I woke up much earlier than usual the following morning, although calling it morning inside the Null Realm was mostly a matter of habit. The artificial sky above the Ironhart Settlement had only just begun brightening, and the streets outside my window remained unusually quiet.
Most of the settlement was still asleep, but my mind had already returned to the conversation on the Soul Sea.
Don’t fall for its trap.
The words had followed me all the way back home.
I sat on the edge of my bed, elbows resting on my knees, slowly replaying every sentence Augustus had spoken. Unlike Gerald or Evelyn, Augustus never wasted words. If he chose to warn me about something instead of simply telling me not to go, then the warning itself had meaning.
"A trap..."
I muttered the word under my breath before shaking my head.
"No. That’s not the important part."
I closed my eyes and forced myself to think about it logically instead of emotionally.
How did Augustus know there was a trap?
That question alone changed everything.
He hadn’t warned me about some random possibility. He had spoken as though he already knew something waiting beyond the gate. Either he had seen it himself, or someone before me had managed to reach the Twelfth Soul Current and lived long enough for that information to spread.
My eyes slowly opened.
Someone... Someone had definitely tried.
Otherwise there was no explanation.
A slow smile appeared on my face.
"So I’m not the first idiot."
The realization excited me far more than it worried me. If someone had attempted it before, then traces of their journey had to exist somewhere. Records. Rumors. Failed expeditions. Anything.
I stood up almost immediately.
"There has to be something."
*****
Less than ten minutes later I was walking through the enormous archive beneath the Ironhart library once again.
Unlike my previous visit, this time I ignored everything unrelated to the Twelfth Soul Current. One bookshelf after another disappeared beneath my hands as I pulled out ancient records, handwritten journals and history books so old that some of their pages had begun turning transparent with age.
Twelfth Current.
Spatial Current.
Forbidden Current.
Sealed River.
Ancient Sealing.
Ruler.
Every possible keyword I could think of.
Hours passed.
Dust gathered across my sleeves while stacks of books gradually surrounded the desk where I had settled.
Nothing.
Not a single useful clue.
The Twelfth Soul Current was mentioned only as a legend, usually in little more than a paragraph. Every version agreed that it had once existed, had awakened consciousness, had been sealed by the mysterious Ruler and had disappeared from history.
None of them mentioned anyone attempting to reach it afterward. I refused to give up. If history books failed, perhaps expedition records would help.
Another hour passed.
Still nothing.
The only interesting sentence I managed to find appeared inside a damaged journal written by an unknown Ironhart several thousand years ago.
That was all. Just two lonely sentences written on an otherwise blank page.
I leaned back in my chair and sighed.
"So either nobody reached it...or someone erased every record."
Neither answer made me particularly happy. After returning every book to its shelf, I quietly left the archive. There was still one person who might know more.
******
Finding Gerald turned out to be surprisingly easy.
Half the settlement had already learned that the old man was constructing something enormous, and after asking for directions twice, I eventually arrived outside a building I hadn’t noticed during my previous walks around the settlement.
Calling it a workshop almost felt insulting.
The place looked more like a giant warehouse built from black stone and reinforced with countless formations. Even before stepping inside, I could hear the rhythmic sounds of metal striking metal mixed with the low humming of formation arrays constantly activating and deactivating.
The moment I pushed the heavy doors open, warm air rushed toward me.
The interior was unlike anything I had expected.
Hundreds of glowing formations floated in the air like transparent blueprints while countless arms made entirely from condensed Soul Force continuously moved materials from one location to another. Massive black beams hovered weightlessly near the ceiling, rotating slowly as runes carved themselves across their surfaces without anyone touching them.
At the very center of the workshop floated the incomplete skeleton of an enormous ship.
Even unfinished, it stretched well over a hundred meters from end to end.
The hull hadn’t been closed yet, exposing thousands of intersecting formations hidden beneath its outer frame. Every few seconds another layer of runes would spread across its surface before disappearing beneath fresh black metal that seemed to grow naturally around the structure.
"...That’s ridiculous."
A quiet laugh escaped me.
Only Gerald would consider building something like this inside a hidden settlement.
The old man himself stood atop a floating platform several dozen meters above the ground. Sleeves rolled up to his elbows, beard tied behind his back and he looked far more like an eccentric craftsman than the pervert he was acting as.
Without even turning around, he spoke.
"I was wondering how long you’d spend staring."
"So you noticed me."
"I noticed you the moment you opened the door."
He finally looked down before smiling.
"Come up."
A formation beneath my feet immediately lifted me into the air until I landed beside him. I looked around once more before whistling softly.
"I thought you were exaggerating yesterday."
"I rarely exaggerate."
"You demanded massage therapists as payment."
"That was perfectly reasonable."
I decided not to continue that conversation. Instead, I looked toward the unfinished vessel.
"So this is going to carry everyone."
"It will."
He gently placed another formation plate into the floating framework before it disappeared into the growing hull.
"If nobody disturbs me, I should finish before all the guests arrive."
"I’ll pray Evelyn doesn’t visit too often."
"So will I."
We both laughed before my expression gradually became serious.
"I actually came to ask you something."
The old man immediately stopped working.
"What is it?"
I folded my arms.
"Has anyone ever tried reaching the Twelfth Soul Current before?"
Gerald became unusually quiet.
He slowly stepped away from the floating ship before resting one hand against the unfinished hull.
"That’s an interesting question."
"Which usually means the answer isn’t simple."
"It isn’t."
He thought for several seconds before speaking.
"People have searched for it."
"So there were expeditions."
"Oh, yes."
He nodded.
"For thousands of years after the Twelfth Current disappeared, Saints, scholars, hidden families and even independent races searched every corner of the Soul Sea hoping to locate the sealed gate."
"And?"
"They failed."
"Every one of them?"
"Every one."
I frowned.
"So nobody reached it."
Gerald slowly shook his head.
"No."
He looked directly into my eyes.
"As far as history records....nobody ever even found the gate."
Those words immediately caught my attention.
"So the search itself failed."
"Exactly."
He resumed carving another formation into the ship’s framework.
"Eventually people stopped trying."
"Why?"
"Because they could not find it."
His voice became noticeably quieter.
"Survival became more important than curiosity."
That...
Actually made perfect sense. If no one had ever found the gate, then Augustus’s warning became even stranger.
I remained silent for several moments before thanking Gerald and leaving the workshop. By the time I returned to my room, only one conclusion remained.
If history knew nothing...If even Gerald knew nothing...
Then there was only one existence left capable of answering the question.
The All-Knowing Eyes.
I slowly sat cross-legged on the floor, took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
This question...
Had to be asked very carefully.