Hey, everyone. I think that this might be where the story starts to pick up, so hopefully I haven't bored you all to sleep with the intro yet. The second part of Ninten's trip into the Nowhere Islands makes up the entire chapter, and I sure am glad that I didn't try to squeeze this chapter and the last one all into a single chapter.

And it's late, so I don't have much else to talk about. I've been thinking a lot about the nature of reality in a digital world, and I think it carries over to PSI as well. In Earthbound games, Magicant is undeniably real and its battles give exp just like any other location, and yet it exists entirely within a mind. The memories and enemies are virtual, and yet they are viewed as being real.

I think this chapter tries to explore some of the same stuff.

After heading north through the Sunshine forest and up the slopes of Mt. Oriander, Ninten spotted a small log cabin by the cliff side. He trudged up the rock-strewn road, breathing heavily as he neared the house. A gust of wind whipped by, forcing Ninten to shield his eyes with his hand.

All this time, he hadn't encountered anyone. He started to get a sense for why this place was called the Nowhere Islands. Ninten knew that the thrill of nature was almost a spiritual experience for some people, but he was glad to see at least a log cabin out in the wilderness.

As Ninten approached the log house, he heard the sounds of children playing further along the cliff side. Ninten shrugged to himself and walked past the house towards the sound of children. After a couple more minutes of walking down the rocks, Ninten spotted Lucas and Claus playing next to a pair of massive green Dragos.

Oh no.

Ninten scurried down the mountainside, attracting the attention of Lucas and Claus. Lucas shied away, hiding behind his twin brother. Claus' eyes lit up in curiosity, although he didn't bother to approach Ninten.

The Dragos remained still.

Ninten panted, sliding down the last few rocks before landing right in front of Lucas and Claus. The nearest Drago eyed Ninten with wide, black eyes but made no aggressive moves towards him or the twins.

Still. It was a Drago.

But for what it was worth, the Drago did appear calm. Maybe Lucas and Claus knew what they were doing better than Ninten did.

"Uh…" Ninten looked back and forth between Claus and Lucas. "Hello."

"Who are you?" Claus asked. "I don't think I've ever seen you before."

"My name's Ninten."

"Well I'm Claus. Do you want to practice running into the Dragos with us?"

Ninten couldn't help but notice how Lucas' eyes lit up in concern after Claus' statement. Then again, if Ninten were in Lucas' place he probably wouldn't want to play with some scary grown-up either.

"Wait," Ninten said. "What do you mean by running into Dragos? You're not actually just ramming into them, are you?"

Claus grinned. "Try it. It's fun."

Ninten looked over at the Dragos next to Lucas and Claus. They didn't look aggressive, necessarily, but the way they kept their gaze directed towards the humans put Ninten on edge. Certainly enough for Ninten to give them some space. But if Claus was telling the truth…

"Do your parents know that you're out here?" Ninten asked.

"Well, dad's at home taking care of the sheep," Claus said. "And mom knows that we're out here. We play-fight with Dragos all the time, so she'll know where to find us. I think it's about lunch time, so she might call us in soon."

Claus' smile looked sincere enough, at least. If he was lying, then he was lying with audacity. But the fact that the Dragos seemed to be relaxed made Ninten think that Claus was at least telling the truth about playing with Dragos often. Ninten released a sigh of relief.

"So," Claus said, inching towards Ninten. "You want to try play-fighting with a Drago?"

"Uh…" Ninten looked into the Drago's eye and felt his heart skip a beat. "Thanks for offering, but I don't think I should intrude. Lucas already looks a little nervous back there."

Claus turned around and stuck out his tongue at Lucas. "Come on, Lucas. I'm telling you, playing with more people means more fun."

Ninten raised an eyebrow. He was pretty sure that most children didn't get excited about the prospect of ramming into massive lizards with college students. Lucas turned away from Claus and looked back at Ninten, his wide blue eyes staring into Ninten's soul. Lucas' gaze wasn't aggressive like George's, but the way Lucas' blue eyes seemed to soak in everything around him made Ninten feel just as exposed.

"You know my name," Lucas said.

Oh, right. To Lucas, Ninten was still a complete stranger. Ninten fumbled for a response.

"That's true." Claus whipped his head around and faced Ninten with a frown. "How do you know my brother?"

"I…" Ninten took a moment to swallow. "I'm new here, but I did hear about the twins Claus and Lucas. If you were Claus, I knew that your brother had to be Lucas."

"Oh." A smile popped back onto Claus' face. "I guess that makes sense. We are kind of famous in Tazmily."

Lucas' gaze stayed trained on Ninten. The explanation made some sort of sense, but Ninten knew that his fumbling and hesitations would raise questions for someone as observant as Lucas.

"So you really don't want to play-fight?" Claus said. "You're big enough to really ram into the Dragos."

Ninten felt a queasy feeling in his stomach.

"No thanks," he said.

But come to think of it, Lucas and Claus still probably knew more about the Nowhere Islands than Ninten did. Maybe he could tease out clues about the developers of the game if he asked the right questions. If they put Lucas in the game, they might have inserted evidence about their activity as well.

"Wait," Ninten said as Claus was turning back towards the Dragos. "What's your dad's name?"

Claus turned back around and grinned.

"Claus," Lucas said. "I don't know if we're supposed to talk to strangers."

"Come on, Ninten's too scared to play-fight a Drago. Even if he were a bad guy stranger, he wouldn't be able to hurt us."

Well, Claus wasn't entirely wrong on either count.

"Our dad's name is Flint," Claus said, beaming, "And he's one of the best dads in the village. Everyone knows how reliable he is."

"And our mother's name is Hinawa," Lucas said, his voice soft. "Or did you already know that, too?"

Ninten couldn't force himself to look back into Lucas' eyes.

"So you grew up in Tazmily, right?" Ninten said. "How many people did?"

"Well, everyone except for grandpa." Claus frowned. "Where else would they live?"

"Uh… New Pork City, maybe?"

"What?"

"It's just a place I saw on a map I got," Ninten said with a shrug. "It might not even be real."

"Well, I've never heard of it," Claus said, as if that were enough to declare it fake.

"Where do you come from?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, me?" Ninten chuckled. "I… er…"

"Yeah, tell us where you come from." Claus' eyes shone with excitement. "Please?"

"I come from somewhere far away," Ninten said.

"Ooh, where is it?" Claus said.

"Outside of the Nowhere Islands."

Lucas and Claus blinked simultaneously.

"You came from the sea?" Claus said.

"I think he's saying that there's a world outside the Nowhere Islands," Lucas said, his eyes narrowing. "Which doesn't make any sense."

"Wait, like…" Claus' eyes widened. "You mean land outside of the Nowhere Islands?"

"Yeah," Ninten said. "That part's usually implied."

Claus looked out past the cliffs of Mt. Oriander into the forest and sea beyond. As he continued to stare off into the distance, his expression grew wistful.

"You mean there's a whole wide world out there beyond our islands?" Claus said, his voice hardly more than a whisper. "What's it like?"

"I don't know if we can trust this person," Lucas said, eyeing Ninten suspiciously. "If someone came from outside the islands, I think we would have heard from them before now. Mom and dad always said that Tazmily was the only village in the world, and I'll believe them before some stranger."

"Yeah, but where else do you think Ninten comes from?" Claus said. "This is excit-"

Claus was interrupted by what sounded like the chopping of a helicopter from above. Ninten looked up in the sky and saw a round, metal airship floating in the sky, held aloft by a tiny propeller above and jets spewing out blue fire below. Ninten frowned, wondering if whoever had made such a bulky airship had bothered to consult an aerospace engineer first. Probably not.

The airship passed over Ninten, cloaking him and the younger twins in a shadow under the noon sun. Ninten glanced over and saw Lucas eyeing the metal airship suspiciously while Claus stared up at the sky with twinkling eyes. The airship kept passing over the islands and eventually faded into the distance.

"See?" Claus said, giving Lucas a nudge with his elbow. "Those must be other people from where Ninten lives."

"Somehow, I don't think so," Ninten said, tracking the airship as it grew smaller and smaller. "I think they're a bad sign."

Ninten had listened to Ana talk about enough V-games to know that the people with the industrial airships were usually the bad guys trying to oppress the honest small-town workers. It seemed odd to Ninten that most V-games made in cities with massive development teams and state of the art effects would bash on industrialism and technology, but apparently it was the industry standard.

So a symbol for dangerous imperialism floated in the sky, and Ninten knew about a certain incident that would happen in a few days. When he added in the Masked Man's implication that someone was specifically trying to cause a massive fire in the Sunshine Forest, Ninten had an inkling for where to find the culprits.

"Boys!" came a woman's call from up the Cliffside. "Time for lunch. I made your favorite omelets."

Ninten recognized the voice, and looked back towards Alec's house to see Hinawa standing on the rocks, her red dress swaying in the mountain breeze. She smiled at her children and then eyed Ninten with a suspicious gaze. Ninten could see where Lucas got his caution from.

"Ooh, Omelets!" Claus ran off towards Hinawa.

"You've definitely seen her before," Lucas said, studying Ninten's expression. "But she doesn't recognize you."

"No," Ninten protested. "Listen, Lucas. I may be a stranger, but I'm not a stalker. The people in Tazmily just described what your mother looked like."

For a brief moment, Ninten felt a stab of pity for the Masked Man. Trying to hide information was uncomfortable enough, and to do it so poorly made him want to run away from Lucas' discerning eyes in that exact moment. Lucas shrugged as if it meant nothing to him and ran off towards his mother.

Ninten followed Lucas and Claus up the mountainside. He tried to ignore Hinawa's gaze even though he was aware that she had been staring at him ever since she called in her kids for lunch. When Ninten finally reached the area where Hinawa was standing, he looked her back in the eye.

"Greetings," Hinawa said, her voice lacking any warmth. "It's a little strange to see someone I've never met playing with my children."

"I apologize," Ninten said. "I'm new to the area and I was concerned about them being so close to the Dragos. It is fortunate that you are blessed with such friendly creatures here."

Ninten wasn't sure if he had suppressed the dripping sarcasm in his voice. The Mcha-Drago he had encountered during the fire gave him a good idea of what the creatures could do, but Ninten doubted that he could convince Hinawa right here how dangerous the Dragos were.

"Hmm." Hinawa did not sound convinced. "And your arrival has nothing to do with the metal bird in the sky?"

Metal… bird? Did these people have no concept of planes or airships?

"If I were with them, I would have come in an airship as well," Ninten said, "And I wouldn't be alone. But I apologize again if I made you feel uncomfortable. Claus just seemed so friendly that I figured it couldn't hurt to stay and ask questions about this place. If you want, I can leave and never see you again."

Hinawa's expression softened slightly. "I don't mean to push you away if you want to stay with us. I just don't know what to do with strangers. I don't think we've ever had someone show up out of nowhere before."

"So there really is nobody outside of Tazmily Village?"

Hinawa flashed a thin smile. "Other than you and my father, no. At least, not that I know of. But that metal bird makes me suspicious. And by proxy, it makes me suspicious of you."

Hinawa's articulate speech and large vocabulary seemed out of place in a small-town setting that Ninten suspected lacked vigorous education opportunities, but then again Ness hadn't matched the stereotype of a country bumpkin as well. Even inside of V-games, perhaps times were changing.

"I don't blame you," Ninten said. "Better safe than sorry, I know. That's why I want to stay out of your way. I don't know where I'll go, but I don't want to cause you any more stress and worry."

"How… gracious of you." Hinawa frowned. "But I worry about the steel bird more than you. Do you know anything about it?"

Ninten shook his head. "I saw it going off into the distance. Do you know where it could be headed?"

Ninten pointed in the direction where the airship had disappeared into the sky, and Hinawa's eyes lit up in understanding.

"The Drago Plateau," Hinawa said. "I hope they don't agitate the Dragos with whatever they're doing. The Dragos are such peaceful creatures, and it would break my heart to see anything happen to them."

Ninten felt the blood draining from his face.

"You… do your people know how to craft that kind of metal you saw on the airship?" he asked.

"We have a blacksmith," Hinawa said, eyeing Ninten. "But we would not be able to make a massive bird out of metal like they did."

"And I don't suppose you know how to make prosthetic limbs?"

Hinawa's eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought. I think I know exactly what the people inside the airship are doing, and I need to get over to the Drago plateau to stop them. Thanks for the directions."

"Wait," Hinawa said. "There are people inside the metal bird?"

"Yeah, how else would they pilot it?"

"I… don't know what that word means either."

Ninten shook his head. "Never mind. I need to go now before it's too late."

"Wait," Hinawa said as Ninten was turning around to leave. "One last question, stranger."

"Yes?" Ninten looked back over his shoulder at Hinawa.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"I don't know," Ninten answered honestly. "I wish I did."

With that response, Ninten walked away towards the Drago Plateau in the east.

The winds around the Drago Plateau weren't as intense as the gusts of cold air on Mt. Oriander, but the breeze played flat notes in the air that put Ninten's teeth on edge. Combined with an emptiness where vegetation and animal life should have been, Ninten could almost believe that the wind was playing a sad melody on purpose as a V-game soundtrack.

Ninten climbed up the tan-colored rocks, some of them crumbling under his footsteps. How could an organism as large as a Drago possibly survive in an area with so little food? But then again, maybe they didn't come here to hunt. Ninten recalled that ectotherms like crocodiles could live for weeks after a single catch, and he doubted Dragos would be much different.

Ninten's thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a landed airship. A steel ramp led up to a seemingly empty cockpit, and Ninten saw footsteps on the soft ground leading away from the airship. Ninten followed the footsteps until spotting the end of the plateau, a sheer cliff leading off into a ravine below.

At the edge of the cliff, Ninten spotted an unconscious Drago with mechanical legs and metal plating on the left half of its face. The bottom half of its jaw was completely missing, and the Drago oozed out dark red blood. Surrounding the Drago were three figures in pig suits, and two of them were working on fitting a metal jaw on its face.

The last man in the pig suit turned around and looked at Ninten, gripping what looked like a laser gun in hand.

"I was wondering when you would show up," the pig-man said. "Fortunately, you are here in time to witness the pigmask ingenuity."

"I have no idea who you are," Ninten said.

"But you have an idea what we do," the pigmask said, "And what we are going to do."

Ninten stared at the pigmask while the other two continued fitting the mechanical jaw on the unconscious Drago. Had Ninten met this person inside of the Nowhere Islands before?

"I suppose it could have been anyone standing in my place," the pigmask said, "But I wanted to be here this time. You are not welcome in the Nowhere Islands. You do not belong here. Leave and never come back."

"And you are welcome?" Ninten said.

"Oh, of course not," the pigmask said. "But I can't just leave like you can."

The pigmask tore off its mask, revealing a middle-aged man with grey stubble on his cheeks and chin. The rest of his pig suit rippled in the wind as he eyed Ninten suspiciously through a pair of glasses.

"I still don't know you," Ninten said.

"You can come out now, Claus," the man said.

Ninten heard a yelp by the rock behind him, and Claus stepped out wearing a nervous smile. The pigmask pointed his laser gun straight at Claus and shook his head.

"You really need to play more attention to your tag-alongs, Ninten," the man said.

"Isaac." Claus' eyes widened. "Why are you here? What are you doing? How do you know Ninten?"

"I am not the Isaac that you know." Isaac kept his gun trained at Claus. "So don't expect any mercy."

"I…" Claus took a step back, pulling his hands in towards his chest for defense. "Isaac, please."

"Now," Isaac said, "I know that Ninten has PSI and can survive a few blasts from this laser gun, but Claus most certainly cannot. If you two do anything suspicious, and I mean anything, I'll shoot. For now, both of you stay still."

Isaac raised his finger to the trigger. Claus gasped, trembling as the wind whipped past and ruffled his hair. The two pigmasks in the background had mostly attached the jaw to the unconscious Drago and now appeared to be in the process of putting in screws for reinforcement. Claus looked at the unconscious Drago and tears started coming to his eyes.

"Why?" Claus said. "What did the Drago ever do to you?"

"It attacked us," Isaac said casually. "We were trying to bring its child back to raise as a killing machine, but I guess this works."

"No," Claus protested. "You… can't!"

Claus broke into sobs, unable to find more words. Isaac's finger inched even closer to the trigger of his laser gun.

"I'm going to make one thing clear right now," Isaac said. "I don't give a fuck about you, Claus. I'm here for Ninten. So if you can't keep your little peephole shut, I'll make sure personally that you never open it again."

Claus gulped and nodded, tears streaming down his face. Ninten took a deep breath and turned back towards Isaac. How dare he threaten a child at gunpoint? Ninten resisted the urge to charge forward. Instead, he closed his eyes and took a moment to cycle through this PSI abilities. Most of them were buffs, and none of those would help Ninten disarm Isaac before the madman could shoot Claus.

"It's pathetic," Isaac said, shaking his head at Ninten. "Threatening them shouldn't work. You shouldn't care about these tools. But you do, because you're a fucking idiot."

"You mean the people around me?" Ninten said. "Of course I care."

"They're pieces in a game."

"So are you." Ninten shrugged. "So am I. There are always games being played, wherever you look. The pieces can still have a life of their own."

Isaac shook his head. "You are hopeless, Ninten. I thought I might be able to reason with you, but clearly there's nothing to be done. You'll just fumble your way through this game if we keep let you playing."

"Who's 'we'?"

Isaac smiled. "People with different agendas. We are not all the same. But we are more real than these bits of code." Isaac gestured towards Claus. "I could murder him, and then go back and murder him again and again. And each time I boot up the game, he won't remember a damn thing."

"Ninten." Claus bit his lip, quaking in his shoes. "What's he saying?"

"So I'm going to prove a point right here, right now," Isaac said. "I'm going to shoot Claus right now, and then I'll kill you. When you boot up the game the next time, Claus won't recognize you. He won't remember what happened. Because for him, it really didn't happen."

"I don't…" Claus took a step back. "I don't understand. Please…"

"No!" Ninten said. "Don't shoot Claus. Leave this between you and me."

Isaac looked thoughtful for a moment. "Fine. I won't kill Claus for now, so long as you two stay still and do what you're told."

Ninten realized that he had been holding his breath and exhaled slowly. He could only imagine what "do what you're told" could mean, but at least Isaac hadn't fried Claus to a crisp yet. Still, the knowing smile on Issac's face sent a chill running down Ninten's spine

"Which means no running away," Isaac said. "And no 4th-D slipping for you, Ninten. I'm not sure if you know this, but you were granted an initial burst of power in the Sunshine Forest that let you travel back in time once. Now, you can only go forward. If you zip out of time, you'll come back here to find your little friend's guts all over the ground."

"Stop scaring him," Ninten said.

"You don't tell me what to do." Isaac snarled. "I am going to crush you, Ninten. I don't know what you're doing snooping around the Nowhere Islands, but it's time I put an end to it."

Isaac turned back to the two other pigmasks, who by the looks of it had finished attaching the jaw to the Drago.

"Time to give it a whirl," Isaac told the pigmasks.

The pigmasks nodded, and they both pulled out what looked like police batons. One of them placed their baton on the mechanical jaw, while the other placed their baton on the metal leg.

"And… go," Isaac said.

Ninten heard a low hum, followed by the Drago jolting in what looked like an unconscious flinch. It remained collapsed on the ground but let out a low moan.

"Again," Isaac said.

Another hum, another momentary recoil from the Drago, and another whimper.

"Ninten," Claus said. "What are they doing to the Drago?"

"I think they're shocking it." Trying to bring it to life like Frankenstein's monster, perhaps.

"They're… what?"

Ninten thought of the right way to phrase it. "Sending tiny bolts of lightning through it."

Claus' eyes widened. "We have to stop them."

Had he forgotten that one movement from either of them would prompt Isaac to shoot?

"Isaac," Claus said. "Please, you're hurting the Drago."

"That's part of the point," Isaac said, flashing a cruel smile. "Again."

Another hum, and another pained growl. This time, the Drago opened her eyes.

"Please," Claus said.

"Again," Isaac said.

Yet another hum. This time, the Drago let out a roar, standing up on her feet. She staggered for a moment before growling at the pigmasks who had electrified her. The two pigmasks let out a squeal before running away, past Isaac and moments later past Ninten and Claus. Ninten didn't dare touch either of them, not while Isaac's gun was trained straight at Claus.

"I'm not going to kill Claus," Isaac said, grinning, "Because the Drago will."

Isaac reached down into his pocket, and for a moment his eyes went down to his waist and his gun's aim was off. Ninten might not get an opportunity.

"Run!" he shouted at Claus, and then barreled towards Isaac.

Isaac flinched, likely out of surprise more than anything else, and then leveled his laser gun and shot. The bolt whizzed past Ninten, and Ninten could only hope that Claus had gotten clear in the few moments he had been given. Isaac sneered and pulled a remote control device out of his left pocket. He pressed a button on the device, and the Drago's head started to turn towards Ninten.

Not this again.

But Ninten didn't have time to turn back. He used his quick-up ability and crossed the space between him and Isaac in a dozen long strides. He zipped through the air like a falcon, tackling Isaac to the ground. The older man let out an "oomph" as his and Ninten's bodies collided with the rocks. Ninten raised a fist and punched Isaac in the face, the motion followed by a flash of pain coming from Ninten's knuckles. Okay, maybe not the best way to fight someone.

Ninten managed to see clearly through the pain and tried to wrestle the remote control device out of Isaac's hand. Isaac dropped the device and fumbled for his laser gun. Ninten reached out for the remote control device and Isaac wrestled Ninten off to unpin himself. Ninten stood up with the remote controller in hand, and Isaac popped up a moment later holding his laser gun.

Ninten heard the pounding of steps mere feet behind him, and a shadow fell over him. Ninten hopped away, using his boosted speed to escape what he knew was the Drago. After retreating and reorienting himself, Ninten could see the Mecha-Drago clearly. Isaac let out a growl, his nose bleeding from when Ninten had punched him in the face. He backed behind the Drago, near the edge of the cliff. Isaac leveled his laser gun and fired a shot through the Drago's legs…

Straight at the remote controller.

The laser bolt collided with the controller, and sparks flew off of the remote device. Ninten dropped the remote and looked back up to see the Drago slowly approaching him.

"They'll never attack someone in a pigmask suit," Isaac said, stumbling forward and firing another shot at Ninten. "And now nobody will be able to tell it to stop."

Ninten looked back down at the remote, which was still releasing sparks. He couldn't stop the Drago with the remote, and he knew from experience that he couldn't fight a Drago head-on. And if Ninten ran away, he would just lead the Drago to the other villagers. Really, he had no hope of getting out of this situation alive without hurting innocent people.

But there might be one person Ninten could take out of the equation with him.

Ninten dashed towards the Drago, the wind flying past him as he ran forward with his boosted speed. Isaac fired another shot, glancing off of Ninten's shoulder. The man was good, but Ninten managed to survive the shot with a blinking health bar. The Drago roared and bared its mechanical fangs, but Ninten didn't slow down even as he got close to the Drago by the edge of the cliffs.

Isaac's eyes widened when he realized what Ninten was doing, but by then it was too late.

Ninten dashed between the Drago's legs, straight towards Isaac, who tried to dart sideways. However, Isaac didn't manage to start into a sprint immediately. Ninten barreled forward, slamming his body into Isaac's and sending them both flying off into the ravine below while the force of impact left him numb.

As Ninten was falling through the air and the ground grew closer and closer, his mind started to wander. He thought back to Ana and his promise to discover more about Lucas' affiliations through this suspicious game. He thought back to Lucas himself, and recalled seeing the shy boy on a couple of occasions in the large lecture halls.

But after those quick memories, he thought about Claus. Ninten hoped that Claus would get back in time to warn the others about the Mecha-Drago, and he hoped that Isaac's death would halt the pigmask plans.

And more than anything, he hoped that Claus wouldn't be scarred for life by seeing someone he knew point a gun at him and threaten to fire.

Those hopes stayed with Ninten even as the ground rose up to meet him, even after hearing a crunch while he hit the ravine floor as the pain turned his vision red.

He hoped it would be enough.

GAME OVER.

Same white text, same floating consciousness, same everything.

DUE TO YOUR BRAVERY ONCE AGAIN, CLAUS WAS SPARED AND MANAGED TO WARN THE PEOPLE OF TAZMILY ABOUT THE MECHA-DRAGO. AND IN TIME, THEY EVEN MANAGED TO DEFEAT IT.

BUT WHILE THE PEOPLE OF TAZMILY SURVIVED, THEY STILL COULD NOT THRIVE. NOT WHEN THE PIGMASKS WERE EXPANDING TO ALL CORNERS OF THE NOWHERE ISLANDS, BRINGING ENTERTAINMENT TO LULL THE MASSES WHILE INSERTING THEMSELVES INTO LOCAL GOVERMENTS.

WITHIN YEARS, TAZMILY VILLAGE WOULD FALL UNDER PIGMASK CONTROL.

…

…

…

CLAUS' LIFE WAS NOT ENOUGH TO STOP THE CYCLE OF SUFFERING.

HE WAS NOT THE ONE YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SAVE.

PLEASE… COME BACK WHEN YOU WISH TO EXPLORE MORE OF THE NOWHERE ISLANDS.

I'LL BE WAITING.