i see no sign of free will, so i guess i'll have to pay

"Never thought it'd be you going out first," Cole whispered to himself as he straightened up the myriad tchotchkes and manuscripts arrayed in the cluttered office that'd had no chance of escaping the landmasses' merge without becoming so disordered. For years, probably.

"Always thought you were stronger than that. Always thought if you'd made it this far, you'd never stop."

His fingers brushed a particularly aged piece of pressed bark.

The Aegis. What an enthralling, cockamamie tale.

"Always thought you'd have found something bigger up there. But I guess for that...you'd have to be let alone in your looking."