Jano pried his sodden clothes from his body with a slap. He didn’t want to imagine what might be stuck to him; every time his mind betrayed him, his stomach turned. He approached the Dome once more. He had never figured out why such a place would be buried beneath the City, it was truly beautiful. As he plodded down the stone steps a strange sense of caution swept over him.

He entered the grand structure with care. Something felt wrong. At a distance, he could see the Mage sitting in the middle of the arena, head looking forward, his palms upturned. The position looked almost meditative. Jano felt his heart begin to pound a little harder. The little hairs on the back of his neck raised one by one.

“Did you retrieve it?” Darrel asked, his tone somber.

Jano opened his pack and grabbed the Scepter. He lifted it high above his head as he walked toward the robed figure ahead. It looked a little less grand under the dull lighting of the Dome. He thought he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned his head to investigate, there was nothing there. Jano could feel his heartbeat in his ears now.

“Good. Thank you for delivering it to me.” The Mage’s voice was soft, subdued. It was unnerving.

Once more, Jano thought he saw shadows move in the distance. The Mage didn’t so much as flinch, he remained sitting. Jano recognised the body language, it looked like defeat. A noise broke the eerie silence, a stone chipping at the far end of the Dome. Suddenly, crunching noises could be heard. The sound of the loose surface under rushing feet.

A small group of robed figures swept down from their hiding place in the stands in the distance and powered towards them. Darrel didn’t move, choosing instead to remain on the arena floor. There was no reaction. Not even a start or a small jump. A tall man in golden robes led the charge. The robe wasn’t loose or baggy as the others. It was fitted over his upper body, tight against a broad frame.

Seeing that Darrel refused to move, Jano looked to the exits and moved to run. He didn’t want to face the Lesser Court again. The man in the golden robes moved his hand slightly and Jano found that he was held in place with no prospect of movement. As though the floor was suddenly swallowing him. He tried to strain against the invisible force. Nothing happened. He was well and truly stuck.

Had he been tricked? Was this all some sort of ploy to find those who burgled the University? Jano’s head was spinning. He tried to suppress the thoughts, in case somehow they could betray him, but they continued to swim into his consciousness at their leisure.

“Remain where you are.” The man in the golden robes pronounced forcefully. Jano would have smiled at that, if he could have moved his face. He certainly wasn’t moving anywhere in a hurry, so it seemed somewhat pointless to say. The man grabbed Darrel’s head and forced it upward. So that he would be looking at Jano. Seemingly, the Mage offered no resistance to the man.

“So this is your thief?” The golden robes covered the man’s face. Jano couldn’t move, but fear was shaking his insides. “We’ve been trailing you for quite some time, thief! Ever since you broke into our stores. Our Majesty was right, given enough time, you led us straight to you and your master.” He smiled as he looked at Jano. It was a vicious, terrible smile.

“We followed you back to your little shack in the Slums. Found your pretty little wife all alone.” He smiled menacingly. Jano thought he sounded more like a bandit than a Mage. Jano wanted to move. Demand what they had done with Alsace. But he was rooted to the spot. And couldn’t say a word.

“Don’t worry, she’s safe now. She’s at the Palace with a few others. You might even join them if our friend here does what they're told.” He pulled at the jaw of the Mage, who was still sitting silently on the floor.

“Speak! You have been caught in your act of treason. You will be taken to the Emperor to answer for your crimes.” He snarled. The man in the golden robes removed his hood. A thick set of twisted braids tumbled out of the hood, revealing the man’s face. His features and skin were dark and his expression matched. “So this is the mighty Dareia? Once groomed as an Archmage? Now an outsider and enemy of the Empire?”

Dariea!? Jano thought. A false name? That was the least of his troubles at the moment. He struggled once more and found that he was still immobile.

He began to walk around the Mage. “Talk, don’t talk. It doesn’t matter here. You will answer to the Emperor though.” His lips curled and formed a victorious smile. “I expected at least a little fight.”

The man in the golden robes tried to drag the Mage to his feet. The robes flew quickly into the air and he was left holding empty cloth. An overwhelming force began to bear down on the arena. Jano was forced to his knees momentarily. He thought he was being crushed to death by the invaders. Though in an instance he was released. He couldn’t have imagined such a pressure, it was different to being held in place. It felt like his bones were being pushed through his skin. He panted, and was glad that it was only brief.

Another robed figure floated from the side of the Dome. The man in the golden robes briefly broke free of the force and fired something green at the stranger. “Dariea!” He spat.

The stranger deflected the blow and forced the man in the golden robes to his knees once more. In the process, the hood of the stranger had fallen down. It was a woman with long dark hair in a simple robe. Her face looked vaguely familiar, but Jano didn’t think he had never met her before. Dariea?

Jano looked at her as she landed softly between him and the attackers and she smiled at him. He was free and he moved to run out of the Dome. “Just wait a second there, Jano. I need to keep the Dome sealed while I deal with this lot.” She spoke with an incredible familiarity, and he recognised the voice.

Grateful that he was no longer sealed in place, he backed himself against the comfort of the stone wall. He felt his wrist tingle a little, his purple tattoo glowing, pulsating. As if it could sense the power. “It has been a long time since someone in this place spoke my true name. Let me guess, the Emperor tracked me and sent his little puppet to bring me to him?” She laughed.

“Such a small force. I almost couldn’t believe this was all of you. The City tapers my powers a little to be sure, but not that much.” She raised the man in the golden robes up to face her. His limbs hung lifeless from his body, as though it was only his torso now being held in place.

“Previous Archmages were strong, independent thinkers. Powerful Mages one and all, with the respect of everyone, even the Emperor. What are you if you are not a puppet?” She asked the man, who could not respond even if he wanted to.

That was the Archmage of the University? Jano thought. He was exceptionally confused and he was constantly fighting the instinct to run. Who is this woman? He thought. She was clearly a person of authority and great power. All of the things he had said about Dariea sounded a lot like Darrel. But it couldn’t be the same person. He had talked to him. He had even been held in place by him during the interrogation. While he was distracted by the illusions. He couldn’t have been one? Jano was tying himself up in knots.

“Speak. Tell me everything.” She commanded.

Jano noticed the other Mages were flat on the ground of the Dome. Limbs splayed at weird angles. As though they had been crushed by whatever power was keeping them all in place.

“.... we… you…. We were told you were plotting to overthrow the Empire. That you wanted it all for yourself. That you needed to be stopped.” He stammered.

She laughed. “Overthrow the Empire? Well at least that much is true. That was the plan. Sort of. Keep it for myself? Why would I want to inherit what he has turned this place into?” She shook her head. “No, I’ve simply come to stop him. You have no idea what the Emperor is planning to do. What he is capable of.” She looked at the Archmage with disgust. “Or perhaps you do, and you are just stupid and cowardly enough to go along with it.”

She threw the man down with a crash. Dust flew into the air as he landed. Jano watched as the group of Mages lay still on the floor. They still couldn’t move, either because of the force he had briefly felt, or because they were dead. He couldn’t decide which.

The woman landed maybe five paces from Jano. Now she was closer, he was both sure that he recognised the woman and that he had never met her before.

She smiled as she approached slowly. “I’m sorry Jano. There is much I need to explain. Why is it I’m always saying that to you?” Always? Jano thought.

“I am Dareia, but I was in disguise as Darrel. I know it’s a little bit confusing, but it was for a good reason.” With a flash, the plain robes disappeared and were replaced by intricately woven fabric. Brown tousled hair draped down to her shoulders. She had a soft face, with bushy eyebrows and a small scar running across her lip.

“Wait. What?” He stammered. “But… I talked to Darrel…What do you mean? Where is he?”

She gave a sympathetic look with a gentle smile.“This is who I truly am, but I couldn’t risk even the small chance of someone recognising me here. The danger was too great. Unfortunately, the Emperor has a way of knowing these things but I kept him off my trail for longer than I expected. You have to understand, it wasn’t because I didn’t trust you.” She paused as she noted the utter confusion on Jano’s face. His eyes were wider than she thought a healthy man’s eyes should open.

“Look, I didn’t want to get you caught up in this part. That’s why I disappeared. But I needed your skills. Do you know how many people have the control you do over stone? Not many, not in the entire Empire. Not to mention your background.”

Being this close, Jano could feel her power bearing down on him. He had never felt anything like it. Usually, he couldn’t really sense others' strength. Her power was unmistakable. He briefly remembered her little test for him when they had first met.

“The illusions?” He paused. “When you tested that I wouldn’t talk?” He said

She smiled further. “Yes. Precisely. I’ve always been rather gifted with illusion, but they really have their downsides. When someone disguises themselves like that, it’s called a Mask. Though it takes quite a lot of concentration to maintain a Mask like that for as long as I did. Unfortunately it seems that I have still been found regardless.” She gave a small sigh.

“Unfortunately this has sped up my plans somewhat. I always knew the Emperor would find me, but now he obviously knows about you.”

Jano tried to fix his face. He could feel that he was all scrunched up, he tried to get his head straight. “So you were just underneath? The whole time?” He asked. He couldn’t quite put together what he was being told.

“Sort of. Yes. It’s like a mix of a disguise and projection all rolled into one.” She was looking past Jano now, thinking, as though trying to figure out what to do.

“They said that they have my wife. If they do, we need to get her back… she didn’t ask for any of this”. He could feel tears welling up inside as he thought about her. Then, as though realising what his words actually meant, fighting against the Emperor, he paused. “Can we really stop the Emperor?”

She looked at him curiously. “I think so. You know those contracts every citizen with magical talent signs as children? Those aren’t actually for your benefit. They’re for him. He draws on the essence of the citizens to strengthen himself and he has done so for decades.” She said. “It’s what I came back to change. If I could..”

Jano felt as though a house had been dropped on top of him. A stone house. “So… he‘s robbing us of our magic?” He stuttered.

“Essentially yes. It’s why you can just use channel essence without really thinking about it. Why you don’t need to learn runes. You’re lending some of his power, but he’s drawing an awful lot more off you.”

He glanced down at his wrist. “How… how does…” he began. “The Class system… The Slums, the Middle.”

She cut him off. “All made up. That’s why progression is slow. Social mobility is basically null. I’ve been back here observing and planning for almost a year and I’ve seen nobody truly improve their life in any meaningful way. You settle for small, incremental changes as they are important to you and you’ve worked hard to gain them. But it’s nothing compared to what other people have, outside the City. You’re lending some of the Emperor’s mastery in exchange for limiting yourself, without really knowing anything.”

He was shell shocked. As if the revelation that Darrel didn’t really exist and he had been dealing with a totally different, incredibly powerful Mage wasn’t enough. Everything he had ever known about his life was apparently a lie. Unless, she wasn’t telling the truth. What if she was saying this to keep him on her side? He glanced at her, she checked over her shoulder to see if the pile of Mages were still where she’d left them. It was quite clear to Jano that she didn’t need him. At least not for fighting. So why would she need to lie?

A few quiet moments passed, Jano regathered himself. “So how do we beat him then?” He asked.

“Well you don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to—-“ she began.

“Don’t say that. If they have my wife, that’s hardly an option. Besides, I’ve helped you so far” he said.

She smiled at that last part. “I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t think they knew about your involvement. Certainly not enough to track you, I thought they were still scrabbling around in the dark… Do you have the Sceptre?”

She grabbed the Sceptre and the stone he had brought back, she felt it in her hands and then with a quick motion, she pulled the top off. Her shoulders dropped and Jano could see the relief on her face. “I thought it might have been fake for a second.” She cradled the two gems. One was a deep onyx and the other a shining violet. They seemed to hum as she brought them closer to each other.

“The Empire is reeling from a series of defeats. The army is particularly weak. The Emperor is planning to summon the Hollow using more resources from the Ledger. When I realised what he was doing, I sped up my plans to liberate the City.”

“Hang on. The Empire has enemies? The Hollow?” He felt as though his head was going to explode. He had no idea whether up was up at this point. Never mind whether down was down.

She smiled once more. “Yes, the Empire has enemies. Unfortunately for you, we don’t have time for a history lesson. Not a correct one anyway, not the mess you have been told. The Hollow are an army of undead which will be at the Emperor’s beck and call. Calling them upsets the balance of essence which all things must preserve. It’s an ancient magic, one which used to require a whole army of Mages. But with the Ledger, he can do it on his own.”

“None of this brings us any closer to stopping it?” He asked.

“That’s why we need to destroy the Ledger. We need to get going. If he knows I’m here, then he will try to find me. I’m the only thing stopping him invoking the curse. Rather, you and I are, as you helped me steal two of the necessary gemstones.” She said. She turned back to the pile of Mages on the dusty floor.

“What will that do to us? The citizens?” He immediately regretted asking as she stopped and turned to look at him.

“Well. That’s a rather complicated question. Suffice to say that everyone who has a contract with the Emperor will find themselves with a lot less power than they have now. But, and this is a very big but.” She paused for effect. “They will be free to become as talented as they like, with the right guidance of course.”

Jano could feel himself staring, but he couldn’t pull himself out of it. Thoughts raced through his mind. People wouldn’t be stuck at whatever Class level they were assigned. It was exactly what he had always wanted, a chance to better himself and carve out a better life for him and Alsace. But she was caught. “Come on. Let’s seal them in this place and get out of here.”

“Even those that don’t have much magical talent at all?” He said as he ran to catch up with her.

“Though some are stronger than others. Everyone has the ability to channel essence and grow stronger with magic. You just haven’t been told it. Because it was easier to give you all defined Classes and jobs and talents so that the Emperor could steal your power on the sly.”

As he caught up with her, she sniffed at him. “You absolutely stink. We can’t go back to the Middle, they will be looking out for us. But we definitely need to find you a bath.”

A bath wasn’t top of his concerns at the moment. There was so much to unpack. But Dariea was the key to getting his wife back. He sniffed his now partially dried clothing. She was certainly right about the smell.