The room was dark.

Thick pillars rose at intervals around its perimeter, arranged in a perfect circle, and behind them the walls were rough-hewn stone, uneven, natural, carved directly from the body of a mountain. The ceiling curved overhead in the same unfinished rock. No architect had designed this place. Someone had simply cut it out of the earth and left it as they found it.

Between each pair of pillars, a torch burned. But these weren’t ordinary torches. Where a normal flame would be red-gold and warm, these burned blue, a cold, steady blue that produced no heat at all. Instead they leached warmth from the room, leaving the air sharp and still.

At the centre stood a round table, carved from the same mountain stone as everything else. Eighteen chairs surrounded it, also stone, their high backs rising nearly ten feet. And in those chairs sat figures in black robes, identical, featureless, concealing everything but the faint outline of lips.

"We are very close to the final phase." One of them spoke. The voice was deep, unhurried, carrying the particular certainty of someone who had been patient for a very long time. "We have planned for this over many years. We will succeed."

From directly across the table, another voice answered.

"Yes, the final phase is near. But between us and that success stands an obstacle. A very large one. One that cannot simply be walked around."

A restless murmur spread through the room.

The first speaker, Third, rose slightly. "What are you suggesting, Fourth? Are you afraid of," he said the name directly, "Necrotize?"

The room turned on him immediately.

"Third." The voice came from multiple directions at once, sharp with alarm. "What are you doing? Why would you say his name outright? You know the rule, you do not speak an Ancient Origin’s name directly. If you draw their attention, their gaze alone could reach us. And if he looks at us, if he notices us, even once, none of us will exist anymore. We will be ash. All of us."

Nods of agreement around the table.

Then a different voice spoke. Older. Slower. But carrying something in it, a quiet, settled authority that made everyone in the room incline toward it without being asked to. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"Sixth is correct. Never name an Ancient Origin directly. We may speak Lord Morthos’ name because we are his followers, if his attention falls on us, he will not harm us. But that exception does not extend to the others. If any other Ancient Origin’s interest were drawn to this room, our existence would end. They wouldn’t even need to look carefully. The mere brush of their attention would be sufficient to destroy us. Even gods struggle to bear the direct gaze of an Ancient Origin."

Silence around the table. This was knowledge most of them hadn’t possessed before.

"Many of you cannot begin to comprehend what an Ancient Origin actually is at full power. Truthfully, neither can I, the scale of it lies beyond what any mind here can measure. But here is what matters for our purposes." He paused. "Necrotize is different from the others. He does not operate as they normally do. He deactivates the vast majority of his power before moving among mortals, he has to. If those abilities were active, no mortal within his proximity would survive. Not near him, simply his presence on this planet, fully active, would erase every mortal on it. Mortals cannot withstand the gaze of an Ancient Origin. It doesn’t matter how strong you are, if that attention lands on you fully, you become cinders. Gods themselves struggle with it. Mortals have no chance at all."

The room listened without interruption.

"So, his power is suppressed. This is why he can sit in classrooms and walk among students without consequence. And this is also why we do not need to fear that he is listening to this conversation right now."

A second figure spoke, picking up from where First had left off. "Lord First has given us knowledge we did not have before. We are grateful." A brief pause. "And as Lord First has said, we have no reason to fear interference from that direction. Lord Morthos stands with us. And as a sign of that, he has given us something."

The figure placed a box on the table.

The room regarded it. No one spoke for a moment.

Fourth broke the silence. "Lord Second, what’s inside it?"

Second smiled. The expression was just barely visible beneath the hood.

"Lord Morthos’s gift."

***

The others stared at him.

"A gift from Lord Morthos." The question came from somewhere around the table, carrying genuine disbelief. "How did it come to you? And why would he give you anything at all?"

"A fair question," Second said. "Normally, Lord Morthos would not give me a gift. And in truth, he didn’t."

The confusion around the table deepened visibly.

"I don’t follow you, Lord Second."

Second smiled, and then laid it out plainly.

"When Necrotize enrolled in the academy, I offered a prayer to Lord Morthos to inform him of it. Under ordinary circumstances, he does not hear our prayers, we are not significant enough to reach him. But that time, he listened. And in response, he gave me what is inside that box. He told me that for the plan we are carrying out, what is inside would be essential."

The room was very quiet after that.

Most of them had never spoken directly with Lord Morthos. For most of them, that opportunity had never come, and was never supposed to come, gods did not generally speak to their followers directly. They didn’t consider it necessary, and they didn’t make a habit of it. That Second had managed it was something none of them had expected to hear.

"The purpose of this gift," Second continued, "is primarily to keep Necrotize occupied during the critical period of our plan. Lord Morthos will not hand us the outcome in advance, that is not how he operates. But he is helping to ensure we have the conditions we need to succeed." A brief pause. "Lord Morthos is the most considerate of patrons."

He lifted his chin slightly.

"All praise be to Death."

The response came from around the table, overlapping, reverent.

"All praise be to Death."

"All praise be to Death."

The words circled the room several times before settling. Then one of the figures leaned forward.

"Lord Second, what is actually inside the box?"

Second looked at each of them in turn, the smile still present beneath his hood.

"What is inside this box is..."