Hrm . . . pre-Pandora's Box strangeness from Norman's POV . . . and the 'you' he's referring to is Virgil, in case it gets confusing. (Yes, the 'Priori' in the title is borrowed from Harry Potter, but as priori means 'Before', it kinda fits the story, ne?)
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So, it comes down to this . . .

Yet another blank tile stares back at the two of us from the Wall of Fate . . . Destiny stands undecided, at least until we make our next move.

You want to go finish Skullmaster off, but you know I can't agree to that. "The Mighty One isn't ready for this yet," I say to you. "Hells, we aren't ready for this yet! What makes you think we have any chance of success?"

You don't bother to respond, but then you get that 'I have a plan, but I'm not telling you what it is' look in your eyes again. Arrghh! I hate the fact that you Lemurians are inherently secretive! After everything we've been through, you could at least let me in on your crazy plans a little more often. And knowing what you're capable of, I get the feeling that this particular plan is one of your more insane ones . . .

"Virgil, what are you up to now?" I demand. I know I'm most likely not going to get an answer, but it doesn't hurt to try, right?

You brush it off, as usual. "Whatever do you mean, Norman?" you ask innocently. But don't think for a moment that I don't see that devilish little smirk on your face . . . sometimes I think you really enjoy keeping me in the dark!

But then your smirk fades as you regard the tile just to the left of the blank one, the one where the four heroes sacrificed themselves to make sure we managed to get home safely. All of a sudden, you look more tired and depressed than I've ever seen you. I know you blame yourself . . . hell, I blamed myself for a while there, but I had to let it go or it would have started interfering with my job as the Guardian.

And there's another of your problems: it's hard for you to let go of anything. It's been 5000 years since Maximus met his fate at the hands of Skullmaster, and you still think you could have done something to save him!

Having always hated to see you so depressed, I break the silence with the same line you used on Max a few days ago. "It was their destiny."

You glare at me. I fight off a smirk of my own as getting you to do that was my intention . . . better for you to be slightly angry at me than to be practically killing yourself with self-loathing.

I try one last time to get your true plans out in the open. "Come on, Virgil, I know you're plotting something . . . otherwise you wouldn't want to go after Skullmaster so soon. What are you planning? Whatever it is, I'm sure I can help . . ."

Once again, you don't bother to respond. Gods, I give up! Why do you always have to keep secrets from me, even after how long we've known each other?

"Fine, Virgil, you can keep your blasted secrets . . ." I growl. "We'll go to the Underworld to deal with Skullmaster like you want, but I don't really care about whatever you have planned. If things start going to hell down there, I'm getting you and the Mighty One out, no matter what you might do to stop me. Is that clear?"

"Perfectly clear, Norman." From the look in your eyes, it seems you were hoping I would say something like that. Now I'm really worried!

You regard your pocketwatch for a moment. "Well, we should be going . . ."

I nod in agreement, and you turn to leave. I follow behind you, but I still get the feeling that we're all going to regret whatever happens today . . .