"What's the word? Regression! That's right! Regression, ahaha."

"How can you laugh at that?"

"The better question is, why can't I laugh at that? The irony is mine and mine alone, as the last living Giant, ahaha. Look! I'm doing the work that should have been passed down to another Giant and leaving the legacy for a human. If there's nothing funny about that to you, you need to lighten up."

Benzard sighed. "You're making me feel like a consolation prize here. Don't tell me you still think I actually am."

Sause laughed and continued carving with his fingers into the mountain wall, writing how everything went down.

"Not at all, not at all!" he said. "There was a flaw in the design, Benzard. An original flaw. That's all there is to it. Even I have come to terms with that." He continued to depict the battles he'd seen with his own eyes, the participants, and the reasons behind them. It was all written and illustrated in a way that Benzard would understand. "Gods have inconsistencies and inadequacies as well. Though, those flaws probably shouldn't be obvious to mortals, I think. That's where Suzamete, Quintess, and Listafelle failed. That's where the cascade of the mess began."

"We Giants – the Dragonsson – were supposed to be the closest ones to them, aside from the dragons, of course, ahaha. But in the end, you will take my place looking after Edagon. That's where the joke lies. Our Deities devolved to the point where humans, the most unimpressive race they created, are left to guard and understand the value of Aigas instead. You should be proud you're at the forefront of this new design."

Benzard didn't feel a lick of pride from that, though. He looked at what Sause was writing.

"If I'd witnessed these battles, those that really mattered, I might have felt a bit better about this new position. Besides, I already failed at this role you keep mentioning. I got killed by that monstrous Undead knight," he said, recalling the Doom Knight that'd crossed time (because of Festos' impossible slash) and reached Edagon, searching for the Richness of Aigas.

"You can't fail at a role you haven't signed on for yet. This is your beginning," Sause said. "And didn't we fight Actuass along with Scaled Elder Jethrax? Did you forget you were part of that?"

Benzard groaned. He didn't want to remember that either. That battle reminded him of Eobald's death. That man's fate had been a horrid one.

"All that matters is you remember everything, Benzard. This is now Aigas' legend – a story for the ages – if, in fact, Aigas survives past this. There's power in history. I taught you that," Sause scoffed, illustrating himself in the image he was now carving. "I'm glad I was involved, though, ahaha."

He was chiseling an intricate depiction of a man lathered in darkness, bound somewhere deep within Aigas, all his limbs shackled to detailed runes. A depiction of a Giant could be seen in the distance, faint, but with its arms around the man, signaling his influence.

"In my eyes, Fulgardt might have been the most impressive thing Aigas ever produced. Part of me is proud that I had a hand in making him what he became, ahaha." Benzard snorted, disgusted that Sause would say that. "Say what you will about him, but he was a great man, so great, he managed to both derail me and help me see the truth of it all."

"…Maybe it's a good thing that I'm taking over."

Sause laughed. "Maybe."

There was a pause, with only the sound of chipping rock resounding.

"So, this is it, huh?" said Benzard, suddenly forlorn. "You're really leaving."

"I have to honour a Tie of Exchange, even if I'm not sure I'm still relevant to that little skeleton."

"Right."

"I'm quite interested in what lies beyond the great void as well," said Sause with a literal huge grin. "I bet there's going to be trouble. That little skeleton I'm following is built for it. Within a few months of his arrival on Aigas, everything's come caving in, ahaha. Will everything that's out there follow his whims too, I wonder?"

Benzard thought so.

He'd been rather surprised when Sause gave an account of what Skullius had done. In a fierce contest involving him, Fulgardt, and three Deities, he'd somehow come on top. Suddenly, just the fact that Benzard had fought Skullius before only a few months prior became absurd.

…But it was a legend that belonged to Aigas now.

Benzard was somewhat proud of that himself – proud that he had been a part of Skullius' life.

Right then, the mountain began shaking violently, as though there was a volcano erupting somewhere close by.

"Ah, it's almost time," said Sause, and he tore himself from his work. "Let's go have a look." He warped Benzard to the very summit of the Sovereign Peak.

Together, they looked over the horizon, watching the thing emerge. It spawned from the water, massive in size, but much smaller than Edagon. Its presence was weighty still, however. It had depth and substance, built like a continent but with all the grace of an interstellar vehicle. It truly was a Treasure.

Benzard and Sause watched, marveling. Even the Giant had never seen what Amanas was like. No living thing on Aigas had.

"You'll be riding that?" Benzard said, mouth agape.

"Assumedly," said Sause. "Traversing the great void without something like this is immensely difficult, I'm told, ahaha."

Amanas rose higher and higher into the sky until it began to overshadow the light from the sun in the sky. Everyone on Aigas at this point could see it, a dark, triangular shape of darkness hanging above with the grace of transcendence beyond mortality.

"Our Deities arrived here in this vehicle as well, I'm also told, ahaha," said Sause, folding his arms. "Another legend of note."

"Your departure will be another legend then, I assume."

"Right you are, ahaha."

---

[Author's Note]

Didn't manage to finish in March on the dot, but pretty close. The final chapter(s) will be coming out tomorrow. Probably, but most definitely.