Chapter Twenty-Seven

The group navigates the Church’s deserted cloisters toward the sealed prophecies. On the way, Malcolm explains that ancient sources treated the Fount as a speaking, revered source of the world’s essence, likely damaged when Apollius opened it. Lore questions destiny, divinity, and whether the gods now embody the world’s soul, while silently grappling with her complicated love for Gabe alongside her engagement to Bastian.

They descend into dark stone corridors marked with out-of-order numbers. Gabe identifies door 918 as linked to a stricken Tract, “Only the Fount is eternal,” implying Anton was meditating on forbidden doctrine when he prophesied. Because the vault is Mortem-locked, Lore must open it.

Lore channels Mortem to unwind a complex knot-lock stronger than those in the catacombs, then steadies herself with a flicker of Spiritum. Inside, a lone scroll rests under a sealed glass dome. Malcolm begins reading while Gabe and Alie stand watch.

The prophecy states two requirements for Apollius’s return—dethrone the unfaithful king and bring the daughter of the dark to His chosen before ascension—both already fulfilled. Two preventions were also mandated: the dark’s daughter must not linger after her purpose, and war must not be allowed, for the faithful are not enemies.

It warns that if these are not fulfilled, the Fount’s power will find new vessels for all six gods—Nyxara, Apollius, Caeliar, Braxtos, Lereal, and Hestraon—resetting the divine cycle and bringing woe. The chapter ends with the realization that the conflict now threatens a full pantheon’s return, not just two deities.