"It really was a closed loop, including my previous experiences."
Shade nodded and looked at the silent Black-Robed God across the table.
"Before You declare the gamble officially over, may I ask some questions?"
He tried to make his attitude more respectful, but the god still did not speak, so Shade could only try asking directly:
"About the Myriad Aspects of Impermanence."
"They came from the beginning, from the beginning of beginnings, the origin of all things, and they shall also proceed toward the end of all things."
The Black-Robed God at the table seemed capable only of saying "yes." This passage had been spoken by the corpses in varying stages of decay by the wall.
"The beginning?"
Shade examined the corpses along the wall one by one, while Mister Riddell asked curiously:
"What beginning?"
"You can't hear them? Oh, all right."
Since the god did not want Mister Riddell to hear, Shade did not explain.
"Man of the Future, have you ever considered this?"
The skeletal frame asked the question. A rusted one-handed sword lay beside it, and who knew how many years it had rested here.
"Why is the rule of the Myriad Aspects of Impermanence Cards you have seen a rule of comparing points?"
It was the severely corrupted female corpse asking. The jewelry on her body had all decayed away, save for the Gem Brooch before her heart, which seemed about to merge with her flesh.
"Why?"
"The events of the Sixth Epoch have not yet occurred, so I do not know."
The male corpse in the yellow soft hat, looking as though it had only just died, spoke.
Shade looked again at its tightly shut eyes. He was certain the god knew the reason. The Innocent Creator had once said that He did not know