Jenkins had always considered himself a patient man, but after an hour of fruitless effort, frustration inevitably began to set in. He left the tiny components on the windowsill, picked up his lesson plans, and prepared to head to class.
"Chocolate, let's go!"
Realizing his cat hadn't followed, he poked his head back in from the hallway and called out.
"ow~"
Chocolate, lounging lazily on the windowsill, let out a soft ow. The cat gave him a fleeting glance before shifting its body to face the window again.
"Alright, stay out of trouble."
Seeing that it was almost ti to leave, he offered his cat a final word of caution before closing the door behind him.
The cat gazed silently at the starry sky, its large pupils reflecting in the windowpane. Once it confird Jenkins was gone, it glanced at the pile of intricate components. From its shadow, countless small, black, tentacle-like hands erged, taking hold of the parts and beginning to assemble them.
The cat continued to lounge, but finding the assembly work tedious, it left the hands to their task. It leaped to the floor, padded over to the nightstand, and nudged the Unshadowed Lamp with its paw.
This oil lamp, a relic from the Kren Treasure, had no records in the Church's archives, and Jenkins had discovered no special properties beyond its shadow-nullifying effect and the fact that it never needed oil. Consequently, he typically kept it on his nightstand, using it as a reading lamp.
A small paw nudged the lamp off the table. It landed on the thick, white wool carpet with a soft thud, making hardly any sound.
The cat peered down at the lamp, licked its paw, and then hopped back onto the carpet. It gently stroked the base of the lamp with its paw, and slowly, a line of small text began to materialize.
It tilted its head, observing the text for a mont before letting out an irrepressible yawn.
By the ti Jenkins's evening class was over, Chocolate had successfully pieced the intricate chanical structure back together.
The small black hands supported the water cup at its critical points, preventing it from disassembling again, while Chocolate waited quietly.
Ting~
With a faint chi, the water cup and the water within it reappeared, perfectly intact. Aside from being in a slightly different spot, it looked exactly as it had before.
The cat hopped back onto the windowsill. It patted the cup with a forepaw and even leaned in to lap up a bit of water, but it could detect no difference from any ordinary substance.
Its interest was piqued, but for now, it had to restore everything to its original state before Jenkins returned.
It tapped the cup lightly with its tail, but the object could no longer be disassembled. Chocolate had no choice but to crawl under the bed, find the small box Jenkins kept hidden, and retrieve three clock hands. They were the last remnants of that Bestowal, and even after so much ti, their white spiritual aura was still dazzling.
It nudged the hands with its paw, pointing each one in a different direction, then let out another soft call:
"ow~"
In any case, when Jenkins returned to his room, his worry for the evening—that Chocolate might have curiously swallowed one of the tiny parts—proved unfounded. Everything was just as he had left it, though he couldn't figure out why the Unshadowed Lamp was now lying on the carpet.
He read for a while longer, washed up in the bathroom, and then turned off the lights. Gently stroking the cat curled up by his pillow, he slid under the covers and closed his eyes.
Before his eyes stretched an endless sea of stars. Standing amidst the churning river of the cosmos was the Star Spirit, Rakour. It was entirely expected; any change to a power derived from a Star Spirit was bound to attract the attention of the Astral Plane.
"Good evening."
Jenkins offered a greeting.
"Good evening, new god."
Rakour imdiately bowed in return. She had sought him out because of the day's events.
"I apologize for so impudently pulling you into the Astral Plane again," she began. "But earlier today, I felt my connection to you suddenly weaken before returning to normal. Have you encountered so sort of trouble?"
"Ah, I understand."
As Jenkins spoke, he raised his right hand, and the tal lamp, now glowing with starlight, materialized in his grasp.
"Sothing happened today. My ability mutated."
Rakour appeared astonished.
"I was unaware that a power bestowed by a Star Spirit could change. The equilibrium of the cosmos is paramount among all forces, and our own power is drawn from the most ancient of stars. What manner of great force could possibly alter sothing so stable?"
After receiving Jenkins's permission, she used shimring motes of light to examine the substance of the miner's lamp. Jenkins, in turn, revealed that the change was related to a Mysterious Object.
The Star Spirit must have discovered sothing. Her brow furrowed in hesitation, but she finally spoke in a low voice.
"Great new god, your very essence dictates that your incarnation in the material world cannot be the source of this Epoch's end, but you must still be vigilant. The Millstone of Fate has already revealed the disaster the world is destined to face. The final chapter of this Epoch has a the: steam. I do not know how you interpret this human word, but at such a sensitive ti, I urge you to be exceptionally cautious of anything related to it."
This was a rare mont of her volunteering information about the end of the Epoch, and it was the first Jenkins had heard that the Millstone of Fate had already revealed a perilous future.
"Steam? No, no, no, this ability of mine is a bit different from steam, though the design of the lamp is certainly related to the steam industry..."
He trailed off. As he thought about the end of the Epoch, a single term sprang to mind.
"Do you know of the Beast of Calamity?"
"Of course."
The female-ford Star Spirit nodded slightly. "You attained divinity within this Epoch but have yet to assu your true godly form, so you have not yet achieved true omniscience. At the end of every Epoch, a unique and catastrophic monster or species erges. The appearance of such a being signifies that the true end of the Epoch is less than a century away."
"Like the Ouroboros?"
he asked.
"Yes," she confird. "The world-devouring Ouroboros, the all-assimilating Hydra, the Golden Ants that gnaw upon the World Tree, the Cloud Whale that drinks the oceans dry—all are a part of the calamity. This Epoch's Beast of Calamity is undoubtedly connected to the steam industry. Though it may not be the direct cause of the world's destruction, I implore you to be cautious"
Seeing that Jenkins was about to ask another question, she gently shook her head.
"I apologize, but in your current form, you cannot yet defy the rules of the world. I am forbidden from telling you anything more profound. When you have assud the true form of a god—faceless, formless, and shapeless—I will personally offer my apologies."
A chilling smile graced her perpetually emotionless face. With a gentle push from her transparent right hand, Jenkins tumbled back out of the Astral Plane.
"I just wanted to ask about the All-knowing Treasure Mirror."
He complained silently to himself.
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