“Just a regular nightmare of mine,” said Marie. “I get it all the time.”

The familiar spirit blinked twice. “You dream about that on a regular basis? That’s not exactly possible.”

“Just to be sure,” Aziz said, having found the joy in speaking, “we are talking about a dream in a world of darkness with lots of people, right?”

“That’s the one,” said Rene. “Marshal, were you also dreaming about that? And it’s a recurring nightmare to boot?”

Marie rubbed her head, and took two deep breaths. “Colonel.”

Aziz straightened his spine out of habit. “Yes?”

“You dreamed about a world of darkness, right? And there were lots of people there. Correct?” Marie asked. “Did that world remind you of anything else that had appeared in recent times?”

“Remind me…” Aziz frowned. “I need a prompt.”

“Like when the Lifespring passed away, maybe?” Marie replied. “Does that place remind you of the world in your dream too?”

Aziz froze. His vision shook slightly, his hands gripping the bedsheet involuntarily. He could feel his fingernails tear through the fabric and cut a groove into his skin, but whatever new little injuries he was getting right now couldn’t be compared to the myriad curses in his mind right now.

The Orb he knew…wasn’t this extraordinary, was it?

He turned to Marie. “That world…yes, it reminded me of the time when the Lifespring passed away, when my mind was sucked into some weird space. What is going on?”

“I only have suspicions,” said Marie. “I only made a connection when I saw the Lifespring’s death, but I didn’t dare to tell anyone else, for fear that they thought I was crazy. Familiar Spirit Rene, what is going on? What is this world? You must know something, right?”

Rene was silent for a moment. To Aziz, it looked like the familiar spirit was thinking of what she wanted to say, and he motioned for Marie to stay silent to let Rene have time to gather her thoughts.

“The Chanter of Innocence is a great god on par with the Human God,” Rene began slowly. “No one knew about his existence, and it is almost certain that his origin is not the same as ours. Perhaps, he was a subordinate of the two ancient gods that fought eons ago. Or he was a naturally born great god from the true world. We are not sure.”

Her eyes clouded over. “Tiadall, the Epochal Boundary, and Pabar, the Eternal Presence. Even for the Lord and his equals, no one knew who or what they are. We just knew that they existed, and that was enough.”

Aziz couldn’t exactly see where she was going, especially with that non-sequitur, but one thing had registered itself into his head — the Chanter of Innocence was different from the others.

“But twelve years ago, when a familiar spirit of the Human God was broken apart and absorbed, the Lord began to have his misgivings. Something that had plagued him, a question that had never taken form before, appeared in his mind as he watched the familiar spirit pass away,” said Rene. “And he called us all for a conference.”

She paused. But Aziz couldn’t tell if it was for dramatic impact, or if she really was trying to word her statements properly. For all he knew, it could be both.

A thunderclap came from outside, and rain began to fall. The familiar spirit stared at it, and then shook her head. “The two ancient gods, Pabar and Tiadall. What we know is that the two gods, in their final hour, went down together. Their powers were neatly divided into various, cohesive functions. And that, is the problem. A question that the Lord dares not bring up.”

“Can such a thing be possible? The Epochal Boundary, at its weakest, being able to divide its ancient foe, re-combining them into cohesive functions bounded by a neat theme.” A haunted shadow fell on Rene’s face. “Is that truly possible? The conference that followed was long and arduous, and at the very end, we came to the conclusion that no, that wasn’t.”

A lump formed in Aziz’s throat.

“Of course, we might all be wrong.” Rene forced out a hollow laugh. “And yet, the existence of a world that cannot be sensed by the great gods continues to weigh down on our consciousness. The fact that this world could only be accessed by the Lifespring at his final moments warrants even more questions too.”

She cleared her throat. “Now, as to the main point. This world of darkness is a mighty domain of the mind. Mortals can access it through dreams. For the divine…well, it seems that only on the verge of death can they access it, and for that reason, we called it the Abyss.”

“On the verge of death?” Marie asked. “Why is that the case?”

“After years of deliberation, we had a single explanation for this, derived from a single basis of godhood,” Rene replied. “Divinity repels all other forms of divinity.”

She breathed out heavily. “As long as a divine being remains unharmed, he or she cannot access the Abyss, but if they’re about to die…”

“It means that they have run out of divinity,” Marie continued, her eyes alight. “After which, they’re able to enter the Abyss. In that case, since divinity repels divinity…”

“Yes.” Rene smiled, but Aziz could see no humour in it. “The Abyss is a product of divinity too. The second basis of divinity: sources in a master-subordinate relationship can accommodate, and depending on the hierarchy, may or may not affect each other. Since the great gods are products of both Tiadall and Pabar, we should be able to enter anything of their creation, albeit with resistance.”

“But we can’t. The Lord is unable to. The Lord didn’t inform his peers, for he, in his infinite wisdom, knew that words alone could collapse a world.”

Aziz thought madly, drawing thoughts and conclusions that somehow vanished a moment later, and as he continued to see gaps and holes in his thought process, fear began to creep up on him. Lightning continued to flicker, casting the room into a stark contrast of white and black. Rene, whose body was partially covered by a dark shadow, looked at Aziz directly and lowered her volume.

“The impending war isn’t as simple as it should be.”

Lightning streaked across the skies again, and the familiar spirit vanished, leaving Aziz and Marie alone in the room, with only their thoughts and each other for company.