Between the explanation given to them by the Guild representative and what Pawel and Zofiya told them last night, Arjun was confident that he knew what to expect. All that he needed to do was make the pick that would give him the greatest advantage. Yesterday's brush with death made his weakness all too clear. He needed to be stronger, and the more he thought about it, the less he was concerned over how he achieved it. Some son of the 'Blessed' Ramachandra he was.

Arjun was not expecting anything to change by it, but he tried closing his eyes. He had not yet fully committed to his choice yet, so maybe it would help him focus. However, once his eyes were closed, his mind was filled with all manner of thoughts, of things he had seen, and things he had heard. So much had happened in so little time. It was more than he could deal with.

It very much felt like he might drown in this sea of distractions, but in a single motion, it was all swept away, blotted out, leaving him adrift in the darkness.

And it was then that Arjun felt it, a pale hand gently caressing his cheek. He opened his eyes, or at least he thought he did, but there was nothing but the darkness and the thin, chalk-white arm reaching out to him.

A whispering voice spoke from the darkness, saying, "Son of he who was beloved of my brother, I have been waiting for you. I thought you were lost to me, but the World has answered my prayer and brought you back."

The hand withdrew, disappearing into the swirling black, but no sooner had it gone than two arms appeared to embrace Arjun from behind.

The voice whispered into his ear, "To you I will be a mother..."

He felt a body press against him and it certainly had a mother's softness. Indeed, it was a softness he thought might swallow him up, but then it vanished. In its place, two small hands appeared to take hold of his own hands.

The voice now sounded like a little girl yet still with the same distinct whispery tone.

One hand withdrew while one that remained gripped Arjun's hand more firmly, growing to about the same size as his hand. He could feel the presence of the owner of the voice in the darkness standing next to him, lined up shoulder to shoulder as an equal.

The voice grew as well, sounding closer to someone his own age as it said, "To you I will be a friend..."

The hand had grown a little more, the fingers burying themselves in Arjun's grip and interlocking with his fingers. He could feel his body leaning backward. The darkness parted and a face appeared, or rather part of a face. He could not see the eyes, just the nose and mouth and the line of the jaw. The thin lips turned black as they parted for the voice to speak once more.

The face drew closer and those black lips were pressed against Arjun's. He had never been kissed before, not like this. He did not know what to think of it. He did not know how to feel about it. In fact, he barely had the time to process what had happened when the swirling darkness rushed over him and he found himself standing once more in the chamber underneath the Great Temple. He was standing before the Priest in black robes with his hand touching a crystal filled with the same swirling darkness that had been all around him.

Inky tears were streaking from the Priest's eyes and his hands shook as he moaned, "Ah... ah..."

It was then that Arjun felt the eyes on him and he saw that all the other Priests were not looking at the children touching their crystals but rather at him. He hastily pulled his hand away and the darkness within faded.

The Priest in black robes looked like he was struggling to remain on his feet.

Panting, he said the Arjun in a low voice, "Young man, come to the Chapel of Nyxia after this."

Arjun said nothing. He was still trying to understand what had happened, but he was not given any time to think before the Priests began speaking again.

And with that, the Priests filed out of the chamber, leaving only the children and the Guild representative. The children exchanged awkward glances, all of them at a loss for words at the moment. The uncomfortable silence was not left for long before the Guild representative clapped his hands and said, "Shall we be going?"

The children were then led out of the chamber and back up to the main rotunda. Pawel and Zofiya were there waiting for them. Pawel was looking ill at ease and Zofiya seemed to be in a bad mood. It probably had something to do with what they were talking about last night, but Arjun had not really understood what he heard. They were fighting about something and Zofiya was crying. Arjun may not have been quite as attached to Zofiya as Fedor was, but the fact that Pawel made her cry roiled in his gut a little. It was a good thing Fedor was fast asleep or he might have barged right in. Arjun may not have known exactly what was going on, but he was pretty sure it was nothing for children to be intruding on.

Arjun tried not to roll his eyes. Of course he picked the same Patron as Zofiya.

Arjun averted his eyes. He would feel guilty about choosing the Goddess of Darkness even without having heard about his father, 'the Blessed Ramachandra'. Could he even say that he picked her? It seemed more like she picked him. Was that how it worked for everyone else? How was he even supposed to bring it up? What if they thought he was weird? What if they thought he was crazy? What if they thought something even worse than that?

Pawel picked up on his reluctance and asked, "What? Did you pick 'none of the above'? That's fine too. If you're not plannin' on dabblin' in magic, it won't hurt nothin'."

Arjun was not expecting this reaction to say the least.

Pawel looked confused.

Pawel rested his hand on Arjun's shoulder and told him, "Look, cartoons may've taught you 'dark equals bad', but it's not that simple. The Twelve have their nice side an' their not so nice side, but good an' evil don't really apply to them. They just are." He then crouched down, speaking barely above a whisper, and said, "I'll upset people if I say it too loud 'round here, but there are plenty of folks who don't believe the Twelve even exist. They're just labels we put on the powers we're tappin' into."

Arjun thought about what he had seen in the swirling darkness, what he had felt. That was more than just a label, but maybe it was all in his head.

Pawel furrowed his brow a bit when he heard this and said, "I've never heard of anyone bein' called to the chapel after pickin' their Patron. You wanna go?"

Arjun shook his head.

Pawel put his arm around Arjun's shoulder and said, "C'mon, kid. Let's go."

The two of them then made their way to the Chapel of Nyxia. Despite Pawel's reassurances to Arjun that Nyxia was not evil, he could not help being creeped out as the whitewashed walls gave way to inky black and the light of the sun was blotted out with only the eerie pale blue flame of a precious few candles as a concession to those who were not so sure-footed in the Mother Night's embrace. Pawel would glance at Arjun occasionally to see how he was holding up. He was doing his best to put on a brave face, but he was pretty sure he was not doing a very good job of hiding his fear.

They were not a church-going family, but Arjun had been to the cathedral in Przemyśl on a school trip once, and the chapel reminded him of that a little bit, but the walls, the floor, and the furnishings were all black with probably no more than twenty candles positioned throughout the place to give just enough light to see what was what. There were quite a few Clerics milling about, including the Priest from earlier. Most of them wore blindfolds, as if it were not dark enough already. Either Nyxia did not like half-measures, or else they were that eager to try to show off how dedicated they were to the darkness.

It was a woman standing near the altar. Judging from how she was dressed, she was a higher rank than the Priest. She had one of those pope hats—mitres, Arjun was pretty sure they were called—and rather than a blindfold, she had a black veil hanging down from her mitre. It was two-layered, a thin gauzy outer layer to cover her face and a thicker inner layer that only concealed her eyes down to the tip of her nose. It was hard to see, between the veil and the dim light, but Arjun guessed that she was maybe about fifty or so, like his teacher at school. She descended from where she was standing and approached Pawel and Arjun.

She removed one of her gloves to reveal a withered, gnarled hand. Arjun naturally recoiled as she reached out to touch his cheek.

Pawel patted Arjun on the back as a way of telling him to bear it. When the woman touched Arjun, she drew in a sharp breath through her nostrils.

She gingerly withdrew her hand and gave herself a moment to steady her breathing.

The woman cocked her head.

The woman managed a faint smile, the kind that you make when you have squeezed a single drop of sweetness from a rotted fruit.

Pawel seemed to recoil a little when he heard this.

The woman stepped back and said, "Do so." She then looked to Arjun and said, "May Our Lady ever be with you, Arjun, son of Ramachandra. May you fear no shadow nor dark of night, for the Mother Night knows her own."

Pawel gave the woman a curt bow, guiding down Arjun's head so that he did the same, then turned and left. Once they were out of the sanctum, Pawel asked Arjun, "You alright, kid?"

Arjun frowned and said, "I don't like this."

Arjun nodded glumly. He did not doubt Pawel could hold his own against anyone in Nyxia's Cult, but what could he do against the Mother Night herself and whatever her intentions for Arjun were?