Trillia wasn't a fool. She understood the Professor's not-so-subtle jab at her position. It meant that Storm was lying to her for some reason. But that shouldn't have been possible, given his traits.

She fiddled with a knife as she sat on her bed. Twirling it about and mostly staring up at the ceiling. What was actually going on, in Alirast? Why would they send her, of all people?

The knife's twirling stopped. As realization dawned on her, she shot from the bed and darted to the Professor's desk, slapping a hand on the orb.

A few painful minutes passed before the Professor appeared in the chair behind the desk. "Shall I cut to the chase of your question? Or would you like to verbalize it?"

Taking a deep breath, Trillia began. "I'll verbalize it so that I can make better sense of things. Are there other entities like me here? From Alirast?"

The Professor nodded.

"Were they kids born like me? With [Universal Manipulation]? Did they undergo the same procedures?"

"Of the seven-thousand three-hundred and twenty-one applicants. Only a dozen or two of you are still alive. Most of them are either here or have already come through."

Trillia's stomach churned as knots formed. "Are our chances really that bad?"

"Yes. Worse than you are thinking."

Tears welled up in her eyes. She leaned on the edge of the desk as she stared at the deity. "What's really happening?"

"Your guardian deities are not allowed to be on the realm or even that close to it. Alirast is a cradle-realm. That basically means the core itself has a massive divine signature. It has been without guardians for over a decade."

"Why hasn't anyone told us?!" Tears streamed down her face, her voice rising in anger.

"Rul- " Trillia screamed as she shut her eyes, slamming her hands down. "Stop fucking telling us about the rules! Millions of us could die, and it's just because of rules?!"

The Professor moved from behind the desk and pulled Trillia into a hug. "I know it's not fair, little one. I know it seems barbaric. But I promise, how it is now is far better than how it once was."

Trillia let herself cry for a few minutes before pulling away. "Sorry for yelling...I just..." She didn't know what to say. Did Arlyss know? The Queen? What about her parents or uncles?

The Professor grabbed her shoulders and gave her a little shake. "They don't know. Worse yet, when you return, you won't be able to simply tell them about what's going on. You will have to convince them of it somehow."

The knots in her stomach doubled. "How am I supposed to convince gods that the realm is in danger? How could they possibly not know, but the dragons do?"

"I fear that's a conversation too long to have. Remember, as your friend so brutishly put it. Space is quite large."

Trillia pulled away and sat down near the desk, leaning her back against it. "Why can't things ever be simple? Why can't we just be happy and live in peace?"

As the Professor sat next to Trillia, the woman offered her a faint smile. "Your realm had a few hundred years of peace just recently. Also, because of the triplets that were born. Most of the deities want them to die. They are profoundly powerful beings. Last time Lord Darktone had a child, the other deities came together to imprison him on the basis of how dangerous he was. These children are not that powerful but they are not far off."

"Why? Why do they hate Lord Darktone so much?"

The Professor looked away as she leaned back, pondering the question. "The rule changes were very, very beneficial to mortals. More and more mortals are becoming powerful enough to ascend. While a deity's average power has gone down due to there being more competition for prayers. Many deities hold the belief that if they can break Lord Darktone's will, the rules he helped draft and enforce can be overturned."

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"Power? It's always about power."

The Professor offered her a sad smile. "It often is, Trillia. Especially where ancient creatures are concerned. Their lives and existence were simple and easy before Lord Darktone came along. Some of them are old enough to remember that, so they whip new deities into a frenzy about how much power they are missing out on. They radicalize other deities against him. While mortals are the source of their power, they don't want those mortals to understand that they can rise up against the deities."

Trillia thought about D'Jamu. About what a stranglehold the Sage had on that place before Lord Arlyss rose to power. "Thank you for your time, Professor. I'll do everything I can to pass and make sure Alirast is safe."

The Professor stood and helped Trillia do the same. "I truly hope you and the others like you are capable of saving Alirast. Not only because I want to see my students succeed but also because I fear how dark of a place the universe will become if the [2nd Axle] loses his wife and children to betrayal. I don't think the deities aligned against him understand how truly powerful and cunning Lord Darktone truly is."

Trillia took another deep breath before saying goodbye and heading to her room. Taking a seat at her desk, she started to write down different ways to explain to Arlyss and the others the true danger of what lurked beyond, without directly telling them.

-=- Two Weeks Later -=-

Trillia and the others sat in the classroom. The Professor stood near her desk and had once again gone over the warnings.

"Who wants to go first?"

Trillia immediately stood. Her friends gave her a worried look. They had seen her singular focus in the past two weeks and had grown worried. The Professor motioned for Trillia to take her hand.

As Trillia did, she was pulled into the Professor's mana, and the two vanished from the classroom. Trillia found herself standing in an open, empty space. It felt as though something was solid under her feet, but when she looked down, nothing was there. Goosebumps rose on her arms, and a chill ran down her spine. It was like something was watching her.

The Professor had a hand on her shoulder. "Are you prepared?"

Trillia took a deep breath and nodded. The Professor raised a hand, pointing to what looked like a small warped part of space. As Trillia followed her gaze, an enchantment was released.

The....thing, staring back at Trillia, was wrong. It was small enough, maybe the size of a small wolf, at least from her perspective. But it had the opposite effect of the Professor's enchantments. Instead of your eyes slipping off of things, making it hard to focus. All Trillia could do was stare. Its shape had the same shimmering effect as when she looked at deities. It looked like everything and nothing, but all of it was wrong. A thousand eyes with teeth in them. Swirling vortexes of arms, legs, wings, and other things that Trillia couldn't possibly guess at.

It seemed to be growing larger and larger, but Trillia couldn't pull her eyes away. She couldn't will herself to move. As she stared deeper into the creature, she began to recognize shapes. It looked like Amelia. It swirled and twisted as it grew larger, and it looked like Uncle Cordaos. They reached out to her, asking for help. Trillia tried to reach out to them, to go to them. But something was gripping her shoulder so badly it felt like her bones would break. But Uncle Stas could save her. Uncle Stas would make the pain go away.

He cried out to her, and she watched cuts and wounds appear on them. Her mother now loomed over her. Once more, Trillia reached her hand out. They were so close to touching. Faintly, in the back of her mind she could hear her name being shouted. As her finger tips neared Lord Arlyss', her vision went black.

-=- The Others -=-

The other students sat in their desks. They had heard the screams of anguish. The grating sound of raw emotion. Trillia was pulled out of the Professor's mana and laid on the ground, curled up in a ball and screaming as loud as she could. Her voice raw as every scream brought more pain and damage.

The Professor knelt next to Trillia, putting a hand on the young woman's head. The screams went silent, Trillia's eyes squeezed shut with her hands clawing at the side of her head as blood trickled from her eyes and ears. It was like she was trying to claw her brain out of her skull.

Trillia vanished, and the Professor stood. "She did better than I expected. She will be in her room, resting. Who wishes to go next?"

Blossom was squeezing her fists so tightly together that blood trickled from them. She shot up in her seat. "I will."

All but the Professor looked at her in surprise. The Professor extended a hand and wore a comforting smile.

One by one, the others went. Most came out a gibbering mess. They couldn't describe what they saw. Titan was the least affected. He and the Professor sat at her desk. "And I am meant to fight these things? Ones even larger and more powerful?"

The Professor offered him a plate of sweets as she stirred liquid in a cup. "All deities are a little mad. Now you know why. That was the smallest one."

Titan nodded and gratefully took a cookie. "It seemed to be growing by the second. Is that a trick of the mind?"

"No. It was still thousands of meters from you. It warps your perception of space and time. It feels like you are right on the edge of touching it because you will strive harder to fall into its depths. As we get further into training, you will be brought closer and closer to it. The ultimate test is coming into contact with it for the briefest of moments."

A chill ran down Titan's spine. "Thank you for the lesson." The Professor offered him a nod as he stood and walked towards his room.