"Hey, wait, it's a trap!" Admon exclaimed.
"We were manipulated by someone, you have to believe us!" adds Eva.
In any other circumstance, Ei would have given them a chanceand let them explain, before forgiving them, realizing that they had been influenced by Passion.
However, Kahn had chosen his moment perfectly: Ei had only just woken up from Their rest and had not regained all Their clarity. And seeing Admon and Eva hugging without any embarrassment in front of Them as well as the damage they had created, Rancor took hold of Them and pushed Them to use Imagination, just once.
Nonetheless, it was enough to seal Admon and Eva's fate, banishing them to the Platonic Sea and transforming them from humans of the Prime World into Travelers, fictional beings who could use Imagination and travel between narratives but unable to go to the Primary World.
"Ah… what did I do?"
Immediately regretting Their action, Ei sought to bring them back, and at the same time return the concepts to their normal state, but They failed for the same reason that Kahn failed to resurrect Altir with the Imagination: sabotage.
When Altir died, those responsible had secretly used Imagination to make his death irreversible, lest he take revenge once he was brought back to life. Likewise, Kahn had secretly made arrangements to ensure that Ei could not help Admon, Eva, or the concepts return to their original state and return to the Primary World.
Ei, devastated, collapsed to the ground. Kahn left peacefully, having finally accomplished his revenge, on the one hand on Ei who had ignored his suffering and on the other on humans by separating them from their two most remarkable individuals, as punishment for their cruelty towards him.
Subsequently, Ei created a ship supposed to allow unrestricted navigation between the Platonic Sea and the Primary World, the Ark. Unfortunately, success was not achieved: the Ark could accommodate Travelers on board, but not bring them into the Primary World, so it was completely useless for the use intended by Ei.
The latter did not resolve to give up, and began experimenting to allow a Traveler to obtain the same status as a being from the Primary World, with the help of five volunteers from various stories who devoted themselves despite the risks. .
Ei was reluctant to risk their lives but finally decided to do so. The ark being the junction between the Platonic Sea and the Primary World, he created a space inside to experiment on the five Travelers: four died and the fifth, renamed Quinte, survived and gained status and control over the Imagination equal to, or even superior to the vast majority of humans in the Primary World. However, the backlash was that he found himself completely unable to leave the space inside the Ark.
Seeing that his project was doomed to failure, Ei finally decided to choose the second option: since They was incapable of repairing the damage, They would at least find and arrest the instigator to prevent other tragedies like this one. this to happen.
By mobilizing all Their energy, They managed to temporarily bring back the consciousness of Past, Present, Future and Diversity.
"four of you, I beg for your help in finding the demon that put you in this state!" Ei. "Past, Present and Future, I want you to create a copy of every thought and feeling that has been, is and will be in the minds of the humans of the Primary World, directly into the Platonic Sea, so I can inspect them and find out who could have thought of such an evil plan"
"But there are too many, creator, even the three of us will be incapable of such a feat" the three concepts replied.
"And that's why I also called Diversity here" Ei said. "Part of her power comes from the quantity of distinct things, so she should be able to make that possible. Am I right, Diversity?"
"You are right, Creator, but I will only agree to help you on one condition"
"Which condition?" Ei asked, slightly surprised.
"You have always been simple and dedicated to your creative mission, without even granting the slightest special trait to yourself, Ei! You go against the very concept of diversity, which I consider a personal offense. So, whatever the reason, I will only agree to help you if, at a minimum, you choose a gender and a clear appearance"
Ei sighed, but did not hesitate:
"I accept" They said. "So I will choose to be…"