Wendy remained motionless, her trembling hands still pressed against her face. The warmth of the energy that Sakolomé² had just transmitted continued to flow through her body, like an invisible caress dissipating her pains. For a moment, she felt as if she had become a child again, fragile but safe in arms that neither wanted to possess her nor crush her. Her eyes filled with new tears, different this time: no longer tears of anger or humiliation, but tears of release.
— … You don't understand… she whispered in a broken voice. Every time I fall, it's as if I'm reminded that I'm worth nothing…
Sakolomé² fixed his clear gaze on her. He said nothing immediately, and that silence was not judgment, but presence. He let her feel that her words had the right to exist, that her pain was not ridiculous.
— Wendy, he finally resumed in a gentle voice, it's not by winning against a man that you prove your worth. It's not by opposing the whole world that you prove that you exist. You are already here. You breathe. You suffer, yes… but you exist by yourself. You don't need to fight alone for that.
She looked at him, stunned. Her lips parted to reply, but no words came out. She wanted to contest, to assert that without her shell she was nothing… yet, a part of her knew he was right. The weight of her armor destroyed her as much as it protected her.
Sakolomé² reached out and gently pushed aside a strand of hair stuck to her wet face. His gesture was simple, but devoid of any domination. It was that of a friend.
— If you want, he continued, I can stay by your side. Not to lead you, nor to impose anything on you… but rather to walk with you. And maybe, if you allow it, to help carry some of that burden.
Wendy's breath quickened, her shoulders trembled. She let her head fall against his chest, unable to hold that gaze any longer which saw beyond her defenses. For the first time in years, she was not ashamed to cry.
Sakolomé² placed a protective hand on her back and let her collapse against him. Not another word. No command. Just a quiet warmth that said: you are no longer alone... Wendy.
Elsewhere, in the world of myths, Sakolomé was advancing through plains where time itself seemed suspended. Deep inside, Saiko remained present, silent but attentive. Their goal remained unchanged: to understand why Mü Thanatos had disappeared so long ago and to pierce the veil covering this enigma.
Salomé had joined them, and all three stood facing the Dragon Heirs, Zelongue and Ysolongue, as well as their father, the venerable Orlongue. Their imposing silhouettes projected an ancient aura, as if every beat of their wings resonated with the memory of the world. The conversation had already taken a serious turn.
— As I was telling you, declared Orlongue in a deep voice, I have no idea where Mü Thanatos really is. To be honest, I have never seen her with my own eyes. All I know of her is limited to the legends circulating… fragments, whispers, never a clear truth.
Zelongue crossed his arms, his sharp gaze shining like a blade.
— Normally, even what concerns the gods is none of our business, we Dragons. It's not our concern.
Salomé, thoughtful, sighed softly.
— Maybe… but I find it unfortunate that Sakolomé still finds no answer.
She then lowered her eyes to her own body, as if searching for something within herself.
— And yet, she added in a whisper, I remain surprised to be the host of a daughter of the goddess Mü Thanatos…
Sakolomé slightly inclined his head.
— That is surprising, indeed. But you're not the only one, Salomé…
The young woman's eyes shone with restrained curiosity.
— So I wonder… how could I awaken her daughter? I want to see what she truly is…
At that moment, a voice resonated deep within Sakolomé: it was Saiko's.
— Tell your sister that Mortuus is already awake within her. She is even the one accelerating her progression. But she refuses to manifest.
Sakolomé frowned.
— Why does she refuse?
— She is waiting, Saiko replied calmly. Probably so that Salomé meets Mother herself one day… like Carnaticum once did.
Sakolomé was about to relay these words, but suddenly a violent dizziness pierced his skull. His body wavered, his vision blurred.
— What is… what is happening to me? he whispered, bringing a hand to his temple.
A heavy silence fell over the circle, and the Dragons stared at Sakolomé with a new gravity, as if sensing that another mystery had just opened before them.
Salomé rushed to him and caught him with trembling arms.
— Big brother, are you okay?!
Sakolomé's gaze faltered. Salomé's features blurred, doubled, then stabilized again. He forced a smile.
— Don't worry… everything's fine.
He straightened slowly, regaining composure, and Salomé eventually released him, her eyes full of concern.
— I should return to Earth, he declared in a grave tone. You never know what might happen in my absence. If anyone learns something useful, let them signal me immediately.
Salomé frowned.
— If I understand correctly… finding the goddess Mü Thanatos could solve much of your current concerns?
Sakolomé nodded.
— Yes. And above all, it's probably through her that I will be able to find Bakuzan. In the Castle of the Unforgettable, dwells… the most powerful Deviant ever appeared. And behind him stands Adam… the first man, the father of all humans.
Salomé's eyes widened.
— I still find it hard to believe that you have seen the Father of Men…
Sakolomé gave a tired smile.
— You too should perhaps think about going one day to the Castle of the Unforgettable…
But no sooner had he spoken these words than the discomfort struck him again. A searing pain crossed his skull, and this time, his body collapsed heavily to the ground.
— Big brother! Big brother!! — Salomé's voice rang out, panicked, as she bent over him. Even the Dragons seemed disturbed by this sudden fall.
No response.
Sakolomé slowly opened his eyes… and discovered another world. Around him, a sea of strange clouds, pierced by countless golden bars, thin and infinite, like luminous serpents stretching endlessly in all directions.
— Where am I? — he murmured.
He took a few steps, and suddenly spotted a figure sitting on one of the golden bars. A woman he recognized immediately.
— Lord Ñout? Is that really you?
Without turning around, she answered in a soft voice:
— Yes, it's me…
Then she slowly turned, an enigmatic smile on her lips.
— Who else would it be, if not me?
Sakolomé bowed.
— Why have you teleported me here? Do you have a message to convey to me?
Before she could answer, two colossal shadows materialized behind him. The air vibrated with overwhelming power. Sakolomé turned swiftly and saw two silhouettes of divine majesty.
One radiated: a dazzling beauty, her golden hair floating like a solar cascade, her body draped in bright light. Apollon.
At her side, a dark, veiled presence, with an invisible face. Her golden hands emitted pulses of shadowy energy. Thanato: the god of the End, lord of Death.
Ñout pointed to them with a gesture.
— I present to you Thanato and Apollon, the god of the End and the god of Beauty. They are primordial gods as well.
Sakolomé, struck by awe and respect, immediately prostrated.
— I salute you, lords!
Apollon smiled, amused.
— Your little human subject is well educated, Ñout…
Raising his head, Sakolomé dared to ask a question:
— Pardon my ignorance, but… what really are the primordial gods?
Thanato fixed him with an icy, almost indignant gaze. Ñout burst into a crystalline laugh.
— Come now, Thanato, no need to judge him like that. Not everyone is aware of who we are.
Apollon then spoke, his words vibrating with a solar clarity:
— We are the most absolute gods of the pure Dream of the God-Father. I imagine you know what the Dream is? In its original zone, the purest, where things are still only fragile sketches, delicately shaped even before reality dares to receive them…
Sakolomé frowned, lost.
— I… I don't quite understand…
Thanato fixed Sakolomé with an intense gaze and resonated:
— We know that you have penetrated the Castle of the Unforgettable. We know that Munhwan spoke to you about the original gods and that you now understand they govern the First Beyond-Dream, that place where everything loses its definition.
He paused, letting his words weigh in the energy-charged air.
— We, on the other hand, are where everything starts to tend toward definition. Maybe not a precise identity, maybe not an exact form, but something tracing the very beginning of the Dream…
Sakolomé was speechless.
— Wow…
Apollon intervened with an enigmatic smile:
— The primordial gods are not simply beings. We are superexistences… or rather, tangential flows of the superexistence.
Sakolomé frowned, lost. Thanato continued gravely:
— Superexistence transcends all you could conceive: existence, origin, causality, time… everything. It is not a higher level of being, nor an entity, nor a power, nor a plane. Superexistence ontologically precedes all that.
He paused for a moment, letting the information soak into Sakolomé's mind.
— If the Meta-Concepts of Madhurya give identity and origin to all things, superexistence is pre-origin, pre-conceptual, pre-logical. Where Chōshinkū represents the "source" even coveted by entities, superexistence refuses the notion of source.
Apollon added, his voice resonating like a divine wind:
— It lies outside all referential systems of the pure Dream, beyond the Second Zone and all domains of transcendence like Viraya, whether logical, existential, structural, or narrative. It is not even the void… it is the very absence of the theater where the void could exist.
Thanato continued, in a deep, unshakable voice:
— It cannot be written, named, or conceptualized in the lower zones. It is out-of-vocabulary, unrecitable, unmanifested. It does not exist. And because it does not exist, it escapes everything: causality, narration, perception, destruction, logic.
Apollon concluded:
— Superexistence cannot be destroyed, perceived, nor integrated into any narrative or logical system. It is unconditional, unknowable, and untouchable. To understand: Zeus is superexistence itself, and we, the other primordial gods, are only its flows.
Thanato looked at Sakolomé intensely.
— Our avatars in the lower zones must fragment twice to exist because our power infinitely surpasses that of these lower zones. Viraya belongs to the first zone, but even it… cannot contain us. Even beyond Viraya, our incarnations remain fragmented because we are simply too great for the rest of the Dream.
Apollon added with an amused gleam:
— The truth is, no primordial god has ever needed to fight at more than 5% of their power, except during war. We like to let others believe otherwise, to excite our adversaries… but we are simply too powerful for the lower zones of the Dream.