"Though it was never my original intention, I did entertain the thought of helping her along the way. I hoped she would not have to become involved in Gofemwood's deepest conspiracy, nor face that utterly hateful arrangement of fate."
"Unfortunately, I failed. Or rather, fate's inertia exceeded my ability to interfere."
"Your predecessor, Lazarina, left behind a route within the Memoria. In the end, it led Firefly, who sought the truth, into the deathtrap Gofemwood had prepared."
"You should understand that when I exposed my location before you, when Black Swan appeared in Dreamville and exposed my disguise, I had originally intended to use the opportunity to send Firefly into the relatively safe A Child's Dream..."
"But in the end, the route's response to the 'desire' in her heart still brought her to a place she should not have reached, yet was destined to reach."
"That figures... How could The Nameless who walked the path of [Trailblaze] leave behind an inheritance that taught later generations to [escape fate]?" Her sigh might have been directed at Lazarina, Firefly, or Yan Huan.
"What about the Dream Master?"
Yan Huan tried his best to recall what happened afterward. He only remembered seeming to see Welt blast a crow to death in the end.
At the time, he had found it strange. How had the Dream Master, supposedly above all else, croaked after taking just a few gravity attacks?
Now, it seemed the truth was not so simple.
"As you saw, he had long since sacrificed himself to his path, leaving all his strength and will deep within the rules of the Twelve Moments. Like a precision hand that moved on its own after being wound, it coldly drove his vast plan onward until its conclusion."
Dahlia sighed, lowering her lashes.
"[Order] really was