The Reality Of The Epoch Cycles

Vastarael had some information, yet the more he uncovered, the less he seemed to understand.

The isles were a tapestry of contradictions. Each piece of its puzzle whispered a story he couldn't fully grasp.

He thought of the cathedral in the Frozen Ruins. The murals of its walls told stories of devotion and despair, yet the god worshiped there seemed absent... no, more than absent, almost erased.

And it also told about Peccavi.

From what he knew, the Erna Isles were not full of ice and snow, at least not until the Frozen God arrived. He made all inhabitants living in the isles submit to him.

They tried to resist and failed. However, the Frozen God gave four powerful individuals who pledged their loyalty to the god in exchange for power. Their allegiance was rewarded with a fragment of the god's essence and they became its champions,

The Winter Labors.

The Blizzard's Wrath, Avalanche's Might, Permafrost's Grasp and Sheer Cold's Grip.

Out of the four, he knew about the Blizzard's Wrath. He made himself a god and manipulated an entire city to worship him, then send Krepsunas to hunt them down.

He was killed by Peccavi herself in her second regression after failing her city again. She became the new Blizzard's Wrath but after pledging alliance to Vastarael, she was free from the title.

That made the Frozen God appear in the Frozen Ruins and almost kill them. If it wasn't for the Orchestral Vialex, they would have been torn by the deity's power.

However, the story about the Lake of Miracles Island was unknown. In fact, the stories of the Erna Isles was unknown.

The Raukerai know it as their homeland but they don't know how they came to be on the island. All they know is that as the Frozen God descended, he made the humans living in the farthest island, the kingdom of Volxane, his followers.

And they followed the will of their god to kill the Runic Tribes for some reason.

The Lake of Miracles Island, where he had first arrived, loomed large in his mind. It was the heart of these lands and yet absent from the mural below him.

Why?

And then there was the deity on the mural, a massive figure that dwarfed the islands. Vastarael couldn't shake the image. Was this the Frozen God before its descent, before the isles became an icy prison? Or was it someone else entirely?

The figure's posture wasn't one of malice or destruction but of authority, almost protective.

It stood before the islands as if shielding them, not condemning them to frost and ruin. What could have caused such a dramatic shift? Did this deity truly transform into the Frozen God, or was it an entirely different entity lost to time and memory?

He recalled the Raukerai's fragmented history, the lore they shared about the isles. The Raukerai themselves were an enigma.

They called this place home yet had no memory of how they came to inhabit it. Their oral traditions were silent on their origins, as if their very history had been stolen. The only constant was their faith in the Lake of Miracles and the ancestral guidance they believed it offered.

Vastarael couldn't help but wonder if the island was tied to this deity or if it held a separate significance. Why had he landed there of all places? Why was that lake the starting point for his journey?

Then there was the matter of the Volxane Kingdom, an anomaly in itself. They followed the Frozen God's will and waged war against the Runic Tribes.

But why?

Vastarael knew wars of faith all too well, blind devotion had led to countless tragedies in Spheraphase's history. The Volxane people had become the Frozen God's servants, yet there was no clarity on its motives.

Why had the Frozen God descended in the first place? What did it gain by freezing the isles and turning its followers into zealots?

Vastarael clenched his fists as more fragmented answers began forming in his mind, though they felt incomplete, like pieces of a shattered mirror. Right now, only three questions rang in his mind.

One, was the Lake of Miracles Island removed from the mural because it didn't exist during the unknown deity's time? If so, did the lake emerge later, tied to the descent of the Frozen God?

Two, could the unknown deity have been the original protector of the islands, and the Frozen God its usurper? The transition from the vibrant, unfrozen islands in the mural to the frozen wasteland of today suggested a fall from grace, a moment where something changed irreparably.

Did the Frozen God defeat this being, or did it become the Frozen God, corrupted by some unknown force?

Three, why did the Frozen God target the Runic Tribes specifically?

What threat did they pose to its dominion? If the tribes were the keepers of some sacred knowledge or power, was their extermination an act of fear? Vastarael had seen hints of runic magic in the Raukerai.

And the million dollar question:

Why is the history of the Erna Isles so well hidden?

Vastarael shook his head, his frustration mounting. For every answer he uncovered, more questions sprang up in its place.

"What are you hiding, Erna Isles? What happened here?"

Whatever the truth was, it lay buried in these lands, frozen under centuries of ice and forgotten by its people. And Vastarael knew, with a certainty that chilled him more than the frost ever could, that he was destined to uncover it. Whether he liked it or not.

All this meant one thing.

The Erna Frozen Isles is a Hidden Truth."

The words hung in the air like an ominous toll of a distant bell, sending a shiver down Phaenora's spine.

"A Hidden Truth? Do you have any idea what you're saying?"

Narisva faltered for a moment, her usual demeanor cracking. She stared at him, her expression shifting from disbelief to outright alarm.

"Are you insane? Do you even know what a Hidden Truth is? That's not just some riddle to solve. It's forbidden knowledge. It's the kind of thing that destroys people!"

"Yes."

"..."

"Hidden Truths are the core of the universe's existence, the things that shouldn't be known because they defy understanding. They're truths so vast, so horrific that they shatter the mind. Those who try to uncover them go mad because they're faced with realities that don't fit into our limited comprehension. It's like trying to contain the infinite within something... finite."

Phaenora swallowed hard. "And you think this place, the Erna Isles... it's one of those truths?"

Vastarael nodded, his eyes glinting in the dim light.

"I don't think. I know. The clues were there from the beginning. The cathedral, the frozen city where I found Peccavi, the four Winter Labors, the Frozen God. It's all connected to something bigger. Something we're not meant to fully grasp."

He paused, his gaze falling to the mural beneath their feet after they landed back to the ground.

"And now this deity in the mural... it's another piece of the puzzle. But what does it mean? Why is the Lake of Miracles Island not here in the mural? Why does it feel like the more answers we find, the more questions we have? Oh... oh shit... I see it now..."

Phaenora and Narisva exchanged uneasy glances, sensing the shift in his tone.

"The Epoch Cycles. Do you know why there are no time paradoxes? Why we can go to the past and the future without breaking reality?"

Narisva frowned, her cocky exterior completely gone.

"Because it's controlled by someone. It's alive, it's sentient. Everyone in the Seventh Enlightenment knows that."

Vastarael shook his head.

"It's more than that. The Epoch Cycle isn't just alive. It's calculating everything. The Epoch Cycles aren't just random challenges to make us stronger. They're deliberate. Every step we take, every fight we endure, every loss and victory... it's all part of its plan."

Phaenora's brows furrowed. "What plan?"

He exhaled slowly, his voice dropping to a near whisper.

"The Epoch Cycles exist to uncover Hidden Truths. That's their real purpose. We're not only here to save Spheraphase or become stronger. That's a secondary concern. The main reason we're here is because the cycle needs us to find these truths for it."