“At least I keep my good looks when I drink,” said Sennefer.
“So what? Our bodies are only containers anyway. I can get a new one any time!” Brofen retorted.
Angor silently watched these two people arguing. By the time they finished, they more or less satisfied their stomachs.
“Alright. Angor, let’s head back to my lab.” Brofen stood up. “I’ll keep showing you around.”
Sennefer stopped them. “Are you still onto that project of yours?”
Brofen looked embarrassed for some reason. “Y-yes.”
“Heh. Careful then. Those lunatics are always watching over the Baikal River. If they find out what you are doing...”
Sennefer also headed to the door. She briefly stopped when walking past Angor.
“I heard. You’re the reason why Brofen finished the maintenance so soon.”
“It’s a mutual benefit, Miss Sennefer.” Angor lowered his head.
“Ha. Flora used to tell me how modest you are. Way too modest.” Sennefer smiled. “I’ll remember this. Should you need something from me, come and find me at the top of the vehicle.”
Brofen watched her leaving and rubbed his forehead.
“What a bummer, running into her at such an hour. Let’s go.”
...
A dazzling temple silently floated among stars, with its everlasting brilliance constantly surpassing all light around it.
This was the Starliege Temple, the holy ground for all ambitious Prophets around the wizarding world, as well as one of the best places to exchange and announce information.
The temple came with more than thirty secondary chambers connected to each other, eighteen of which were guarded by their owners—the “Eighteen Overseers”. While the chamber on the topmost floor, a place bathed in unending starlight, was the personal observatory of “Unfading Globe” Lupanya.
Right at this moment, a hunched old woman was slowly walking to the observatory with another young man in tow.
“Like always, use your eyes more than your words. How much you can comprehend is all up to you,” the woman said to her companion in a weak voice.
The young man nodded with determination, but then looked in another direction with a frown, as if there was something he was concerned about.
The old woman saw it and silently prepared a spell in her mindspace to look into the Stream of Fate.
Strangely, she found nothing. The spell only returned with blurry screens that made no sense to her.
“What’s the matter?” She decided to ask.
“It’s nothing, ma’am.”
“You’re greatly favored by fate, which allows you to see what normal Prophets can’t see. However, it might not always be useful. Do not burden yourself with everything you found. Sometimes, it’s better to forget it. Besides, if you keep abusing the favor of fate, it will harm you someday.”
The young man thought about the strange visions that haunted his view—darkness, fire, blood, a chained demon, and a mad, laughing man.
“... I understand, ma’am.”
They had arrived at the entrance of the observatory.
“Go. The stars have aligned. Today, they will reveal more than what you expect from them.”
The other side of the door was not a room, but a dark place full of blinking stars that came and vanished occasionally.
After walking across what seemed to be a small piece of the universe, they came to the main hall of the observatory.
Around a spiral galaxy, six Overseers waited with their eyes closed. Behind them, several dozen more people were also silently meditating.
The old woman and the young man picked a vacant spot and sat down.
Such an occasion when the stars perfectly aligned only happened once in half a year. On this day, all Overseers and Prophets studying at Starliege Temple would gather and watch the stars together.
Not everyone here knew how to read the stars. However, they wouldn’t mind joining everyone because they would always learn some very important clues in this way.
When the “galaxy” in the center began to glow brighter, one of the Overseers opened his eyes. “Let’s begin.”
“Only six of them came?” one of the wizards farther away whispered to his partner.
As commonly known, the “Eighteen Overseers” of Starliege Temple did not necessarily stay here at all times. Nobody remembered when all of them came to read the stars together last time.
The entire hall went brighter and brighter as more blazing stars popped into existence and resonated with one another. Those who didn’t know what was going on would only find the sight to be beautiful. Prophets, however, were able to recognize the “star map” around them, which was made possible by a Mystery Item called the Oracle’s Star.
All Prophets in training, including wizards and lucky apprentices, were completely focused as they tried to tell what the star map was signifying. However, most of them were bound to return empty-handed because they did not have enough strength to understand anything at all.
The Oracle’s Star was a tactical Mystery Item treasured by the Starliege Temple. However, it was usually safe from coveting hands because not many people in this world could use it. Apart from the Overseers and a few Prophets who majored in star reading, the rest of the people would only find this item to be quite pointless.
The young man saw pictures, obscured by heavy mist screens.
He felt as if the stars could help him remove the mist and look at what was behind. But due to his incompetent level, he only had one chance at it.
The star map suddenly started to flicker, forcing most of the observing people to quit.
When there were only the six Overseers at the center of the hall who were still “reading”, the young man opened his eyes as wide as he could and gazed at the star map without blinking.
Bit by bit, the power of the stars removed the obstacle from his vision and allowed him to catch a brief glimpse of an image...
In the next second, he felt both his eyes and his chest burning in pain. After coughing up some blood, he collapsed, energy exhausted.
One by one, the Overseers “woke up”, by which time the star map also slowly vanished.
The last individual who opened his eyes was Lupanya, the supreme leader of Starliege Temple. He was immediately alarmed by the smell of blood in the hall.
He turned back and saw an old woman applying healing spells at a young apprentice beside her.
“What’s the matter, Maya?” an Overseer next to Lupanya—a middle-aged scholar with a serious look, “Innocence” Seurat—spoke.
Maya answered carefully, “I apologize, Mister Seurat. It seems my student went too far and suffered backfire.”
Seurat was going to scold Mara for tainting the room, but he changed his mind when he remembered who Mara truly was.
“... Keep him out next time, if he doesn’t learn how to obey the rules.”
Maya didn’t protest—the incident was indeed partially her fault.
“Backfire?” Lupanya suddenly spoke and surprised both of them. “I don’t think so.”