Sona: "So what now?"She looked at the silhouette in front of her with suspicious eyes as she asked,
Sona: "Now that you are here, it should mean that you have some business with me."
Sagax: "To be completely honest, I would have to come to you even if I had nothing to say to you. After all, you did enter this place and I am the only one who knows how to send you back."
Sona: "Hmm."
She was skeptical but not unnecessarily suspicious. She did keep in mind the possibility that he might be lying, but decided to go along with it.
Sagax: "But that being said and done, yes, I do have something to talk to you about."
Sagax"s voice showed a rather plain tone, almost as if he was trying to suppress all the emotions he had.
Sona: "So what is it?"
Understanding that well, Sona decided that it would be best to focus on the conversation and not get distracted.
Sagax: "Well, simply put, I was curious about what exactly you are going to do."
Sona: "Huh?"
According to Sona, her intentions are pretty simple and it shouldn"t be hard for anyone to figure out what she is planning to do. But since he had asked, it was only natural to state it clearly.
Sona: "I am going to do all in my power to bring doom upon Ozyllus and his plans."
Sagax"s hollow emptiness in place of eyes allowed him to hide all the emotions swirling up inside him as he said,
Sagax: "I am afraid … you didn"t understand my question."
And so, by using that empty darkness, he decided to ask his question.
Sagax: "I know what you intend to do. I want to know how you"ll do it. What exactly will you do to fulfill that goal of yours?"
It was a pretty understandable question. Even Sona herself had no real plan for going about this goal. One reason for that can be said to be the fact that she hadn"t gotten much time to think about it, but even if she had, she wasn"t confident that she would really come up with a very good answer.
Sagax: "Surely you must know what you are going to do is exponentially difficult."
Sona: "Yeah, I know that very well."
She had prepared for over a decade to get her revenge on the dragon. The amount of effort it took her to form a contract with a spirit like Death and many other spirits she had was nothing to laugh about, not to mention giving them enough experience with battles and tactics, among other things.
And even after all that, she lost to the dragon. The game turned around so suddenly that she couldn"t even deploy any other spirit to a.s.sist Death. As a result, the spirits who may have been able to detect the special ability of the dragon and henceforth stopped Death in due time remained uninvolved in the battle as the main attack unit got wiped out in a second.
That was the result of a decade worth of training against the dragon. Needless to say, in order to destroy a plan Ozyllus of all people had worked for about 1000 years would prove to be impossible.
Sagax: "So, how exactly are you going to go about it? And don"t worry; I won"t sell your plans to Ozyllus."
Sona: "Actually, even if you do sell me out, it wouldn"t really matter."
Sagax: "Oh?"
Sona: "I mean, think about it. In these 1000 years of time, there is no way he could not have considered every angle in which his plan could be interrupted."
Sagax: "Yeah, I expect him to have done that at the very least."
Sona: "So anything someone like me cooks up isn"t going to be enough."
Sagax stared at her with curiosity, among other countless emotions inside him.
Sona: "That"s right; it just won"t be possible for me to outwit him, not alone anyway."
Her plan was simple, and perhaps the most feasible.
Sona: "Trying to think of some ingenious counter-plan will only backfire at me. So, all I can do is relying on others for help."
Her approach was mature, to say the least. Needless to say, the chances of winning were still very slim even if all the people she had in mind would be willing to help.
Sagax: "I see."
Sagax nodded. At the very least, the silhouette looked to be nodding. Sona couldn"t be sure of it until his next words.
Sagax: "That"s a good move, possibly the best move you can make at this point."
Even Sagax, the man named as the wisest in the kingdom of Ozyllus could not have outwitted someone like Ozyllus when he has so much experience and knowledge on his side. So, at the end, even he would have gone with the same approach.
Sona: "We need to collect information that we don"t know and simultaneously get stronger. That, I guess, is the long and short of it."
Sagax: "Yes, that"s fine. But you seem to already be a.s.suming that people will join you on this quest."
Sona: "That they will."
She wasn"t bluffing. She knew people would join her. She knew there are many who would be willing to give their life to bring Ozyllus down. And there"s of course the confirmed support from Kais.
Sona: "I am not an idiot. I know he has created many tragedies like mine, maybe even worse than mine. And I can bet those whose lives he destroyed will be willing to take revenge."
Sagax: "Revenge, huh?
Sagax knew the weight of those words all too well. And so, he could only frown on hearing them.
Sagax: "I suppose that is what"s driving you. So the first thing you"d use to motivate others like you is "revenge" as well."
Sona: "And?"
She sensed a fleeting rejection in his voice that he had tried to hide throughout their conversation.
Sona: "Do you have any objections to that?"
Despite her words, her tone gave no threatening vibes. If Sagax had eyes, he would have closed them and then sighed.
Sagax: "No, I do not."
But that would still be the answer he had given. There was nothing else he could say and nothing else he deserved to say.
Sagax: "Whatever drives a person, it"s their choice. Whether it is revenge or hope; it"s not my place to judge."
He gave his honest opinion.
Sagax: "Now that the question I had is out of the way, do you have any questions for me?"
Sona: "I do."
Seeing the former owner of Eyes of Truth willing to answer questions, she just had to ask him.
Sona: "Do you know where the psychic library is?"
Sagax: "You don"t know where it is!?"
Seeing the location of one of the most popular places of his time being unknown to the Spirit-user in front of him, he could only frown.
Sona: "As far as common knowledge among us goes – n.o.body knows where it is."
Sagax was surprised. That surprise could only mean that he hadn"t met anyone of the current time before who could tell him about these things. It would also mean that he has not talked to Ozyllus or Abyss. While keeping the possibility of him lying in the back of her mind, she derived this conclusion – Sagax"s soul has been in this place for a time long enough that nothing related to developments in the current world is known to him.
Sagax: "I see."
After a pause because of the surprise, he regained composure and said,
Sagax: "Then, I suppose I can tell you where it was in the past. Hopefully, that would help."
Sona: "Why would you tell me this?"
Sagax: "It"s simply because I too want to stop Ozyllus."
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