A shiver runs through me as I finish reading. I flip through the rest of the pages, but they’re all blank, waiting for new prophecies not yet recorded. When we’d discussed this Testament in class, the young apprentices had a lot to say.

“It didn’t actually happen like that. You’re not meant to understand it literally.”

“How could you say that? Everything written in the Testaments is true!”

“No way it really happened. Have you seen Chorus? She’s so scrawny. She couldn’t dig even a single grave on her own.”

“But Prince Alex amplified her strength.”

“They are the most romantic couple ever.”

It has not escaped my notice that Prince Alexander and Chorus are a common topic of gossip and the closest thing to celebrities that the Makers have. But at the time I thought they were mythical or historical. Not currently living actual people. Understanding this lends new meaning to the rest of the apprentices’ discussion.

“I heard that he proposes once a year, and she always says no.”

“Why do you think she won’t marry him?”

“I heard he once proposed with a bouquet of handpicked flowers, one from every country in the world.”

“Chorus would never align herself with the Blood Crown.”

“But Prince Alex is nothing like the king.”

“They need to marry so they can conceive the Child of Three to bring us out of exile.”

“The Child of Three isn’t real, and no one wants to go back anyway.”

“Everything written in the Testaments is real!”

I wonder the same things as the apprentices. This particular story doesn’t sound like it could have really happened—princes falling from the sky and singing strength—but then again, there’s so much I would never have thought possible before coming here.

The Child of Three is another common topic in my Testaments class. Apparently, at the time of the Exodus, when the Makers were first exiled, one of the Prophets of Naiot prophesied that the Child of Three (TBD on why they’re called that) would one day come and reunite them with the rest of the world.

The consensus seems to be that the prophecy Chorus recorded having in the Testament of the Fall of Naiot confirms she will be the mother of this three-pronged messiah. The jury seems split both about whether anyone actually believes this will happen and whether they even want it to. But I’ve taken the existence of the prophecy as a sign that the Makers are at least open to the idea of one day collaborating with the provincial world. Though I sure hope we don’t have to wait for this Chorus lady to finally agree to marry the prince and then wait for an infant to grow up before we can make any headway.