"Viciskam, or whatever your name is, you better not fail me on this one!"

The sentence replayed endlessly in her mind like an alarm, as if it were mocking her. Her powers indeed did fail her on that one occasion, that betrayal ended up with the young woman having her stomach impaled on the chimera's winged arm all the while her ears started bleeding from how loud and strident her scream was.

She felt like every breath she drew would be her last but alas, she was wrong as she now stood victorious in the fight, the siren-like beast now laying lifelessly by her feet...

Or so she hoped to be in that situation.

While she did defeat the monster, she wasn't quite standing like a hero in all his glory no, instead, she was on the ground, face first in a pool of her blood and tears leaking down her eyes because good lord, that hurt.

"Are you okay?" Tenebris' voice echoed four to six times, Myra couldn't tell anymore. The human was originally planning to ignore their question but feeling like it would be rude, and she also didn't want them to repeat the question (she feared it would give her a migraine) she opened her mouth to respond with as much sass as she could master:

"I'm just dandy, totally not bleeding out from that previous impalement." The Ducibus did not move and the Dove started to get impatient, giving a weak and low growl. "I'm sure you've got the instruction not to let me die so I would appreciate it if you would carry on that order."

The spirit finally got moving, to the grand relief of the human who was terrified they would simply walk away, pretending it was not their fault if she died.

"I just..." They sighed while drawing a clean bandage from their handbag. "I just don't understand. You showed me you were capable of using Her power so why has Her Excellency not lent you it once more?" They tore the roll of bandage to get only the appropriate amount for her injury, gently wrapping it around her stomach, careful not to hurt the mortal.

"Maybe she just doesn't like me?" Myra did not quite understand why they were being so emotional about it, wasn't it normal? Plus if somebody ever miscalled me like that I would have probably been salty as well.

The Ducibus shook their head, signaling they did not agree with that theory. "If that was the case, she would have chosen somebody else for the job. It didn't have to be you. Besides, it's not like the divine had any rules preventing them from choosing the same person twice."

Myra guessed that this was a good point.

"Then I might just be bad at it? I mean, I just started." The mortal tried not to wince when the creature fasten the bandage. "What was the saying again...? Oh right, Heaven's road is full of trials and failures right?"

The Ducibus gave a skeptic 'hm' and finally finished, stuffing back the bandage roll inside of their bag.

"Can you walk?" The guardian only stared at the new bind, which was already starting to be tainted with the crimson liquid. "That... is to be determined."

She couldn't.

The moment she tried, her knees buckled underneath her when they were supposed to hold her up, to add to her suffering, one of her ankles got twisted while falling and the fact she accidentally sat on it was probably not helping. If any indicator was needed, she was pretty sure that her ankle wasn't supposed to make the noise of a crushed bone.

"... You would have probably been better off with Amare instead honestly." Myra couldn't agree with the Ducibus more, that fall was painful for both her body and ego.

***

Both of them had to wait quite a while before they were able to depart once more, Myra would never give the details about what happened during that timelapse for the sole reason that it would be too embarrassing to say that the creature, who was barely a foot tall, was babying her the whole time and she didn't mind it that much.

Well anyways, she defeated all of the monsters that came in her way with ease this time. These quite unfortunate encounters in normal conditions were a godsend in her situation. Thanks to them, she got better control of her powers and she was now able to activate them just fine. Saying she now wielded the power to perfection would be too far stretched of course but she made progress, and that's what mattered.

Right after the last and seventh enemy turned to dust, Myra was pretty much expecting herself to walk to whatever place they were going to now, she was proved wrong quickly enough though.

The second she pushed the door open to leave the now empty room, she was teleported to what looked like an astronomy-themed place, which was probably at least five times bigger than her gymnasium back in her high school.

"What in the heavens-"

"This is your room."

She blinked once then twice, taking the time needed for her brain to process the information.

"What?" Myra turned to look at the small creature who would be smiling innocently if they had a face, shock written on her face.

"This is your room, you know that human creation made for one or more people typically used for sleeping--" The woman facepalmed, really unimpressed.

"I know what a room is, Tenebris." Did they think she was this clueless about human norms? "I mean- This much space? For me?" Tenebris looked lost for a minute, how do they manage to convey their emotions without using any facial features? No one knows...

"This much space? What are you talking about?" Now, this was Myra's turn to be lost. "This place is considered pretty small for gods and semi-gods, it's about the size of their living room."

Myra was dumbfounded, she was expecting the deities to live in luxury, that was basic common sense, but this place? The size of a living room? What did they even put in it to need this much space? A zoo? That did sound like something she would expect gods to do...

"But from your reaction, should I assume that you like it?" The Ducibus feigned being apathetic to her actual opinion and tried to act like they were only asking to be polite. That didn't fool Myra though, she could see Tenebris cracking their fingers behind their back and moving from side to side in nervousness. they probably had something to do with the management of the room.

The woman saw no reason to lie, she liked the stars. Granted she never truly tried to know more about them but looking at them was truly a feast to the eye.

"Yes, it's lovely. Plus in a space like this, I know I won't get flash banged when waking up, it's good." At those words, the little creature squeaked in happiness. Ever since the Seven appeared and they were created to teach the 7th Dove, they were never able to get their student to like their room, for which they felt horrible. After all most of them were always scared of not being able to return from their mission and when they do, they just step into the room they designed, feeling like prisoners.

They were truly happy that one of them liked it for once, they were beginning to think that the deities fond of shiny and flashy things were rubbing off on mankind. They were relieved to have been proven wrong, it would be a crying shame if this species wouldn't be able to appreciate the beauty of the night and the peace the dark gives.

Because anyone who has the fear of the dark doesn't fear darkness itself, but what it might hide.

And in this story...

Their fear was justified.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves, this story still has a long way to go before reaching its end.

"You said it was my room but..." Myra looked around her and saw nothing but dark grass covering the entirety of the wide space as flowers whose heads were dark but glowing purple splattered the canvas like paint drops. She also saw some sort of stone-made platform lying in the center of the room which was connected to four different roads, also made of stone, that reached the four entrances to the room.

"I don't see any bed? There is only... that big piano over that platform and spoiler alert, I don't know how to play that instrument-- or any of them for that matter." Tenebris snorted.

"I know and that's precisely why I put it there. Not only will you learn to better control your powers but you will also learn how to play an instrument. Oh and about that bed, don't worry about it, it's not very important right now." Myra didn't know whether to be more worried about having to learn an instrument soon or about the bed, she was a material girl and physically couldn't sleep without having a mattress underneath her, hence why she hated camping but that is a story for later.

"Why do I have to learn how to play the piano? Are we having some sort of concert I wasn't warned of?" Just by their body language, you could easily tell how much terror this idea brought to Tenebris.

"Of course not! That would be the equivalent of handing the Seven's targets already tied up and powerless to their mercy! While you would be playing, you will be too distracted to prepare for one of their attacks." Myra frowned, she didn't exactly think about that but now that they brought it up, there was something that was puzzling her entire childhood that she never got to get an answer for.

"Hey Tenebris, can I ask you a question?" The Ducibus flew to her shoulder height to hear better perhaps.

"Of course, you can, as your teacher, it's my duty to help you the moment it's in my capacity." They nodded enthusiastically, sure that would probably bring Tempus to tears of pride.

"Since every human is reunited in 7 places during the Solar Ceremony, wouldn't be a piece of cake to just wipe us all out? Or when we're having this training and unable to defend the world, why aren't they just killing us all? It seems like a golden opportunity for me."

Tenebris laughed without actually finding it funny, it was more like the kind of laugh you would let out when you're sad and don't want anyone to worry about you or what you're upset about. That wild guess of hers was proved by the concerning amount of time the sound was repeated, she thought that the number of echoes might give a hint on how they felt.

"This question is pretty easy to answer. Ever since you started learning the history of our world, have your teachers ever talked about what happened to the previous Doves when another Solar Ceremony started?" Myra shook her head and frowned, not liking where all of this was going. Good lord, what has she gotten herself into?

"No, they just kept rambling about how the Solar Ceremony worked and the merit of being chosen by the deities to protect the world or something... I didn't pay attention to that class." She didn't know why she felt the need to add that part but perhaps it was in hope of lightening the mood because right now, the air was heavy and it was getting kinda hard to breathe. That didn't seem to work, unfortunately.

"Ever since the last Ceremony, have you seen these colorful barriers people like to call 'Eye of the Gods'?" Tenebris referred to these strange bubbles that would appear a little before the Solar Ceremony around the seven respective countries, which would stay there for a few weeks before dissolving into black, white, grey, blue, red, green, and yellow particles when the next Doves would officially be introduced.

The Divine Priest or Priestess of the respective countries never gave intel on what these shield-like things were or how they appeared so people decided to come up with numerous theories that ranged from normal to insane.

But most people believe in the saying that these bubbles shielding them from the Seven came from the deities of the respective countries themselves, giving them one more gift other than a portion of their power. The legend also says that it's with that shield that they can be informed of what's happening in the human world, hence why they were nicknamed the Eye of the Gods.

"The Eye of the Gods? Oh right, honestly I never really believed in that thing. The gods would have come up with something flashier than just a bubble in their color." She said absently while looking at the door far away, it was clear as day that she didn't seem interested in talking about it.

"Well, you're right. This theory is just an illusion.

-Hah, if only I could tell that to my classmates, they used to always call me a fool for not believing in it! Well, who's laughing now---

-They are what's left of the previous Doves."