Despite the restart of creation, Kahn and Zenith continued their happy lives, enjoying every moment. Contrary to what happened during the first reading, in this one, Kahn's Brother, Altir, was still alive and he had married Eva, who this time had never been punished by Ei.
The two couples were very close and one could even say that they formed the most famous team in all of Creation: they stopped the destroyers, saved countless stories and lived happily for millions of years.
Together, even after the humans of the Platonic World once again lost the ability to use Imagination and were locked into normality, they continued to redouble their efforts to restore this power.
Unfortunately, humanity so rejected the existence of stories, Imagination and abnormality in general, that their attempts all ended in failure.
So much so that, in this second reading, it was not only Ei but also the four of them who lost the ability to use Imagination in the Prime World, except to do small things that they could have done without. However, this did not prevent them from living a happy life. For his part, Ei had decided to stay behind to glean as much information as possible, in order to know how different the second reading was from the first, and possibly find out about the next Fate and find a way to solve it. to prevent.
Quinte, for his part, simply remained in the world of the Ark. The only one missing was Admon: in the second reading, he was conspicuously absent, there was not even a trace of his existence. Zenith and Kahn questioned each other, but not Ei, who already knew the reason for this absence.
True ending 2
Finally, after years and years, Fate restarted creation again and the second reading was completed.
End of the second reading of the creation myths.
Creation myth - third reading
Once again, only Quinte, Ei, Zenith and Kahn escaped the return to zero. In this third reading, even if the Platonic World and the Primal Sea were broadly the same, little differed from the second: Altir was alive and so was Eva, but the latter had become colder, staying away from the others. . Humans had once again distanced themselves from Ei and once again lost the ability to use Imagination, but they had still managed to invent two entirely new concepts: Faith and Belief.
This was followed by the creation of numerous religions, most often venerating Ei and sometimes other key figures in the creation of the world, but always under different names. There were even some gods created from scratch by humanity.
All these different beliefs and religions led to many wars and massacres, which even Altir, Zenith, Kahn and Ei, the only four people born outside the Platonic Sea who could still use Imagination, considered appalling.
Each of their interventions to stop the massacres was considered "divine intervention" by humans, leading to even more religions and cults being created, and therefore even more bloodshed to be perpetrated.
This time, even before the collective unconscious of humanity rejected the abnormality and prevented them from fully using Imagination in the Primary World, the four beings of the first era decided for themselves to exile to the Platonic Sea, in the hope of slowing down the creation of new cults and religions and therefore avoiding total war.
"So, is this how humanity acted, in this third reading of creation? Honestly, it doesn't even surprise me: they take after you after all" Quinte said.
Ei had come to speak to him about the events that had occurred in the Primary World, and this response was the one that Quinte offered her.
"Very funny" Ei said with an annoyed tone.
"Indeed, seeing you wear this annoyed expression is very amusing" Quinte replied without his tone showing the slightest change.
"I guess you have no idea how to get humanity back to Imagination, or at least get them to stop limiting it in the Prime World? Or even how to stop Fate to avoid a third restart?"
"For your first question, I think you would just need enough time to be able to modify the collective unconscious of humanity, and make them stop rejecting abnormality. Unfortunately, I'm talking about a really LONG time, and Fate will probably be back before you're done.
Now, if instead of trying directly, you took advantage of each new reading to learn more about the collective unconscious and the means to subjugate it, perhaps, after a long time and many, many readings, you will be able to modify it in time"
"I see, that's a surprisingly good answer coming from you, Quinte. And for my second question?"
"Well about that, Ei, I don't really see a way to stop a Fate of this magnitude. Even for normal stories, we can only delay their Fate, not to mention that of the entire creation, we are talking about a calamity that we consider fiction after all.
Maybe if all of humanity found the use of Imagination and helped you, you could do something to avoid it indefinitely. But it's just a theory, it's not like I came out of the Ark to observe the situation for myself"
"Hmm, no, I think your assumption is right, my dear friend. Ultimately, I must first deal with the problem of humanity to solve the problem of Fate"
"That's it, I see that your brain still functions somewhat despite your age"
Ei showed a displeased expression, not hiding her annoyance at Quinte's derogatory remarks, but she did not leave immediately because she still had one question to ask:
"Quinte, what should I do with Kahn and Zenith?" she asked.
She was not unaware that, like her and Quinte, the couple had been spared the two previous Fatalities. Despite all the time that had passed, she still held some resentment towards Kahn because of his malicious actions during the first reading.
"From what I understand, they haven't done anything wrong so far, and they might even prove useful in the future in solving problems with humanity and Fate" Quinte said. "I thought that even without consulting me, you might have realized that it was better to leave them alone... It seems that I was wrong about your brain when I said that it was still working."
"You…" Ei began before calming down. "I preferred it when you rated everything, all the time, at least that didn't give you time to spew barbs"
"Oh, all right, then I'll rate your visit: ten out of ten million"
Ei wasted no time in replying and immediately exited the Ark World, sitting on the deck of the ship and looking down at the Platonic Sea below.
"Ah… so many problems…"
Meanwhile, in one story, Kahn and Zenith were secretly talking while Altir was away:
"Honey, do you think we should warn your brother about Fate?" Zenith asked.
Kahn thought for a moment before shaking his head:
"No, my brother is decent at using Imagination but that's all, he wouldn't be able to help us find solutions and it would risk making him lose his mind to learn that"
"I see, you're right" Zénith conceded. "By elimination, only Ei remains, right? She is the best at Imagining without any possible debate, and we know for sure that she was not affected by Fate. In addition, she is the creator of the Primary World and the Platonic Sea. She probably doesn't want them to keep getting rebooted forever either. I think she would agree to join us?"
Kahn shook his head again:
"You forget that if it hasn't been reset, it still hates me, he said. It would be fine for a short cooperation but doing something about Fate would take millions, and probably even billions of years. And Ei still has Resentment inside her. Having taken advantage of it, I know that it turned her into a real time bomb. Whatever happens, we must avoid her"
"I get your point" Zénith replied. "But in this case, what to do? Creation will continue to restart indefinitely, and the people we love along with it! I can bear it because I love you more than anything. But you, your brother..."
Kahn cut her off:
"It'll be fine. I too can handle anything as long as I have you"
He took Zenith in his arms and kissed him. She kissed him back, and they stayed like that for a long time before finally parting their lips.
"It will be fine, my love" Kahn said.
"Yes, let's hope so" Zénith replied.
What they didn't know was that during their discussion, Altir had joined them and, discerning the key words of their conversation, he understood that they were talking about something important and hid near them , listening to the entire conversation without their knowledge.
But even he ignored that, hiding in the shadow, another person was observing him...