“You - are - STRONG! Not just strong. In fact, you are AWESOME, really.” walking down the stairs, Jianmen laughed out loud and rubbed his hands: “Hey, I know you can hear me, why don’t you show yourself and let’s have a chat?”

But his calls seemed to have fallen on deaf ears, no one responded, and nothing was moving.

“You know, having your own realm, your own temple and residual Godwill after all this time is one thing. It’s pretty common and even cliche for gods. But having your own flow of time? Whew, that’s some crazy skill and knowledge. You’re sure you don’t wanna come out and talk?” Jianmen asked again, and he raised his right hand, showing a ball of orange and golden energy: “I’m here in peace. You can just show an expendable avatar my way or send a minion to talk for you. I am fine with either.”

Then finally, a stream of energy made of almost solidified power of mind and will projected to the space right in front of Jianmen, forming into a “voice” that made no actual sound, but still conveyed its message to Jianmen loud and clear.

“What do you want?” the voice asked.

“Greetings. You mighty being.” Jianmen bowed towards the source of the voice: “I actually didn’t think you’d still be here. Or at least, I didn’t think a conscious piece of your will would.”

“What do you want?” the voice became a bit more impatient.

“I want to know how you fell. WHAT caused you to fall.” Jianmen narrowed his eyes, and then he pointed at the Chinese Knot: “You answer me, you can have that. I believe you can tell its true power - it may not help return you your past glory, but it can slow the process of you losing your power. Gives you more time to figure things out.”

The source of the voice went silent for a short minute, then answered: “You are not my descendant - you are not entitled to my secrets and my legacy! LEAVE!”

“I think you need to take whatever time you have and reconsider my offer. I don’t want anything you have for your descendants, I don’t even know what they are. I don’t even know what YOU are.”

“I am Xyn, the first who ascended beyond the binds of the void and time, I am the origin fire of the void-born and the decreer of all realms of living aspects. Show yourself, mortal.”

“My name is Jianmen Yu. The upkeeper of the inns in the Clan of the Golden Feather, and retired Abbot of The Idea of Hospitality. ” Jianmen bowed again: “Pleasure to meet your acquaintance. Unlike you, I did not encounter the calamity of Godfall but I chose to retire by my own will. And I am here to inquire on the circumstances of your fall. I don’t know how much attention you paid to the outside world, but I don’t think anyone will be here anytime soon. So if you don’t mind, you can take my offer, and maybe I can help you to find your descendant.”

“Are you sure you can handle it?” the voice asked: “Knowledge has weight, and it has a responsibility. If you can’t bear the burden of such knowledge, I would not waste more of my time and effort with you.”

“Try me.” Jianmen’s eyes narrowed.

--------------------------------------------------

“What happened? Why are you up here all of a sudden?” Professor Atkinson asked Jianmen as he started moving and saw Jianmen coming out from behind the gates: “Looks like we just lost connection to the probe … did something happen?”

“Looks like the connection to the probe was cut. ” Dolores looked at the control panel and direct video and audio screen of the probe: “But … we didn’t see anything.”

“That’s because you didn’t.” Jianmen sighed and handed three things to Professor Atkinson: a small and heavy scythe, made completely of some kind of dark and translucent crystal, an orb with some kind of grey fog flowing and rolling inside, and a thin metal plate with a map engraved on it: “I’m afraid the one that resided in this temple would not allow us to continue anymore - unless we find a suitable descendant for him.”

“Say that again? ” Professor Atkinson frowned and asked: “You communicated with the fallen god here? Of this temple?”

“Yes.” Jianmen sat down on the ground, shaking his head while sipping a flask he brought with him: “The scythe, it’s the symbol of a contract. And feel free to read its terms. I’ll leave it to you to decide whether you want to take it.”

“Contract?” Professor Atkinson and Dolores looked at the scythe with concern and even a little bit of fear: “This is… this is a god’s contract. How are we even to accept it? This is too big and too dangerous!”

“A former god, who had fallen eons ago. No worries. I had a talk with him, he had to make the terms more fair and the acceptance non-mandatory because I asked him very nicely.” Jianmen chuckled and took another sip: “Just infuse a little bit of your magic into it, and you can read the terms. Read carefully, don’t treat it like some App you just downloaded on your phone.”

Professor Atkinson and Dolores exchanged looks, then looked at Jianmen, they were still so hesitant that they didn't even dare to approach the scythe.

“Can… can you share with us some more information?” Dolores asked: “You know… before we mere mortals read a contract from a god?”

“Yeah, sure.” Jianmen stopped his sipping and nodded: “My apologies… I got a bit carried away in my own thoughts and wants should’ve been more considerate.”

Then after weighing the information he just got from Xyn, and organizing his thoughts, Jianmen explained what had happened behind the gates and on the lower levels of the stairs.

Xyn, the god that fell during an ancient time, but comparatively not that long ago when taking the history of Godfalls into consideration. He rose to Godhood from the void, and apparently was the first one to do so. And as a God who rose from the void, he established this whole realm, where his fellow void-borns and his descendants could come and worship him.

But, he encountered Godfall, and like many of the gods in this world before. And he could not remember much from the fall - but being an especially powerful god, who with his sheer will could create his own flow of time, he was able to remember WHAT was the first domino chip of the that eventually lead to his demise - he was trying to meddle with something he deemed trivial, but was instantly struck with some horrifying knowledge.

Of course, Jianmen did not disclose all of this information to Professor Atkinson and Dolores, he only explained to them in relatively vague terms about Xyn’s origin, his wishes and the scale of his power, and not even his name was shared, out of caution.

“Void-borns. What are void-borns?” Dolores looked at Jianmen.

“Elementals. ” Professor Atkinson explained with sweat on his face: “Well … not exactly normal… mostly some of the oldest elementals and some that share some similarities with. Like Fog Dwellers, Light Walkers, and ...”

“And the fearsome hive minded creatures like the Aspects of Fear and Aspects of Dread, and the mysterious Depth Dwellers. ” Jianmen nodded, but did not disclose his theory that the Depth Dwellers, just like Fog Dwellers, may have the closest ties to the descendants of Xyn than any other elementals and void-borns: “I don’t know if I should congratulate you or offer you my thoughts and prayers.”

“I … I think we should take some time to think about it.” Professor Atkinson wiped off some of his sweat, and stared at Jianmen earnestly: “Thank - thank you, sir.”