"Doomed."

This was what he concluded the moment he witnessed it.

On a night where bleak darkness devoured every trace of starlight,

a mysterious red star, never-before-seen,

glimmered alone within the constellation of the Sealing Stone

in the northern region of the sky.

"We must all unite to prepare for the coming calamity.

Otherwise, all that awaits us is annihilation!"

Rux Maha Dehkia.

Nicknamed the "Oddball of the Ivory Tower" for his eccentric ideas,

he appeared before the masses for the first time.

In a blink of an eye, a crowd formed before him

as he revealed the existence of the invaders he had long studied and tracked.

"I've seen with my own eyes the comet that orbits the North Star.

A comet bearing blood-eyed, dark beings that promise destruction.

That's right. The fell invaders foretold in the Revelations of Margahan are coming.

Three days is all they will need to reduce this glorious kingdom into nothing more than ash!”

But even the appearance of a mysterious comet

was not enough to evoke fear in the people blessed by the bountiful Agris River.

They had been lulled into the illusion of eternal abundance by

the bountiful grain that lined every warehouse and the aroma of wine that accompanied every meal, despite knowing that eternal life and endless bounty did not exist in this world.

They had lost themselves in their daily, honeyed prosperity.

“Hear me! That which none have laid eyes on before is coming.

Pay heed to what my creation - made with my very own hands - has allowed me to witness!

Believe what my astronomical telescope, Atorarkiaka, has revealed!”

But before he could continue his speech, he was imprisoned for dissent.

Confined to the very prison he had designed, which none had ever escaped,

he set aside his sorrow for the kingdom set on the path of ruin.

Then, on a night when only a sliver of moonlight shone through the bars,

he vanished without a trace;

except for a letter contained in a small cube he left behind.

.

.

.

“Foolish citizens...

When the comet descends and the invaders bring ruin to this world...

When the temples collapse and the Ivory Tower burns, and your tears of regret wash over the split earth...

I will come to save you all.”

And so, after exactly 49 years,

the comet—with its invaders in tow—fell upon the world.

The temples collapsed, the Ivory Tower burned, and the earth split open.

As the people shed tears of regret, they looked for his return.

And yet, he did not come to save them.

.

.

.

“Carthuo Fenhaus Atoraxxion: The Final Day Cometh.”