“Oh, I’ll figure something out,” he said deflated.

Ruby nodded. “You usually do.”

“You mean I’m resourceful.”

“Something like that.”

“Heh, I’ll take it as a compliment before you lose your tongue. With that decided, it’s time I show you how Lysander will achieve the impossible.”

“Wait, you already know?”

Leopold clicked his fingers. An abyssal sphere appeared from nothing, floating before the hearth and dancing in it is last light. The umbral surface sent a shiver down Ruby’s spine.

“You remember what this does?” Leopold pointed at it.

“It’s a lot smaller than I remember…” Ruby stared at it. “The Orrery.”

“This is only the core. The framework you see in the Castle is a stabilising device so those who cannot attune to the Tap can utilise its power.”

“I’ve had enough of spheres exploding in my house for one lifetime,” Ruby warned.

“There’s no danger. I made it; I can control it.”

“You made…that?”

In the days before he and Ruby met, at the height of his power, Leopold had been the Old God Rook. He had helped create many of the world’s artefacts, tools of power gifted to the most faithful of the world’s first tribes. As time marched on, and the communion with the gods came to an end the relics had been scattered and lost. In reclaiming in millennia later, even Leopold had been surprised it still worked.

“As Rook, I was tasked with keeping the dead and the living on a tight schedule. I bound the march of time to this artefact, so that I could monitor the ebb and flow of fate.” He moved his hand slowly, to show that it was connected to him. It turned as though moved by his will.

“All this time I thought it only showed you possible futures.” Ruby watched it turn, entranced by its presence. It hummed softly, growing louder with every rotation.

“That is true, to some degree. You can use the Orrery to see one possible thread, but it’s true purpose is to show you the precise moment of birth, and death of every living thing.”

Ruby balked. “You kept that from me?”

Leopold’s expression turned from revelatory to forewarning.

“What sort of life would we have lived if we new when we would die?”

“So you know…”

“I bore that burden alone, but I realise now I was wrong. We are talking about ending the hubris of the gods, so it is time I shed the self-same power we seek to end.”

“So you know when I’ll die?” Ruby’s voice trembled with fear.

“I have always known, Ruby. I have counted down the days we have been together, treasuring each second as though it was the last to avoid being consumed by guilt.”

Ruby leant forwards to inspect the surface, hoping to gleam her demise.

“No. I’m not telling you when you die.” Leopold pulled the sphere away from her, resting it on the arm of his chair and allowing it to become motionless. He rested his hands on the arms and took a deep breath. “I will show you one thing, then this wretched orb will go the same away as the Ice Henge.”

“You would destroy this gift?”

“Is it a gift? To know when all your loved ones will die and be powerless to stop it?”

Ruby made to talk.

“Enough. Lysander is going to die, and the Orrery will show us how to make sure that happens.” Leopold set the orb lose and it returned to its elated rotation. “Do not ask me again.”