Those two words felt like a punch to the throat. Madame Alizeh's words had barely registered in Makaela's head. A million different questions swarmed around inside her brain like angry bees.

Lumi was a god. Gods don't just fade.

Right?

She shook her head. "I...I don't understand."

"Sit down, child," Madame Alizeh ordered as she took a seat at the table, "and let me tell you about the gods."

Trembling slightly, Makaela sat down across from her. Something told her she wasn't about to be told the same story her father once told her when she was young.

The woman across from her pressed her hands on either side of the eldricite orb in the center of the table. Within seconds, the dull, grey orb lit up with a fluorescent, silver hue. Through the glossy surface, Makaela could see minuscule images floating in the center.

"What's—"

Madame Alizeh pressed a finger to her lips.

Gulping, she did as she was told.

"Billions of years ago, this planet was discovered by seven otherworldly beings with great amounts of power," the woman explained. "Where they come from, no one exactly knows. Even the founders of the Eldenarian Council, the chosen champions of these beings we call the gods, weren't aware of their true origins—"

"Wait a minute...." Makaela squinted at her teacher. "So they're not gods?"

"If we want to get specific, no," Madame Alizeh answered, "they are not."

What?!

She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

For as long as she could remember, she had been taught that the gods were the creators of the world and everything in it. The story had been that after they finished creating the planet, they formed human beings out of clay and water to inhabit it—along with the various other creatures who existed before them. Eventually, the gods picked seven of these humans to carry on the spark of magic that lived within them.

Thus, magicians were born. The rest was history.

But if what Madame Alizhe had begun to tell her was true, then that story might not have been as accurate as she thought.

If she didn't know any better, she would've accused the woman of heresy. But she did know better. And so did the Vayan monk. In fact, she knew everything about the history of magic. If anyone would know the truth about the gods, it would've been her.

Remy, her cousin, would have loved the woman. She smiled at the thought of them obsessing over the subject.

Makaela shook her head, as her disbelief and confusion came flooding back tenfold.

"What did you mean by 'Lumi is fading' then?" Her eyes widened. "Is she dying? No, that can't be. She can't die. She's...she's Lumi!"

A wave of nausea crested over her. Sweat beaded on her forehead as her vision swayed for a moment.

Lumi couldn't be dying. Especially not now.

The Vayan monk sitting across from her rubbed the deep creases on her forehead while grumbling her displeasure under her breath. "Get a grip, child. She's not dying. Not yet, anyway. But she is getting weaker. I can feel it in my bones. Before, she would speak to me every couple of weeks. She would show me visions of you and the other members of the prophecy—"

"You know who they are?"

"Stop interrupting!"

Flinching at the sudden noise, Makaela shrunk into her seat and nodded sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Thank you." Madame Alizeh huffed, a hint of annoyance etched into her features. "Now, as I was saying, Lumi used to communicate with me often. But that stopped a few months ago. Since then, I haven't heard a word from her. Not even a vision or a dream."

Makaela fell silent.

She thought back to her previous interactions with the goddess of light and prophecies. The first had been when she was a little girl during The Marking ceremony. That had been the day her life changed forever. Lumi had told her she was destined for great things, thus, beginning her path to becoming the Light that the prophecy spoke of.

Her second meeting with Lumi hadn't been as cheery as the first. It occurred when she visited the small village in the south of France where she was born. The faint memory of Minerva Moreau, one of her relatives, saved her from Shades after she escaped Castle Braexus.

She frowned deeply. That had been the first time her Nightling announced itself.

That also was the night she betrayed her friends and joined the Order of the Black Lotus.

"What could be causing this?" she asked in an attempt to distract her mind from the dangerous thoughts threatening to creep in.

"Mauvorin."

As if on cue, an invasive chill seeped into the small room. The walls shuddered under the force of the wind outside, almost as if the mention of the dark deity's name made the air angry. Shivering, Makaela instinctively wrapped her arms around herself.

She had learned a lot about Mauvorin during her time with the Order, as he was their—along with House Tenebris—patron god.

Mauvorin was the baron of chaos and destruction. The god of death and disorder. The collector of souls and spirits. He ruled everything in the shadows and the realm beneath the earth. The Ordinaires perceived him as a being called Satan—an evil being hellbent on corrupting all of those who walked above him. They didn't even know half of his true nature.

Aside from Lumi, he was the most powerful god.

"What does Mauvorin have to do with this?"

Madame Alizeh chuckled. "I think you and I both know the answer to that."

Gulping, Makaela nodded. She thought back to her fight with Thorian in Vashara's portal shrine. It was there where she realized Thorian's goal wasn't to unite magicians in an attempt to retake the world. No, the purpose of his quest was much more sinister than that.

He didn't want to unite magicians at all.

He wanted to dominate them. He wanted to rule them.

Mauvorin was the one whispering in his ear, urging him to collect the seven Eldenarian Artifacts and become the most powerful magician on the planet.

She couldn't believe she had been so stupid as to think Thorian wanted peace. Everything he said about wanting magicians back on top of the world was nothing but lies.

Then again, lying was what he did best.

Besides murdering people, of course.

Still, that didn't explain how Mauvorin was involved with Lumi's deteriorating health. The legends did speak of a rivalry between the two gods, but never anything that suggested one could directly affect the other.

"Mauvorin and Lumi are twins," Madame Alizeh revealed after a long period of silence. 

"Twins?"

The woman nodded. "They are the oldest of the seven gods and the most powerful. In the beginning, they worked in the tandem with each other. Light and darkness. Yin and yang. But something happened between them that put that at odds. They have spent the last few millennia battling each other, desperately trying to gain the upper hand."

"Battling each other? But how? Wouldn't we see that?"

"Recent centuries have seen them do their fighting through conduits," she continued to explain. "The first great magician war, unknown to most Ordinaires. The two world wars. Even the Crusades were fought between soldiers of the light and dark. Whatever the Ordinaire history books say is just how they rationalize the bloodshed."

Makaela opened her mouth to reply but her brain was too fuzzy to think of a response. So, she just sat there, sinking slowly into her wooden chair with her mouth agape.

None of her teachers ever taught her that. Not even Olivier, her uncle who helped raise her.

She wondered if he even knew the truth.

"How do you know all of this?"

"Lumi and I have been speaking for a decade. I've learned some things during our conversations."

Makaela shook her head. "But that still doesn't explain why Lumi is fading? How is Mauvorin doing this to her?"

"The scales have tipped in his favor," Madame Alizeh said. "Thorian's acquisition of the Eldenarian Artifacts have made him stronger, as the man is serving as his primary conduit. Soon, he will take over the dark lord's body and wreak havoc on this Earth."

They can do that?

"How do we help Lumi?"

Her teacher went quiet. The woman bit down on her lip as she seemingly contemplated a response.

"We can help her right?"

"In theory, yes."

"In theory? What does that mean—"

Madame Alizeh swiped her hand through the air, silencing the girl. "Coming up with a way to help Lumi will be useless until we determine a way to make contact with her again. Which leads to the next phase of your training—your dreamwatching ability."

Makaela shot up from her seat with her hands gripping either side of the small, cluttered table. "We need to help her. You said it yourself. She's dying."

"Focusing on your training is helping her. Trust me, Makaela."

"Trust you?" she scoffed. "You abandoned my house for a decade. You allowed my housemates to be slaughtered by the Order for years. You somehow know about some alternate version of our entire species' history. A history you waited until now to tell me, by the way. Forgive me if I don't exactly trust you right now."

The older woman narrowed her grey stare at the younger girl. An expression colder than the snow and ice outside had settled across her features. She slowly stood up, assuming her full height. For a woman as old as she was, she was still quite tall. Her age hadn't decimated her figure, which was considerably taller than Makaela's five-foot-four frame.

Makaela held her ground. With her jaw set and glare as steely as she could make it, she remained where she stood.

She knew the woman was her ally. In fact, she owed the Vayan monk her life. Had it not been for her, she would've frozen to death on those Tibetan slopes that portal spat her out on. Still, she had to be careful with who she put her trust in. Too many times had she been betrayed and led astray. If it happened again, she would only have herself to blame.

She could only depend on herself in times like this. The situation with Lumi only helped reinforce that belief.

"You will not speak to me that way," Madame Alizeh told her. Her words were sharper than a blade newly forged blade. "I am not your enemy, Makaela. If we want any chance at defeating the Order and Muavorin, we need to be on the same path. Understand?"

She didn't respond at first. Mainly out of stubbornness.

But the woman was right. They needed to be on the same page right now. The time for arguing would have to come later.

"Do you understand me, child?"

She sighed. "Yes, I understand."

Madame Alizeh nodded. "Good." She sat back down and gestured for Makaela to do the same. "Now, I have some questions to ask about your dreamwatching ability."

Glancing across the room, she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "What about it?"

"Do you have complete control over it? Thorian is quite adept at using that skill to his benefit. You need to be able to as well."

Makaela thought back to the last time she dreamwatched. It was a few weeks ago following her altercation with the Arkangels in the forest outside of Vashara. She had found herself in the Great Tree eavesdropping on a war meeting between Chieftain Naidini and the Eldai sent from the Eldenarian Palace to protect her.

She wasn't in control of it then, and she was sure she wasn't in control of it now.

The dreams came at random. They were almost like visions—they came whenever she needed them to.

Sometimes, she wondered if it had been Lumi plucking her out of her state of unconsciousness and dropping her into whatever she needed to see. If the goddess was truly fading, perhaps that was why Makaela hadn't dreamwatched in almost a month.

"Makaela? Are you listening?"

Clearing her throat, she nodded quickly. "Yes, I am. Sorry." Her fingers coiled around the long, black braid that fell down her shoulder. "I...I don't have control over my dreamwatching ability."

She could see the woman trying not to make her disappointment visible.

"That's...unfortunate." She swiped a hand through the air. "No matter. Luckily, I have the perfect instructor for you."

"You have another dreamwatcher here?"

"No."

"Then how do you have the perfect teacher?"

"Must you ask so many questions, child?"

"Must you be so cryptic?"

The two of them stared at each other for a moment before the older woman eventually shrugged her pointed shoulders.

"Fair criticism. To answer your question," she continued with a smirk, "yes, I must. I have a reputation to uphold, Ms. Moreau."

Makaela disguised her laugh with a cough. Rolling her eyes, she shook her head at her teacher. The woman didn't joke around often, but she did have an excellent sense of humor underneath the mysterious layers that wrapped around her like the grey robes she wore.

"Who is it?"

"Who is who?"

"This perfect teacher you mentioned. Who is it?"

She wasn't sure how someone without the ability to dreamwatch was going to teach her how to control her dreams. When she was with Thorian, she learned a lot about the Obscurin Arts and her demon heritage since House Tenebris was the leading producer of dark magicians and monster hunters.

But House Vaya's main discipline aligned with the skies. Weather and air magic. A few lightningweavers. Dreamwatching wasn't generally associated with the Vayan magicians.

Madame Alizeh's smile widened. A mischievous look had filled her eyes.

Makaela tensed, her eyebrow lifted slightly.

"Why are you smiling?"

"Oh, this is going to fun."

"What is?" She squinted at the woman. Her eyes widened as she realized who she was likely referring to. "No. No, please not her."

"Yes. Her."

Groaning, she dropped her forehead onto the table with an audible thud. Her annoyance helped her ignore the dull throb spreading across her face.

"But she hates me!"

"She doesn't hate you," Madame Alizeh replied. "She's just...is a bit skeptical, that's all. Karin isn't one to trust easily. Especially in times like these."

"Trust me, she hates me. No matter what I do, I can't seem to find any common ground with her."

"This is why having you two train together is a perfect idea!"

More like a terrible one.

She kept her mouth shut, though, as it was clear the woman had her mind made already. Sighing, she raised her head.

"When do I start training with her?"

The woman glanced at one of the stormglasses behind the girl. She blinked, slightly taken aback. "Right now, actually."

"Now?!"

Her teacher rose from her seat and flitted over to the door of the small room like a ghost. She opened it, allowing in a blast of cold air from outside along with a few snowflakes. Gesturing toward the snow, she grinned. "You'll find her waiting in the meditation circle. Off you go. Don't want to keep her waiting. She's a stickler for punctuality."

"And you aren't, apparently."

"Watch it, child."

"Karin's going to hate me even more than she already does." Makaela kissed her teeth and scowled. "It's your fault I'm late in the first place."

"That won't matter to her, I'm afraid."

She groaned again and threw her hands into the air.

"Better get a move on."

Grumbling under her breath, Makaela tightened her robes around her body and shuffled toward the door.

"Be careful going down the paths!" Madame Alizeh called out behind her. "They're icy at this time of day! The sun doesn't do much against this type of ice."

"Gee, thanks."

"Have a wonderful training session!"

Gritting her teeth and trying her best to ignore the biting cold, Makaela continued out of the room and toward the stone path that would lead her to Karin.