Lukas woke up and laid in bed for a few moments as he thought about what he saw. "It's pointless... I'll never make any sense out of it." Lukas told himself as he got up and grabbed the eye and Bethany appeared beside him. "I completely agree with you... if those visions are just confusing you then you should probably just not focus on them until you find some information that explains what they are." Bethany explained as she overheard Lukas. "Yeah, I think you're right. There's no point in thinking about stuff that I can't comprehend no matter what." Lukas agreed as he began walking towards his door. When Lukas opened his door, all he saw was a giant purple cloak in his face... he simply looked up at the being to find out that it was Signus. "I thought that you would be mad at me. You know... it's strange... I swear that I remember you saying that you and your kin were immortal. If it is true that your kin are immortal, then how come I was able to kill Zero? Is there something that you aren't telling me... or were you exaggerating in the hopes that I would believe you and fear you more than I should?"
"You're a fool, Lukas. You haven't accomplished anything." Signus stated as he looked down upon Lukas. "Have I really not accomplished anything? I killed a being who, according to you, is immortal... I'd say that is a pretty big thing that I've accomplished." Lukas replied as he couldn't help but grin at Signus. "You haven't killed anything. You simply destroyed a pawn that can easily be replaced. If anything, all you did was allow a poor soul to move on to a life that is devoid of that crippling negativity." Signus explained as he began to walk away. Lukas watched as Signus turned a corner as he thought about what he had said. "Do you understand anything that Signus just said, Beth?" Lukas asked as he was still trying to make sense of it all. "Nope, not a clue. I knew barely anything about Signus before all of this happened and I just feel like I understand him less and less the more he keeps talking to you." Bethany answered as she seemed to be deep in thought.
"Well what did we say about things that we can't comprehend? We should just keep it in the back of our minds until we learn about something that can explain it. That's exactly what I'm going to do." Lukas explained as he began walking out into the hallway and started looking for something to do. He walked over to the training grounds and sat up on one of the walls that overlooked it. "You know, I haven't exactly been using that much magic in my battles." Lukas spoke as he looked in his hand which he quickly coated in a red flame. "That is true... but the attacks that you have been using are incredibly powerful. I don't think that you necessarily need magic to survive." Bethany replied as Lukas began to start messing around with the magic in his hand. Lukas clicked his fingers and suddenly, a small cube that was glowing red with a white, pulsating material in the centre of it appeared in his hand. "Well, I didn't know that I could do that." Lukas stated as he observed the cube. "That's an observer. You can put them anywhere and you'll be able to see the area that surrounds them at any time. They also turn invisible if you don't interact with them for a couple of seconds." Bethany explained.
"That could be useful if we ever need to spy on somebody. Although, I don't see why we would ever have to do that." Lukas admitted as he crushed the cube in his hand and the fragments disappeared. Lukas sat there for a bit as he tried to think of something to do before Beth started speaking again. "How about we go and see Niko? We left them all by themselves in that dark room." Bethany suggested which seemed to interest Lukas. "That's right! I feel so dumb leaving them there like that!" Lukas exclaimed as he began running towards the wall of the Sanctuary. "Lukas, wait a second!" Somebody yelled just as Lukas was about to head out. "Dream, what's wrong?" Lukas asked as he turned around. Dream stopped in front of Lukas before he started speaking again. "Well... I don't really have that much to tell you but... there is one thing. I just wanted to say that you were amazing! You destroyed that thing in one hit! I would like to ask you how you did it but I see that you're about to get to work so I won't keep you any longer." Dream quickly spoke.
"Oh... thank you." Lukas said as he was quite shocked that he got a compliment for doing something as simple as swinging his blade once. Soon after, Lukas turned back around and flew outside of the Sanctuary and towards Niko's Universe. "So do you mind telling me what happened between you and Zero last night before you killed him?" Bethany asked as she was still clueless as to what had happened. "Zero was acting weird... he noticed that I was full of fear as soon as I saw him and he called hope a plague. He was acting so confident as well... like he knew about every single one of my secrets that were kept in the back of my mind." Lukas explained as Bethany listened and she seemed incredibly interested in Zero for some reason. "Don't worry about him apparently seeing into your mind, a lot of beings like him can read minds. I'm more interested in what he said about hope being a plague... did he say anything more about that?" Bethany questioned Lukas. "He did say one more thing, just before I ran to get you, he mentioned that hope was a plague again... but he said that it was a plague that he wanted to be infected by. Zero also said that he would release his negativity onto everybody who tried to deny him his one wish." Lukas answered as he began slowing down.
"It seems to me that his negativity made him hate the idea of hope... but in the end, it was the one thing that he wanted the most." Bethany guessed as she was almost as clueless as Lukas. "I guess that makes sense. You sound like you've seen a lot of different creatures like Zero." Lukas stated as Niko's universe came into view. "Actually, Zero was quite a unique being. I have seen a few beings that have a similar story as them... but they've never been made from negative energy." Bethany clarified as Lukas slowly came to a stop. Lukas thought to himself for a moment before talking to Bethany again. "There's something else that has been bothering me... Zero implied that he was made by some kind of god-like entity... but what bothers me is that he said that I know what being created him." Lukas explained as he reached out to touch the Universe. "He probably meant that you had read about that being in whatever books you were reading." Bethany theorised as the two of them entered the universe.
"Lukas? Lukas are you there?" Niko asked in a panicked voice. "Niko, I'm sorry about that... I really am." Lukas replied as he reappeared back inside of the house. "Please, don't worry about me. It just scared me how everything went dark for a split second." Niko explained as they looked around the room as if nothing had happened. "Wait, what? We were away for more than a day but for Niko it was only a second? Not only that, Niko only saw black for that one second." Lukas thought in his head. "Core can make different Universes move at different speeds depending on if they are being interacted with or not? That must take some serious power." Bethany spoke as she appeared to be thinking again. "Lukas, are you alright?" Niko inquired as Lukas had been silent for quite some time now. "I'm fine, I was just... thinking about something." Lukas answered as he snapped to attention again.
"You sound like something is troubling you. I won't force you... but I would like you to tell me what is troubling you." Niko requested as they slowly observed the room around them. "Huh? Where did that come from? I barely know you." Lukas stated as he was confused by Niko's sudden request. "Well that's the point. I barely know you so I thought that I could ask some questions to get to know you better and maybe even help you out with some things that you might need to vent about." Niko explained as they rested against the bed in the corner of the room. "It's not that simple though... there's so much that happens around everybody that nobody notices. I can't exactly explain it without sounding crazy." Lukas conveyed as he was trying his best to not talk about everything that had happened.
"You're a voice that is talking in my head that has its own personality and a voice that I've never heard before and you're telling me that just the idea of you isn't a crazy thought." Niko stated which made Lukas laugh as he realised how crazy this must all seem to Niko. "I guess you're right... it does sound pretty crazy. Although that isn't as crazy as some of the stuff that I've seen." Lukas explained as he sat down next to Niko... it's not as if they could see him anyway. "I would still like for you to try and tell me. Even if I can't understand what you're talking about, I'll try to believe it." Niko stated as they started searching the room again. "Fine... I'll try to explain it but I can't promise that I'll make it easy to understand. This guy showed up who was made of pure negative emotions and he wanted to destroy your world because he considered everything that you represented to be a plague. He was also considered a god among those who knew about him." Lukas spoke as he looked at Niko who just seemed to be trying to comprehend everything that they were being told.
"A god wants to destroy my world? Well, that's not the strangest thing that I was expecting you to say." Niko stated as they began walking towards a door that they had only just seen. "Really? You expected me to say something crazier than that?" Lukas asked as he followed Niko. "Well... I suspected that you were some kind of powerful entity considering all of the weird stuff about you." Niko replied as they reached their hand out to the handle of the door. "I guess that how I showed up was a bit suspicious... but why would you immediately assume that I'm a god?" Lukas questioned as he wasn't really sure about Niko's logic. "I didn't assume that you were a god, I just thought that you were some kind of powerful entity. Well, are you a god?" Niko inquired as they seemed really interested in Lukas. "No, I don't think that I'm considered one. I've never asked anybody so I don't really know." Lukas explained as Niko opened the door to find some stairs that led down into a dark hallway.
"It is quite dark down there isn't it?" Lukas asked as he peered down into the darkness that was only slightly illuminated by Niko's eyes. "It's fine, I'm not afraid of the dark." Niko replied as they began stepping down the stairs at a moderate pace. "I'm not surprised, your eyes seem like they can illuminate any darkness so it would be really weird for you to be afraid of it." Lukas stated as he descended the stairs with Niko. "So are there any other strange beings that you've encountered?" Niko inquired to break the silence that had suddenly fallen over them. "Don't get me started. I've had the goddess of destruction staring at me this entire time and also the god of dreams who has been helping me... if you don't consider either of those to be strange then I'll definitely be surprised." Lukas spoke with a laugh. "Neither of those are really strange to me. One of them sounds terrifying whilst the other sounds amazing." Niko explained as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
"You seem to be taking this incredibly well for somebody who has just learnt about all of this stuff." Lukas stated as he stared into the darkness to see that the light from Niko's eyes occasionally reflected off of something in the distance. "I'm trying to make it so that I think that anything can happen... I did just wake up in a house that I don't recognise and I'm now hearing a voice in my head." Niko explained as they carefully stepped through the hallway. "Fair enough, I can't exactly complain about that. It makes my job a lot easier if you just accept everything as you hear it." Lukas spoke as he stared at the object that was reflecting light in the distance. "So, can you tell me a bit about yourself?" Niko asked as they approached the end of the corridor. "Well, I'm going to be honest, I look a lot like the average person which is weird for a being with my amount of power. From what people tell me, I'm quite fun to hang around with and I laugh at pretty much any joke." Lukas replied as Niko appeared to smile with every bit of new information.
"You sound like a fun person to be around... I wouldn't mind actually meeting you face to face after we find a way to get me back home." Niko spoke as the object came into sight. "Wow, it's been a while since anybody has said that to me. The last time that somebody called me 'fun', was... a moment in time that I'd rather forget." Lukas explained as he slowly became quieter. Niko seemed to notice Lukas' sudden change in tone as they stopped moving. "Do you need to talk about it?" Niko asked as they peered through the darkness whilst they waited for a response. "No, I don't really want to talk about it." Lukas replied as he immediately rejected the idea of discussing his past. "I didn't ask you if you wanted to talk about it, I asked if you needed to." Niko repeated. "Do I need to? I don't really know." Lukas admitted as he began pondering if it was worth it or not.
"Honestly... Lukas, you should tell them... at least tell them everything that you told me." Bethany chimed in as Niko began saying something to Lukas but he couldn't hear them over Bethany. "Fine... if I end up releasing a whole ton of energy again, then it's going to be your fault, alright?" Lukas asked Bethany in his head to which she simply nodded in acknowledgement. "What's this?" Niko inquired as they had reached the end of the hallway without Lukas seeing it. Lukas quickly ran up to Niko and looked over their shoulder to see a lightbulb that was about the size of his head that was just on the floor. "It looks like a giant lightbulb to me." Lukas explained as he stared down at it. "Well, yeah that's obvious... but what is it doing here?" Niko questioned as if Lukas knew the answer which he clearly didn't. Niko reached out to touch the lightbulb before it suddenly lit up and illuminated the darkness around it.
Niko and Lukas remained silent for a moment as they tried to comprehend what was happening. "Well, it's clearly some sort of magical item... it'd probably be best if we took it with us." Lukas stated as he stared at the lightbulb. "A-Alright... I guess if it's not too heavy." Niko agreed reluctantly as they reached for the lightbulb only to find that they could carry it just fine. The two of them walked back through the corridor and into the main room again. "Niko, I want to tell you what happened to me... but I need to stand still as I do it because if I don't, I'll get overwhelmed by my emotions." Lukas explained which got Niko's attention. "Alright, I understand. You can tell me and I promise that I'll listen to every single word that I can." Niko replied as they sat on the bed that was in the corner of the room. "Alright, I hope you're ready... because this story is... tragic to say the least." Lukas spoke as he took a deep breath and began to explain everything to Niko.
"Everything is going exactly as planned. Soon, he will reveal himself. The final time. I will be free. Free of him. It's about time that this all ended. It's about time that my suffering ended. Why did my suffering begin in the first place? Who am I fighting for? Who is my enemy? Do friends really mean anything? The way the fire dances... that symbolises true peace. I'm not killing, I'm just letting them become part of this peace. They will bring peace to the world. If he's lying, then I'll bring peace to the young one. Peace to the world, peace to all of reality, peace to everything... in the end, everybody enters a torturous cycle of eternal peace where they are screaming to show how happy they are. Screams of pain and laughs of joy, there is no difference between the two of them to my ears."