Arnel warns about a young sect teaching new doctrine around an ancient being that could threaten their moons.
The episode takes the form of an entity documentation interview at the Academy, where Lou is working as a transcriptionist. Her brother Arnel arrives as the subject, which creates an immediately awkward dynamic. The siblings exchange banter about a promotion Lou forgot to acknowledge and about Chess, Lou's complicated former romantic interest. The formal interview begins with Arnel describing a recurring dream featuring a world with only one moon at any given time, despite their world having three. A non-corporeal chorus in the dream explained that the creator made seven moons, one for each night of the week. Arnel is uncertain whether the chorus resembled the trapped spirits heard in the wind outside at night. The interviewer clarifies that wind spirits can be malevolent or benevolent and are not just lost souls. When Arnel reveals the chorus spoke of Bakunawa, an ancient sea serpent that eats the seven moons, the interviewer immediately identifies it as a religious legend outside the department's documentation scope. Arnel argues that Bakunawa is not a god and the story is not miraculous, but the interviewer holds firm that entity studies does not document scripture or legends. Arnel escalates by warning that a dangerous young sect is teaching new doctrine around Bakunawa, and that the sect's teachings diverge from what he and Lou learned about the creature back on the peninsula. The interviewer refuses to investigate religious activity and suggests reporting it to authorities, then leaves for lunch. Alone, Arnel presses Lou directly: they both know things about what was done to them on the Goliath Peninsula, and someone needs to be told. Lou says she cannot remember fully, and Arnel acknowledges this is not her fault but insists the urgency is real. Arnel plans to find a mage to help, perhaps through Chess's connections. Lou deflects by mentioning she needs to study sigbin sightings for work. Arnel tries to lighten the mood with an offer to go foraging for glowing mushrooms. The conversation turns into joking descriptions of sigbin — blood-sucking creatures with long tails, massive clapping ears, red glowing eyes, and a habit of walking backwards. The episode ends with Arnel's half-serious warning that Lou should not go into the forest alone.
