'You... what?' Iris' eyes went wide. 'You can undo the Ritual? Revert the Lord Sun to his former glory?'

'Yes, that's our goal. If we manage to return all the stolen power to the Lord Sun, we'll improve our situation immensely. The Church will lose its grip on the people. We may not have enough force to overthrow them, but we can undermine them enough for people to stand up for themselves.'

'But is it even possible?'

'Light Magic has its rules. We do not create the power out of thin air. We draw it from different sources. What's more, once used, it does not just disappear. It's dispersing and is slowly assimilated back by the world around you. So, if during the ritual an enormous amount of power ware drawn out of the Sun....'

'It may be still lingering somewhere?' Iris finished for him, feeling her excitement rising.

'That would be my assumption. If we gather enough Mages and make some necessary preparations, we may be able to reverse the whole process,' the old man said with a fond smile.

'Then, why hasn't it been done for all those years?' Iris asked, puzzled.

'Because it's convenient for the Church to keep things the way they are now. Remember that they took over after the Ritual failed. They needed a scapegoat to blame for that disaster, so they blamed the Mages and painted themselves as heroes keeping the Shadows away.'

'But it was the Mage's fault, wasn't it?' she asked quietly. This question was bothering her for all those years. After all, without Mages, there would be no Ritual.

Marcus sighed heavily. 'Yes, it was, but it's not so simple. It was a disaster, yes. And we should have been wiser while assessing the risks. That is also true. But we should be allowed to rectify our mistake, not be eradicated as a result.'

'We?' Iris perked up. 'Did you take part in the Ritual?'

Marcus was silent for a moment. His face turned solemn; his bushy brows tightly knitted. 'I wasn't there on that day. I was part of the Order, and I was involved in preparations. Not everyone was on board with the whole Ritual idea. I advised against it. Unfortunately, there was not enough of us to stop it from happening.'

'I see. So, you knew my father from the Order?'

The old man smiled gently, and his face got a little brighter. 'Yes, he was my friend. And a good man. You remind me a lot of him.'

'How so?'

'Your curiosity and kindness, the way you care about other people.'

'You don't know me,' she protested, a little embarrassed. However, it felt good hearing such kind words after all the hate she received recently.

'No, but I've seen enough already. You threw all the caution to the wind when you saw your brother in danger. Not everyone would do that.'

Iris felt her smile falter at the thought. 'Do you think my family will be prosecuted? For hiding me?'

'I hope not,' Marcus said, putting his hand on her shoulder. 'I believe this merchant your family works for will use his influence to shield them. He did that once already, didn't he?'

'Yes, he did. I hope that's the case.'

'Don't worry, Iris. I'm sure your family is well. At least for now. And we will make sure that all Mages will be safe in the future. How does that sound?'

'It sounds great,' Iris said with a small smile.

'Good. Now, come with me. I want to introduce you to some people officially, and then we'll talk about what you can do to help our cause.'

***

They all gathered for a meal. Iris was looking curiously at people who helped her escape from Inquisitors last night. She felt they were also observing her.

'So, let's get the introductions out of the way,' Marcus chirped, putting down his emptied bowl. 'Iris here is a Mage with considerable potential, she's a daughter of a good friend of mine, and I would like her to join our cause. I believe she will be a great asset in the process of reversing the Ritual. That's why I want her to understand what we are doing here and how our little group works. Any objections to that?' he looked at his companions. They just shook their heads.

Iris noticed that Jayden was looking at her with poorly hidden reluctance. She was wondering why. She barely talked to him so far.

'Fair enough,' the old man continued. 'As I said yesterday, I'm currently the leader of the Rebels. Not that I'm anyone special, someone just had to step up, so I did.' His face contorted a bit while saying that. It seemed he wasn't thrilled with this responsibility. 'All people gathered here are helping me with running the camp due to their specific talents. Let's start with Jayden.' He gestured to the young man, who kept eating his meal without a word. 'He is my apprentice, and he's also supervising other Mages. We'll start your training soon, if you wish so, of course, so you'll be working mainly with us.'

'Nice to meet you,' Iris said with a small smile.

'Yeah.' He shrugged, not even looking at her.

Well, that went well, she thought.

'Moving on,' Marcus continued, ignoring apparent awkwardness. 'Kara here is a former City Guard member. That's why she took upon herself training of all willing folks in fighting.'

'We've already talked a bit,' the woman said, giving Iris a friendly smile and pushing her blond braid away for her food. She had a beautiful smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. 'We'll be sharing a tent, so if you need anything, let me know.'

'I sure will, thank you.'

'The lovely Myrica over there oversees our scouting team,' Marcus said with a fond smile. 'She also helps with hunting and food gathering. And what's most important, she's the one who keeps this place safe from the prying eyes.'

The huntress looked at Iris with her big golden eyes and nodded curtly.

'And Arlo is...' the old man trailed off, searching for the right words.

The big man puffed out his chest proudly and gave Iris a wide grin showing his crooked teeth. 'I'm Myr's guard!'

The woman sitting next to him scoffed. 'Like I need one.'

'Of course, you need one! You are too important to get hurt!' Arlo said, looking at his companion fondly. She only rolled her eyes, but Iris noted her mouth jerked to a shadow of a smile.

'It's a long story,' said Marcus with a heavy sigh. 'Which you'll hear for sure as soon as he gets drunk.'

'Which would probably be tonight,' added Kara with a knowing smile.

'Oi!' the big man protested. 'No need to make some drunkard out of me!'

'Anyway,' Marcus said, giving his companions a stern look, the one that strict parent would give his misbehaving children. 'These are people you should know. Whatever questions you have, whatever you need, just ask any of us, and we'll make sure to help you, all right?'

'Yes, thank you,' Iris said with a smile. 'I... I never really expressed my gratitude to you all for saving my life yesterday. If not for you, I would probably be dead by now. So, thank you again.'

'Does that mean you'll be joining us?' Kara asked, looking at her curiously.

'I don't have much choice, do I?' Iris asked with a sad smile. 'I have nowhere else to go.'

'Is that all?' Jayden scoffed. He spoke for the first time. His dark eyes were looking at her with anger. 'You'll join us because you don't have a choice?'

'Jayden,' Marcus said. There was a warning in his tone. The young man ignored him, his eyes looking at her intently.

'No, that's not all,' she protested, feeling her cheeks burning, partly from embarrassment and partly from anger. She didn't like his condescending attitude. 'I do believe in your cause. I never thought it would be possible to undo the effects of the Ritual. I never had any hope that the world could be changed. But when I came here....' She paused, searching for words. 'When I saw all those people, I realised it's still not too late for us. If I can help to fix the mess that Mages made, I want to do it. Please let me do it.' She finished and looked at them all expectantly. Jayden only pursed his lips and got back to moving food around his bowl.

'She is sincere,' Myrica said in her beautiful, melodic voice. 'She will be an asset for us.'

'Thank you,' Iris said, relieved. For one terrifying moment, she was afraid they would ask her to leave.

'I only stated the obvious.' The woman shrugged.

'Welcome aboard, little one!' Arlo bellowed with a broad grin. 

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