"Indeed…" Dan said quietly without turning around. His voice was even, almost detached. "How have you been… Alishem?"

  He was glad to see his old friend but wouldn't even admit it to himself. His elbows rested firmly on the cold railing, his gaze fixed on the black surface of the river.

  "All is well…" Alishem came closer and stood beside him, leaning his back against the fence. His disheveled, bright red hair danced like tongues of flame in the wind. His eyes held that same living fire that had always set him apart from the others. "At least, it was… You feel it too, don't you?"

  Dan exhaled. His hands clenched the railing so tightly that the metal creaked. He understood what the Lord of Flame was talking about. The world was beginning to change.

  "Yes…" he answered curtly, as if admitting it was difficult.

  "The Rifts are opening more and more often, and each day they get closer to people," Alishem's voice was laced with anxiety, "and that's not all…"

  "Fargon…" Dan interrupted, not taking his eyes off the dark water. His voice grew even lower. "I've felt surges of magical energy there but didn't pay it much mind…"

  The Lord of Flame turned his head toward Dan and gave an almost imperceptible nod. Closing his eyes for a moment, his gaze settled on Dan's profile.

  "Should we check it out?"

  "Any one of us could handle it. Why did you come to me, specifically?" Dan's voice grew heavy.

  "Uhm, haha, well, you are the strongest among us! Who else would the Lord of Flame go to with his problems?" Trying to lighten the mood, the Flaming Lord changed his tone to a more open and warm one.

  "And yet…?" Dan seemed impervious to the flattery. Without shedding his customary coldness, he finally turned and looked his old friend in the eye.

  Alishem froze under that gaze. His smile became strained.

  "He's still the same… just like four thousand years ago… cold and unshakable as a moonless night," Alishem thought, looking at his friend's emotionless face. "Your gaze is empty… and yet, something in it has changed…"

  "You see… I don't know where the others are. If they're even alive," Alishem said, looking away and scratching the back of his head.

  "You found me…"

  Alishem smiled widely, kindly, warmly. His palm slid over the rusted railing.

  "Because I was looking."

  Dan took a deep breath and, uncharacteristically, smiled back at Alishem.

  "He hasn't changed at all, still the same fervor and fire in his eyes… but how could he be otherwise? He is the Lord of Flame… I'm truly glad you found me. But could I really be hiding so poorly?.."

  Alishem suddenly frowned, his shoulders tensing.

  "There's something else… something we definitely can't handle without harming this World…" Alishem cut through Dan's thoughts.

  "Mana…" Dan uttered barely audibly, shifting his gaze back to the river.

  "Soon it will become a part of this reality… No matter how hard we try, we won't be able to pull that trick again. The Sphere of Beginning was destroyed…"

  "I know, Alishem…" Dan's voice grew quieter and heavier. He tilted his head back slightly, peering at the dim light of the moon. "This World will change, and very soon… All we can do is watch…"

  Silence hung over the ancient beings, broken only by the sound of water crashing against the stone walls of the canal. Both were glad to see each other after four millennia, yet they understood that this meeting foretold nothing good, and the events to come for them and this world would undoubtedly have consequences.

  "Dan…" Alishem broke the silence.

  "Hm?"

  "They are not ready…" Alishem's voice sounded heavy, reflecting an anxiety utterly uncharacteristic of the Lord of Flame.

  Dan only nodded silently, looking back into the depths of the river. His face remained immobile, but a faint shadow of inevitability appeared in his gaze.

  "Mana will only keep spreading across the planet. Those who can use it will appear… Mages will become a new link in this reality's 'food chain.' But human bodies are weak… Certainly, with the acquisition of magical energy, they will change, become an order of magnitude stronger and more resilient, but still, they will remain human. Mortal…"

  Dan raised his head slightly, his gaze shifting to the city lights across the river.

  "The main thing is that they remain human… that they don't lose their humanity in their newfound strength."

  Alishem exhaled, and his tense shoulders finally relaxed a little. A smile appeared on his face.

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  "We will watch over them. If needed, we will guide them, teach them how to use their power. Then humanity will have a chance to live in harmony with our 'magical world.' Sooner or later, this had to happen. But we delayed this moment as long as we could, closing Rift after Rift, not letting Mana spill onto the Earth, not letting it seep into people. Recently, I closed a Rift that appeared right in the city center, but it opened in a dark alley, late at night…"

  Alishem frowned slightly, his lips twitching.

  "I see… Hmph… So close already…"

  "Yes…" Dan continued. "If this continues, who's to say the next one won't open in a crowded place? On the central square or right here on the embankment? It will happen. The only question is, what will we do?"

  Alishem looked at Dan questioningly, waiting for him to continue his train of thought.

  "Continue closing them ourselves, revealing ourselves and our magic… or let the people handle it themselves…"

  "But…" Alishem stepped forward sharply, spreading his hands. "They won't be able to handle even the weakest Primitive… their weapons… they're… they're useless!"

  "Yes. But there will be those who can stand against the creatures from the Rifts…"

  "But at what cost? How many mages will die before it becomes as mundane for them as it is for us?"

  "That's what we are for," Dan's voice was firm. He stepped closer and placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "We will teach them how to use the power. It will take time. But they will learn. And they will become the defenders of their world."

  Alishem froze, then slowly nodded, accepting these words as a covenant. His shoulders trembled, but his eyes blazed with determination once more.

  "Okay, but…"

  Dan understood what he wanted to say. His gaze rose to the moon again.

  "The Earth will be filled with Mana, yes… Will that be a beacon for the Creator? I don't know… He is too weak now. Only four thousand years have passed; he's unlikely to have replenished enough even for a Transition…"

  The Lord of Flame frowned, his fist clenching.

  "But it will happen… sooner or later… Even if there are worthy and powerful mages on Earth… no matter how many years pass, they will never come close to matching the Creator's power… They won't be worth even our little finger… How can you even compare?… Their bodies burn under the sun's rays… and they're not even magical yet…"

  Dan smirked almost imperceptibly.

  "Are you talking about sunburn?" the Lord of Darkness asked, raising an eyebrow.

  Alishem smirked back.

  "Yes… You wouldn't know about that… Not even my Flame can burn you…"

  The lyrical digression slightly lightened the mood. But the wind, as if wanting to hear the conversation to the end, grew stronger—the river became rippled, the locks on the fence jingled.

  Nature itself was pushing the Lords toward the crux of the matter.

  "Do you have a plan?" Alishem continued, as if sensing the wind's desire. "When there is enough Mana in this world… He will appear… and we won't be able to stop the absorption process like last time… When that happens, we won't be able to stop Him. Even back then, when He was weak after our trick… we could barely handle him.…"

  The strongest of the Lords had no plan, no understanding. Only one desire—that this moment would never come. But desire cannot change the course of the universe. And even the Darkness he commanded was too small before the power of the Creator.

  "No…" Dan uttered almost inaudibly. His voice was drowned out by the noise of the water, as if afraid to sound too loud. "I truly don't know what to do. Sometimes I think this World's fate was decided long ago… and we are only postponing the inevitable."

  Dan fell silent and averted his eyes, involuntarily trying to hide his gaze.

  Alishem froze, peering into the void of Darkness. For the first time ever, he saw there something he never expected—fear. Not fear of the Creator or the coming end, but something else, more personal, hidden deep inside. The Lord of Darkness, always unshakable and cold like the night itself, for a moment seemed vulnerable to him.

  "He's afraid of losing…", the thought seared Alishem's mind. "But what exactly? What could Dan have become attached to? He's not capable of that. And yet I saw it; it couldn't have been my imagination…"

  Alishem looked away, hiding his confusion. His lips twitched into a smile—a little wider than necessary, as if he was trying to cover his own thoughts. He turned to Dan and said cheerfully, almost challengingly:

  "In that case, let's start with Fargon!"

  "Yes… absolutely nothing has changed… still the same Flaming Alishem", Dan thought, looking into his brother's eyes. "Impatient and reckless. Just a hint of a battle, and the fire in his eyes burns even brighter".

  The corners of Dan's lips twitched, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

  "Let's begi..." Dan began to agree when he suddenly felt as if an invisible hand had clenched his chest.

  From the depths of his subconscious, a ringing voice echoed; an image flashed before his eyes, one that seemed to hold him and not let go. He could almost feel someone's warm, gentle fingers in his cold palm.

  Dan froze. His legs seemed rooted to the ground. His gaze became heavy, full of incomprehension. He didn't want to leave.

  Alishem, standing opposite, noticed it immediately. His flame, ready to flare up and carry him toward new deeds, wavered for a second.

  "What is wrong with him?"

  Dan didn't move.

  "What is wrong with me?"

  "Brother?.." Alishem said, trying to bring Dan back to reality. "Are we going?"

  Dan sharply raised his head. His gaze filled with resolve.

  "No. There is something I must do," the Lord of Darkness said quietly.

  "What?" A flicker of alarm appeared in Alishem's eyes. "Is there something more important than the Creator's return?"

  "Yes. He can wait," Dan said calmly but firmly. "Tomorrow evening. I will be waiting for you here."

  He stepped past Alishem without looking back. The wind slightly ruffled his coat, and the next moment, the silhouette of the Lord of Darkness began to dissolve into the city's gloom, as if the night itself had taken him back. No sound, no trace—only a tremor in the air and a ringing silence remained in his wake.

  Alishem stood there, stunned, peering into the emptiness where his brother had gone. His heart was beating faster than usual, a strange, almost human fear taking hold.

  "No… I wasn't mistaken. Something is holding him here. If even the Creator isn't a priority for him anymore…"

  He slowly ran his hand along the railing. One thought wouldn't leave him alone.

  "A woman?.." Alishem jerked his head up as if afraid of his own words. "It can't be…!"

  The metal under his palm hissed. The railing began to darken and melt, thin wisps of smoke rising into the air. But it wasn't rage—it was exhilaration. The thought that had just raced through the Lord of Flame's mind had torn the seal off his power. The fire within him strained to break free, reflecting a sudden, unexpected joy, as if he had witnessed something truly miraculous.