US!"
She buckled over, her hands covering her ears. The ground began to shake.
Dust fell from the ceiling. The tapestries swayed. The ancient stones of the palace groaned with the weight of a world that was about to break.
A deafening resonance of B♭7 emanated through the room, forcing everyone to cover their ears. The sound was impossible, terrible—a note that vibrated in the very bones of the earth.
A massive, blinding flash of white light exploded through the windows, forcing everyone to shield their eyes.
And the world began to break.
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