Instead of the finest Qing silks, the magi wore roughspun wool that was never quite warm enough in the winter or cool enough in the summer. Sumptuously furnished bedchambers with soft goosedown mattresses were replaced by bare cells with straw mats to sleep on. Instead of daily feasts of dainties fit for the Emperor himself, they ate cold gruel and bitter herbs.

Many left the order to become the pets of nobles who would spoil them as much as in the old days, but for those who remained, following the Grandmagister's path of austerity was paying dividends. By weakening their attachment to the physical world, their connection to the spiritual realm grew stronger.

The Grandmagister entered the Chamber of the Second Sight. There the Twelve Seers stood in their circle in deep meditation. Without disturbing them, Alois stepped into the center of the circle. Though he had no real gift of the second sight himself, he could partake in the combined power of the Twelve by setting himself at the focal point of the circle.

The Grandmagister closed his eyes and began to meditate. He was engulfed in the familiar black void he usually found whenever he attempted to peer beyond the Veil. Alois found himself walking amid a heavy mist. The visions almost always began this way. Sometimes the mist would never clear. If the mist would at least clear somewhat, that was usually the best you could hope for.

The phenomenon was called the Mists of Time and the prevailing theory was that because the future was mutable, the second sight was always obscured to one degree or another. An alternate theory was that it was a weakness of the mind's eye, almost like glaucoma to the aged. Whatever the case, diligence was needed to derive anything useful from the visions.

And then, something happened that had never happened before. The mist was swept away at once as if by a great wind. The vision was perfectly clear. A shooting star streaked through the night sky and came crashing down to earth. From the shooting star rose the shape of a woman. Alois could tell no more than that she was a woman, for she shone with a light that nearly blinded him.

Where the woman walked, fire followed after her. She walked westward toward the Capital, burning everything in her wake. She entered the city and the city began to burn. At first it appeared she might continue to the Imperial Palace, but instead she turned to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mercies. The cathedral crumbled before the woman and the old pagan temple of the Earth Mother which one stood in its place rose from the rubble. Within the temple, a clay giant in the fashion of the ancient idols of the Earth Mother appeared before the woman of the shooting star. The woman of the shooting star lifted up her hands and was embraced by the clay giant. When they embraced, the woman of the shooting star was absorbed by the clay giant. The clay giant then began to glow with the light of the woman of the shooting star. There was a blinding flash and the vision ended.

Alois' eyes snapped open. Never had he seen a vision so vivid nor one of such ill portent. He looked around to the Twelve, who were all as astonished as he was.

Composing himself, Alois rose up and told the Twelve, "We must discuss what we have seen and then report to the Emperor. And we must look to the sky. If the vision is in any way more than a figure, the heavens will be sending our doom and soon, I fear."