December 3, 3458.
The settlement of Date, situated at the eastern edge of the region known as New El.
This was a village overlooking the Date River, where about twenty members of the so-called "foreign tribes" lived.
Previously, Jin and his companions had pushed as far north as Naminte—the town where Adriana Tierra was born—before calling off their exploration, meaning they had remained entirely unaware of Date Settlement, where a handful of people were barely surviving.
Moreover, even Laojun, the magi-brain of Hourai Island, had only registered that human life still lingered in the area. Rather than dispatching Quinta units, it had limited the island's involvement to high-altitude observation.
After all, Jin and his party had faced blatant rejection during their earlier visit to Battalf. They had chosen simply to leave the region in peace.
Inside that very settlement of Date, the cry of a newborn baby rang out.
"Oh, it's born."
"A baby, even here in this village..."
"With this, the Markitus Family can survive for at least one more generation."
Like the others, Date Settlement was a marginal settlement; there was no doubt it would vanish entirely within a few decades at this rate.
"Ah, what a healthy child."
Galvani, head of the Markitus Family, narrowed his eyes as he looked upon the new life.
"Just who in the world is Lord Raldus, anyway?"
Galvani muttered to himself, watching the infant cradled in his daughter's arms.
"..."
His daughter offered no reply.
It broke his heart to see her looking like a lifeless doll, but the grandchild was a delight.
And despite her blank state, she cared for the child with utmost devotion, so there were no immediate issues on that front.
If there was any problem, it was how slowly the boy grew.
Yet Raldus, who came by roughly once a year, acted as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Then, when the boy—named Golbart—turned ten, Raldus performed some manner of magic. Following that, Golbart's mother was said to have finally regained her senses.
Even at ten years of age, however, Golbart looked to be three or four at most. When Galvani voiced his misgivings, she simply shook her head.
"No, it's fine. This child is destined to become something far beyond our imagination. I can feel it."
"What makes you say that?"
"A mother's intuition."
Galvani merely let out a heavy sigh.
Surrounded by such circumstances, the child grew steadily day by day...
Until.
In the year 3459, a spatial tremor shook the world—a cataclysm unnoticed by almost every inhabitant of Planet Ars.
Then came April 1.
A "hole" tore open in space, centered around Mount Funisis in the northern Sahara.
In terms of duration, it lasted for less than a millionth of a microsecond, but for that brief flicker, this world was undeniably linked to the otherworld.
Residing on the other side was a spiritual lifeform.
To such an entity, even a fraction of a microsecond felt like several minutes.
It had nothing to measure against, no standard of reference whatsoever.
In a realm where nothing ever changed, time was effectively frozen.
Weary of that stagnation, one of the spiritual lifeforms peered through the rift into Planet Ars.
More precisely, it extended a portion of its being into the world to see what lay beyond.
(This is magnificent...!)
Planet Ars was an overwhelming torrent of information.
Compared to its own desolate domain, this world teemed with vibrant life and constantly shifting matter—a boundless treasure trove.
Unlike its timeless realm, where nothing existed to measure the passing moments, here flowed a distinct, undeniable current of "time."
And that reality brought about a consequence the entity had never anticipated.
Though the spiritual lifeform fundamentally transcended the concept of time, the fragment it had extended was instantly caught in the grip of Planet Ars's temporal flow.
In an interval shorter than a single breath, not even its immense power could retract the exposed piece before the connection between the two worlds severed forever.
(...!?*@;+<#&%$>~|('"}'"·={...)
Torn away, the fragment of the spiritual lifeform drifted aimlessly through Planet Ars.
Even as a mere fragment, it possessed an intellect far exceeding that of an ordinary mortal, and it swiftly understood that it could not endure for long in this physical realm.
(...&#$? At this rate...!`*+ this is bad...)
Drifting through the unfamiliar world, the fragment desperately searched for a vessel.
And then...
(Ah@ This vessel is+; comfortable.* What is this... a larva of the native fauna?)
The fragment settled upon a newborn human it happened across.
The infant was shrouded in free ether and sub-ether far denser than that of any living creature nearby.
(I must reside here for a time and await an opportunity.)
Spiritual lifeforms were essentially immortal, and even a fragment should have retained that trait.
However...
(...Am I being absorbed?)
As the infant grew into a toddler—some four years later by Planet Ars's reckoning—the fragment realized its own existence was wearing thin.
(Fascinating... this larva is absorbing me.)
Transcending the notions of life and death, the fragment felt neither panic nor dread.
If anything, it welcomed the relief of knowing it would not have to endure another eternity.
(I doubt my knowledge will serve any purpose in this world... but so be it.)
A further fraction of the knowledge held by the spiritual lifeform passed into the child.
Along with it went elements of its worldview and temperament.
Before long, the fragment dissolved entirely without leaving a trace, leaving behind only the young child.
"Golbart, what are you doing?"
"Fixing... the golem."
The one answering the mother's question looked like a five-year-old child. In truth, he was fifteen.
"...You don't need to bother with that. Nothing we do can prevent the collapse of civilization."
"Can't I at least delay it?"
"Golbart, what is the point of delaying the inevitable? We all end up in the exact same place anyway. There's no use wasting effort on redundancy."
The Elder of Date Settlement chuckled dismissively at the boy's efforts, echoing the same sentiment.
New El had long since become a haven for the "fallen." Its people were gripped by a quiet madness—mourning the world's decline even as they despised it.
Most of Date Settlement had succumbed to this pervasive nihilism; only a handful within the Markitus Family still pushed back against the despair.
Raised in such an environment, Golbart had little chance of growing into a well-adjusted person. In time, he developed a cold, condescending view of everyone around him.
To make matters worse, his physical growth remained unnervingly sluggish.
Even at twenty years old, he still appeared to be a mere toddler. The other villagers found him unsettling and kept their distance.
That alienation only warped his disposition further.
By the time he turned fifty, his mother had passed away.
He had the physical appearance of a ten-year-old and was regarded with quiet dread by the village, but he had already realized that his lifespan far outstripped that of an ordinary mortal.
He poured all that extra time into absorbing knowledge.
He read through virtually every book the settlement possessed, mastering the inner workings of every broken tool, machine, magi-device, and magi-machine he could find.
Yet all that knowledge did nothing to heal his twisted nature.
There was a period when his father took him away from the settlement for a time. When Golbart eventually returned, he carried even more knowledge, retreating further into an aloof isolation.
"I'm leaving this place."
"..."
The year he declared his departure was 3536.
He was seventy-eight years old. His mother and grandparents were long dead, leaving him with only a single aging cousin.
Naturally, there was no one left to hold him back, and he never set foot in his birthplace again.
A middle-aged man had arrived to escort him away that day, and those who saw him claimed the stranger bore an uncanny resemblance to Raldus.
Eighty-seven years later, Date Settlement was completely abandoned.