After that disastrous day — first visiting Magda’s grave and being faced with the prospect of a looming eternal loneliness at the end of it all, after almost obliterating the System, after meeting Isobel properly for the first time, and having all of her feelings laid bare for everyone to see plainly, after then spending who knew how long crying into Dema’s cloak, Theora, for once, couldn’t fall asleep at night.

Somehow, Bell and Iso had agreed to take over Theora’s next shift as well, so Theora would finally be able to visit Ulfine and find out the truth about the Fragments of Time. It had been decades since she’d received the quest, and so far, Theora’s progress had been just about nil. So, maybe that was just the reality of this quest. The System had trapped her in town after all, on purpose, so perhaps it really was just a fool’s errand. Maybe the quest didn’t exist, and its purpose had been purely to get Theora into a vulnerable position.

However, all of her previous side quests — even the one she’d received in the meantime concerning Umbra — had had the clear purpose of protecting people. The System was compartmentalising. ‘Yes, I want you to kill the Ancient Evil, and I will do everything in my power to have her be gone. But also, I will make use of you and give you the chance to use your powers for good.’

Since forever, that had been the System’s pragmatism. A pragmatism that Theora reciprocated.

She would be here, and accept the quests that were good, and she’d reject the ones that she disagreed with. And, her current fetch quest wasn’t even an extermination quest. It was probably by far one of the most innocuous tasks Theora had ever been granted. Collect a few scattered objects, nothing more. They may be obscure objects, but why not. Theora could do that. Or at least, she could make an attempt.

She didn’t want to be the first one to give up on the part of the connection between the System and herself that arguably actually meant something good for the world, perhaps.

So, Theora would finish this quest. And if it was a trap, Theora would shoulder the consequences. Despite her anger, and her desperation, she did not want to burn this bridge. Despite everything the System had done. Despite the things that still made Theora’s blood boil over.

The System would keep Theora in good graces for that specific part of their relationship. That truth was what Theora was willing to bet on. Not because she thought it was likely, or because it reflected the reality of her situation, but because she simply wanted it to be true. She didn’t want this one part of her life where she thought she could make a difference to be lost forever, despite the fact that it, just as her Main Quest, was eating her alive.

Dema was sleeping like a rock right next to her, softly snoring, eyes clenched as if dreaming. Outside, Theora could hear distant voices. The town had become even more lively now that the news was out that a first crystal seemed to have been cleared for good.

Things would turn for the better. Now that Theora, the blight inflicted on this place, was ready to leave.

Almost ready, that is. She still needed to talk to Ulfine. Even though Theora had lost hope that Ulfine would have found anything. How many times had that girl given her an update, saying ‘I found a new trail! This time for sure!’ with her bright gleaming eyes of curiosity and determination? Only to be gone again, for years.

Theora really had sent this girl on a life-long endeavour to chase a legend that didn’t actually exist, hadn’t she? She’d really said, ‘I’m busy, little girl, so take care of it while I harrow this city.’

Tomorrow, she’d tell Ulfine to stop looking.

To stop looking for the things that she’d subscribed her life and passions to, the things she’d spent four decades pursuing. Theora would say, ‘Hey, you know, I messed up. Sorry. You don’t have to do this anymore.’

That first day of vacation, so long ago, had been one of the nicest days of Theora’s life, despite all the exhaustion, and the pressure, and the fatigue. The day she’d met Ulfine and toured the city with her, and then spent the rest of her night with Magda and Dema. It had been a day she’d always remembered fondly. And on her third day of vacation, the one looming over her tomorrow, would that memory forever be tarnished? Forever destroyed, because Theora had, again, used another person to pursue her side quests, and given them decades of trouble and pain?

Would she ever learn? When would she stop using people around her as resources to be spent?

Theora turned her face to Dema, whose expression had softened by now.

Sixty years had passed, and Dema was still wobbly on her feet. Still bumping into door frames, never having regained full control over her body after spending seventeen years on the verge of death.

“Childbirth’s a violent process. Some things just break,” Balinth had explained one day.

“Yeah!” Dema had said. “I didn’t do it the same way, but like… Some things just break, and they’re gone for good.”

“You too?” Bal asked, and Dema nodded.

“Kinda messed up my nerve connections, I think, all the pain.”

Remembering this conversation, Theora’s mind kept circling and circling through the same motions, arriving at different conclusions each time.

If you’re gonna get lost in thoughts, you gotta stop at a good point, not at a bad one.

The only issue was that right now, she couldn’t stop at all.

She almost ended up waking Dema to ask for another hug, and she was so tempted to do so, but Dema deserved her sleep too after this day. Dema had also met Isobel properly for the first time. Maybe those dreams in her head right now were about that, and about her maybe soon-to-be new companion Bell.

Would things change, now that the two of them weren’t alone anymore?

In a way, Theora had her doubts that they would actually travel together all the time. Iso and Bell both had their own goals too. Iso was attempting to study the System, and Bell was its loyal subordinate. In other words, they might be sent off to different side quests, and Theora didn’t think that they’d refuse such requests.

That said, Bell’s current quest required her to be close to Dema, so in the end, she didn’t know what the future would hold and what kind of decisions they’d make.

Especially because there was absolutely no telling where the search for the Fragments of Time would lead Theora next. She still had the Orb of Seven Wishes, which, if a specific entity was named, would show the fastest path to it. So, naming ‘The First Fragment of Time’ as a target, there was a chance it would enable Theora to find it.

And also, there were Theora’s training grounds.

That thought alone sent a shiver over her back. She really hoped she wouldn’t have to return to that place. That she wouldn’t have to make use of it to find even a single one of those Fragments.

It was a terrifying and dangerous zone, and one she never wanted Dema to experience, nor Iso, nor Bell.

In that case, if it would come to that, would Theora go alone? Had the System deliberately given her this quest to force her back there, in the hopes she would separate from Dema, to have another go at her life?

If Theora couldn’t go there alone, she did not want to go at all.

And at that, she felt the first sunray graze her eye.

It was already morning. Theora had never imagined that there would come a night when she’d fail to fall asleep despite wanting to.

A few hours later, she again stood in front of the magitech guild.

The premises had been extended. More buildings, more plants. A few sheds, and a large hall, and additions to the main building Theora had already known.

This time, Theora didn’t knock, because she knew the door was open. She pushed it open and looked around in the entrance hall. There was a new receptionist — one that she’d never seen, but who recognised her, and immediately started leading Theora to Ulfine’s office on the second floor.

“Good timing,” the young man said as they were climbing the stairs. “She just came back from her research trip.”

“Yes, I was told,” Theora nodded.

“I didn’t even know who she was, when she just waltzed in. She’s been gone for ten years! Way before I started helping out here.”

The person knocked on the door, and after a short “Yes?” issuing from inside, opened it.

“Oh, Theora!” Ulfine yelled out immediately upon seeing her visitor. Her black hair hadn’t greyed at all, but she wore it shorter now, only reaching to her chin. New wrinkles had appeared within the familiar face. That same look of curiosity in her mousy eyes, although more subdued now by age and calm. “You won’t believe the things I’ve found out. Please, sit down.”

While Theora did as told, Ulfine got up. “Coffee?” she asked, moving to a small device in one of her shelves. Theora nodded in reflex, even though she’d never heard of ‘coffee’ before. She assumed it was a type of drink, based on how Ulfine was fetching two cups.

“So,” the woman started, still busy preparing, “I suppose I’ll start with the most important. I believe I have found some answers to your questions. ‘What are the Fragments of Time?’ and ‘Where can they be found?’” She turned around to Theora, and raised a finger. “However,” she stressed, “I need to preface this by telling you that there aren’t any reliable sources whatsoever. Most of what I’ll tell you will be conjecture. Pure conjecture. Scraped together from hundreds of documents, many of which only refer to other documents that refer to other documents that may have a single sentence in them that could be a reference to a Fragment of Time. Or just not. For a lot of them, it’s guesswork.”

She paused briefly for emphasis, then lowered her finger and turned back to the cups, and continued speaking. “Don’t get me wrong, I put so much effort into this, I believe my conjecture and speculation to be accurate. I’m ready to wager my life on them — that’s the realm of accuracy we are talking about. But would I wager the existence of the universe on it? Maybe not. Judgement call. Just be aware to take what I say with a grain of salt. Next week, the carriage containing my sources or copies thereof will arrive in town, so please feel free to check them out and scrutinise my findings.”

She sighed, and sat down at her desk as the coffee was brewing. “You wouldn’t believe how obscure those Fragments are. If you ask me, someone was trying to hide all references to them. That, and they are incredibly old. Much older than you, or the Ancient Evil, for that matter.”

“Why would anyone hide them?” Theora wondered.

Ulfine gave a winning smirk. “My guess? I don’t think they are supposed to be put back together.”

Theora raised her eyebrows. Ulfine shrugged, and continued. “Imagine some item of unimaginable power. A weapon, or maybe a thing so powerful it could warp worlds. So powerful that it cannot be sealed away, and cannot be contained. But, you want it gone, for whatever reason. So, you destroy it into the smallest parts you’re able to, and scatter the remains as far from each other as you can.”

She chuckled. “Or, it’s just an embarrassing memory to someone. Who the hell knows. I did try for a long time to follow the trail of ‘What is Time?’, because that sounds like a good point to start, doesn’t it? After all, they are Fragments of Time, so if we know what Time is, we can make guesses about the Fragments. Except, unfortunately, Time is a very overloaded term, so it’s hard to find exactly what it’s referring to in this context.”

Theora was very close to frowning, but held back for Ulfine’s sake. What kind of errand had that damn System sent her on?

“Scatter it as far as you can,” Theora repeated. “So, all across the world?”

At that, Ulfine started laughing wholeheartedly. A crisp and clear loud laugh, she could barely contain herself, and started holding her sides. “You’re the same cutie as ever,” she said. “Theora, please. You are the strongest person in the world. I know what you can do. I saw it. If you were to find an item of incredible power that you’d want scattered, where would you hide it? It wouldn’t be here, would it? Be imaginative.”

Now, the frown actually did creep across Theora’s face.

Indeed, where would she hide such pieces?

If she were to find an item so strong that upon casting [Obliterate] on it, it would only shatter into 13 fragments. An item that should never be put back together, by anyone, no matter how much effort they’d put in. Where would she hide the remains?

Inside the sun?

No. One day, a person would likely be able to penetrate the sun.

Inside a constellation in the sky?

Maybe. But an immortal person would be able to reach even a constellation one day. Would be able to venture to different galaxies, find pulsars and black holes, would dive to the deepest parts of galactic oceans.

And even in Hell, a demon might eventually find it.

None of these were suitable.

Which meant that if these Fragments were truly hidden in some ‘imaginative’ place, Theora really didn’t feel like going there at all. A few hours ago, she’d decided she would complete this fetch quest no matter what, and now, her conviction was already wavering.

“I don’t know,” Theora said. “I have no idea.”

Ulfine cleared her throat. “Since the Fragments of Time are such old relics, I have taken the liberty of talking to some long-lived people, in hopes that one of them might remember a detail not written down anywhere. As such, I’ve come around.” She pulled up her eyebrows and waited a moment, but when Theora just stared back, she added, “Theora, I’ve seen what you’ve done to the Cnidarian Tower. Are you sure you have no idea?”

These words crackled over Theora’s skin like stray fireworks. She felt numb.

With Ulfine mentioning that incident, there really was only one thing she could be alluding to. Only one method this could be about.

Regrettably, Theora knew exactly how she’d hide something that was never supposed to be found.