Bro, I'm not an Undead!

(A/N: Henceforth, the original Skullius will be referred to simply as Skullius, while the other will be Future Skullius.)

Skullius had been intimidated by COLMUUN's entreaty when he was reading the nine contracts. He had been convinced that COLMUUN was indeed a big threat and could indeed deliver on his promises.

(A/N: Refer to Ch.1374.)

Indeed, COLMUUN really could have been second only to AKHASHA and the other one he mentioned.

But Skullius had been distracted from the potential danger this Primeval Deit- as well as the others - could cause him because of everything else that had been happening, everything that he felt should have been addressed at the time; the reason behind VOW's warning against TITEMIUS, for instance.

To find out that the threat he disregarded could have actually come to squeeze the life out of him if it weren't for his replica was a blow to Skullius.

"Was he on the way here?" he asked Future Skullius.

"No. But three Primeval Deities had started campaigns to capture you," said Future Skullius. "COLMUUN stopped them after I signed a contract with him."

Skullius swallowed hard. He took some time to organize the sequence of his slew of questions.

"When did you sign a contract with him?"

Future Skullius sighed.

"When I was drifting in space, lost, battered, struggling to survive," he said. "My strength and wit only did so much. I ended up landing on the idea that I really couldn't do it alone."

"…I see. What did you offer in exchange?"

"Second Divine Sinew. Unlike you, I don't have Maximum Jaqquezjaqqz. But COLMUUN was pleased all the same. He was even generous enough to offer me an UNLIMITED CONTRACT. I can ask for favors and he has access to Exotic Parlous Natures I develop. It's mostly a win-win situation."

Skullius folded all four of his arms in front of his chest.

An UNLIMITED CONTRACT. He had signed one with TITEMIUS. The terms were open-ended; it wasn't a one-and-done affair and had many perks. Skullius himself had yet to exploit a majority of them.

If Skullius didn't know that TITEMIUS was apparently locked up somewhere in the wider reality by the Primeval Deities, he would have asked him to come help.

But to think COLMUUN had the power and influence to stop the other Primeval Deities from attacking Skullius…

Just how much power did he have?

This was especially frightening when Skullius compared the full might of an Authority of the Null Verse to that of a Primeval Deity.

Skullius fixed his replica with a stern gaze. If Future Skullius had signed an UNLIMITED CONTRACT with COLMUUN, then…

"What are the terms that are keeping you from helping me with this crisis? There are some nasty terms you've imposed on each other, right? What are they?"

Future Skullius didn't answer immediately. He turned to look in the opposite direction. He must have been sensing something that Skullius couldn't in that deep darkness.

"You don't need to know that. It won't help you to learn things like that. You'd be needlessly piling on stresses where you don't need to. Believe me. The bottom line is, don't expect me to do much. I have neither the time nor the will."

"So, in the end, part of the reason is because you just have some lesson to teach me through hardship?"

"Quit being a child. You've always learned the greatest lessons through hardships. How is it any different now?"

"It's different because I made you to help me. You are a part of my strength, sockethole," Skullius said. "And I expect that help now that you've miraculously appeared, alive and well. If you weren't even going to help, why did you come here in the first place?"

Skullius expected an immediate answer, an immediate retort, but Future Skullius didn't give one. He only considered him for a long while.

"Our way of thinking is not too different, you and I. You signed contracts to survive and I did the same. For us, realizing that we need help isn't something we struggle with. We're used to it. You are in Opungale because you plan to get Luserus' aid, right?" Future Skullius said calmly.

"How did you—"

"Because I'm you, sockethole. You are not at wit's end. Not yet. You're just trying to take the easy way out. You have trump cards you can use if you really want to win. The conclusion you came to – that bit of development I saw in your eyes – you finally resolved to think like a Divine, right? Then do so. Deities can die. You have all the resources for it and now you have the mind for it."

Skullius frowned.

"You have an awful lot of faith in me. Must be nice to be a spectator. Fine, your hands are tied, I get that. But even if your abundant faith in me is real, I still have a shortage of time. I can't use some of these trump cards you speak of because I quite literally need to be in multiple places at once to solve everything going on below us."

Future Skullius groaned and rolled his eyes.

His counterpart looked at him expectantly.

In the end, Future Skullius propped up two fingers.

"I can only do two favors for you. Nothing more. And these favors can't have anything to do with directly fighting Fulgardt or Somanda," he said.

Skullius felt his relief and fury clash.

That was oddly specific.

Sure, there was a poetic lesson somewhere in Future Skullius not helping with Somanda, but why Fulgardt?

Skullius frowned.

He got it right then.

Something wasn't right.

The reason why Future Skullius wouldn't help didn't all have to do with COLMUUN or the 'lesson'. But he still wouldn't tell. Why?

'What the flesh is going on here?'

Releasing a harsh breath, Skullius swallowed the question and decided to take the good as it was.

Future Skullius would help with two of the many tasks Skullius had to perform and Skullius already knew the ones he wanted done by the replica. Having the stingy, broody bastard deal with them would save him a lot of time, no doubt.

But before that, the mention of Somanda made Skullius notice some contradictions he hadn't considered before because of all the explanations of time and Consternals that Future Skullius had thrown around earlier.

"Hey, now that I think about it, if you've lived two whole years since leaving Aigas, how come Doom Factor 2 didn't affect you? We only have seven days left before it's supposed to drive us mad."