Page 1490 -- CLIX.

((Double Monday -- Page 2 of 2))
There was a maze-like etching all over the body of the monument. The marks were so faint that even with the light being emitted by the pool of lava directly below, they were still almost invisible to the naked eye.

Mr. Sheridan was talking again, but Hector wasn’t listening.

‘What are these marks?’ he asked Garovel.

‘...They’re a signature,’ the reaper said privately. ‘Rathmore put them on all of his works.’


Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Nine: ‘Pursue thine bounty...’
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Their inspection continued for a while longer, but they had nothing to show for it. Despite Garovel’s assessment, they found no apparent means of doing anything with the monument. No keyhole. No mechanism of any kind.

And though the reaper clearly did not wish to, they eventually decided to go meet up with Diego and tell him what they had discovered. He was the one in possession of the Kag, after all.

However, Garovel decided not to bring up Rathmore’s name. As far as everyone else was concerned, it was just a strange monument of entirely unknown origin.

And indeed, it really was almost everyone else. They ended up bringing more than just Diego back to the park with them. Manuel, Lorios, Elise, Carver, Mr. Sheridan, and all four of the Hun’Kui came along as well. Only Zeff and Axiolis were left out, which seemed a bit of a shame, but the consensus in the group was that Zeff wouldn’t come with them even if they went to go ask him.

Diego walked around the monument several times, rolling the Kag between his hands all the while, breaking only to scratch his chin or his temple intermittently.

‘So?’ said Yangéra. ‘What’re you thinking?’

Diego crouched down in front of the molten pool, then looked over at the reapers. “You guys really can’t tell me anything else about this thing?”

The reapers all shook their heads.

Hector wondered if Garovel’s choice of secrecy was truly the right one, but he figured he would just trust his judgment for now.

“Hmm.” Diego smacked his lips. “Hey, Hector. C’mere for a sec.”

A bit confused and curious, Hector ventured over and crouched down beside the man, in front of the pool.

“...Think you can safely move all this lava for me?” said Diego quietly.

Hector blinked. “Hmm...”

“I’d do it myself, but it’d probably be easier for a materializer,” said Diego.

“Ah... alright.” Hector rubbed his gauntleted hands together, gathering his concentration.

He’d never tried to materialize anything inside lava before, but as he feared, it proved impossible. It was still too close to a solid, it seemed, and therefore too dense for his iron molecules to accumulate. Pushing all the lava out on a simple platform would not work. He would have to be a bit more creative.

He started by adding iron to the stone wall that already existed around the pool, and from there, he began growing his material downward and into the lava.