The sky. Ancient and unshakable. It changes every day, yet remains the same. For the thousands of years it is watching the mountains rise, the seas fill with water, new life appears. Sky remembers what no mortal does. Nothing goes unnoticed from its cold and unbiased gaze.

Centuries ago, the great sorcerers needed strength to expel Wortirus from Signum. They performed an unspeakable ritual and became the new gods. But everything has its price. Immortality and power have corrupted them. They  did not want to share it so much that they destroyed all the memories of this ritual and promised to never have children. But not everyone agreed to this. A goddess named Rashti, who was in love with an unnamed daemon, refused to accept these terms. Young arrogant gods would not stand for this. They banished the daemon back into the abyss and gravely wounded their sister. In the last moments of her life, Rashti hid their forbidden child in the roots of the mountains, putting him into an endless magic dream…

A week has passed since the meeting of the new Guild. The expedition was approved, assembled and stood at the entrance of Temple of Pestilence. A handful of the most courageous and dedicated doctors stood along the walls, writing and translating hieroglyphs and redrawing magical seals. Several steam automatons drove off the rats, under the watchful eye of a gnome engineer from Varga Quark Corporation. Magister Agnello Cornaro, his beloved Kelly, from the guild of soothsayers and several honorary doctors watched as a huge automaton worker was throwing away the stones blocking the path to the temple.

 After the last boulder was moved to the side and the stone gates were opened, it revealed the monumental altar. On a huge throne, surrounded by pipes and ancient mechanisms, there was an ugly baby of a size larger than an ogre. Countless rats swarmed among them, starting mechanisms and dragging flasks with strange liquids, not noticing intruders. The wave of his mental presence forced to step back those who possessed magical talents.
 “It’s alive.” As if in a trance, Kelly said. Her pale face was cast blue in the unnatural illumination of the temple. “No, he is alive.”
 “Do you hear him?” – the magister stepped closer to her.
 “Yes. He … I think I can talk to him.”
 “Are you sure this is a good idea? Of course, it may have invaluable knowledge, but isn’t it dangerous to disturb this creature?”
 “I see all possible outcomes, but not the events that lead to them. But we can try. I know that we have to.”
 “Good enough for me.”

 The magister gave a few orders and soon everyone was inside the room with the baby. The work continued, letters from the walls were in scrolls and notebooks, Kelly walked spellbound to the altar and knelt. Her eyes dimmed, her lips moving in a silent whisper. Agnello was following her every step, carefully watching what was happening.

“The voice. Woman’s voice. Mum? Did you come to pick me up? How much time has passed? How long was I asleep? These annoying creeping mortals with scales. Did they leave? Did my mote servants manage to deal with them?

 Kelly moved to the voice. In the mental projection, the distance did not matter, but the voice seemed very distant. One step closer. One more endless step of her incorporeal form.

 “Where are you? Where have you been? I was so lonely. I only spoke to small furry creatures. They are very unreliable, but they are good at moving the motes around.”
The soothsayer felt his presence really close to her.
“Is it true? It was you who created the sickness?”
“Sickness? You named them like this?”
 “Wait… You… You…”

Less than a half of the expedition has risen to the surface. Only Kelly and those, who possessed the rudimental magical talent, survived. If her condition could be called life. Without regaining consciousness, she whispered something about rats and tunnels several times.
 “I failed you,” Agnello’s voice was unintelligible due to the tightly buttoned mask. The meeting room was half empty. No one was joking or whispering in the dark. “I relieve myself of the authority of the magister”.
 “It does not matter anymore.” Gazzini, who remained to keep order above during the expedition, was unusually gloomy. “Tomorrow the league will be outlawed. The scoundrel, Thibaut, supported the alchemists and persuaded the merchants to join his side, and having received a majority in the guild council it was a trifling matter to also convince the peers. We burned out the infection and now we will pay for the consequences of such radical measures.
 “Or we can leave Vallor.” Bartolo’s hoarse voice. “It’s dangerous and pointless to stay here”.
 “It’s not up to me to decide now.” Agnello walked out of the meeting room into the hastily-equipped hospital room. Kelly still did not recover. The former magister knelt before her bed and put his hand on her.
 “Kelly. If only you could tell me what to do.”
 “My angel…” 

A barely audible whisper sounded from her closed lips. “He made a move. Go north.”
 “Kelly!” – Agnello jumped up. “Kelly, can you hear me?”
 “She is delirious”. The voice of Rea-t-shass came from the other end of the chamber. “Like on the way to the surface.”
 “She is not. I know what we have to do.”