After convincing Fulgardt to fight Skullius, Sause – knowing that he wouldn't be able to handle being close to the battle – had warped to Opungale to wait for the coming of the Deities. Quite like Boron, he had business to settle with his creators. Quintess in particular.
At this moment, as he looked up into Quintess' immense, star-like eye, he managed a small smile of his own.
"It almost feels unreal, ahaha…" he said, sweating.
<But you know you're lucid.> said Quintess lightly. <Believe me. I know the feeling of meeting your maker in kind for the first time.>
Sause gave a dry laugh and sat down while Quintess placed his elbow on the edge of the mountain and supported his chin with his hand. How the mountain didn't topple over was a genuine mystery.
Boron was quite enraged by the tangent Quintess went on, but Listafelle worked a miracle to keep his attention on her.
<I don't imagine you treated Kaella well ever since removing your seal.> she said. That did the trick. Boron's rage fixed upon her.
Meanwhile, Skullius, quite intrigued by the development with Quintess and Sause, but also wary of what Fulgardt might do, rallied his Apostles his way while putting a Exora Mead skin into his mouth to recover his Amras.
He beckoned Kenno to his side. (It took him three tries to get the Unlimited Star to focus on him.) "I have a very important job for you. Two jobs, actually. This interlude won't last long. Trust me. I need your nerves ready."
In truth, Kenno hardly heard what the Hybrid said. What he thought he had heard actually flitted out of his mind when Fulgardt turned to Skullius and him.
The Immoral grinned.
"While I'm deciding whether to kill you first or these three, feel free to browse your options," he said dismissively and turned his attention back to Quintess and Sause.
Skullius frowned, but made no comment.
He too pushed a little of his attention to what Quintess and Sause were saying.
<Speak freely, Sausifillis.>
"It's a lot harder to muster my words when you already know what I am going to say," said the Giant seriously.
<I have an idea. I know you, after all. The only things I'm unaware of where your actions are concerned, are those that came after Ciumin… Boron rose from his prison. I know you've made a lot of choices since then. Tell me.>
"Do you understand why I made those choices? Even the ones from before?"
<Does it have to do with why you were waiting to be judged by me?"
Sause took a strained breath. "Should you not judge me for what I did? You know about that. You know the blood I spilled onto the land. I did it wantonly. I killed my brethren and ate them all without remorse or regret. Does that not bother you?"
<…> Quintess didn't answer immediately. He considered the Giant. <I have an idea about the whys. I do wonder about the hows, however. You murdered them all violently after you were freed from Fulgardt's prison. That really wasn't necessary, was it? Speak freely. Why did it have to be a violent bloodbath before you inevitably fed on your kind?>
Fulgardt… had not known this. He was rather intrigued by this piece of information. Even more interesting was Sause's reaction to it.
The Giant seethed. His face nearly turned red, his thick skin turning wrinkled as he scowled.
"I was there during the First Grand War, when Giants roamed the world, teaching the Sif and the humans about the proper ways to appeal to you, Listafelle and Suzamete. They all carried the joy and pride of being descended from two dragons who held themselves as your Heralds. They were proud of being descended from your raw power. They even expected a greater evolution, following such a prestigious title."
"But I was never like the others. I loved our Scaled Elders and I would defend them with my dying breath, but I had views of my own. I had questions that no one could answer with anything but a warning. I didn't participate the way everyone did in the First Grand War. Even when the plan to take over Feinheath and Opungale came into play, I went about my own business, learning about humans instead. That's why I never returned to Edagon when the others were called back by the Scaled Elder Jiggorrhax."
"I was there during the Second Grand War, when Fulgardt began his campaign against you three and the Purity. I'd seen humans defend themselves from the Giants in the last war, but this one changed my impression of them. It changed my impression of Giants as well. I wondered how the Dragonssons – Giants – could be descended from dragons and yet… feel much like the humans. I wanted to see the distinction, but I couldn't find it. You made dragons, humans and Giants, so I never doubted your imagination. Your will. This time, I wavered."
Quintess continued to pin Sause with a calm, focused look. Sause continued to boil.
"My impression of Giants turned worse when I heard that Elder Jerthrax had devoured much of my kin because Elder Jiggorrhax had foreseen a danger that would require both their strengths. I realised then that there was no magic to creation. How could we, stronger, broader beings – Giants – be called the next evolution from the dragons when so few of us remained? When so few of us could even be conceived. When many of us were sacrificed for the greater good. Suddenly, the real prestige of being descended from the dragons died within me. And when it did, I searched for something else to light a spark in me. To convince me of my worth or at least to help try and restore it. The Elders bore no answers. You didn't speak through them for a long time. Yet, it was different for the humans and the Sif, wasn't it?"
Sause pointed below the mountain at Fulgardt.
The Immoral grinned.
"That's when I found that," said Sause while glaring at Quintess. "A human who could contend against vessels bearing your powers. A mere human. You entered him with powers by your vessels and human Heralds. At first, I wanted to kill Fulgardt to prove my worth, but then I decided to try something else. I wondered how much your will and your words counted for. I thought, Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps there is a real meaning to this. Perhaps this war will end in this human's defeat. After all, he cannot possibly defeat the will of the gods and make it abundantly clear that all I am hinges upon the word of a god who falls to a mere human!"
Quintess did not stir. He did not blink. He was not moved. But Sause continued to speak all the same while Fulgardt crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave a subtle laugh.
"And thus, I gave Fulgardt the secret to reaching Divinity. And alas, when he finally achieved Divine power, even Rayn couldn't defeat him. He was freer than ever. He became an evolution stronger than the will of the gods and crushed my faith! Suddenly, Giants were nothing more than an excuse to decorate Aigas. We were bred from a lie that we were important. Maybe that was why the others tried to take over the world. They were loyal. They were descended from dragons." Sause's nostrils flared.
"So yes. You best believe that in my attempt to influence Fulgardt for my own good, he influenced me as well. In all the thousands of years I spent rotting in his labyrinth, my rage grew. I came upon a revelation. I didn't mark my hatred towards him, but towards YOU, towards the lies in your will!"