If someone as powerful as Aurora had become occupied or worse, had found herself in danger then whatever was happening behind the scenes was far bigger than anything I had anticipated.
I slowly looked out across the endless Soul Sea before speaking, my voice carrying effortlessly over the calm waters.
"Hey..."
I waited for a heartbeat before continuing.
"Aurora."
The waves rolled gently beneath my feet, but no answer came.
I smiled faintly despite myself.
"If you’re listening..I think we need to talk." The Soul Sea remained completely silent after my voice faded into the distance.
Nothing answered.
Only the endless waves continued rising and falling beneath the dark sky, as though the entire world had chosen to ignore me.
I waited patiently.
Aurora wasn’t someone who announced her arrival with overwhelming pressure or dramatic entrances. More often than not, she simply... appeared.
So when the space several dozen meters away distorted ever so slightly, I wasn’t surprised.
I smiled faintly.
"Took you long enou—"
The words stopped halfway through.
The figure standing upon the surface of the Soul Sea wasn’t Aurora.
A long black coat reached almost to his knees, swaying gently despite the complete absence of wind. A matching black hat shadowed most of his face, leaving only the familiar calm smile visible beneath its brim. He stood with one hand resting behind his back and the other holding an old walking cane that seemed entirely unnecessary for someone of his strength.
Augustus Nevermore.
The Gatekeeper.
"...Augustus?"
He inclined his head ever so slightly.
"Billion."
His voice was as calm as I remembered, carrying that strange steadiness that made it impossible to guess what he was truly thinking.
I looked around him once before returning my gaze to his face.
"Why are you here?"
A brief pause followed before I asked the question that actually mattered.
"Where’s Aurora?"
For the first time since I had met him, Augustus didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, a complicated expression crossed his face. It lasted for barely a second, yet it was enough for me to notice. It wasn’t worry exactly, nor hesitation, but something caught between the two, as though he were deciding how much he should reveal.
Finally, he released a quiet sigh.
"Unfortunately..."
His eyes met mine.
"...Aurora is occupied with something important at the moment."
I frowned.
"Occupied?"
He gave a slow nod.
"She heard you."
"So did I."
Another brief silence settled between us before he continued.
"She asked me to come in her place."
That explanation should have reassured me.
Instead...The uneasiness that had been lingering in the back of my mind only grew stronger.
Aurora had entrusted Augustus Nevermore to answer me. Which meant whatever had demanded her attention...was important enough that even she couldn’t simply leave it for a few minutes.
Hearing his answer, I remained silent for a few moments before asking the question that had been lingering in my mind from the very beginning.
"When do you think she’ll be available?"
Augustus simply shrugged.
"I honestly don’t know. She’s a rather... independent woman. She doesn’t usually inform me of her schedule, nor does she ask for my opinion before throwing herself into whatever impossible task has caught her interest."
A faint smile appeared beneath the shadow of his hat.
"When she becomes free, she’ll come to you herself."
I studied his face for a second before giving a small nod.
"Alright."
"If you meet her before that, pass along a message for me."
"What message?"
I looked out toward the endless Soul Sea stretching in every direction.
"Tell her that the moment she’s free, the first thing she needs to do is contact me."
Augustus nodded once.
"I’ll let her know."
"So..."
His eyes shifted toward me.
"I’ve heard you’ve been making quite a few waves throughout the Prime Territory."
A smile crept onto my face.
"I’ve tried."
"I also heard the Eternals have begun searching for you."
"They have."
"And yet..."
His gaze carefully examined me.
"...you’re still walking around freely."
I chuckled.
"They’re certainly trying."
I shrugged casually.
"They’re just not as successful as they expected they’d be."
A quiet laugh escaped Augustus.
"I suppose that much is obvious."
For another moment, neither of us spoke. Then his expression gradually became more thoughtful.
"I’ve also heard another rumor."
"Oh?"
"The Twelfth Soul Current."
The words immediately caused my expression to stiffen ever so slightly.
"So..."
He looked directly into my eyes.
"...is it true?"
For the briefest moment, I hesitated.
Augustus Nevermore wasn’t my enemy.
At least...
Not that I knew of. But neither was he someone I could blindly trust.
He was the Gatekeeper.
An existence responsible for maintaining the boundaries between realms. If he truly believed releasing the Twelfth Soul Current would threaten those boundaries, there was every possibility that he would stop me before I even reached the trials.
A part of me considered lying. Just denying everything. Pretending I had no interest whatsoever in the Twelfth Current.
The thought lasted barely a heartbeat. Then I quietly shook my head.
There wasn’t much point. If Augustus already knew enough to ask the question directly, then he had probably learned far more than I realized.
Besides...
If I wanted Aurora’s help later, deceiving the people closest to her seemed like a remarkably poor decision.
I slowly nodded.
"Yeah. That’s the plan."
Augustus didn’t seem surprised.
Almost as though he had expected exactly that answer.
He turned away from me and quietly watched the endless Soul Sea stretching toward the horizon. His expression became unusually distant, as though an old memory had suddenly resurfaced.
When he finally spoke again, his voice had lost its usual casual tone.
"Then let me offer you one piece of advice."
I waited.
"If you truly reach the Twelfth Soul Current..."
He slowly looked back toward me.
"...be very careful."
I frowned.
"I was already planning on that."
"No."
He shook his head.
"I don’t mean be careful of its power."
"Then what?"
A strange silence followed.
Finally, Augustus answered.
"Be careful not to fall into its trap."
The words immediately caught my attention.
"...Trap?"
"What trap?"
He smiled faintly.
"I can’t answer that."
"You don’t know?"
"I do."
"Then why not tell me?"
Augustus slowly shook his head.
"Because if I explain it to you now, you’ll spend the entire journey imagining the trap instead of observing it."
His smile became slightly more complicated.
"And the Twelfth Current has a habit of taking advantage of exactly that."
I stared at him for several seconds.
That... Was perhaps the least helpful warning I had ever received.
"What does that even mean?"
He simply shrugged.
"You’ll understand."
"When?"
"When you’re close enough."
I let out a long sigh.
"That isn’t reassuring."
I couldn’t help laughing quietly.
Augustus looked toward the distant horizon one final time before adjusting the brim of his hat.
"I should get going."
"So soon?"
"My work hasn’t become any less troublesome simply because yours has."
I nodded in understanding.
"Then thanks for coming."
He inclined his head slightly.
"And Billion..."
I looked up.
"I sincerely hope you succeed."
His words carried no hesitation. No hidden meaning. Just simple sincerity.
Before I could respond, he casually raised one hand. The space around his body rippled silently.
Unlike ordinary teleportation, there wasn’t the slightest fluctuation of Soul Force or Spatial Laws. It almost looked as though reality itself simply decided he was no longer standing there.
One moment Augustus Nevermore stood upon the endless Soul Sea.
The next...
He was gone.
Leaving me alone once again with nothing but the sound of the waves and one cryptic warning echoing repeatedly through my mind.
Don’t fall for its trap.