Jack had already vanished into whatever strange place his key unlocked, leaving Griselda honking softly at the nearest puppet.
Luciana's gaze didn't waver from him when she asked about being his subordinate and the confidence in it made me… uneasy.
"I've been here too long. It's been what, more than five thousand years? Vasreveilder brought me here, told me one day an Aeterium would come and free me. Well… here you are. And I am tired of staying in this cage. Honestly, Vasreveilder is a bitch."
Griselda honked sharply in agreement. I blinked at the sound because it was oddly emphatic, almost like she knew exactly what Luciana had suffered. Luciana's faint smirk at the confirmation pretty much confirmed it. Veneri leaned back against the table and folded his arms.
"That's why I came. You're too powerful to ignore. If you insist, I'll allow it."
I glanced at Luciana. Relief and a hint of satisfaction crossed her face, though her exhaustion was still visible.
"And yes, you're also here for the Demenses, aren't we?"
"Yes, but no one knows what they are. Not the fairytale, not the stories, not even your puppets. They could be anything and take any form. That's the only issue."
Luciana's eyes lit up at the challenge.
"I can use my puppets to help search but I'll need some idea of what I'm looking for. Otherwise… it's like chasing shadows in an endless void."
Elyonari's sharp gaze swung to Griselda.
"Did Vasreveilder give you any clues as the guardian?"
The goose honked softly, clearly uncomfortable with the question.
"No. He only said I'd know it when I saw it."
"What if it's the beanstalk?"
We all turned to Veneri.
"The beanstalk?"
"Verdarites are connected to nature so maybe one of the Demenses is part of it."
Elyonari's green eyes narrowed, then widened with understanding.
"That must be it. That's why I felt strange when I tried to talk to it."
Luciana laughed softly and I had to admit, she's pretty beautiful. Honestly, if Darling found him earlier...
"Even in my century, this fairytale is popular, but I never imagined the beanstalk could actually have… beans. You might be a genius."
"Then it's settled. We split into two groups. Elyonari goes with Jack and Griselda when he returns to search the beanstalk. The rest of us stay here. Luciana, Phaenora and me will focus on the other Demesne. I can observe this place using my Base Tether."
Elyonari tilted her head, skeptically. "And why do you have to stay here?"
I felt him tense slightly as his gaze met hers.
"Because I want to learn more about the Eighth Cycle without interference. Some knowledge is better preserved without witnesses."
Her lips pressed into a thin line, but she didn't argue.
"Fine."
°°°°°°
The castle had gone silent once Elyonari, Griselda and Jack left in the afternoon.
"Alright, Luciana. You've been holding back. Tell me about the Cycles."
Luciana's lips curved into a smile. "Sit."
We did.
The moment we both sat, Luciana's hand waved the air, causing a black Magic Circle to appear on the floor. It revealed a perfect, spinning hologram of Earth.
"Do you know anything about the universe?"
I shook my head, and Veneri murmured, "Not much."
Luciana nodded once and the Earth vanished. In its place, an endless cascade of galaxies appeared, stretching across the room in three-dimensional perfection. I had to tilt my head back to even see the edges of what she had conjured.
"The universe is home to billions of worlds. Countless civilizations exist within them. Of all the creatures inhabiting these worlds, the dominant form tends to be Humanoids. They are any beings with human-like features, the capacity for thought, emotion or creativity. That's the easiest way to put it. There are exceptions, of course like Four Ancient Races, Outer Deities, Dragons, and others but for the most part, Humanoids dominate because of their adaptability, their mortality, and their… stubborn persistence."
Veneri's eyes turned to me.
"Humanoids exist in myriad forms. Humans, Therianthropes, Elves… each world interprets them differently. Earth is hidden from most of these worlds, which is why, even across seven complete Cycles, humanity never knew there was anyone else out there."
That explains so much, yet explained nothing.
"The Hidden Truth here is something only a handful of Transmigrators ever comprehend. Vasreveilder told me this by the way. The universe isn't static. When it dies, it's recreated every single time by the first beings of the universe; the Time, Space, and Existence Primordials."
We didn't ask any questions.
"They discovered that Earth is the determinant of apocalypses. If Earth falls, the chain reaction can destroy the entire universe. In every Cycle, the universe has ended because of Earth's demise."
The hologram blinked back to Earth.
"The First Cycle ended with Ragnarok. The Norse Gods themselves initiated the apocalypse, tearing their world apart and with it, the universe. The Second Cycle, they tried again. Egypt's Apophis swallowed the Sun, consuming the world. And every subsequent Cycle followed mythologies we barely even understand—Greek, Hindu, Mayan, Christian, each apocalypse ended not just civilizations but entire strands of existence. Only the Primordials' intervention keeps the Cycle moving forward."
Luciana's holograms shifted, showing the sixth Cycle, the Christian apocalypse. Armageddon had happened, but it hadn't destroyed humanity. It destroyed angels and demons instead.
"And that is why the Seventh Cycle exists. The Cycle you lived in is a blank slate. There were no Deities or religions. It was all myth to you. The Primordials ensured that humans could not be guided or destroyed by mythology this time."
Luciana's eyes caught mine, and there was a strange gleam in them.
"You see why some truths must never be spoken lightly. Even hearing this, even understanding it a little, can break a mind. That is why the Primordials restrict knowledge to only those who are prepared like special Transmigrators and a handful of others."
Veneri's voice was calm, when he asked:
"So you're from the Eight Cycle, Luciana. What makes it different from the Seventh? I know all mythologies on my Earth were just myths and no religions existed yet somehow there was still an apocalypse. What caused that one?"
Luciana didn't even blink.
"I… I don't know, Veneri. Honestly, even though I've studied the Eight Cycles, I've never heard of an apocalypse on the Seventh. It's so well hidden that when you said it was destroyed, I was shocked. That's all I can say. The Seventh Cycle… it's like it doesn't exist any records. Even the Primordials seem to treat it as a secret, or perhaps… as if it never should have happened."
"And the Eighth Cycle… it's similar?"
"Yes. No religion exists there either. The Seventh and Eighth are almost parallel, but Earth is more advanced in the Eighth. Technology is faster and better than most beings can even perceive. Unless someone gets help from a Celestial and decides to go there intentionally… well, with light speed and the distance, who knows which era you'd see when you arrive. It could be decades or centuries ahead or behind."
"Luciana, if all Transmigrators come from Earth, why is Earth connected to Spheraphase at all? Why aren't other worlds relevant?"
"I… I don't know, Miss Phaenora. That's another Hidden Truth. It's something about the Primordials. With their designs and calculations, Earth became a determinant but I don't know why. I only know that Transmigrators come through it because the Primordials intended it for reasons even I cannot explain. Even I, who have spent millennia studying, cannot decipher the full logic of why Spheraphase and Earth are linked so irreversibly."
Veneri sighed when he heard that.
"So the Cycles don't matter to Spheraphase itself. It's irrelevant here but knowing them matters to those of us who traverse them. That's all I wanted to know. One last question for me. Vasreveilder told you all of this, then why put you here?"
She tilted her head and I could see the slightest twitch in her lips. .
"Because, when I died on Earth and was about to be reincarnated, Vasreveilder told me I would be transmigrated here, given the body of a Puppeteer Witch. He said I would be forced to grow strong so that when an Aeterium arrived to free me, I would serve them and finally leave this fairytale behind."
Luciana stayed here for more than five thousand years trapped in this construct of Vasreveilder's making. I could hear the exhaustion in her words.
"I had no choice so I agreed. Otherwise, I would have remained in the void. And now, with you here, the pieces are finally moving. The Jack and the Beanstalk story began the moment you and your companions arrived. It is already in motion but the fairytale lasts ten days and we're on the third. If the Demenses are here, we must find them before the tenth day ends. Otherwise we, and everything connected to this story will be erased permanently."