At the end of the last volume, Makkari has been chosen as the "chosen one" that the awakened Dreaming Celestial communicates with. This is very frustrating to Ajak because he has spent his entire existence communing with the Celestials, their language and what their showing up means. In conversations between Makkari and the Dreaming Celestial,the eternal learned that the Celestials picks or create a planet and seed it with life forms. They then create 100 Eternals and 100 Deviants. The Celestials then keep a watchful eye on the planet and weigh which of the two races influences the life forms more. This is done in servitude of the Fulcrum. If the Deviants influence has more prominence, the Celestials send the Horde to eradicate the race and they start over. If it is the Eternals, the Celestials allow the goodness to flow back into the Fulcrum, which the Celestials seems to serve. These conversations between Makkari and the Dreaming Celestial take place on a different plane of existence and cause Makkari's body to shut down, seemingly almost dying, which Sersi is concerned with because she thinks he is addicted to this state. We also see here the origin of the Dreaming Celestial and how he came to be put to sleep by the other Celestials.