I - ELYSE
Strand of the Ancients, Tobusekai; one week prior to the Arc's beginning
Solomon squinted over the expanse, feeling the chilled waters of the Hokubu Sea wash over his bare toes in the sand. Nearly two years had passed since that day.
The Chains of Heaven arched through the air, marking a descent toward his pinned prey: the cosmos itself, Abzu. An attack that would not kill, but bind. Restrain the ancient being and return him to the Void, before it could work its primeval Chaotic powers to overwrite reality itself.
The memory still lingered in his mind, as clear as the purified waters that brushed over his feet. Enkidu looked magnificent; like a brilliant shooting star crashing through the heavens. And in that glory he could still see the fall of the heavens, as Abzu ripped Enkidu's spear from his body and turned it toward the moon.
A face contorted in pure agony and rage. The Void Tree had begun to disintegrate around him. But He would not go quietly into the Void, taking away his son's control from him. And just like that, the primal god launched Enkidu from his body toward the moon.
And just like the world below it, the Moon remains a shattered remnant of its past self. Much of its celestial body had fallen toward the earth, leaving behind a broken shell of what it once was hovering in the night sky. Even the gravity the moon exerted on the tides had changed now, with much of the world, especially in the East, no longer experiencing the tide.
"My king, I have returned with a report." It was Goetia who spoke, manifesting behind him in a flash of bright purple light.
"I'm back too!" A second cheerful voice followed shortly behind Goetia's statement.
Solomon turned his attention from the waters of the Hokubu back toward the Strand and his familiars. "Very well, let's hear it." He offered a smile at them both, warm and welcoming. Though behind it was some measure of anxiety.
"Ooh me first, me first!" Solomon's eyes tilted toward his younger familiar; her name was Elyse. Unlike Goetia she was not an amalgamation of any kind, no collective of individual demons or familiars. Elyse was a short girl, appearing no more than 12 or 13 in age, although she had only been created a year prior. She had dark blue hair, small elven ears, heterochromatic eyes, one blue and one red, a small array of freckles, a pointed nose, and a scaled tail that trailed down between her legs. She was clad in ocean blue clothes with a set of leather armor. "This place is special, Sol." She began, her excitement in her voice lowered to give a calmer report. "Of all places I surveyed in Tobusekai, the Strand of the Ancients is the only one where the Beast's influence cannot be identified. Even at the borders its influence and growths come to an immediate end. It is most curious."
Elyse was perhaps Solomon's most curious creation. Unlike Goetia, who had been born of Yin and Yang, Elyse was a combination of Yin-Yang and Anutu. A vessel formed from the power of Yin and Yang and imbued with a genuine soul created from Utu. It was an earnest attempt into gleaming Nergal's means of creating a human soul, albeit Solomon's experiment was a clear failure.
"Yes..." Goetia started, somewhat annoyed that he was made to wait until after his younger counterpart. "Barbatos conducted a sample of the water in the Hokubu. Enkidu's purification remains in effect. There is no sign of Beast contamination like there was ample of in the Kaizoku. Curiously, it seems that Enkidu's terraforming of Theodoros had similar effects in staving off destruction. Although in the case of Theodoros it only held back physical desecration rather than contaminates from the Beast of Rot."
"How curious. And the waters show no signs of contaminates from the Sea of Life either. Something that has remained to this day. Yet none of our findings gleam the why." He paused, furrowing his brow as he scratched his chin. "You two are my eyes now. I've told you this before but my foresight is fractured now, as Anu predicted. He sighed, "Let us pay a visit to our friend Enkidu."