Another Core

Vana left. Even blessed as she was, she needed a good rest at a time like this.

Duncan watched her leave the Captain's Cabin, only withdrawing his gaze after she disappeared beyond the Gate. He then looked at Goat Head, who was quietly sitting at the edge of the navigation table. "What do you make of the 'revelations' Gemona conveyed to Vana?"

"...It seemed the large-scale collapse and disintegration of the sun was something the Four Gods had long known would happen sooner or later," Goat Head said, finally seizing the chance to speak after holding back for so long. "I knew they knew about this! They must've been keeping it bottled up for ten thousand years! Back when the Abyssal Lord created Genesis, he discussed it with them too, but once the Deep Sea Era came, they went silent whenever anyone asked. They wouldn't say what exactly was wrong, though of course we have to understand, because if word got out, it wouldn't just scare one or two city-states to death. Even those popes were kept in the dark, weren't they? And now look, the sun has started falling apart outright..."

Duncan glanced up, then simply reached out and pressed a hand over Goat Head's babbling mouth. "I shouldn't have asked you."

With his mouth covered, Goat Head made a string of incoherent grunts in his throat. His obsidian-carved eyeballs rolled wildly around in his wooden face, his gaze more animated than ever before.

Duncan sighed and withdrew his hand. "I'm asking about the latter half of the revelation... They intend to speak with me. What do you think they want to discuss? And in what form?"

"...That, I don't know," Goat Head said, finally showing some restraint as he shook his head resentfully. "They're not going to try