Basil kept pulling both of them forward, navigating through the Castle towers that suddenly appeared through the mist. Athanasios looked at Kina, who seemed just as confused. He knew they couldn't stop, but he needed answers, especially to the questions that he was mulling over.

"Veil, what is going on?" Athanasios said curiously.

"It is okay to call me by my first name. You might not have heard me say it. I accidentally told Kina that. My name is Basil Veil, descendant of Cryo Veil on my dad's side. Amon, who goes by Blood-moon, is one of the ancestors on my mother's side. He kidnapped and raised me in the aristocracy when I turned fourteen. He did this because his twin sister wanted a political pawn. I actually do not know who would put up with him enough to have kids, but considering his obsession with Abel. He definitely looked for someone who looked exactly like him. I do not know the exact details. Essentially, he's after the magical objects he created in the first place to create or at least turn himself into a God. It didn't work. He needed to use other people. Unfortunately, those people betrayed him, and now he's trying to use me to remove their source of power."

"Oh, that is a lot of information. I was asking why you have numbers like I do. I thought only bio-weapons had them. Why would Blood-moon have you turned into a bio-weapon? Also, how did you do this? Where are we?" Athanasios said, Well, almost running out of breath from still running.

"I can second that! Except for the numbers, that's pretty obvious. How don't you know that they're symbols of your status?" Kina said.

"Status!" Athanasios confusingly yelled while still running.

"Yes, the numbers are actually not something you would have gotten from being a bio-weapon. Their status symbols show that you're an immortal chosen by one of the Ark Dragons. They're effectively used to track us, so if we do anything we aren't supposed to, they will know who it is. The colors of our numbers actually do have meaning behind them, as they either mark our powers or which Ark Dragon's court we belong to. As for what is going on currently, it's kind of my power as an immortal. It's the fourth form of my power called prismatic hyperfantasia. It essentially allows me to project someone's imagination into an illusory field in the real world. It also has the side effect of essentially causing people to go slightly nuts. It makes you think your dreams are reality the longer you're inside of it. The reason I used it is that I thought it was the only way to get away from them. It was really the only choice I had because it does not cost mana to use your ability as an immortal, and I was running out." Basil said, running out of breath. They were talking so much that they needed to stop for a second for air.

Athanasios helped Basil continue by grabbing their hand and continuously running forward. The towers were slowly disappearing as they began to move forward. It turned into trees once again.

"My concentration is failing, usually. I can keep this up for literal hours, but I can't right now. My technique is falling apart if I do not have a clear image of something, or have an image of someone else's imagination; my power kind of folds. Amon is lazy, so we might be ok, but you can never be sure." Basil said tiredly.

They decided it would be best to hide out to avoid Amon and Eden. Even with healing, none of them could handle another fight with entities so strong. They all fell quiet, not really knowing what to discuss in this situation. They began to gather materials for survival before nightfall. Basil collected stones and arranged them in a circle. Kina gathered wood and laid it on fire with a tiny flame that she produced from her fingertips. Athanasios struggled to build a tiny shelter. All free set next to the fire for warmth. Unsure if there was more. They should discuss, as it felt like everything had kind of been brought out into the open. Athanasios was too stunned at the information provided to really react. It meant so much knowing that he was an immortal like the other two. He wondered how he could not figure it out. It also begged more questions than answers. When was he turned immortal? He thought that because the numbers appeared after experimentation, they were the result of it, but if the other two were telling the truth, that would not be the case. He also wanted to know what Basil meant about them belonging to certain courts. Who and what were the Ark Dragons? Athanasios resisted asking these questions, though, because he saw what the other two went through. They both look scared and shocked. It looked like they escaped death itself. Basil looked especially bad, completely scrunched up, holding their legs in their arms as if cradling into a ball. Kina, despite her previously cool demeanor, looked down at the ground, sitting awkwardly next to Basil. Then something broke through this silence as Kina became the first to speak.

"I think we owe you an apology. I mean, we haven't even asked your name yet. I have done horrible stuff, especially for people in power, in the past. So I understand it might be hard to talk about it, but Basil, you need to give us all the information you have on those two. I had no idea that someone was planning something like that. I don't like the draconic Lords, but I don't think we have a choice. We do not have any options but to tell the Ark Dragons that Amon and Eden are planning to betray them!" Kina said worriedly.

"I know," Basil said with their eyes pointed straight at the ground. Athanasios realized in that moment that they weren't just scared about Amon and Eden but the Ark Lords themselves.

"I know this is an awkward start, but my name is Athanasios Sotiris. I do not know the full situation, and I understand that it might be scary for both of you to talk about it, but I need to know. I need to know why you're scared of the Ark dragons. What does it mean to be immortal? What are we going to have to do next?" Athanasios tried to say as compassionately as possible. Basil seemed to sigh before readying themselves to speak.

"So, the Ark Dragons are the highest of the gods, the rulers of not just our world but our tiny section of the multiverse. Effectively, they rule our reality and several others. They are so strong that they could rip our world apart just by entering with their true forms. This is why they use physical incarnations to enter our reality. Each one of them represents a different concept of not just the existence of the universe but also personhood itself. They can shut down different parts of ourselves if we actually try and fight them. It sounds ridiculous that they could be overthrown, but there were gods before them. They were only able to take over all that they did because Amon helped create the Ark shards. They're essentially condensed pieces of power from their predecessors. Every Pantheon before them that fell and was destroyed, but the energy was not. Since energy cannot be destroyed. It can only be converted. It was often passed down to the new Pantheon by the universe itself as a new universe was born. Universes essentially collapse in on themselves eventually and then are reborn. It's a cycle that endlessly repeats. Astrid Aesir, the queen of the Ark dragon,s hijacked that power. We don't even know the full extent of her capabilities because most of what we know is from scattered myths in prophecy. You cannot exactly know how long you've been reincarnated or recycled. No one does except for them. That is why they're scary. We don't even know the full extent of their powers because we can never perceive them. This is because the Ark shards are just their anchors to reality. The ark dragons weren't originally people. They were concepts of the universe made whole. When people began wielding the Ark shards, something bad happened. They became one with those pillars. This just means, in layman's terms, the ark dragons are the newly created personalities of the pillars of a multiversal network themselves. Even though they're the pillars of the multiverse as entities, they can be shocked because they can't process the same amount of information they can as pillars of the universe. So ironically, the ark shards made the pillars of the universe weaker because now they can be manipulated, altered, and even destroyed." Basil said, starting to cry.

"This is bad because we don't really have any say or autonomy now that the pillars of the universe have a sense of personality and consciousness. Effectively, there are rulers, and we kind of have no choice but to support them because if they lose, we will also perish. This is why what those two are planning to do is so bad that it escapes a scale we can normally deal with. As immortals, we're different aspects of the universe made whole. We effectively become like the Arc dragons. Immortals that get a lot of belief eventually become demigods and full gods. Which are above us in the paradigm. If I were to guess how you became immortal, I would say you said you were a bio-weapon, right?" Kina stated.

"Yes, how is that related to the Ark Dragons?" Athanasios excitedly yelled, finally getting the answers he had craved for so long.

"They must have chosen you because of the pain you were dealing with. If I had to guess, it was their own sick attempt at helping you. The numbers do not appear, though, till your second cycle, so you are already chosen to be an immortal before that. They don't activate your powers till you're in a dangerous situation or you're directly needed. This means one of them likely sensed you were in danger and activated your divine throne. Those are essentially what give us our powers and our immortality. Think of it as the immortal form of an Ark shard. Ironically, though, it's better because ours are hidden in the Ark dragons' realm. It said that there is only one immortal who is ever able to destroy their divine throne, the former sage of Justice, the veiled one." Kina said enthusiastically, as if telling a horror story.

Athanasios did not fully understand their situation but grasped some things that she said. Something did stand out to him, though Basil immediately panicked when she mentioned the former sage of Justice, making it pretty obvious who that was.

"Basil" Athanasios said.

"Yes," Basil said.

"How are you? Still alive if you destroyed your own Divine throne?" Athanasios said curiously.

"That's because I was able to give it to someone else. I didn't actually destroy it, and I got a new one. I didn't know it was possible either to get a new divine throne after losing your previous one. Since our numbers are linked to our souls, and my soul wasn't destroyed, I just converted my divine throne. I still have the old number, so there was no point in continuing to play pretend around you, too. Someone was eventually going to figure it out. I'm just kind of shocked at someone so new." Basil said.

Athanasios watched and nearly began laughing as Kina's face froze in shock.

"No wonder Amon's after you. I should have put the pieces together sooner that you were the former sage of snow. If you were able to transfer a divine throne, I can't imagine what other techniques you have developed that he could use to possibly overthrow the Dragons!'' Kina shouted before realizing they were still trying to stay low.

After this discussion, they all decided to rest as they did not know where they were going to have to travel to in the future.