Jerry was well aware of the chaotic and hedonistic nature of the Five Great Dragon Flights. After all, dragons were creatures that would attempt to mate with anything—from slimes to sentient rocks. However, to a certain extent, Jerry truly could not fathom why a dragon, a being that theoretically possessed a high aesthetic consciousness, would couple with a beetle—a creature of peak ugliness—to spawn such a revolting, hideous "Dragonkin."
"It really... makes one want to laugh," Jerry muttered.
Though surprised by his misjudgment, Jerry had to face this mutated insectoid beast that far exceeded his expectations. He ceased his lightning breath; instead, his hands moved in a blur, weaving through surges of elemental mana. A searing flame gathered in his palms, instantly transforming into a roaring fire-dragon that lunged at the Tunnel-Borer with the intent to incinerate all.
ROAR!
The flames engulfed the Borer's head, shrouding its entire form in a crimson inferno. Yet, seconds later, the fire dissipated. The blue chitin showed no signs of charring; not even a wisp of smoke rose from it. On the contrary, the blue patterns seemed to pulse brighter within the heat. The beast merely shook its slightly blackened head and let out a mocking screech, as if laughing at the pathetic attack.
Jerry's eyes turned cold. Elemental spells were useless. He switched strategies instantly, clapping his hands together. The moisture in the air was ripped away, condensing into dozens of jagged ice spears that rained down like a frozen storm.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
A series of sharp cracks followed as the ice shattered into crystalline dust upon impact. The Borer was briefly frosted with a thin layer of white, but the eerie blue glow from beneath its shell easily dispelled the cold.
Erica, seeing the stalemate, refused to let Jerry fight alone. She kicked off the ground, her battered steam armor hissing. With gold Battle Qi swirling around her, she became a golden streak, slamming into the Borer's flank.
THOOM!
A heavy, dull impact echoed. Erica's savage strength still failed to shake the giant. The collision only caused the Borer to tilt slightly. Her armor, however, took the brunt of the damage. The chest plate cracked further, and her left shoulder guard buckled inward with a screech of grinding metal. Scalding steam hissed from the vents, searing Erica's powerful arms.
Li raised her "Inferno Gloves," chanting desperately. A massive fireball, larger than any before, shot from her hands and struck the Borer's neck.
SIZZLE!
The fireball exploded, but the blue veins on the shell acted like a sponge, absorbing the heat instantly. Li felt a chill—the beast seemed more energized after consuming her mana.
Jerry remained silent. He understood now: elemental attacks were simply "recharging" this Dragonkin Borer. He stopped using direct offensive magic and focused on invisible restriction. He raised his hands as if weaving air, manifesting invisible force-fields like transparent ropes around the Borer's limbs. Every struggle the beast made only tightened the tether.
Erica seized the opening, charging again to flip the beast. But as she struck, her chest armor finally failed.
CRACK!
The plating buckled entirely, a jagged piece of iron slicing into her skin. She felt like she had run into a moving mountain, her internal organs vibrating from the shock. But that moment gave Jerry the inspiration he needed.
"Being immune to elements doesn't mean you're immune to death," Jerry said, his voice dropping to sub-zero temperatures. His emotions flattened into pure, cold calculation. His hands traced arcane trajectories in the air, his joints clicking softly.
Jerry locked his gaze on the restrained Dragonkin. No chanting. No flashy lights. He simply performed an anatomical gesture in the air—his hands lifted, then pulled apart.
SKREEEE!
A horrifying scream, a mix of grinding metal and biological agony, erupted from the Borer. This wasn't a roar of majesty; it was pure, soul-deep despair. Its body was being torn open. Not cut, not cleaved, but pried apart at the center by a brutal, incomprehensible force.
It was like an Oreo cookie being pulled apart, only there was no cream inside. The thick blue chitin groaned and shattered, exposing the foul, green flesh beneath.
ROAR... UGH... AHH!
The Borer wailed in primal pain. Its six legs thrashed, shattering the nearby force-fields, but the tearing force was relentless. Its body was pulled, squeezed, and crushed. The sound of snapping bone and rupturing organs formed a macabre symphony. Green ichor and shredded meat gushed from the rift, but an invisible barrier kept a single drop from touching Jerry.
Erica and Li stared in catatonic shock. They had seen bloody combat, but this god-like manipulation of physical laws—tearing a beast that could wipe out a battalion "in half" with a flick of the wrist—transcended their reality.
The blue Borer was eventually reduced to two halves and then crushed into a pile of disgusting, twitching meat. The blue sigils finally flickered out. Throughout the entire process, Jerry had not moved a single step.
The moment the beast died, a shrill, metallic wail echoed from far beyond the city walls. It pierced through the din of war, striking the souls of everyone present. It was a command of retreat.
The endless sea of insects outside the walls froze. Then, to the disbelief and joy of the Ironforge defenders, the tide turned. The black ocean of death began to withdraw into the darkness in an orderly fashion.
"They're retreating! The swarm is retreating!" "God! We held! WE SURVIVED!!"
Deafening cheers shook the sky. Men collapsed, weeping with joy, throwing their weapons into the air. But in the plaza, the cheers were directed at the pile of meat and the boy standing next to it. Unintentionally, the mysterious outsider had become the savior of Ironforge.
The sound of massive wings returned. Kaelia, the Harpy Warden, descended. This time, she landed directly in front of Jerry, folding her wings. Her armor was scarred and stained with filth.
"Ironforge owes you a life," Kaelia said, her voice raspy but solemn. She didn't ask how he did it. She looked at Erica and Li, then back to Jerry. "Follow me. You deserve to witness this victory from the highest point."
She led them to the central spire—a castle that pierced the clouds. Jerry followed, glancing at the dazed girls. "Keep up. Perhaps your steam-gear will be finished by tomorrow."
They reached the top floor—a circular terrace enclosed by massive crystal walls. From here, the city looked like an ant hill. The retreating swarm was a black smudge disappearing into the void.
Kaelia stood by the crystal wall, the previous hostility in her eyes replaced by a mix of awe and shrewdness. "I represent all of Ironforge in thanking you. Without you, we would have been wiped off the map tonight." She bowed—a gesture of extreme respect for a Harpy.
"Your power is a hope we have never seen. I suspect you are a traveler. There are many cities like Ironforge struggling in the cracks between the bugs and the dark. Tonight, I saw a chance to change that." She stepped closer, her tone bordering on submissive. "Ironforge sincerely seeks your protection. We will pay any price. Ancient relics, custom steam-gear... anything you desire, the city will provide."
Erica and Li held their breath. This was Kaelia—the Queen of Ironforge. To them, she was a legend who decided whether orphans became apprentices or soldiers. And here she was, humble before a teenage boy. The power dynamic was dizzying.
Suddenly, a rich, heavy aroma of roasted fat and exotic spices drifted through the gears of the large door behind them. The scent was a physical hand, dragging the girls back to reality. Their hunger, a primal beast, began to roar. Erica swallowed hard, her muscles depleted of energy. Li's stomach let out a tiny whine, her pale face flushing red with embarrassment.
But Jerry remained unmoved by the promise of power or the smell of food. He let out a soft, cold snort—a sound like an ice pick shattering the atmosphere of false warmth.
"How much longer until you turn into a bug yourself?"
Jerry's voice was casual, as if asking about the weather. But the words hit Kaelia like a thunderbolt, freezing the air in the room.
Erica and Li hadn't even fully processed the weight of those words yet; they only felt the atmosphere turn abruptly tense and eerie. But Kaelia, the elegant Queen who had just been in absolute control, suddenly went rigid. The polite, shrewd smile on her face froze, then shattered piece by piece.
She instinctively took a half-step back, the metal heel of her high-heeled combat boot striking the floor with a sharp, panicked clack.
"What... did you say?" Kaelia's voice was dry and raspy, stripped of its previous composure.
Jerry didn't answer. He began to walk forward, ignoring the intensely anxious stares of Erica and Li, stepping toward Kaelia one foot at a time.
"Jerry!" Erica hissed. She could sense the hidden guards lurking in the shadows of the hall. But Jerry merely gave a slight wave of his hand, signaling her not to worry.
Jerry stood at only half the height of a normal adult, appearing somewhat slight before this tall, powerful Harpy with her commanding aura. Yet, with every step he took, Kaelia's royal presence withered. It was an absolute suppression of life-force.
He stopped directly in front of her, so close she could smell the faint scent of his skin. Jerry's gaze didn't linger on her stunning, shocked face; instead, it drifted downward, settling on her body, which was encased in ornate, revealing steam-armor. The armor was masterfully designed, exposing large patches of ivory skin—her flat stomach, her shapely thighs—while covering all vital joints and load-bearing areas with heavy, rune-etched metal.
"The carapace has already reached your groin, hasn't it?"
Jerry extended a finger. He didn't touch her, but pointed through the air toward the junction of her left inner thigh and lower abdomen, a spot tightly bound by her war-skirt and leather straps.
Kaelia's body jerked violently, as if scalded by that invisible touch. Her heart skipped a beat. That was the exact spot where the insectification had begun to spread—the most severe area besides her arm. It was her absolute secret, suppressed and hidden beneath thick padding and tightened belts, a truth that must never be known!
"And here..." Jerry's finger drifted upward, tracing the startling curves of her chest outlined by tight leather, finally hovering over the deep cleavage between her full, snowy peaks. "To inhibit the growth, you soak yourself in high-concentration alchemical agents every day to corrode the new chitinous tissue, don't you? The pain of burning your skin off must be... unpleasant."
Kaelia's breathing was a total wreck. Her pride and political masks were stripped bare by this boy who saw through everything. She felt less like a high Queen and more like a prisoner awaiting slaughter. If this secret got out, her power, status, and life would vanish in an instant.
"Who... are you?" Kaelia forced the words out through gritted teeth.
Jerry ignored her. He stepped half a step closer. He looked up, his emotionless eyes watching the frantic rise and fall of her heaving breasts. Then, he reached out and, with a gentle but irresistible motion, grasped her left hand, which was encased in a heavy steam-gauntlet.
Hiss... A faint pressure release sounded from the gauntlet's joints. Jerry's fingers found the hidden latches at the wrist. With a series of clicks, the bronze and steel glove slid off.
As the gauntlet hit the floor with a heavy thud, Erica and Li gasped, covering their mouths.
It was not a human hand. From the wrist to the fingertips, Kaelia's entire left hand was covered in a layer of shimmering, metallic blue chitin. It wasn't a solid piece; like the limb of an insect, it was divided into several segments, perfectly fitting her slender, graceful fingers. The surface was impossibly smooth, the edges merging seamlessly into the pale, delicate skin of her arm in a way that was both grotesque and hauntingly beautiful.
Kaelia tried to pull back, but Jerry's hand, though seemingly relaxed, held her like an iron shackle.
"Don't be nervous," Jerry said calmly. "I'm not curious about how you were infected. I just want to know if you're interested... in a trade."
As he spoke, his other hand moved with undeniable intent toward her waist. His fingers unfastened the ornate leather belt holding her war-skirt. His cool fingertips slipped past the soft fabric of her under-linen, touching the hot, firm skin of her lower belly, right where the fine blue scales began.
"Nngh..."
A muffled groan of shame and arousal escaped Kaelia's throat. Her body tensed, her legs instinctively snapping shut and pressing together. Jerry's cold fingers felt like a scalpel, peeling back her every defense. He could feel the muscles of her stomach spasming uncontrollably beneath that layer of smooth, alien chitin.
The chitin wasn't rough or ugly; it felt slick, the edges translucent where they met her porcelain skin like a natural, wild tattoo. It traced the curves of her hips and disappeared deeper, hidden by the shadows of her skirt. Near her shoulder blades, small, soft grey feathers poked out—the proof of her Harpy blood, now quivering with her fear.
Pale skin, hard chitin, and soft feathers—three textures coexisting on one body, creating an intoxicating, primal beauty.
Shame and terror pumped through Kaelia's veins like venom. She took a sharp step back, finally breaking free of the hand that had explored her most private areas. Her cheeks were flushed with a sickly red, her eyes full of the humiliation of a violated secret.
"Or perhaps, there is a deal you wish to make with me," Jerry said, retracting his hand as if the invasive touch had never happened.
Kaelia's body shook. She looked at this boy who defied all logic. Finally, like a punctured balloon, her defenses collapsed. She slumped and made a dejected gesture, leading them through the massive gear-driven doors into the dining hall.
The hall was warm, filled with the aroma of exquisite food. But Erica and Li had lost their appetites. Even Erica, the "heartless" Centaur who usually lived for roasted meat, sat frozen. She stared at the glistening turkey, but her mind was looping the image of Kaelia's scaled hand and the look of broken pride on her face.
Li was even worse; she felt like she was going to throw up. From tearing apart swarms to dismantling a Dragonkin and witnessing a Queen's violation—her brain was overloaded.
Kaelia looked at the two girls. She considered asking a servant to take them to a guest room to keep this dirty conversation private.
"It's fine. They're with me," Jerry said, cutting through her thoughts.
Kaelia took a deep breath, forcing herself to be a ruler again. In a raspy voice, she began to explain the secret that would drive any Steam Soldier to despair.
"As you saw... insectification is the inevitable fate of every warrior who fights the swarm in close quarters. If you have any contact—even the slightest touch—their spores enter your body. The process is irreversible. You are infected, and you slowly, bit by bit... turn into one of them."
Erica and Li turned deathly pale. Erica looked down at her own scarred arms and body. A cold dread shot up her spine, freezing her blood.
"Relax," Kaelia said, her voice softening into a pitying tone. "It doesn't happen that fast. For a strong warrior like you, it takes years before visible signs appear." She picked up a crystal glass of dark red wine, her scaled hand steady. "From infection to physical manifestation usually takes two to three years. And it doesn't start where you can see it."
Kaelia's gaze swept over Erica's firm stomach and chest. "It starts under the skin. It starts in your organs. The spores prioritize strengthening your core organs so you can survive harder impacts and digest food faster." She paused, her voice taking on a dark, ironic edge. "In fact, because of this 'optimization,' your healing and vitality become far superior to a normal person's. Wounds close faster. Muscles don't ache after battle. You find your body becoming... better suited to fight the swarm."
Erica wasn't comforted. She sat rigid, digging her nails into her palms. She wanted to ask if "two or three years" meant she only had that long to live, or if that's just when she'd stop looking human. But her throat was blocked.
Li, however, went cold and calm. Her elven face was a mask of indifference. She toyed with a dinner knife, her green eyes locked on Kaelia. "And those... those warriors who have already turned? What is their end?"
Kaelia felt a flicker of respect for the elf girl. This girl was tougher than she looked.
"Ironforge treasures every soldier," Kaelia replied heavily. "When they reach the middle stages—when the internal rot is deep but the external shell isn't fully formed—we tell them the truth. We give them two choices."
She looked at the carvings on the walls depicting the city's glory. "One: take a poison crafted by the Elders. Die with dignity. The body is burned, and the soul returns to the Steam God. This is the promise of honor—to die before becoming a monster."
Kaelia's breath hitched. "The second choice is to join a mission. A mission that might save them, or turn them to dust. It is high risk, with almost zero success, but for those who fear death or refuse to give up hope, it is a chance. Most honorable warriors choose the poison or the mission. Some choose a third way—they leave the city for the deep wastes to spend their final days killing as many bugs as they can."
Kaelia's eyes dipped. "Only a few refuse both. They try to hide, to blend into the crowd. But the infection cannot be hidden forever. They are arrested by the City Guard and executed. Their children, to prevent genetic drift or psychological trauma, are exiled to the wastes to fend for themselves. But that... that is the rare exception."
To Jerry, this grand speech was a clumsy, childish lie. He picked up a piece of white bread, tearing off a small piece but not eating it.
"Stop lying to them," he said, his voice quiet but slicing through the atmosphere of the room. "What 'mission'? Don't you mean the breeding pits?"
"You're just a passive participant in a so-called 'Reverse-Mutation' experiment, aren't you?"
Jerry tossed the small piece of bread back onto the plate. He lifted his eyes, his gaze cutting through Kaelia's final layers of pretense like a pair of precision scalpels.
"You hope to use alchemy to forcibly excise every last swarm spore from a warrior's body," he said, enunciating every word. "You want to find a way to end this nightmare curse once and for all. And those so-called 'volunteers' are nothing more than expendable meat used to test your different formulas and rituals."
Kaelia's body swayed again. She had to grip the back of a chair to keep from collapsing. She hadn't expected that even this—the highest secret of Ironforge—was laid bare before this boy.
"I didn't lie," she said, her voice rising with the brittle edge of someone cornered. "The experiments are voluntary! They can choose to leave with weapons and supplies to find their own path in the wastes! We tell the public they died in battle; their children and families receive pensions and honors, provided they don't stay in Ironforge to spread panic!"
Before she could finish, Li exploded.
"You murderer!"
A sharp, hate-filled scream shattered the silence of the dining hall. Li was shaking with such intensity that the dinner knife in her hand had sliced deep into her own palm. Fresh, crimson blood dripped through her fingers, blooming like dark roses on the ornate tablecloth. She seemed oblivious to the pain, her green eyes fixed on Kaelia, brimming with bloodshot tears.
Erica didn't react immediately. Her mind was sluggish, reeling from the barrage of information. Experiments? Volunteers? KIA? These words swirled in a chaotic haze. But as Li's piercing accusation rang out and Kaelia offered her pale defense, a memory she had buried deep—a memory she had forced herself to forget—surged to the surface.
Her father. A massive, sturdy Centaur warrior who used to ruffle her hair and joke that she had a bigger appetite than the boys. He had "disappeared" after a brutal siege. The official report said he had fallen heroically while pursuing the retreating swarm, his body never recovered. She and her mother had received a hefty pension and a cold, engraved medal of honor.
She hadn't believed it then. Her father was the strongest warrior in the unit; how could there be no body? She had cried and fought, but everyone told her to be proud of his sacrifice. Eventually, she buried the doubt. Two years later, her mother "died in battle" on the front lines as well.
Now, the dots connected.
CLANG!
Erica's cutlery slipped from her hands, hitting the obsidian floor with a jarring resonance. Her face went paler than when she first heard of the infection. She sat like a stone statue, hollowed out.
She finally understood. Her parents hadn't died in battle. They were infected, and they had faced the same choice. Knowing their pride, they would never have fled like cowards or taken the poison. They had chosen the "mission." The damned Reverse-Mutation experiment that Kaelia had painted in such noble colors.
Erica's amber eyes flooded with bloodvessels, a fire igniting in her pupils. She lunged upward, her raw strength and hatred exploding as she flipped the massive banquet table!
CRASH!
The heavy volcanic rock tabletop flipped through the air. Porcelain shattered, wine sprayed, and delicacies were scattered across the floor in a ruin of filth.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Erica let out a roar like a wounded beast—a sound of pure agony, rage, and the humiliation of being betrayed. She lunged toward the Harpy, who stood dazed amidst the wreckage.
Erica was a blur of muscle, moving like a bolt from a bow. However, just as she was about to strike, a powerful, irresistible force clamped onto her left wrist like an iron shackle.
Jerry.
He hadn't even stood up. He simply reached out and caught Erica's explosive arm. His palm was warm and dry, a sharp contrast to Erica's scalding, trembling skin. With a gentle tug, he used an invisible weight of force to pull her massive body back toward him effortlessly.
In the shadows of the hall, a dozen City Guards in black plate armor appeared like ghosts, their steam-rifles humming with blue energy as they aimed at Erica. Li had collapsed to the floor, curled into a ball and sobbing.
Jerry used his body to shield Erica from the majority of the muzzles. He didn't look at the cold soldiers or the shaken Kaelia. He just looked up at the struggling Erica with his youthful, serene face.
"Perhaps they just didn't want you to see them turn into bugs," Jerry said softly. His voice was calm, like morning dew, yet it pierced through Erica's internal storm. He gently stroked the inside of her wrist. That intimate skin-to-skin contact, combined with a strange power in his words, caused Erica's body to go rigid.
"They chose to use themselves to find a way to save you," Jerry continued, his voice a whisper in her soul. "Because they knew that one day, you would stand on those walls too. They wanted you to have a future."
He paused, his deep eyes reflecting Erica's past and future. "Isn't that right?"
That final question was the straw that broke her. Erica's rage and hatred collapsed into a tidal wave of grief. Her strength vanished. She slumped forward, her powerful frame falling into Jerry's lap like a lost child, and she began to wail.
Heart-wrenching sobs echoed through the hall, carrying the weight of years of suppressed pain. She buried her face in Jerry's narrow shoulder, her tears and bile soaking into his clothes. The wound of the truth and the heavy, silent love of her parents cut through her heart like a dull saw.
Li, seeing this, crawled over on the floor. Reaching out with her bleeding hand, she joined Erica in clinging to the mysterious boy who had become their only sanctuary in a world of lies. Two girls—one large, one small—clung to him like lifeboats in a storm, letting their tears flow without end.
Kaelia watched the scene, a flicker of genuine guilt crossing her face. She waved a tired hand at the guards, signaling them to withdraw. The black-armored soldiers vanished into the shadows as silently as they had come.
After a long silence, Kaelia spoke, her voice carrying a rare vulnerability. "I was wrong... or rather, we were all wrong."
She lifted her chitin-covered arm into the light. Its alien beauty now looked only like a tragedy. "My grandfather, my father, and I... three generations of my family tried to solve this with alchemy. We dissected countless bugs... and countless volunteers. And this is the result." She gestured to the scales on her arm—the inescapable curse.
She set her arm down, catching a glint of something in Jerry's calm eyes. She took a deep breath, reaching a decision. "But now... we may have found the real solution."
She poured herself a glass of wine from a bottle that had survived the crash and downed it. The burn gave her courage.
"Decades ago, the steam-railway across the Silent Plains was completed. Information and alchemy began to flow between cities. We quickly realized that 'insectification' wasn't just an Ironforge problem. Every fortress on the plains faced it. So, we united."
"About seven years ago—right when my father decided to take the poison to keep his dignity—he told me a secret. A secret kept by all City Lords. They found the source. The Hive. Every bug comes from there."
"If we can destroy it—kill the Broodmother that births them—then even if we can't cure the ones already infected, our children will live in a world without the swarm!"
Kaelia's voice grew excited, but it was quickly crushed by despair. "But the hope was a lie. Over the next few years, the united cities sent armies. The elite of the elite, the strongest steam-weaponry. They launched over ten crusades against the Hive. Every single one ended in total annihilation."
Her eyes went hollow. "Not a single soul returned. We don't even know what happened. We only got fragments from magical messengers... 'Abyss of flesh'... 'Incomprehensible monsters'... 'The sky is bleeding'..."
"Eventually, everyone gave up. The cost was too high. The Elders declared the Hive unreachable and ordered all resources back into alchemy, trying to fix ourselves instead."
"Heh."
"So, your 'solution' is me."
In the middle of the girls' sobbing, Jerry's voice rang out with a hint of amusement. Kaelia shuddered. She had poured out the deepest despair of her world, trying to build a shared atmosphere of doom, hoping to lead him to her final request. But this boy had punctured the mood with a single, smiling sentence, laying her desperate, mad scheme bare on the table.
Kaelia looked at him. Jerry was smiling, but there was no warmth in it—only the look of someone who had already seen the end of the movie.
Shame and the heat of being exposed flushed her cheeks. But beneath that was the desperate fire of a final gamble. If he saw through her, there was no point in pretending.
"Yes," Kaelia said, her voice raspy but firm. "I admit, the moment I saw you tear that monster apart, the thought took root in my mind."
She spread her hands—one human, one chitinous. "You are right. I want your strength. Ironforge... no, every living thing on this land is at a dead end. Alchemy is a scam. Every 'success' is built on the corpses of dozens of warriors just to make the next one last a few months longer. That isn't victory. That's slow suicide!"
She gestured to the darkness outside. "We cower behind walls, using generations of lives to fill the trenches, watching our friends turn into monsters while lying to ourselves about 'honor'... all because we are helpless against that Hive!"
She stepped closer to Jerry, her eyes burning. She was almost touching him now, her posture lower than ever before. "I don't know who you are or where you come from. But your power is beyond my understanding. The 'elite' armies of the cities are probably toys to you."
Kaelia dropped to one knee. The Queen of Ironforge knelt before an eleven-year-old boy in front of two orphans.
"I, Kaelia Greyfeather, in the name of the Lord of Ironforge and the last heir of the Greyfeather line, beg you." Her forehead nearly touched the floor, her voice trembling. "If you truly have the power to destroy it... please. If you kill the Broodmother... Ironforge, and I myself, will offer you everything we have."
As she offered her submission, Jerry's attention was diverted by an electronic chime that only he could hear—a sound from another dimension:
[Quest: Path of Survival! Activated!] [Quest Chain: 'Embers of the Hive'] [Step 1: Survivor Beneath the Steel — Status: Complete!]
Hum... A subtle vibration resonated in his consciousness. The cold system voice spoke again, unveiling the next scroll of fate:
[Step 2: Vow of the Broken Cocoon] [The truth does not exist in words or history. Only by drawing closer to the source will you discover what is a true answer and what is merely a comforting fantasy.]
"Fine. I accept," Jerry said with a playful giggle. "Hee-hee!"