Back in the academy room she was staying in, Atzi took a look at the bookshelf. She noticed from the titles alone that every book on it had the same subject - demons.

  Whose room was this? Someone sure had an obsession. She picked one out and random and sat down to read, "Theories Regarding Demon Composition".

  She didn't expect it to keep her attention, but she needed something to keep herself occupied. She started flicking through it.

  It was incredibly dry, outlining several arguments and pieces of evidence for what demons were. If it hadn't been for Atzi's desire to avoid thinking about Cory, she wouldn't have managed to get through even the introductory section.

  Demons, the book began, were unique as a summoned entity. Atzi vaguely knew what a 'summon' was, so she skimmed through several pages of boring explanation, until she found the part explaining why they were unique. She discovered they "do not Answer a Call" - whatever that was - "but instead were made of composite parts at the time of summoning, as constructed by the ritual, for a specific purpose."

  Atzi stared down at those words. Yep, I've got no clue. She continued flipping through the book.

  The book continued by stating that demons were 'unstable', and would "often not retain their parts, instead shifting to other forms entirely. This is particularly the case if they are unbound."

  Atzi had previously heard spooky stories about demons shifting their shapes, so she figured that's what they were talking about.

  From there, the book asked 'why', a question Atzi shared, and divided itself into four explanations. Atzi just read the summary for each of them, which were at least mercifully right at the start of their respective sections. The first was the 'Portal Theory', which stated every demon had tiny portals to the hells inside of them that would "shift matter between realms".

  The second, called 'Mutagenic Magic', proposed that blood magic was inherently 'mutagenic' on a 'microscopic scale', and that demons were what happened when you used it on a 'macroscopic scale'. This apparently also explained "the properties demon blood has when injected into non-demon entities."

  The third was a mouthful, 'Extradimensional Perception Clause'. It said demons couldn't be fully understood. Atzi agreed. It went on to state "what we know as demons are only a portion of the full being. The so-called shifting is the same being, but from another angle, like only being able to view one side of a four dimensional cube." Atzi wondered if other people really had problems seeing all four sides of a cube.

  The fourth one was pretty simple. A powerful mage did it.

  After making her way to the end of the book, Atzi understood two things.

  Even mages didn't know a damn thing and were just guessing.

  And that demons were extremely bad news.

  Atzi looked over a few more books, but eventually got so bored trying to study anything that she fell asleep. She dreamt of demons, but their forms kept shifting into Cory's form, before being obliterated by Terra.

  ===

  In the morning, Atzi yawned and pulled herself out of bed.

  "You've been busy," a voice said in her head.

  Atzi paused before replying. "Yeah. Everything went horribly and I need to wait on that crazy mage to get back so I can even find out if it was worth it."

  "Thank you," the goddess said. "For trying to find out who I am. I wish I knew."

  "...Yeah. Well, we might know soon. Maybe when we do, there might be things you can do? Gods are meant to be pretty powerful after all."

  "I don't know what I would do, even if I could. I just feel… lost."

  Atzi chuckled. "You're not alone there. I mean, even when we figure it out, what do I do? The city's doomed. Pomaria's doomed. Everywhere's doomed. Maybe I make it to Branek fast enough to hide there?"

  "What's Branek?" the goddess asked.

  "Oh, it's a place full of people with lava for blood. Or something like that. They're really hot to the touch. Nice and warm."

  "Why are you going there?"

  "Sostra's gonna be overrun with skeletons in a few days, and Pomaria and Artaxta are doomed too, so where else is there? Novasium, maybe?"

  The goddess was silent for a bit. Then she asked, "So because they are doomed, you want to go somewhere else?"

  "Yeah. I don't wanna die." She looked down, thinking of Cory. "I'm gonna... have to die at least one more time. But I don't wanna keep dying."

  "And dying hurts, right? You said that before."

  "It hurts. It's the worst."

  "Dying is the worst..." The woman repeated. "I'll remember this. Thank you."

  There was a knock at Atzi's door. She wordlessly thanked the mysterious deity for learning that death is a bad thing. "Yeah?"

  "Are you decent?" came the voice of Terra.

  "Gimme a moment." Atzi tossed her regular clothes on. She didn't need the robes for sneaking around, so she pushed them under the bed. "Alright, come in."

  Terra opened the door, looking exhausted. "I was up all night researching the gods for you. Oh, by the way, here's your money." She set a very large pouch on the desk. It made a satisfying clinking noise.

  "Oh." Atzi had forgotten about the money. It felt a lot less satisfying knowing what had happened to get it.

  But she still took it, opening it up to take a look inside.

  One hundred gold coins, so many she couldn't see them all at a glance, gleamed back at her. It was more money than Atzi had ever seen in her life before.

  Atzi let out a small laugh. "A bit of V's fortune. That'll be great when they stab me in my sleep..." She grimaced. "What did you learn?"

  "You should come with me to my office and I'll explain," Terra said.

  -

  In Terra's office, her spellbook was prominently displayed, hovering in the center of a large glowing picture frame hung on the wall. However V had managed to steal it, Atzi had no idea.

  "Take a seat, as this may be a long explanation," Terra said.

  Atzi did so, curling her tail onto her lap for comfort.

  "There are three aspects of your god I investigated. Her appearance, her power, and various records of missing or dead gods in case there were any matches," Terra explained while she took the other chair. "I didn't investigate the 'small gods' of which there are numerous reports and rumors about. It would take months to go through them all and really, people will worship anything and call it a god."

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Atzi shrugged. "Alright. Her power seems a bit much for a minor god anyway."

  "Since you mentioned she had green skin, I decided to look at the records on the goblins. Their only listed god is the Sun, and this claim is of the 'questionable' variety, as there has never been a manifested form or listed prophet. Unfortunately, overall records on the goblins are rather sparse, so if you wanted to know more, you would need to visit them."

  Atzi thought about the mysterious goddess. "She doesn't really look like one. I guess a god doesn't need to look like their followers, though." Like the Water not being a lizard.

  "There are also rumors of an animal-like people who live on the same continent as Hasen. We have only third hand reports which state their god is a woman with the capability to command entire forests with her magic. We have so little information on her, it's possible she may be involved."

  Atzi shook her head. "Seems like a bit of a stretch, wouldn't they know if their god suddenly went missing someday?"

  "There's a god of the elven people that is totally obscured to us." Terra looked interested in this topic. "We have no information on this entity whatsoever, beyond the rarely seen elf who declares it a topic they cannot discuss."

  "So... the only possibilities are gods of people who barely exist in the empire, or not at all, and keep their stuff secret?" Atzi asked, rubbing her head.

  "There are a few more possibilities. I should let you know thoroughly of everything, even if it's unlikely."

  Atzi sighed. "Sure."

  "To be certain, I looked into the gods of Dyme and Branek. Dyme's god is an enormous man made of jade whom his followers refer to as the General, and was witnessed as recently as the end of the war. As for Branek, their god is a statue made of gold. The Idol, though we don't have a record of him younger than fifty years. I'm not an expert in divine magic, so they're a remote possibility."

  "Yeah, neither sound like her at all." Atzi shook her head. "Any others?"

  "Cthargictha currently worships the Uniter who brought together the three peoples of the underground nation. This was ancient history, but they have a tale of three gods each of their peoples worshiped many millennia ago. They were cast out by their peoples when they united under their new god. I view one of these three as your most likely candidate."

  "Oh. That could be her!" Atzi was halfway out of her seat with excitement, before she realized the issue. "Uh, but I'd need to find out who the old ones were, which means... even getting them to talk to me. If they threw those gods out, they probably hate them." Atzi turned her claw. "Is there any record of the Saintess messing with any of them? Malus seemed pretty eager to kill me. She must have known something."

  "Well, we as an empire did attack Dyme. And we are currently at war with Cthargictha."

  Atzi considered everything Terra told her about. "Cthargictha seems like the best bet. Just gotta figure out how to get them to tell me all about their biggest secrets. Great. 'Hey, one-eyes, I'm the prophet of that goddess you hate, tell me all about her.'"

  Terra leaned forward. "There is one last thing. And don't repeat this, or you may be attacked by devout followers."

  Atzi blinked.

  "Here in Sostra, the only God who isn't seen in person every fifty years, or ever, is the Star. His followers refer to him with 'he', but there is no evidence to confirm this. The main issue with this theory is he already has a prophet who displays powers that would be impossible were she not a prophet. But, of course, we don't know if she's used these powers since you obtained this god of yours. I don't even know if the gods could change prophets like that, as there are no records of it happening outside a prophet's death. If you could get the prophet to display those powers, you could rule out that possibility."

  "The Star... how would I get a prophet to show off?" Atzi asked.

  Terra hummed. "Anger her so badly she kills you?"

  Atzi scoffed. "Easy to say when it's not you dying."

  "By the way, have you thought of my offer?" Terra's eyes shined.

  "What could you even give me for that? What would ever make it worth it?" Atzi asked.

  "Think of the knowledge!" Terra stood up. "You could revolutionize magic!"

  "I don't even know magic. My mom said I wasn't good enough to learn it. Hell, I believed her till I saw some of the students here."

  "Most students here fall into one of two categories." Terra sat back down. "There are the ones hand-selected by professors. These we expect to become full mages. The others are those whose families paid a lot of money for them to be here, who rarely get beyond aspirant."

  "Spoiled brats," Atzi scoffed. "...Could I learn magic? Is that possible?"

  "Anyone can learn magic! Why, if you spent several years in your 'time loop' - that's what I've decided to dub it. Clever, no? - you could reach the second circle with effort alone! Though the rank would be more of an issue."

  Atzi decided this was her best chance to learn about magic. Maybe if I learn enough I can show up mom later. "Circle? Rank?"

  "Magic and mages are separated into circles and ranks. Circle essentially represents the complexity of the spell and the mage's capacity for that level of complexity. Rank is the raw power of the mage, and hence also a measure of the minimum strength needed for casting particular spells of a path."

  "Is the second circle good? What circle are you?"

  "Ah, I am of the fifth circle."

  "Great..." Atzi flopped her tail.

  "Theoretically there are nine circles, though no one in recorded history has ever exceeded the seventh."

  A morbid question came over Atzi. "...Do you know what circle... Cory was?"

  "She was a third or fourth circle mage of the second rank," Terra explained. "I could tell when she was trying to cast her magic."

  Atzi stood up, thinking about her situation. She began pacing around Terra's office.

  "Don't touch anything," Terra reminded her.

  "I know that!" Atzi shouted back.

  Atzi didn't want to touch the fountain anymore, anyway. Not after it had basically punched her in the face with water. Learning magic was important to her, but she preferred less direct experience.

  "... I have stuff I need to figure out first. I need to figure out how the hell I'm gonna get to Cthargictha, or how to learn stuff while I'm there. And it might be a dead end, too. For now... I don't even know. You know the city might still blow up in a few days, right?"

  "I have complete confidence in the academy's protection wards. You could view it from a safe spot here."

  Atzi looked over at Terra. "You're kidding, right? You think this place will be safe if the whole city gets burnt up?"

  "I've performed maintenance on the wards myself. Yes, I do."

  "Truth is, if I go out into the city, V or someone working for V is gonna kill me." Atzi continued to pace. "I know that. I wanna go out, but if I do, it'll mean wasting this chance. I'm not gonna waste it. Can you start teaching me how magic works? I mean, the better I am at understanding this stuff, the better for you too, right? Or for your freaky experiments."

  "While I was willing to assist you in exchange for the retrieval of my book, I do not have the time to teach you magic," Terra said. "Although, I suppose since you already have the knowledge of the gods you wanted from me, nothing would stop you from exchanging my book for magical teachings instead, in your future loops."

  "You're okay with that?" Atzi walked near the spellbook floating in the picture frame, looking up at it. "I mean, I've thought about it, I've started realising that kinda stuff. But you're basically saying to rip you off, right?"

  "I simply want my book." Terra motioned to it. "It is in my interest to get it, no matter what. So it's to my benefit you have a reason to retrieve it for me."

  Atzi shrugged. "Sure. Next time I can plan it better too. Maybe if you went to V's house in disguise instead of standing around in your whole outfit?"

  "Ah! Brilliant idea." Terra smiled. "Definitely mention it to me next time."

  Why didn't you think of it first! You're supposed to be smart! "Can I use the academy while we wait on the city to blow up, then? Can't leave it anyway. Whose room am I staying in, anyway?"

  Terra grabbed a quill from her desk, twirling it. "Oh, a student who we kicked out for trying to perform unregistered blood magic. We're fine with it as long as you register all sources of blood and subsequent experiments, but they decided to ignore those."

  "Oh. They sure were interested in demons. What was their name?"

  Terra tapped her quill. "You would need to ask someone else, I don't have student names memorized. Blunkert? Bluntheart? Something like that."

  "Is there any problem if I wear their robes?" Atzi asked like she hadn't done so yet. "What do the colors mean, by the way?"

  "Why would you think the colors mean something?" Terra asked, her expression baffled.

  Atzi considered Terra's question. She suddenly had no desire to answer as she realized it was something she'd read in a pornographic book.

  "And why would you want to wear their robes?" Terra further asked.

  Atzi curled her tail around her leg. "Y'know, sneak into some lectures, learn some magic."

  "You do not need to 'sneak into' lectures."

  "I don't?"

  "As my guest, you may visit anywhere in the academy you like, not otherwise marked. Just don't create a disruption."

  Atzi scratched her head, feeling silly. "Alright. How do I know where to find them, then? The rich kids aren't helpful at all and the wards are a headache."

  "I forgot the illusion wards existed." Terra opened a drawer and pulled out a map. It was clearly very old, unused for a while, with weird stains on it. "Here, this should have all lecture rooms and important student gathering locations, so you can reach them."

  Atzi took the map from Terra and studied it. She wondered what other fancy things the academy had.

  a discord for all your lizard needs.