When he woke up, he didn’t find himself in his current base or at his desk. Instead Prisma found himself at the bottom of the Sea of Quanta once again, but somehow still standing on water as well. As he looked around a familiar blue flame popped up in front of him. And before he could ask anything, she already started talking.

“Oh, how truly delightful. The way you’re making sure your mother has a nice place of chaos to stay after, makes me so proud.” The flame squealed in delight. Meanwhile Prisma just looked at her in surprise and confusion.

“Mother? What are you talking about Sequa? And better yet, what am I doing here?” he carefully asked.

“Well, I’m talking about myself of course. And the fact that you asked that beaver if I could join that circus after all this is done. This is truly delightful to me. Oh, I can already imagine all that delicious raw chaos I’ll get to experience.” She started explaining. But she saw her Emanators confusion still etched on his face, finally realizing what he actually meant.

“Oh, don’t look so confused. I created you, so of course that makes me your mother. Don’t tell me you thought I just saw you as a servant?”

“I mean I thought… you’re simply my creator, nothing more. The one I report to and who gave me life. I didn’t know you saw yourself as my mother…” he started explaining only to be cut off.

“Oh my, you’re truly oblivious my dear boy. And here I thought you saw yourself as such a good detective. You’re my creation yeah, but I’m not as heartless as that stupid Imtre to only see you as a servant to do my errands. No, you’re my son.” she ended her explanation with a simple giggle, as if she hadn’t just thrown off everything her Emanator thought he knew about their relationship.

“I mean… You can’t just… Wait…” It was clear that he was searching for something to say. “Wait, did you just call the Goddess of Life Heartless, while making yourself look like a saint? You’re the literal embodiment of death!” he finally managed to articulate a sentence that made some kind of sense.

“That’s what you’re prioritising right now? Well, ok. Tell me dear, what does death mean to you?” she asked calmly. Meanwhile Prisma took his time to think about the question he had just been asked, so he didn’t have to address the elephant in the room.

“Death is… it’s the end of the road, most often connected with fear and pain. It’s what makes for so many painful goodbyes…”

“Ah, so that’s how you see it. Let me tell you what I think. Yes, death might bring pain and misery, but it’s also necessary. Without it, the tree would have long destroyed itself due to its own weight. And even then, death isn’t a punishment. It’s the release of the prison everyone calls life. Of course, it still causes pain, but you can’t tell me that the pain the living experience during their life isn’t worse. Compared to that, death is a welcome release, wouldn’t you say?” she explained how she saw her role in all of this. And he knew she was right.

“That… That still doesn’t excuse the way you go over things. You see this as if nothing matters and everything is just a big game to you!” he countered.

“Oh, that’s just the pot calling the kettle black. As if you’re any better my dear. Or do I have to remind you of the night you wiped out the entirety of Everlume. Or how when I made you the deal of sacrificing your friends and their worlds to keep the information of Snowy, there was this split second where you actually considered it? Or how whenever you meet someone new, you always try to assess how useful they could be, even if it’s just in the back of your head? You’re clearly just like your mother, even if you don’t want to see it. But while I embrace it, you try to go against it.”

To that end, she was correct. Prisma couldn’t just blatantly ignore the truth in her words. Especially because she hadn’t said a single lie. “Wait, you know I only considered it. So, you also know I never meant it when I told you that I agree to the deal.” He slowly started to piece his thoughts together. “So, if you knew I wouldn’t give you those worlds… why did you still let me keep the information about where Snowy’s soul was trapped?”

The question hung in the air for a few seconds, before Sequa started laughing. “Oh, it’s simple my dear. I had never planned on you delivering those souls to me in the first place. I just wanted to see your resolve. If you’d be brave enough to blatantly lie to the God of Death, then you’d definitely not back down against Imtre. And let me tell you a little secret.” The blue flame flew closer towards Prisma, until he could feel the flames warmth against his face. “I never really liked Imtre in the first place. She’s always been so boring and strict, it’s exhausting. And the way she dealt with that child was just diabolical. Trapping her in endless torture in the Imaginary Realm, just so that she would never feel the warm relief of death. She crossed a line I won’t ignore. And then you come up with a plan to finally get rid of her. It’s like I was just handed a perfect hand.”

Prisma was left speechless. It took a long time, before he finally found his voice again. “So, you’ll actually help me. With the whole crazy plan?”

“Well, I believe you already did most of the work without me dear. But there’s still something you haven’t managed, right? To get Thorn on your side.” And she was right. The last big piece before his plan could roll into the next phase was to get Thorn on his side. But he still hadn’t gotten enough to actually get him on his side. Sequa continued talking: “That’s where I might just be able to give you exactly what you need.”

“And that would be?”

“Well, my dear. You’ve already done such good research during your lifetime, uncovering the lost legends in Universe 0. But you’re missing a few crucial details unknown to everyone. So, let me tell you a legend. No, let me tell you a story never told…”

Over the next few hours, Sequa used memory recreation to show and explain a legend from the beginning of the Imaginary tree to Prisma. (To the readers, no I won’t explain more for now. The story there is important enough that it has its own word document) After she finally finished hours later, Prisma just looked at her. “This is… so cruel.” were the only words he managed to use to describe what had just been revealed to him.

“Yes, it’s truly tragic. And in my eyes, it’s another reason why Imtre has to go, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yeah… Thank you for this Information Sequa. But now, I’ll need to go meet him. It’s time to get into phase two.” With that, Prisma tried to wake up, but it didn’t work. “Why can’t I…”

“Oh my dear, I never said the information was for free. There’s something I want in return for it. And don’t worry, it’s nothing too bad.” She let silence hang between them, before finally telling him her demand. “From now on, you don’t address me as Sequa anymore. Instead I want you to call me by who I actually am to you. Your mother.”

She could instantly see the confusion on Prisma’s face shifting towards shock first, then denial and quickly after to defeat. He let out a long sigh, before finally answering: “Ok, mom. If this is really what you want.” He knew instantly just by looking at the flame in front of him that there would be no way of getting out of this demand, so he just gave in.

In response, the flame gave a delighted squeal, before flying happily around him. “Now that wasn’t so hard now, was it? Now go on and fulfil your mission dear.” With that, everything around him went black again, as he finally awoke at his desk.

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That evening in a familiar towers garden, you could see Thorn, tending to some flowers. Hearing steps behind him, he turned around, only to see Prisma approaching.

“It’s been some time brother. We need to talk.”

Thorn just stared at Prisma for a long time, assessing the situation, before answering: “We clearly do.” That’s when he noticed that the forcefield had gone up again, making sure that no unintended guests could listen in.

“Now tell me brother, no William. What do you know about the Prisoner of Life?”

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