Veneri didn't answer Luciana immediately.
For a few seconds he simply stared at her, as if his mind was rearranging pieces that suddenly refused to fit together the way they were supposed to.
"My world ended on December 24th, 2086. The apocalypse began on September 23rd, 2021."
Luciana frowned.
"That… didn't happen."
The way she said it wasn't dismissive. It sounded more like someone correcting a date on a calendar.
"That apocalypse never happened on Earth. Maybe the AI apocalypse in 2051 where AI turned against humans but definitely not that one. So that means you're from the Seventh Cycle. Oh! That explains it."
Veneri slowly repeated the phrase.
"Seventh Cycle?"
Luciana nodded enthusiastically. She began pacing around the room with the restless energy of someone who had just discovered a fascinating puzzle.
"Yeah. That makes sense. I forgot that was a thing. Most Transmigrators are from the other Cycles but the ones from the Seventh Cycle appeared earlier in Hidden Citadel history."
She looked back at him.
"You're probably one of the first arrivals. Or the last? I don't have enough information about that."
For a moment I just stared at her. I cleared my throat loudly. Both of them looked at me.
"Before we dive deeper into… whatever cosmic nonsense you two are about to unleash, I should probably introduce everyone."
Luciana smiled politely. That somehow made the situation feel even stranger.
"This is Vastarael and Elyonari."
Luciana's gaze immediately shifted toward her with obvious fascination.
"And that goose is Griselda."
Griselda honked in mild protest.
"I'm Phaenora."
Luciana nodded happily.
"Nice to meet you all."
"We originally came here looking for you."
"Really?"
"Yes. But it seems like you might have even more information than we expected."
Luciana smiled sheepishly.
"That tends to happen. Well, I guess I should introduce myself properly too."
She placed a hand over her chest.
"My name is Luciana Richards. I'm a Puppeteer Witch and I'm from the Eighth Cycle."
My brain tried to process that but failed. And then she added something even more absurd.
"Oh, and I'm also technically the wife of the giant from this fairytale. I don't really like that part though."
Jack coughed awkwardly. Luciana suddenly remembered he was there.
"Oh, right."
She walked over to him and pulled a small key from her nightgown pocket. She pressed it into his hand.
"Here."
Jack looked confused.
"What's this?"
Luciana pointed toward a wardrobe standing against the far wall of the room.
"Open that."
He walked over and did exactly that. When the wardrobe door swung open, the other side didn't show the back of a wooden cabinet. It showed a house. Jack stared at it.
"That's my house."
"Exactly. Go inside. Pack everything you want. Come back in a few days and sort everything out with your mother. You already know that this world is going to end. It's time."
"Why?"
Her expression became serious.
"Because we're leaving."
He didn't argue. To his credit, Jack had reached the point where bizarre instructions from a Witch inside a giant's castle no longer surprised him. He stepped through the wardrobe and vanished.
The door swung shut behind him. Luciana turned back toward us. Her gaze immediately landed on Elyonari and the excitement returned.
"Oh wow. I really didn't expect to see an Elf here."
Elyonari stiffened as Luciana reached for her hands but she didn't pull away. Luciana held them gently, studying them with pure fascination.
"I knew elves existed in Spheraphase but I never thought I'd actually meet one. This is amazing."
Griselda honked loudly, which still sounded extremely strange coming from a goose the size of a small dog. Luciana looked at her.
"Yes?"
"What are Cycles?"
Luciana opened her mouth to answer but Veneri spoke immediately.
"Don't."
Luciana looked confused for a second before her face expression changed to realization. She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.
"Oh. Right, I almost forgot. Hidden Truths."
Elyonari frowned slightly.
"I've heard that term before. What exactly are they?"
Veneri leaned against a nearby table.
"They're pieces of information that reality itself rejects. Certain truths are too dangerous for normal consciousness to process."
Luciana agreed, "They're basically existential hazards. If someone without the proper mental structure learns them, their mind collapses and they die."
Griselda honked skeptically. "That sounds exaggerated."
"It isn't."
Elyonari crossed her arms.
"Then explain one, Darling."
Luciana immediately waved her hands. Seriously, he's not going to give an example here, is he?
"Actually maybe we shouldn't—"
But Veneri continued.
"I'll give a simple example. The First Epoch Cycle was organized by EPOCH to—"
The air twisted. I mean it literally. It was as if air appeared visible and reality itself flinched. A high-pitched ringing filled the room instantly.
Griselda screamed with goose honks. Elyonari collapsed to one knee, clutching her head. Luciana staggered backward into a worktable, knocking several half-finished puppets to the floor. If I gave an elaborate description of their pain, it felt like someone was driving needles directly into the center of their brains and at the same time, running daggers through their bodies.
The space around Veneri's mouth warped slightly as he spoke. Everyone fell except me and Veneri. Griselda writhed on the floor, honking in pure agony. Elyonari's breathing became ragged. Luciana looked even worse. Her glowing brown eyes had dimmed and her face had gone completely pale.
Veneri stopped speaking immediately. The ringing vanished. The room returned to normal but the lingering effect was still there. He walked over and helped Elyonari sit upright.
"That, is a Hidden Truth."
Elyonari's hands were still shaking. Her breathing was uneven as well.
"It's information so dangerous that hearing even the beginning of it can destroy a mind."
Luciana leaned against the wall, still trying to steady herself.
"Holy shit."
Her voice was hoarse.
Veneri continued as he looked at all of us.
"If the sentence had continued another few words, all three of you would already be dead. Dying to a Hidden Truth is worse than having your soul destroyed."
Luciana shuddered. "Yeah. Because your existence gets rejected. If your mind can't process the information, your consciousness collapses. And then reality erases you."
"So… it can affect anyone?"
Luciana shook her head slowly at Elyonari.
"Not if you already know the truth. If you and Griselda weren't here, I could have explained the Cycles normally. But the Hidden Truth I was about to mention would have killed you two. Omniscients are somehow immune to Hidden Truths so she wouldn't be affected."
Silence filled the puppet workshop again. Luciana looked back at Veneri but her voice dropped to a whisper.
"Whatever Hidden Truth you were about to say almost killed me too."
She looked toward the closed wardrobe where Jack had disappeared.
"We shouldn't talk about Cycles here. For now, let's focus on something else. I want to be your subordinate, Vastarael."