Speaker A
A tale as old as time. There once was a witch who dreamed of a sweet paradise and another witch captivated by the other.
Explore the full story of Cookie Run: Kingdom's Queen of the Nether Realm, uncovering secrets of witches, magic, and the Magic Academy.
Ask about this video. Answers come from its transcript only — with the timestamp, so you can check them.
Generated from the transcript and can be wrong — check the timestamp.
Key Takeaways
- The Magic Academy holds deep secrets and forbidden knowledge crucial to the world's fate.
- White Lily Cookie embodies the desire to break tradition and promote open knowledge sharing.
- The witches, creators of the world, have complex legacies that influence current events.
- Dimensional magic and ancient ovens are key elements driving the story's conflict.
- Personal relationships and understanding are as important as magical power in shaping the future.
What the video covers
- The story begins with two powerful witches, creators of the world, embodying contrasting yet inseparable forces.
- White Lily Cookie, a brilliant student at the Magic Academy, secretly explores forbidden knowledge in the faculty library.
- Memories stored in magical milk droplets reveal encounters with the academy's founding headmaster and hidden research.
- White Lily Cookie strives to change the academy's restrictive rules and share knowledge more freely.
- The first headmaster's extensive research covers magical classification, curriculum design, and the existence of witches.
- The narrative explores themes of understanding, coexistence, and the responsibility of knowledge.
- Mysteries around the first oven, dimensional boundaries, and the witch's domain are central to the plot.
- Shadow Milk Cookie, the founding headmaster, left behind fragments of his spirit influencing current events.
- The story culminates with the emergence of Nether Queen Cookie, guardian of Tartarus, and the opening of dimensional rifts.
- Emotional connections between characters, especially White Lily Cookie and Pure Vanilla Cookie, highlight personal growth and sacrifice.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Witches. Yes, witches. Our creators. Transcendent beings of overwhelming power. Souls with fragile hearts, not so different from us.
Speaker A
Like the near side and far side of the moon, these witches were inseparable, yet so different.
Speaker A
Like Earthbread and Tartarus. How clever of you. Yes, exactly like Earthbread and Tartarus.
Speaker A
Was it because this world was born in their image? Every so often, souls appear who resemble those two witches.
Speaker A
Souls who dream and souls who watch over their shoulder. Souls who cast off their dough and souls who cannot bear the weight.
Speaker A
I didn't know souls like that existed. They did once. Just as you once carried a sweet aroma of your own.
Speaker A
Do you remember it? Your aroma. Aroma. I can't remember. That's all right. You don't have to.
Speaker A
Um, but still I remember I have to go back. Sweet little thing. Anyway, it's been such a long time since I've seen souls like those.
Speaker A
I wonder if we'll meet them again. Ones who shatter worlds and shape them anew.
Speaker A
Souls who change the world. What's wrong, Mary Buris? What's with all this barking? Did someone forget your treats?
Speaker A
No way. I gave them all a hefty portion each. Or maybe Mary Baressa is barking at that thing.
Speaker A
That thing. Well, now speak of flowers and they will bloom. They say barely a word for me. Yet the world is already moving.
Speaker A
The scent of white lilies. So, wait, did someone say something? Huh? No one said anything.
Speaker A
No. I could have sworn I heard something. Creators. White Lily Cookie. And so, have you found them?
Speaker A
Have you found our creators? Wait, what was that just now? That was White Lily Cookie's voice.
Speaker A
Are these milk droplets White Lily Cookie's memories? I never imagined I'd witnessed the memories of White Lily Cookie herself.
Speaker A
But who's that standing before her? That's the Magic Academy's founding headmaster. But he was already gone by the time we attended. We only knew about him from his portraits.
Speaker A
What? But the memory in that milk droplet made it look like the two of them actually met.
Speaker A
White Lily Cookie actually met the first headmaster, but she never said a word about it to me.
Speaker A
Pure Vanilla Cookie. Ah, yes. These milk droplets appear to be some kind of information storage device, though I don't think they were made by White Lily Cookie.
Speaker A
White Lily Cookie was exceptional as a student, certainly, but crafting something this intricate was beyond what she could do back then.
Speaker A
So, you're saying someone else's memories were already in there, and White Lily Cookie's memories were layered on top.
Speaker A
Yes. If they were in close proximity to White Lily Cookie when exposed to a powerful magical resonance, it's entirely possible.
Speaker A
Perhaps White Lily Cookie had her own reasons for wanting to summon the headmaster's spirit.
Speaker A
And perhaps I never truly understood what she was thinking, not when it mattered most.
Speaker A
That's not your fault. There are some questions too deep to say out loud for anyone.
Speaker A
Exactly. Especially if you're a researcher. Did White Lily Cookie show curiosity about witches and cookies back when she was a student?
Speaker A
If so, we may find clues about the first oven we seek right here within these droplets.
Speaker A
Look, there are more milk droplets further inside. It's pretty dusty. But what if we follow the trail and see where it leads?
Speaker A
A fair point. Let's keep following the droplets. All right, let's go. What was it you saw at the end of this path, I wonder?
Speaker A
Show me, too. Perhaps I never truly understood you at all, even though I thought I did.
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I believed I was by your side. The world you gazed upon alone. Perhaps I never truly saw it with you.
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I want to know the you I missed. The you from back then. And what do we have here?
Speaker A
This section is for professors only. It's off limits to students. Banned from entering the library for a week.
Speaker A
Crumbs, we got caught. But I have the book. You're the best, Pure Vanilla Cookie.
Speaker A
Let's open it. Why aren't students allowed to read books from the faculty section? Wouldn't it be better if we learned faster so we could research alongside our professors?
Speaker A
White Lily Cookie, you are undeniably a brilliant student. But if you pour sugar into an unfired clay bowl, the sugar merely becomes full of grit and dirt.
Speaker A
To become a researcher beyond a mere student, you must first learn to fire your own vessel.
Speaker A
Are you saying I still need more time to study? You must understand what impact our research will have on the world, White Lily Cookie.
Speaker A
And that kind of wisdom takes time and experience. But I want to know more and faster.
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The world is so vast. You see, there are so many things I want to learn, to experience, to do. If I want to get through them all before I go stale,
Speaker A
you have plenty of time. There's no need to be so hasty. The week-long library ban stays in effect. Now, off you go. I'll see you in the next class.
Speaker A
I figured out those easy classes ages ago. The faculty section is the only place I can actually learn something new.
Speaker A
Why does nobody understand that? All that knowledge just sitting there collecting dust. Well, there's no getting my library access back now. I'll just have to sneak in at night. Easier to hide when I'm on my own.
Speaker A
Where did I leave off last time? Your Vanilla Cookie had found the third headmaster's research.
Speaker A
The second headmaster's research is being covered in our classes. Wait, this one is far older than any of the other headmasters' work.
Speaker A
This seal, it's the first headmaster's insignia. Research from the very sage who founded this magic academy.
Speaker A
I thought everything was sent off to the museum. I can't believe some of it is still here in the library. All that crawling into this dusty corner was worth it. What exactly was the first headmaster researching?
Speaker A
This sounds fun. The classes here only ever teach knowledge through the current faculty's own lenses.
Speaker A
And yet the first headmaster thought just like me, didn't he? Look, it says here, "Knowledge is defined not as mere accumulation of information, but as a responsibility to understand the world and coexist with others." That's exactly what I've always thought.
Speaker A
If I read everything the first headmaster wrote and use it as grounds to demand the sharing of knowledge, could I convince the professors?
Speaker A
Very well then. Teach me, first headmaster, and I will restore this academy to what it was always meant to be.
Speaker A
White Lily Cookie, are you headed to the faculty section again tonight? Yeah. Today's class was just the same old stuff we've already covered.
Speaker A
Besides, I found a really interesting piece of research. I still had things I didn't fully understand, so I wasn't bored myself. But I'm glad you found something worth studying here.
Speaker A
Once I've worked through all of this research, maybe I can actually change the rules of the stuffy old academy.
Speaker A
I always thought changing the world was something you could only do after graduation. Like Lily Cookie, we've put up with so much here, haven't we? I'll make it so you can walk the library without hiding. Pure Vanilla Cookie, I'll build that kind of place for us.
Speaker A
Yeah, I'll be counting on it. Because if anyone can do it, it's you.
Speaker A
Why is the first headmaster's research scattered around like this? The dates all seem to be from different periods, too. His tenure was extraordinarily long though.
Speaker A
Do you have to live a very long time to become a sage like that? There's curriculum design, magical classification systems, preservation of ancient records. Oh, and there's even more curriculum research over here.
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All of these papers feel less like curriculum.
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Is there anything on a different [music] topic? Let me see. Types of witches. Types of witches.
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Not presumed [music] to exist, just exist. How can he be so certain? Is there a record I missed? I don't think so.
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Preheating [music] methods of oven ruins, [music] ancient ceiling magic. This isn't just some legend [music] or classroom material. Traces of them were actually found.
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The reason they created us, right? Why did the creators bake this world into existence?
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Why did they create us? This is really intriguing. How did this research [music] conclude?
Speaker A
There has to be more on this topic. The first headmaster couldn't have stopped here.
Speaker A
If the research mentions this much, the next step must have been to find the witches themselves.
Speaker A
Here it is, a catalog. [music] Pure vanilla cookie would love this. I'll have to tell him about it later.
Speaker A
And then [music] research archives. So, there's another place [music] besides the library where things are stored.
Speaker A
The location is listed right there. Section 250 would be at the very [music] back of this hall.
Speaker A
Oh, could it be? Here it is. Section 250. Now, any unusual markings? Oh, there's a symbol of the witch's eye on the shelf. This has to be the way to the first headm's research archives.
Speaker A
But this doesn't feel like an ordinary [music] binding spell. It's not light magic. And it's definitely not elemental magic either.
Speaker A
This flow runs closer to shadow. It feels like the kind of power said to flow from where moonlight never reaches.
Speaker A
Dark moon magic. But dark moon magic is dangerous. Can't I just break down the door?
Speaker A
It just repairs [music] itself no matter how much I try. If the first headmaster went to the trouble of hiding these records, they must be worth reading.
Speaker A
And the first headmaster said it himself. Knowledge unto all. Knowledge hidden beyond the moonlight.
Speaker A
If you are not a locked door, but a forgotten path, show me the way.
Speaker A
This is it. The first headm's research archives. Everything here is the first headm's research.
Speaker A
Incredible. Why would he have hidden all of this? I want to find them, too.
Speaker A
It sounds like nobody even tried to understand your work. How much did you uncover, I wonder?
Speaker A
In the end, were you understood? What's this milk? I can sense magic emanating [music] from it.
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What'll happen if I touch it? White Lily [music] Cookie really had a passion for learning.
Speaker A
Looking back, I remember noticing that sometimes when we were students, she started [music] spending more and more time alone with her thoughts.
Speaker A
Now I understand it was because she was absorbed in the first headmaster's research. Indeed, and thanks to her, we now have a much easier path to finding the records of the first oven.
Speaker A
Though that section [music] hidden behind dark moon magic does give me pause. If the founding headmaster [music] went that far to conceal it, surely he never intended to make that knowledge available to [music] just anyone.
Speaker A
Fair point. Preaching knowledge unto all while keeping the deepest research locked away. That could mean the knowledge was dangerous enough to warrant it.
Speaker A
For now, let us follow the catalog from the memory and search for records of the first oven.
Speaker A
Great. It said section 231, shelf 7. So, we're off to 231. Strange, [music] isn't it, White Lily Cookie? You're gone. And yet, your light is still guiding us.
Speaker A
We still need you, it seems. There it is. Section 231. And shelf seven would mean [music] the seventh shelf here. Oh, that's rather high up. I'll levitate it [music] down.
Speaker A
The dust is crazy thick. So, everyone stand back a bit. A hypothesis for accessing the first oven.
Speaker A
This is it. So much dust. That would be because no one has touched [music] this book since White Lily Cookie and I snuck a peek at it. Shall we take a look?
Speaker A
Right. That's exactly why [music] we couldn't get in either. [music] Not sealed, but open.
Speaker A
Well, when you think about how Ginger Brave came running out of there, that does add up.
Speaker A
Then why couldn't we get in? It identifies cookies [music] trying to enter. Does that mean it knew who was trying to go inside?
Speaker A
It's possible that only cookies who meet certain conditions are able to enter. [music] So hypothetically the door to the first oven can only be opened from the inside. [music] Whoever lies within, we [music] don't even know who or what
Speaker A
is on the other side of the first oven. How and whom would we [music] even ask?
Speaker A
But surely the research doesn't just stop here. Maybe there was a different approach. I if breaching the dimensional boundary headon was impossible, perhaps there was another way.
Speaker A
This is as far as the book goes for now. How frustrating. We still need to figure out why the radiant cookie mentioned the first oven.
Speaker A
The radiant cookie told us that's where the soul jams were born. The founding headmaster regarded it as the oldest surviving trace of a path leading to the creators.
Speaker A
Two records from two different eras. And yet they both point to the same location.
Speaker A
The first oven must be something really important. But all we've actually figured out is that there are conditions for entry. We still have no way to communicate with whatever is inside.
Speaker A
Oh, that catalog we saw in the memory. Wasn't there something called the [music] witch's domain? A study on dimensional boundaries? Could that still be around somewhere?
Speaker A
That's it. If we can find that one, we might find a clue. Some way to reach across the dimensional barrier.
Speaker A
Hold on. Isn't that the one with a strange location? If I recall correctly, it was listed under section 250 and research archive 12.
Speaker A
Section 250 [music] was the place White Lily Cookie opened with dark moon magic. Then we need to head inside, too.
Speaker A
Easier said than done. Do you [music] really think that door is still open? We might have to use dark moon magic ourselves.
Speaker A
Let's just [music] hope it's open at least a crack. Either way, off we go.
Speaker A
Pure vanilla cookie, are you all right? Hm. Pardon? You don't have to push through this. If seeing White Liy Cookie's memories is too much, I thank you, Strawberry Cookie.
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But I don't want to stop. Not right now. I [music] want to know what she saw, what she wanted someone to understand.
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I already know how it ends. So, at the very least, I want to know the path she walked to get there.
Speaker A
Okay, then we'll find out together. Look over there. A milk stain in the [music] gap between the shelf and the wall.
Speaker A
And the witch's eye symbol. It's exactly the same as the one from the memory.
Speaker A
The first oven was the oldest clue to reaching the witches. And yet, White Lily Cookie, even after learning of that clue long ago, kept searching for the witches on her own.
Speaker A
Did White Lily Cookie failed to reach the witch's island, too? Or did something else happen [music] in between?
Speaker A
This is no ordinary seal. Just like in the memory, there's barely [music] a trace on the surface. But darkness flows underneath.
Speaker A
Can we cut through it with the power of the light? No. If we force it open, the space inside could tear along with it.
Speaker A
Wizard Cookie is right. That door likely won't open by anything other than dark moon magic.
Speaker A
Let me try. Pure vanilla cookie. If it's dangerous, you don't have [music] to do it.
Speaker A
It's all right. White Lily Cookie once stood before this door alone. Despite the dangers, she found it harder to walk away without [music] knowing.
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I I want to understand that feeling. Okay, then we'll be right here watching. If anything goes wrong, we'll jump in right away.
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My sword shall be drawn and ready. I'll keep my eye on the magical current the whole time. [music] The moment something feels wrong, I'll cut it off right away.
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We're right here [music] with you, pure vanilla cookie. That means more than you know. Thank you everyone.
Speaker A
Knowledge hidden beyond the moonlight. If you are not a locked door, but a forgotten path, do not keep that path to yourself.
Speaker A
Let us walk it together. Wa! It actually opened. So, this is the research archive of the Blueberry [music] Yogurt Academyy's founder.
Speaker A
If I could, I'd love to just stay here and research to my heart's content.
Speaker A
To think such a [music] place was hidden away. It's nothing like the rest of the libraries. It's like a vast fortress built entirely of books and paper.
Speaker A
For a place that's been sealed for so long, [music] the magical energy here feels remarkably vivid. Could this also be the work of the first headmaster?
Speaker A
It's possible. But there's something strangely familiar about this energy. [music] Look at those shelves. All packed to the brim. What kind of incredible research must be hidden here?
Speaker A
H But this shelf over here has an empty section. [music] H Why is it empty? Given that papers are stacked even on top of the other books, that spot definitely wasn't empty before.
Speaker A
Just thinking about even a single page gone [music] missing makes me sick. Is there anything left on that shelf at all?
Speaker A
There is one paper here. H a study on the connection between soul and reality [music] and spatial composition.
Speaker A
That sounds similar to what white lily cookie gave to golden cheese cookie. [music] the Herald of Change.
Speaker A
If I recall, that's what burning spice cookie was called [music] before the corruption. So the founding headmaster knew burning spice cookie before his corruption.
Speaker A
[music] [music] [music] looking at this research. Yes, just as I thought. This empty spot must have been where the substance White Lily Cookie gave to Golden Cheese Cookie was originally kept.
Speaker A
Everything about this research [music] sounds like it was really tough and complicated. I just hope it helps Golden Cheese Cookie in the end. Golden Cheese Cookie will get what she wants. Same as always. She is a cookie who finds a way
Speaker A
no matter what. Shall we keep [music] looking for more? There's plenty of research notes here.
Speaker A
Every shelf is packed full. Let's see. How would the headmaster have chosen to classify these records?
Speaker A
Ennumerated, hierarchical, or perhaps a multiaceted classification system? Wait. Huh? That's weird. What's wrong? So many books, but everything feels like total chaos. Nothing feels organized at all. Research on completely different topics are just jumbled together halfaphazardly.
Speaker A
What do you mean? Uh, probing the creator's response threshold through manipulations [music] to the world's conditions. Optimizing collective reaction through audience dialogue [music] and props.
Speaker A
Control of silence, the completed principle of protagonist [music] monopoly. This is part of the founding headmaster's research.
Speaker A
It definitely has the [music] headmaster's seal on it. Maybe it was organized by using some sort of brilliantly genius method we can't comprehend.
Speaker A
Oh, over here. At least this section has research actually related to witches. Take a look at this.
Speaker A
Reverse tracing [music] witches origin signals using soul jam resonance. Oh, you're right. There's more over here, [music] though.
Speaker A
These are rather hard to read. What does this [music] say on locating the creators through ontological?
Speaker A
I can't make out the rest. Oo, will this help? Uh, the coralation between false testimony and truth response. A perceptual distortion experiment for tracking witches.
Speaker A
Which? Which? Which? Is this a script of some sort? Wait, no. It looks like a research notebook, [music] but I can't make heads or tails of it.
Speaker A
Deceit reflects truth. A fictional narrative disruption [music] method for detecting traces of witch existence.
Speaker A
The more I look at this, [music] the research seems to have gotten a little unhinged.
Speaker A
Oh crumbs. I was so looking forward to reading everything in this section. Where exactly does the normal research end and whatever this stuff is begin?
Speaker A
It started out as a genuine attempt to understand the world. But it seems that somewhere along the way, the search never knew where to stop.
Speaker A
The desire to gather knowledge eventually became an obsession with reaching the creators. Given the state of this place, it would have been far more surprising if [music] White Lily Cookie had come away unaffected.
Speaker A
[clears throat and snorts] Huh? This is the milk bowl [music] White Lily Cookie found in that memory.
Speaker A
But I don't remember it being knocked over. And there's only a little milk left inside.
Speaker A
Wait, could it be that all the memories we've seen up until now were flowing out from [music] here?
Speaker A
That's the most likely explanation. If this bowl is the original storage device and the memories inside scattered outward from the impact when the moonstone shattered.
Speaker A
But if the self-repairing [music] door sealed itself back up, the milk droplets were left drifting outside on their own.
Speaker A
But that still doesn't explain why White Lily Cookies memories were layered on top. [music] And even if we gathered every droplet we found so far, there's still far too little milk accounted for.
Speaker A
You're right. In that case, there's only one way to find out what happened. What'll happen if I touch it?
Speaker A
[music] Ah, It appears an exceptional student has found her way here. Founding headmaster. Milk is a mirror that reflects memory.
Speaker A
And memory [music] is a mirror that reflects the heart of the one who asks.
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I am what he set aside [music] for a time. A piece of himself kept here so that the research could continue.
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Think of me as a spoonful of thought. A spoonful of thought. I never knew you could set a piece of yourself aside like that.
Speaker A
That's remarkable. We've never learned magic like that in class. Classes are important, but they [music] are not the whole world.
Speaker A
Just as truth alone is not the [music] only thing that paves the way forward.
Speaker A
Exactly. I've always thought so, too. The academy is a wonderful place, but the faculty only ever teach what's already been written.
Speaker A
There's a whole wider world beyond the classroom and so many books out there [music] besides just textbooks.
Speaker A
Why does no one want to look toward any of it? There are many reasons, but for the professors, I imagine it is fear.
Speaker A
Fear. Knowledge is like a door. Open it and in come the wind and the light. But sometimes a [music] storm can sweep in as well. Young students often find lies and illusions more appealing than truth.
Speaker A
The professors must protect students as tender young sprouts. So, it is only natural for them to remain wary of storms and [music] illusions.
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But if you keep the door locked, the cookies inside will just keep breathing the same stale air.
Speaker A
The dust will settle as old thoughts are all that linger and nothing will ever change.
Speaker A
Precisely. That is why I believed knowledge must flow like a torrent [music] cascading from a mountain peak. From the cookies who possessed knowledge to the cookies who wished to learn, some cookies seek [music] only the comfort of sweet falsehood, yearning to
Speaker A
live forever in a safe and happy illusion. Me too. That's exactly what I think.
Speaker A
I read the research you left behind. Knowledge unto all. What a wonderful thing to say.
Speaker A
Not hiding knowledge, but sharing it in a way everyone [music] can understand. That's what the true spirit of the academy was always meant to be.
Speaker A
To think a cookie who still believes that is standing before me and speaks so kindly of it. Oh, how wonderful.
Speaker A
But then why don't the professors do things that [music] way? If you founded this academy with that vision in mind, then the rules as [music] they are now must be wrong.
Speaker A
Time weathers many things. Rules are made to preserve meaning, but given enough time, they become [music] the very jar that imprisons it.
Speaker A
Then the rules should be changed. If they're wrong, they need to be fixed. And that's exactly what I'm going to do.
Speaker A
Not an ounce of hesitation. I see. You arrive at a conclusion rather quickly, don't you?
Speaker A
I need to act fast. Time's running out. Running short on time. Yes. There's so much I want to know. So much I want to learn. So much I want to do.
Speaker A
But the professors always tell me to take things slowly because I'm still young. Because my [music] dough hasn't fully baked yet.
Speaker A
But if I just keep waiting around, I [music] feel like everything I'm curious about will turn to dust.
Speaker A
Dust? That is a fine way to put it. Questions left to [music] gather dust will only make you cough and sneeze sooner or later.
Speaker A
Some cookies shake out [music] the shelves. Some open what is forbidden. And some go so far as to try to open the very doors of the world.
Speaker A
The doors of the world? Are you referring to the research on finding the witches?
Speaker A
I I read the research records in the library. Did you truly try to find the witch's headmaster?
Speaker A
The witches exist outside the cookie world. Yet [music] they are beings who left their mark on every fragment within it. Read those marks long [music] enough and the question arises on its own.
Speaker A
Why did they create us? Why did they [music] give us both sweetness and the capacity to crumble?
Speaker A
Why did they vanish, leaving only traces behind? Yes, I've started wondering the same thing.
Speaker A
What were we created for? Are we meant to live our entire lives without ever knowing the answer?
Speaker A
Many cookies never ask such questions. That's why everyone looks at me like I'm strange.
Speaker A
But you ask the same question. So, I'm not strange. Am I? There's a fine line between the concept of strange [music] and special.
Speaker A
Which one you become depends entirely on how far you're [music] willing to carry the question.
Speaker A
Then I want to be the special kind. I want to carry the question all the way to the end. That's why I wanted [music] to ask headmaster.
Speaker A
Have you found our creators? I do not know the answer to that. Pardon? To be precise, this fragment of a heart held within this apparatus [music] does not know.
Speaker A
I am but a portion of him set aside [music] right here. His fondness for inquiry, his love for knowledge, his will to never let go of a question.
Speaker A
A small offering of aid left behind for whoever might one day sit with these [music] questions alongside me. of what I witnessed at the very end. Has time continued to flow? How far I reached?
Speaker A
Where I arrived? I hold no memory or knowledge of [music] any of it. Then you don't know either.
Speaker A
But I thought you would. I thought someone like you, the founding headmaster who thought the same things I did.
Speaker A
Surely you must have found the answer. H disappointed. A little. No, a lot. What am I supposed to do now?
Speaker A
Read more. Ask more. Keep searching. But remember this, a question can be a warm and gentle light, or it can be a [music] fire that consumes.
Speaker A
And the truth that a question leads you to may leave you on far more dangerous [music] ground than where you started.
Speaker A
Even so, it's better than [music] not knowing. Now those are words I know well.
Speaker A
Headmaster, where did the rest of you go? You wish to seek out the whole of me.
Speaker A
Yes. If a fragment of you can't answer my question, I will just have to ask the whole. The [music] whole of you would know exactly how far you went.
Speaker A
The whole of me carries a very heavy heart. Even so, I want to know. I need answers.
Speaker A
Someday you will find it. Whether it's through a name, a memory, or a soul.
Speaker A
Souls. [music] Leave that one alone for now. That door runs far too cold for young hands.
Speaker A
Open a door that cold [music] before you've come to understand the deeper workings of the world and its chill may freeze you through and shatter you.
Speaker A
But even a door that cold, someday I'll be able to open it, won't I?
Speaker A
[music] You will open many doors, but not every door [music] leads back to the path you've walked.
Speaker A
You raise a great question. In order to return, you will have to walk and walk for a very, very long time.
Speaker A
You raise a [music] great question. In order to return, you will have to walk and walk for a very, very long time.
Speaker A
It's time to raise [singing] the curtain. Some cookies [music] seek only the comfort of sweet falsehood, yearning to live forever in a safe and happy illusion.
Speaker A
[music] Cookies. They just love good gossip, don't they? Something to gnaw on, truth or not.
Speaker A
[music] Just as truth alone is not the only thing that paves the way forward.
Speaker A
Just look at yourself. Where is that precious light of yours now? Can you still hear its voice? You can't. Can you?
Speaker A
[music] A safe and happy illusion. Pure vanilla cookie [music] for a very very long time.
Speaker A
No, it can't be. It's I'm [music] pure vanilla. Cookie, are you all right? All this time, I never knew.
Speaker A
I didn't know anything. Impossible. That's the founding headmaster was Shadow Milk Cookie. Then the fragment that White Lily [music] Cookie met was a piece of Shadow Milk Cookiey's heart that he left behind.
Speaker A
But the headmaster in the memory was nothing like the shadow [music] cookie we know.
Speaker A
It may have been a piece of him from before the fall. A part of his uncorrupted heart that existed before he became the beast of deceit.
Speaker A
The founding headmaster was shadow milk cookie. Are you okay? Curse you. YOU KNOW NOTHING. YOU are nothing.
Speaker A
I hate you. You and your soul. DAMN. I WILL DESTROY YOU. I wanted to understand White Lily Cookie.
Speaker A
why she wanted so [music] desperately to know about the witches, why she was never able to find her way back.
Speaker A
And Shadow Milk Cookie, too. I wanted to understand why he felt such a need to mock cookies, to tear them down.
Speaker A
I wanted to understand why he went so far. Why did he laugh at them, break them, put them to the test?
Speaker A
But in the end, I never understood [music] either of them. And that pain never left me.
Speaker A
A question can be a warm and gentle light. Or it can be a fire that consumes.
Speaker A
Now I think I finally see why. And the truth that a question [music] leads you to may leave you on far more dangerous ground than where you started.
Speaker A
Before I could ever hope to understand [music] them, I realize that I had never truly reached them at all.
Speaker A
There was nothing you could have done, [music] pure vanilla cookie. How could you have known or understood what neither of them ever told you?
Speaker A
[music] No, no, that's not it. They could have told me if they had believed they could be [music] understood. They would have said something.
Speaker A
They could have shown that joy, the same joy I saw in that memory, that pure unguarded happiness.
Speaker A
I tried to stop them. I told them it was the wrong path, that they [music] didn't have to suffer anymore.
Speaker A
But all the while I was [music] trying to stop them, I never once looked at where they had started from.
Speaker A
I [music] already thought I knew them. So I stopped trying to understand them any further.
Speaker A
Despite knowing he was lonely, despite what turned me into a recluse, sealed away in his tower, was something Shadow Milk Cookie himself never realized. [music] I knew it was a yearning to be understood.
Speaker A
[music] And still I thought it was enough just to say the words, to just say I understand.
Speaker A
[music] But it wasn't. To truly understand [music] someone, it means not stepping back when you're standing in the face of their darkness.
Speaker A
[music] I was able to leap from the spire. But the thought of leaping into the depths of someone's heart to understand them, that never even crossed my mind.
Speaker A
I closed off the very path that could have led me to [music] you all on my own.
Speaker A
But you understand now, even if it took this long, what White Lily Cookie was searching for, why Shadowmill Cookie became who he did, you're seeing it here, even if it's now.
Speaker A
So, you're not completely in the dark anymore. And we've gained something important. If this is Shadow Milk Cookies [music] research archive, we can uncover things only he knew.
Speaker A
Not just information about the first [music] oven. There is far more here to be found. This is a significant find without question.
Speaker A
But [music] calling it a find feels like too small a word for a wound this old.
Speaker A
I h I wanted to understand [music] why Shadowm Cookie chose deceit, but wanting to understand him, wanting to be his friend, that doesn't mean I can simply forgive everything he's done.
Speaker A
H those aren't the same thing. Understanding why something [music] happened and accepting it are two completely different things.
Speaker A
The same goes for White Lily Cookie. [music] I think even knowing why she did what she did, it doesn't make the pain disappear for the cookies who [music] were hurt.
Speaker A
But if we know why it happened, maybe we can figure out how to stop it next time.
Speaker A
White Lily Cookie, Shadowmill Cookie, they didn't start out with darkness in their hearts. So, we have to find where [music] things went wrong. That way, we can make sure the same thing doesn't happen again.
Speaker A
Ginger Brave is right. No matter how much the truth hurts if we look away from it, we're only faded to fall into the same trap all over again.
Speaker A
And the records here aren't just history. The first oven, dimensional boundaries, souls, memories. Every single one of these is a clue we [music] need right now to help the radiant cookie. We need to understand all of this too, don't we?
Speaker A
Exactly. There's a real chance [music] we'll find our answers here, including why the radiant cookie spoke of the first oven to begin with.
Speaker A
White Lily Cookie couldn't find her answer, so she went deeper. [music] And Shadowm Cookie couldn't find his, so he began to doubt the world itself.
Speaker A
[music] Both of them were carrying a question. But that question never reached anyone. It just sat there alone, festering within.
Speaker A
In time, that question became a wound. Then an obsession, then a force that swept [music] everyone around them into it. Then what we must do is clear. We follow this ancient question all the way to wherever it led.
Speaker A
And we don't stop until we know its answer. And somewhere along the way, we find how [music] to reach the first oven.
Speaker A
All right, then. Let's keep going. Whatever Shadowmill Cookie hid, WHATEVER PATH WHITE Lily Cookie followed, we'll uncover everything. [music] It's scary, but if we keep looking together, I think it'll be okay.
Speaker A
Thank you. all of you. [music] So, where do we start? Now that Shadow Milk Cookies illusion magic is gone, there might be new information we can Oh, look. There's There's a passageway under the portrait. It wasn't there before.
Speaker A
I could have sworn there was a mirror there a moment ago. Huh? It must have been an illusion.
Speaker A
These glass stairs, they have to lead to the hall where [music] the moonstone was kept. SO, THERE WAS A PATH LEADING THERE ALL ALONG.
Speaker A
There are more droplets up the stairs. And there's a book lying there, too. What does it say? [music] Returning life and the psyche left behind. A study on the soul residue hypothesis of Tartarus.
Speaker A
soul. [music] This is the next clue. White Lily Cookie was following. White Lily Cookie must have read this.
Speaker A
And after reading it, she followed where it pointed toward a colder door. So this is what happened.
Speaker A
This is how everyone in the Blueberry Yogurt Academy became ghosts. I thought [music] that if I follow the ultimate cookie recipes to the letter, I might find some clue as to why the witches made cookies in the first place,
Speaker A
but I keep failing. What method could the witches have possibly used? I have no choice. I need [music] to find the founding headmaster soul after all.
Speaker A
But this academy has stood for an unimaginable length of time. The odds of the headmaster [music] still being alive?
Speaker A
No, there are none. Can you even meet the soul of a cookie who crumbled away so long ago?
Speaker A
If I ask the professors, they'll catch on immediately. Your vanilla cookie has started attending [music] every healing magic practicum, so it's getting harder to ask him for help.
Speaker A
No. The only cookie who could ever truly understand me was someone like [music] the first headmaster. Anyway, I'll find a way on my own, no matter what it takes.
Speaker A
Cold door. He said not every door opens a path back. But he never said there was no path back at all.
Speaker A
Then he must have researched [music] that too. Returning life and the psyche left behind.
Speaker A
A study on the soul residue hypothesis of Tarteus. Life energy departing the dimension. Does that mean it [music] moves somewhere else entirely?
Speaker A
the first headmaster's soul and his questions and his answers. So he didn't disappear. [music] He could still be somewhere waiting.
Speaker A
Using a dimensional rift to reverse summon a specific psyche. If I open [music] a dimensional rift to TardeRus, could I meet the first headmaster's soul, a memory medium, the milk crown bowl, the fragment of the first headm's heart is right there
Speaker A
inside it. Every memory, every question, all of it points back to him. It could serve as the coordinates [music] to summon his essence.
Speaker A
So, you don't have to actually be crumpled to open the rift. You just have to create [music] a steak close enough to it. That's the key, isn't it?
Speaker A
A reverse summoning founding headmaster. [music] I will show you that this door can be opened.
Speaker A
When we meet, please tell [music] me whether you found the witches. And if you didn't, that's all right.
Speaker A
We'll find them together. and I'll introduce [music] you to my best friend. He's brilliant and kind.
Speaker A
All of us [music] together, we can help the cookies of this world. The ones who were vulnerable. The ones who were unprotected are going to build a perfect cookie world.
Speaker A
Do you see that portrait of the founding headmaster over there? Truly wise and compassionate.
Speaker A
Someone who showed cookies what it truly meant to use magic. What if we added a fraction of the headmaster's soul into the dough we created?
Speaker A
White Lily Cookie, you What exactly are you saying? I kept wondering why she wanted to place the first headmaster soul into the dough specifically.
Speaker A
So that is the story behind it. But back then, Shadow Milk Cookie's soul was It wasn't in Tartarus. It was under the seal tree.
Speaker A
It was a spell doomed to fail from the very beginning. The memories he left behind, and the academyy's most brilliant student.
Speaker A
Could Shadow Milk Cookie have foreseen that they [music] would bring the academy to ruin? Do you think he ever knew?
Speaker A
The fact that this memory is here means at the top of these stairs, a dimensional rift to Tartarus, where shattered souls go is waiting for us.
Speaker A
If White Lily Cookie [music] spell failed, it likely didn't just open a dimensional rift to Tartarus alone.
Speaker A
The professor said that's when it all came flooding out. Burnt sugar, [music] curdled milk, rotten jellies, and spirits.
Speaker A
So, rifts to other worlds all opened at once. Could we set aside the materials in this archive for later and go and take a look at this dimensional rift first?
Speaker A
I wish to see whether the rift to Tartarus is still open. The Tardus dimensional rift? Sure. Let's head up together.
Speaker A
How long do you think it would take to go through all the materials in the archive?
Speaker A
Not quickly. That much is certain. A few days at minimum. Possibly months or maybe even years.
Speaker A
Is there any way to bring in some help? H I wonder what Espresso Cookie is up to these days.
Speaker A
I think I heard he's been busy. Um, what about a clear cookie? We could reach out to Parfadia for assistance as well. For now, though, what was that sound?
Speaker A
It's coming from below. Watch out. These stairs are super fragile. It seems these stairs were affected by the magical distortion [music] as well.
Speaker A
We'll just have to [music] be careful on our way up. I wonder if pure vanilla cookie is really okay.
Speaker A
I'm not sure. He says he is, but he has to be. White Lily Cookie entrusted the world to him in the end. He may not [music] even have the luxury of grieving. Not with her final wishes still ahead of him.
Speaker A
A white lily cookie. That day when you asked me, [music] "What if we added a fraction of the first headmaster's [music] soul into the dough we created?" What should I [music] have said?
Speaker A
Should I have told you no firmly without hesitation? That it was a dangerous idea? You had to stop? You should never have asked such a question. Should I have said it all?
Speaker A
Or should I have stayed longer diving into the truth and understand why you were asking in the first place?
Speaker A
Instead of following just a step behind you, should I have stood in front of you and made you stop?
Speaker A
Should I have asked you to look at me? Really look at me and talk to me.
Speaker A
It's a dimensional rift to Tarderus. Are you still there beyond that gate? If you are, if you are, then step one, induce a simulated [music] crumbled state. Step two, open the dimensional rift to Tardus.
Speaker A
Step three, release the simulated state. Step four, connect the memory medium. Should I have asked Pure Vanilla [music] Cookie to do it together?
Speaker A
No. Pure Vanilla Cookie would worry himself sick over nothing. He'd say it's too dangerous.
Speaker A
Once I [music] come back with the first headmaster, he'll celebrate with me then. Step five, reverse summon [music] the psyche in question.
Speaker A
Step six, anchor it to the cookie world's axis. If I reverse summon the first headmaster's essence and anchor it into the [music] dough I've prepared, he would merge with life energy and form a stable soul.
Speaker A
Then I can speak with the founding headmaster himself and the hole. Then everything will be resolved.
Speaker A
[music] This isn't wrong. It's simply giving an unanswered question the chance to be answered.
Speaker A
The first headmaster said it himself. He left a fragment of his heart for someone willing to ponder this question [music] alongside him.
Speaker A
A question left behind by a soul who loved the cookie [music] world enough to want to give all knowledge to everyone.
Speaker A
It's only right that we as descendants be the ones to answer it. Isn't that so pure vanilla cookie?
Speaker A
Enough. Let me run through it one last time. The milk crumb bowl is the memory medium, the target coordinates [music] that can call the first headm's essence back from Tarteus.
Speaker A
The cookie dough I baked, the anchor point within the cookie [music] world. Aora psyche has taken root in it. It belongs to no one, which means it can accept the first headm's essence.
Speaker A
3 days. So, even if I cross over, if I don't come back within [music] 3 days, it would be fatal.
Speaker A
But I'm not crossing over. I'm pulling the first headm's [music] essence out from this side.
Speaker A
It's not dangerous. It's going to be fine. Maybe this spell will fail, too. Like the failed [music] experiments to create the perfect cookie.
Speaker A
But nothing will change if I never try. The first headmaster must have done the same. When everyone around him was asking [music] trivial questions, he alone held on to the real one.
Speaker A
So I will too. I'll hold on until the very end. So this is the altar [music] the first headmaster used when performing his most powerful magic.
Speaker A
I knew the mirror was a secret passage. Milk is a mirror that reflects memory and memory is a mirror that reflects the heart of the one who asks.
Speaker A
The main stairways are under strict [music] lock and key by the faculty. But I knew the first headmaster would have built a secret passage through the archives. [music] A dimensional rift maintained by generations of headmasters across hundreds of years. There's no better
Speaker A
place than [music] here to open the door to Tartarus. three protective magic circles. The outermost [music] prevents magical backflow from the altar. The middle one keeps the laws of Tartarus from bleeding into earthbred.
Speaker A
And the innermost [music] will anchor the first headmaster's essence into the dough. Then I enter a [music] magically attuned coffin and cast the spell.
Speaker A
The moment my soul fully separates from my dough, it will reverse the current and send my essence flowing back.
Speaker A
Here, Vanilla Cookie, when you meet the first headmaster someday, you'll understand, too. I know you will.
Speaker A
You'll realize that I wasn't wrong. According to the research logs, Tarteus [music] responded measurably faster when orange flowers were placed nearby.
Speaker A
Petals and [music] candle light. A quiet atmosphere showed a statistically meaningful increase [music] in response speed.
Speaker A
Setting it up like this, it really [music] does look like a funeral. No need to be afraid.
Speaker A
This funeral isn't real. And it's not really for me. This will be the [music] funeral for a world that chose ignorance.
Speaker A
And when it's over, a new world will be born. One where knowledge belongs to everyone.
Speaker A
Lie down in [music] the coffin. Close my eyes. Fold my hands. Good. The blessing of life is more than [music] this dough deserves. I am nothing but a frail creation made by another's hand.
Speaker A
Take me, oh witch. Let what is yours return to you. I can't breathe. My dough is awakening.
Speaker A
I'm scared. I'm scared. No, I'm fine. I'm going to be fine. If the signature of life energy drops below the threshold, the gate the gate will respond.
Speaker A
It opened. This is the Tarterous Dimensional Rift. Good. Now it's time for me to come back.
Speaker A
[gasps] It hurts. No. If I lose consciousness now, it's over. Why? Why won't my mind the enchantment the coffin?
Speaker A
Did I fail? No, no, that can't be right. [laughter] The gate. Where's the gate?
Speaker A
It's open. It's open. Now [laughter] I just need to connect the milk crumb bowl first. Headmaster, the heart and the questions you left behind are here. Right here.
Speaker A
It's time to brush off the dust and finally find an answer. Why? Why aren't the coordinates locking on?
Speaker A
It can't be. The first headmaster's essence isn't in Tarteus. No. The protective circles are breaking.
Speaker A
No, I have to close the rift. I can still do this. We're back. We're back.
Speaker A
[music] I don't want to crumble. I don't want to fade away. Not like this.
Speaker A
[music] Graves. The smell of burnt sugar and spoiled milk. Could it be because the rift couldn't lock onto its target?
Speaker A
Is it pulling from other dimensions, too? It's affecting the academy. [cheering] No, this isn't what I wanted.
Speaker A
Please headmaster where are you? What in the name of Students, get back. DO NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR THAT RIFT.
Speaker A
PROFESSOR, my hand, please help me. [crying] Dimensional rift. ALL NONF FACULTY, EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY NOW.
Speaker A
HEADMASTER, we're gathering up the moonstone crystals right now. Use what you have to anchor the edges of the rift first.
Speaker A
Right away. We'll need to set up A PROTECTIVE CIRCLE AROUND THE RIFT. WAIT, there's already a broken one here.
Speaker A
Professor, I I tried to open the Tarterous Rift and I failed. Good heavens. White Lily could be [music] you open this rift. [cheering] I'll redraw the protective barrier.
Speaker A
I I'm the one who broke it. Quick, give me the moonstone. [cheering] No. Step back and explain what happened.
Speaker A
You're the only one who knows what went wrong. I was trying to open the rift to Tardus to reverse summon the first headmaster's essence. But I couldn't locate him anywhere in Tarteus.
Speaker A
So Tardus reversed its current when it couldn't locate the intended target. And that reversal tore open rifts to other dimensions.
Speaker A
Reweave the barrier in three layers. [music] The outermost holds back the rift's expansion. The middle seals off the laws of the other worlds from bleeding through. And the innermost anchors the life energy of everyone in the academy.
Speaker A
Professor, I'm cold. EVERYONE, HOLD ON. DON'T FORGET YOUR NAMES. KEEP REMINDING YOURSELF WHO you are.
Speaker A
I am I'm My name is the waters of Tartarus' river of oblivion have already spread throughout the entire academy.
Speaker A
I've brought more moonstones. Raise them all above the rift. We'll fuse the moonstones into a [music] single mass and seal the rift shut.
Speaker A
Given how far this has already gone, even with the moonstones, there's a high probability [music] Tartarus' reach will expand to encompass the entire cookie world.
Speaker A
But we can't simply give up here. Professor, I'm so sorry. I was wrong. I white lily cookie. Some of this responsibility does lie with you, but the failure to properly guide that talent of yours lies with us as well.
Speaker A
Oh, you tried to stop me. Your passion for knowledge and your talent were always too great to be confined within a place like this academy.
Speaker A
And knowing that, I still wanted to see the moment your gift finally bloomed here within these walls.
Speaker A
But in the end, that only isolated you into loneliness. I'm Forgive me. Professor, where is everybody?
Speaker A
[panting] This aura. What is this? I can't breathe. What is [crying] happening? [cough] [music] Heat. Heat.
Speaker A
[gasps] A fire smoke. No, it's cold. This is Wait, who is that cookie over there?
Speaker A
My my for the loss of the shattered to come flooding into the realm of the living like this.
Speaker A
I've never experienced anything like it in my lifetime. Or have I? I seem to recall one or two times a good while back.
Speaker A
Have I been here before? You haven't been here before, little one. Though even if you had, would any memories scattered in oblivion ever find its way back?
Speaker A
[gasps] Who are you? I was wondering who could have opened this rift. Turns out you're a rather adorable little thing.
Speaker A
Poor dear. Unable to draw a proper breath. Tarterus's air was always going to be too much for an ordinary living cookie.
Speaker A
Our professors? Where are they? Professors? Ah, you mean the cookies who tried to seal the rift with moonstones?
Speaker A
They gave it everything they had, but it wasn't enough. Sad, isn't it? What? [music] But no need to fret. I'll make sure their souls are sent somewhere nice.
Speaker A
I'm Nether Queen Cookie, you see. The guardian of Tartarus. You don't look like one of the wraiths that came out of Tartarus.
Speaker A
What are you? O, now that hurts more than I'd like to admit. I am the one who keeps Tartarus from overflowing, not something that crawled out of it.
Speaker A
Don't lie to me. Ever since you appeared, the rift [music] has been shaking even harder.
Speaker A
It isn't only the rift that's shaking, little one. Your heart is shaking far more than any rift right now. Settle down.
Speaker A
That cookie hasn't crumbled yet. That little one is the cookie who opened this rift. She pulled TardeRus's current into the realm of the living.
Speaker A
A then is she in trouble? She'd be lucky if trouble were all she was in.
Speaker A
But it isn't going to end at that, is it? Seeing as the two of us were able to cross over like this.
Speaker A
Get back through that rift right now. The academy is already because of me. Yes, you made a real mess of things. And if things continue as they are, the cookie world will be too.
Speaker A
All because of you. Feeling a little better now. Cleared your head a bit, did it? taking a swing at someone.
Speaker A
Leave me alone. Stop acting like you can read my every thought. I don't have to read them, little one.
Speaker A
You've written everything on your face for the world to see. Still, I must commend you and grant credit where it's due. You could move an inch under Tartris's weight when we first arrived.
Speaker A
And yet, you've managed to pull yourself together and even managed to charge straight at me. You're a remarkable little thing, aren't you?
Speaker A
What do you want from me? Why haven't you dragged me off to Tartarus already?
Speaker A
Do you think Tardus is some monster that swallows everything whole? It's a river where lives that have ended pass through.
Speaker A
As long as it doesn't overflow, it's actually quiet and pretty. The problem at hand is that the rift you opened is mistaking lives that haven't ended yet for ones that have.
Speaker A
Now then, I'll gather up TardeRus's overflow and pull it back. If it spreads any further, even I'm going to find this genuinely exhausting.
Speaker A
Really? Then the cookies inside the academy. The ones who have already crossed the boundary.
Speaker A
There's nothing to be done for them. But I'll let their souls stay here within this academy.
Speaker A
Only their souls. Is there no other way? Sweetie, water that has already flown downstream does not reverse course.
Speaker A
Instead, I'll draw a boundary across this academy, creating a space where the departed may dwell and remain.
Speaker A
That sounds like you're saying the academy is going [music] to become Tarteus. It doesn't just sound that way. It's exactly what I'm saying.
Speaker A
This academy will now exist on the boundary between life and soul forever. [crying] Everyone thought I was strange. The professors, even pure vanilla Cookie.
Speaker A
No one ever listened to my questions all the way through. I thought the first headmaster would understand.
Speaker A
But he wasn't in TardeRus. You nearly lost the ones who were here. [music] searching for the one who wasn't.
Speaker A
Yes, I I did this. Sad to say, but most of the crumbled souls, no, nearly all of them.
Speaker A
Their essence dissolves and fades. Some souls do remain, but only those with a will strong enough to hold themselves together.
Speaker A
A river is about to overflow. Ah, I'd love to keep chatting, but it appears we're out of time.
Speaker A
First things first, the current must be rained in. River of Oblivion, tide of endings and beginnings alike.
Speaker A
This academy is to become our Tarterus. What lies beyond, alas, belongs to the living.
Speaker A
Be a good river now and come home for the sake of those who have lost their names.
Speaker A
The rift is closing. [laughter] My It seems the air is getting to you again.
Speaker A
It's all right, little one. Pri nice and slow. The rift just closed. So now the academy will there's no going back to what it was before you opened it. You stirred far too deep a river with far too small a
Speaker A
hand. I know this isn't the resolution you were hoping for. But sometimes resolution isn't about putting things back together.
Speaker A
It's about [music] stopping them from breaking any further. I have to say I am truly impressed.
Speaker A
You are indeed something else. [music] Such a tiny precious little thing. Opening dimensional [music] rifts on her own.
Speaker A
picking fights with me. It's been quite a while since I've met a soul like this.
Speaker A
I savored every moment of it. But now it's time to part ways. And those memories of yours, it's time [music] those came with me.
Speaker A
Huh? No. I have to remember everything. what I did, what spell I used, where it all went wrong. I need to know so that someday I can.
Speaker A
Little one, if you leave with those memories with you tonight, you'll inevitably end up opening a [music] bigger rift by this time tomorrow.
Speaker A
better calculations, a tighter protective circle, a deeper resolve. And next time you will make something truly irreversible.
Speaker A
I don't care. This is my responsibility, [music] too. Running away by forgetting what I did wrong.
Speaker A
Forgetting isn't running away. It's a reprieve. So you can make it to the next rift still standing.
Speaker A
The next rift. I'm only telling you this because I've taken a liking to you, little one.
Speaker A
Someday, the throne of the Nether Realm will sit empty. the seat that guards the river of oblivion and guides the souls who wish to return back into the natural order.
Speaker A
The throne of the nether realm. I've been looking for a successor for a very long time.
Speaker A
One who carries deep questions but does not turn away from responsibility. One who fears [music] being crumbled, yet still reaches toward what lies beyond it.
Speaker A
Are you saying that's me? I'll keep you in mind for now. And there are already several others. I'll have you know.
Speaker A
Having your name on the short list doesn't mean the crown is yours for the taking [music] right away.
Speaker A
I never said I wanted to be something like that. A fate like this isn't something you can want your way into.
Speaker A
And it isn't something you can escape by rejecting it either, little one. Terribly inconvenient, I know, but that's simply how it is.
Speaker A
What are you doing to me? What is the meaning of this? Oh, relax, love. It's the mark of oblivion.
Speaker A
It will make you forget the rift you open today. But when you one day stand at the river's edge again, it will bring back the memory of [music] this meeting.
Speaker A
Hey, listen. Be careful, okay? The river is gentle, but it takes things. Your name, your face, why you were crying.
Speaker A
I do. I know that. No wait. Not yet. I still have questions. [music] I do love a curious mind, but it's time for you to sleep now.
Speaker A
Now then, shall we go? [music] We'll meet again, little Lily, another time. Mhm. We should go back.
Speaker A
I'm not sure where to, but I have to go back. What is this place?
Speaker A
Is it all over? Professors, friends. Hello. Is anyone there? Where is What have I done?
Speaker A
No. No. [crying] I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Down there. a passage connected to Tartarus and countless other [music] worlds beyond it.
Speaker A
So that's what it was. The moonstone we saw was sealing the gate to Tartarus this whole time, right? The entire academy is already a part of Tartarus' domain.
Speaker A
But this opening, this was the front gate into the heart of the Netherrem itself.
Speaker A
Ginger Brave, you okay? I'm okay. Just my heart feels queasy again. Why Why is this happening?
Speaker A
Hold on. I thought it was the fog or motion sickness before. But [music] if the same symptoms are showing up now, this isn't a simple problem.
Speaker A
The witch's [music] island when we arrived at the academy and now it's possible that Ginger [music] Brave's pain is recurring every time he draws close to a dimensional boundary.
Speaker A
Ginger Brave, you should step back from the rift now. [clears throat] Yeah. Okay. Leaving this rift open feels dangerous.
Speaker A
The academy is [music] already a part of Tartarus, but doesn't there's something we can do to cover it up or seal it off?
Speaker A
That would be wise. What do you think, Pure Vanilla Cookie? This gate will need to be closed eventually, but there's something I need to [music] do before that.
Speaker A
Hm. I need to go through to the other side myself. What? What do you mean by that? You intend to go in there yourself?
Speaker A
You a vanilla cookie? Why are you suddenly putting up a barrier around yourself and the rift?
Speaker A
No, don't do it. Pure vanilla cookie. I'm truly sorry, everyone. We don't have much time.
Speaker A
The Radiant Cookie's voice has gone silent, and we need to bring them back as soon as possible, but there is still so much we [music] don't know. How to help the Radiant Cookie, what the connection between Soul Jam and the [music] First Oven even is.
Speaker A
The one known as Nether Queen Cookie knew a great deal, and she appeared [music] cooperative toward White Lily Cookie as well. And if that memory is accurate, White Lily Cookie may still be there, still lingering in TardeRus, waiting to become Nether Queen Cookie
Speaker A
successor. You intend to go into Tarterus alone? That's far too dangerous. Please dispel the barrier. If it comes to that, we could use dark moon magic the way White Lily Cookie did and call the soul out from the other side.
Speaker A
That won't work. The academy is already within Tardus' domain. The spell White Lily Cookie used [music] was designed to draw a soul from Tartarus into Earthbread.
Speaker A
It wasn't a spell to call a soul from one place within [music] Tarteus to another.
Speaker A
But that rift isn't only connected to Tartarus. It links to countless other dimensions. You could lose your way entirely.
Speaker A
That's why I'm going to use the memory medium. Not to call [music] her toward me, but to follow it toward her.
Speaker A
[snorts] Isn't that the flower white lily cookie always [music] kept with her? She carried it with her even as a student. So, it should certainly work as a medium. But yes, it's something White Lily Cookie left behind. A keepsake. I can use it.
Speaker A
Then, let's go in together. We'd be safer if we went as a group. No, Ginger Brave. You're already in pain.
Speaker A
TardeRus is a place that from beyond the dimensional boundary [music] destabilizes the bond between life energy and the psyche.
Speaker A
If you go in, the pain you've been feeling may become far worse. But everyone, while I'm gone, there are things I need to ask of you.
Speaker A
Ask of us to protect the radiant cookie here in my absence. and to search through Shadow Milk Cookies archive as quickly as you can.
Speaker A
And if I haven't returned within 3 days, to leave without waiting for me. No, I don't mind the other requests, but that one I can't do.
Speaker A
You can't stop moving [music] forward for my sake alone. You're asking us not to ignore the possibility that you may become bound to torture us.
Speaker A
Yes, we have all seen together what [music] kind of devastation a mistake made in absolute certainty can bring.
Speaker A
That is a cruel thing to ask of us. I know, but I can no longer stand still here.
Speaker A
She walked beside me, closer [music] than anyone every step of the way, and I believed I understood her.
Speaker A
I believed that if I held on, she would someday come back to me. But I was wrong.
Speaker A
Because not once, not a single time, did I ever descend with [music] her to the very bottom of the fear and despair she was looking into.
Speaker A
But it's different now. If she is still walking alone somewhere beyond that door, then I have to go. There is no question.
Speaker A
Even if I have nothing more than a single sliver of light in the dark, this time I refuse to miss it.
Speaker A
Even if what lies beyond is the deepest pit of hell itself. Even if I cannot find my way back, this time I will reach her and I will bring White Lily Cookie home.
Speaker A
Pure Vanilla Cookie. Pure Vanilla Cookie. Please, you can't. I'm sorry, everyone. I'm truly sorry.
Speaker A
The rift is reacting. [music] Everyone, please remember 3 days. You're vanilla cookie. No. What is What is this?
Speaker A
I was only gone long enough to buy some books. Why is the academy wrapped in dark blue smoke? What on earth bread is happening?
Speaker A
Is anyone there? Why is everything so still? Where did my dough go? Excuse me. Are you all right?
Speaker A
Why am I a ghost? Have you seen my my dough anywhere? What is this? What happened here?
Speaker A
I don't know. The smoke just suddenly filled the academy and when I came to I was like this.
Speaker A
I But who was I? Who am I? My name is Your pure vanilla cookie.
Speaker A
Professor. Professor, what on earth bread happened here? Oh, pure vanilla cookie. That child. That child.
Speaker A
What? What child? The model students went and opened a dimensional rift. WHITE LILY COOKIE DID.
Speaker A
[music] I can't that can't be right. No, there's no way. That's impossible. There's no way White Lily Cookie would She would never.
Speaker A
She only ever wanted to help the cookies who were vulnerable and unprotected. All of her research was entirely for the sake of cookies.
Speaker A
White liy cookie. No. No. [crying] I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. White liy cookie. You're vanilla cookie.
Speaker A
I'm sorry. [crying] I'm so sorry. I White Lily Cookie, breathe. Just breathe. Stay with me.
Speaker A
I I Everyone in the academy. Let's go outside first. We can talk outside. Leave me. Just leave me here. How could I possibly?
Speaker A
No, I'm not leaving without you. Don't say anything. Don't think about anything. Just right now. Lean on me.
Speaker A
I I'm going to get you out of here. I don't deserve this. I No. No.
Speaker A
For now, just think about getting out. Nothing else. Get outside. Survive. Atonement [music] blame forgiveness.
Speaker A
All of it only becomes possible if you're still here to face it. So, for now, let's just survive.
Speaker A
That's what I told you, White Lily Cookie. Do you still remember me saying that?
Speaker A
Or have you [music] long since forgotten and already arrived at the river's edge? Is your brilliant soul still whole somewhere? Still unscattered.
Speaker A
[music] I'm certain of it now. Even in the farthest, deepest depths, I know you're still out there. And you are still you.
Speaker A
Still looking at something with those eyes of yours. Still searching. [music] If you are there at the end of a path I have not yet reached. If you are still unscattered, still yourself, know this.
Speaker A
I am coming to find you without fail. This time I won't let [music] the moment pass.
Speaker A
This time I will hear every word. I have spent so long watching you walk away.
Speaker A
This time I am asking to walk beside you. And I will not look away. Not once. Not ever again.
Topics:Cookie Run KingdomQueen of the Nether RealmWhite Lily CookieMagic AcademywitchesShadow Milk Cookiedimensional magicforbidden knowledgeancient ovensNether Queen Cookie
