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‘You’re impossible to work with sometimes, y’know that? I don’t know how Suresh did it so much. Did he just have a much higher tolerance for your abuse, or were you actually a nicer guy back then, huh? Tell me, please.’

‘Hardly. He hated me far more than you do now.’

‘Psh! That’s difficult to believe!’

‘He plotted my death constantly. You only do that occasionally.’

‘Eheh! Maybe that was just how he demonstrated his affection!’

‘If that is so, then perhaps this entire mess is the same. Perhaps Germal is secretly enamored with you.’

And to Dozer’s muted surprise, that actually gave the Mad Demon pause. A brief silence intervened before Morgunov picked the conversation back up.

‘...Y’know, I hadn’t even considered that.’

Dozer might’ve sighed if he could have. Of course, on the rare occasion when he’d deigned to make a joke, this idiot would take it seriously. He didn’t know whether to feel further amusement or merely pity.

‘I mean, he DID try to recruit me,’ said Morgunov. ‘And he nearly believed me when I said sure! You might be on to something!’

Pity. He definitely felt pity now. What a chaotic fool.

‘Shame I promised I’d kill him. Too late to go back on my word now, even for a secret admirer. But talk about flattering! A Primordial crush, eh?! How adorable!’

‘What makes you so convinced that Germal is one of these so-called Primordials?’

‘So-called? How much do you know about them? I’ve been studying them, on and off, for centuries. But especially recently.’

‘Personally,’ said Dozer, ‘I have never been convinced they were ever real to begin with. It has always been just stories and myths. And we both know how those propagate themselves over the eons. How they stretch the truth and exaggerate. How they become narrative tools, more than anything else. To strike fear in the weak and discourage undesirable behavior.’

‘Oh, so you just think it’s all a buncha hooey, huh?’

‘Even if not, why should we worry over them? In their own tales, they were, in the end, as nothing before power of the Void.’

‘That’s what I’m sayin’! And that’s also why I hope they’re real, too! So I can bring ‘em down a peg! I gotta tell ya, if it turns out that ol’ Germy actually ISN’T a Primordial after all this, then I am gonna be in SUCH a sour mood! Warnin’ ya now, pal! If that happens, ya better not bother me for a while, unless you’re spoilin’ for a real fight!’

Hmph. A tempting notion.