Constant, droning noise welcomed us back into the industrial corridors behind the facade. After we had wandered between them for so long, all the machines, pipes and cables shouldn't have had any more effect on me. Even so, they still felt oppressive to me. This was a dangerous place, I thought, somewhere no human should venture. At least the fake teacher reached its destination soon after we had entered the backstage of the facility.

Tucked behind a corner, it stopped in front of a glyph-covered indentation in the wall, large enough to house a single standing human. Two more red guards protected the recess, who once again failed to notice our presence. Maybe the student training wasn't lacking after all. Maybe the Mystic's light barrier was just special. After all, it was the shape I had studied the longest, by far.

Though they didn't see us, the guards seemed more threatening nonetheless. Unlike their unarmed colleagues from the second training stage, these guards carried the magic guns that had almost killed me back in the sewers. Whatever this place was, it seemed like it was of utmost importance to the rulers of the tower.

“Magister Sandow.”

The husk went up to the guards and stated its name in a flat voice. After a short pause, one of the men in red armor grunted in agreement and took the key card from the creature's hand. Although it was a shame we couldn't get our hands on it, we shouldn't be greedy. Not when we were making such steady progress.

After the fake magister had given up his access rights to the tower, he stepped into the recess and turned to face outward. Meanwhile, the red guard pushed the key card into a slit next to the construction. Never to be seen again, the card was eaten and swallowed by the machinery. At the same time, a cover of clear glass slid down and trapped the husk inside the indentation.

Though the guards watched with tensed bodies, the husk had had shed all emotions. Its actions felt mechanical, more like a routine than a choice. Once the fake was in position, the magic glyphs inside the recess began to spin and turn. To me, the spell seemed impossible, far more complex than even the ones I had seen in the libraries. Even its basic function was impossible to guess. Luckily, a guess was unnecessary, as its purpose became apparent right away.

From the top of its head, the fake began to unravel. First its barrier, then its hair and its head. Like a piece of weaved cloth coming undone at the seams, the entire apparition came apart. Meanwhile, the strands of magic it had been built from were drawn into the machinery around it.

For a while I was mesmerized by the incredible skill of magic on display, but only until a vise gripped onto my arm. I had completely forgotten about Sophie. While I could understand the phenomenon before us, Sophie didn't have any magic sense; and ever since we had first run into Magister Sandow, there had been no chance to talk.

Yet now, in front of her eyes, an entire person was disappearing into nothingness. Even worse, the inside of the apparition was also partially formed, so the bare top of the creature's head revealed the red of blood and muscle inside. Now without half its head, the thing raised its hand and waved goodbye to the guards. Even without eyes, its half-unraveled face still managed to form a maniacal grin.

Sophie reeled back as horror overcame her reason. Her arm trembled, while her hands turned ice-cold within moments. In panic, I tried to cover her mouth, but it was too late. A bloodcurdling scream escaped from Sophie's lips.

The guards shot around to look in our direction. One grabbed for the gun at his side, while the other grabbed for who knew what in his pocket. This was bad! I took the still shock-frozen Sophie with me and hauled us away as fast as I could.

Once again we ran, through the labyrinthian halls of machinery and magic, the steps of the guards right behind us. This time, they wouldn't lose us again. They had already heard Sophie and I didn't expect my light-barrier to put up much resistance to real scrutiny. Now we couldn't afford the luxury of being sneaky any more. All that mattered was to create some distance.

As I added more mana to my legs to shake off the guards, we turned a corner and my mind stopped. Around us were ever more machines. A large cluster of cables crossed through the room and along the walls. Maybe this was some sort of server room, I thought, but the function of the room didn't matter. All that mattered was that it was a dead end. There was no way out.

My decision already made for me, I pushed Sophie into the back of the room. There was no time to worry about my ward's safety, not during a fight. My shell strengthened while I waited right around the corner. Two against one. My best chance would be to surprise them.

However, the guards were careful, and so my enemies swerved around the corner one at a time. When the red uniform appeared, it did so along the far wall, gun cocked and ready to fire. My arm was pulled back for a punch, mana trapped between my fingers. A simple push smashed my unsuspecting opponent into the wall. Unsteady, his right hand came off his weapon to search for a hold. As the guard got back up, I realized he was unhurt. The same attack that had knocked out a sturdy gangster had only put the guard off balance, nothing more.

With how little mana it contained, the barrier around the guard seemed weak, but it proved much stronger than my own. This was bad. I had no idea how to do any damage to this thing and the guard's hand once again reached for his weapon, ready to take me out.

But I still had an advantage, something I could leverage. I was still invisible, and I knew their barrier would let physical objects through. How else could they have taken the key card? While I thought at high speed, the second guard came around the corner to help his colleague.

Mana collected in my legs and created another boost of force to shoot me up to the ceiling. The guard still leaned against the wall, as he lifted his gun towards the spot he had been attacked from. As if in slow-motion, I saw his finger coil around the trigger while my palms clung to the ceiling. With my hands attached to the synthetic steel, my legs swung forward like a pendulum, towards the masks I had always dreaded.

Let's see you handle a flying drop kick to the face.

My foot already on its way towards the guardian's face, I realized: If their barriers could block my mana blast, surely they could also block out my shell. As gunfire tore apart the ground and walls below me, I dropped all my barriers.

Time to risk it all.

A split-second later, my soles connected with the red mask. Underneath it, I could feel the guard's face distort under the crunch of bones. My attacker fell to the ground, unconscious. Meanwhile, my momentum carried me into the wall. Just in time, I managed to reshape my barrier to catch the worst of the fall, but the impact still drove the air from my lungs. There was no time to rest. I still had work to do.

I turned and saw the second guard, shocked as he stared at his colleague in a heap, but he would soon recover. Without the barrier I couldn't overwhelm the armed guard, but with the barrier I wouldn't even get through his defenses. All I could count on was the short span of time in between the two moments.

Another blast of force pushed me off the wall and left a deep dent in the metallic surface. The second guard swerved his gun around to intercept my attack.

Not enough!

I wouldn't get there in time. One last burst of mana from my right foot. shot my body forward and to the left, away from the muzzle.

The distance closed, I dropped my shell again and held out my stiffened palm. My hand connected with the masked face of our pursuer and rammed it into the wall. This time the guard was dazed, but still conscious. His fingers still gripped the deadly weapon, so I had to hit again. And again. Heat crept up my arm and into my head as I continued to punch down. All this time I had fought against this nameless, faceless machine around me, and I vented all my desperation onto the body of this helpless minion.

“Brayden! Brayden! Hey!” Sophie shouted, panic in her voice. Afterwards, I lost my balance and fell to the side.

When I looked down, the guard had dropped his weapon and lay on the ground. My fists had pounded into his mask again and again, until Sophie had pushed me off. In shock, I lay on my back and looked at my knuckles, red and swollen from my own punches.

“Calm down. It's done.” Although she did her best to hide it, Sophie's voice trembled.

As she spoke, I looked at the two motionless guards. Finally, my eyes returned to Sophie, who had her arms crossed to underline her worried frown. Before I could reassure her of my sanity, there was still something left to do. First I spread out my hand and created a light-bending shape across the corridor to hide the traces of the fight. In our current state, we couldn't risk another fight again. We needed some time to regroup, both of us.

“What do we do now?” I asked, still out of breath. By now we couldn't just go back to our aimless exploration anymore. After our encounter just now, all guards in the tower would be alerted.

“'Unmask the beasts.' Wasn't that what the old man wanted us to do?” In unison, both mine and Sophie's eyes wandered over to the guards next to us. Things were urgent, but this was what we had come here for. There was no reason to hesitate.

Although I wanted to do the work, a sharp sting in my leg made me grunt and fall back as soon as I tried to stand. Sophie, already on her way to the guard, came back to check up on me.

“You all right?”

Dull pain throbbed up from my ankle. I had injured my leg during the drop kick.

“It's nothing. Go take a look.”

While I reformed my shell to support my leg, Sophie walked over to the first guard I had taken out. Her choice was a smart one, since whatever had been hidden beneath the mask of the other had been destroyed by my repeated, manic attacks. As a test, I put some weight onto my supported leg.

Just a little sting. Good enough.

By the time I reached Sophie, my companion had taken hold of the guard's mask and was about to pull away the synthetic cloth. What we found underneath wasn't the face of a monster like the Mystic's words had made me believe. At the same time, it wasn't the face of a healthy human either.

We stared down at the short, pig-like nose, now broken and pooling with dark blood. His tiny eyes were hidden beneath a protruding forehead and sparse, filthy hair while his strange, elongated chin was so crooked that I wasn't even sure he could close his mouth. An indescribable stench filled the air, and I wasn’t sure whether it came from the guard’s sweat or his blood.

I didn't understand. What I had expected was a friendly human face, or the face of a vicious beast, or the face of a sly devil. Never had I believed the real appearance of our oppressors to be this... helpless.

“What is this?” I muttered to myself.

Nothing made sense anymore, as reality and expectation began to dance around in my head. I had never hoped for an answer to my confused question, but I would still receive one. Of course it came from the one who always had all the answers.

“It's a rotten society,” Sophie said.

“What does that even mean!? It's a guy! Can we not speak in tongues for once!?” I shouted, angry at her cryptic reply. I had suffered through enough of this nonsense with the Mystic, now was the time for some clarity.

“...I mean it's the sign of a rotten society. What do you think these people are, really? They're just guard dogs for the ones at the top of the tower. I wouldn't be surprised if they bred them like that on purpose, to make sure they have nowhere else to go. At the same time it shows how weak the council really is. Just look at this... thing. Does this seem like a competent guard to you?”

“That's pretty harsh.”

While Sophie disparaged the poor guy to her feet, I rummaged through his equipment.

“Well, sometimes the truth is harsh,” Sophie replied. “Aren't we trying to get to the truth here?”

“Hm.”

As I inspected my findings, I mumbled a vague answer. Ever since we had encountered them firsthand, I had been curious about the equipment of the red guards. The weapon captured my interest more than anything. My fingers ran over the intricate glyphs carved into the handle. Although the exact trappings of the gun were a mystery to me, the handle contained an important piece of the puzzle. From below, I retrieved a small, rectangular object, a bright glow of mana around it.

“What's that?” Sophie asked, finally put off the unsavory topic.

“A battery,” I answered, as sure as I had ever been.

“So those guns are electric weapons?”

“It's a magic battery. I didn't even know you could store mana outside the human body.” Stunned at my own revelation, I looked up to the curious Sophie. “Their entire equipment must be powered by these things. No wonder they never saw us when we ran circles around them. These guys aren't mages at all. They're just really well equipped.”

For no apparent reason, my words caused an eruption from Sophie. With the same manic speed I had shown before, she ripped and tore at the guard's clothes, to uncover what had been hidden. With the covers removed, the malformed body lay before us, all mangled, bloody and bruised. I didn't understand how this thing could ever have lived to begin with.

The armored suit on its outside had been like a second skin, holding the shape for all the loose meat inside. With the skin removed, the flesh lost any semblance of structure and just... spilled out like fillings from a sausage. It was a nauseating sight.

“What... How was that even alive until now?” Sophie’s breathless whisper voiced my thoughts. Even she had lost her calm and rational attitude by now.

Through my investigation of the equipment, I had already found an answer, though horrific. My mind was still clear enough to deliver it to Sophie, though I should have spared her.

“The suits form a magic shell around them. The Mystic has called it an exoskeleton before, and for these guys, that's exactly what it is. Don't forget, the old man also lived well beyond any human lifespan, just kept his blood pumping with magic. This is no different.”

I looked down on a piece of the uniform which had been uncovered from under layers of red, synthetic cloth. Within the mess lay a small red disc, over and over inscribed with glyphs. This must have been the source of the barriers. Again, it was fueled by a magic battery in its back.

“Another one,” I said, as I began to study the peculiar object with fascination. Maybe I would be able to uncover its secrets, at least well enough for my magic to find a way through the shields. That way we wouldn't have to rely on risky gambits if we had to fight again.

“Just how do they extract and store all that mana from the air?” I mumbled to myself. “Ambient mana is so thin I can barely even feel it.”

Until the fake teacher's explanation, I hadn't even been aware of the ambient mana's existence. Since my first encounter with the blighted mana, I had decided to stay away, like a child hiding from a monster by putting its head under the covers.

At least I had confirmed that there was a way to restore mana, just like the old Mystic had hinted at before. If only I could find Eileen, maybe all of this could still be salvaged. While I thought about the future, my nosy companion did the same, in her own way.

“This is what the old man was talking about,” she said, before her eyes stared at me. “There's your proof.”

I looked at her in bewilderment. How had this proven anything? My answer boiled down to a single, succinct “huh?”, together with my most sophisticated look of dull incomprehension.

“Proof of the council's evil acts and proof of our society's rot. With this heap of misery before you, how could you deny that we need change at all cost? Don't you want to honor the old man's legacy?”

As my dull face regained sharpness, it grew a frown, mirrored by Sophie's own.

“What? How is this not enough?”

I got up, the barrier disc still in my hand.

“How is this anything? What have we seen? They use artificial teachers, which is benign enough I think. Then, some towers have been abandoned, most likely because they don't need all the space. Don't their methods seem appropriate for the rough times we live in? You've also heard that fake teacher talk, haven't you? Mana has become thin and hard to absorb. He wasn't lying, you know? I've felt it myself.”

Although Sophie tried to refute, I still had much to say. So I cut her off just as her mouth opened.

“In the end, all I've seen here that's out of place are the creepy machines and the creepy guards. For the machines, we still don't know what those things even do. They don't need to have a sinister purpose just because they’re painted black. As for the guards, it's not really this guy's fault he was born this way, is it?”

For a second I looked down at the guard, but my weak stomach couldn't follow my strong heart, so I turned away again. “Isn't it great if the council helps those who can't help themselves? With all this magic support, they can be productive members of society and live fulfilling lives. Why would that be a bad thing?”

Of course all of this was nonsense, and deep down even I knew better. Still, I tried to rationalize away my hidden doubts. Without more concrete evidence, I wouldn't presume the tower’s malicious nature. Eileen had been in here for three years. Accepting the truth meant that Eileen had suffered by herself, for years. If the council was evil, my sisters were being exploited, and in mortal danger. How could I face that, all by myself? I wouldn’t accept it, not unless it stared me right in the face. So I denied reality, as hard as I could.

“You're kidding me!” Sophie shouted, finally done with my nonsense. “You can't be this blind, right? These people clearly aren't normal, you have to see that. Why would the council waste the rare and precious mana just to make some non-mages feel better about themselves? Plenty of healthy people waste their lives away in the outer city, so why not turn them to guards? No, to me this looks like design rather than some benevolence. They were probably bred to look like this. Or experimented on.”

“Why would anyone do that?”

“Think about it. This guy couldn't have survived without his equipment, right? That's a pretty efficient way to keep your soldiers obedient. I'd do that, if I was some crazy dictator that is. It's not just the weird disfigured dudes though.”

Sophie spread her hands to encompass the server room, the black machinery of the corridors and the clean student areas beyond them.

“Just look at this place. Closely. How can you not see the signs here? How come the students couldn't see us, or their horror of a teacher? It's because they were never taught how to 'sense magic', whatever that means. The council keeps them in the dark on purpose, while those pods slowly turn them into vegetables. Didn't you see those so-called second years? Stuck in their tubes, all immersed in a fake game. The exact same thing's happening on the outside. People lament their pointless lives as they rot away. I was wrong. We're not oppressed, the council is way more insidious than that. Instead, we're numbed to the truth, with no desire to resist.”

“...and what's wrong with that? Why can't people live happy lives without worry? Outside, we have a utopia, and inside, the students work hard to save the world, right?”

“You know, I've been thinking about that word a lot. Utopia. And I don’t think something like a utopia can exist. It’s not in our nature to be satisfied. Why does the outer city have that pointless credit system and the monthly allowance when magic can supply us with everything we need? Why do people pay crazy sums so they can hang some paint on canvas into their gallery?”

Somehow, I had hit a nerve with Sophie. While she continued her rant, she began to pace up and down the hallway.

“It's because competition is in our nature. You know what makes people rich? It’s not a set amount. It’s having more than the people around them. That's it. As sad as it is, that's just how people work. That's why you can't ever have everyone be happy. Every structure has to have some bottom feeders, has to be built on the backs of some people. It's just that this one builds on the backs of very few. The only ones to suffer are outcasts like the Squalor gangs... and maybe the new mages.”

“The mages? How are they suffering?”

Though my stomach churned in its best attempt to stop my foolish mouth, the question still escaped my lips. I already knew I wouldn't like the answer. As Sophie realized where she had led the conversation, her feet stopped.

Her face scrunched up in discomfort, she steeled herself, about to confront me with the inconvenient truth I couldn't face myself. She must have known that after her answer, things would change. For either of us, as well as for us both. Still, Sophie answered me in the end, with the truth. Because that was the kind of person she was.

“If the city is running low on mana, why do you think the council would create this elaborate facade for the apprentices? There has to be some deeper purpose. I mean, all those machines and complex systems in the tower and the city need some kind of magic processor, right? Maybe while the students think they're training in those capsules, they're doing calculations instead. And the guards have to come from somewhere as well. Maybe once the students are no longer useful, maybe... maybe the guards used to be students too.”

Before my mind caught up, my body leaned over Sophie, ready for the big fight.

“Are you trying to say that this is my sister?”

I pointed towards the sacks of meat at our feet. If they hadn't already died from my attacks, they were surely dead now. With their armors removed, their decrepit bodies fell apart all on their own.

“So then why do you think the council wastes this much time and effort just to keep their students trapped and locked up? Why wouldn't they teach them proper magic? Wouldn't that make them more helpful in research or whatever the Grand Mages are doing? You know I'm right! Just 'cause you're getting hysterical again, thinking about all the poor victims, doesn't mean that looking away is a viable option! We need to stand up for ourselves and fight for what the council has taken from us!”

“Every revolution will come with immeasurable pain. Weren't those your words? Why would we risk everything on a revolution and end up worse off!?”

“'Eventual improvement'! I said 'improvement, not revolution'! How about some proper quotation for a change, huh? And we need to risk things because the system's fucking rotten! Look at this crap! It's all falling apart! Nothing in here can be saved, so just do what the old man has given his life for and for once forget about your goddamn sisters!”

Just a second too late, Sophie realized her mistake. She had seen how I had dealt with Lester after he went for Amy, and yet she had still attacked my weak spot. Heavy steps led me forward, my mind blurred by absolute, boiling anger.

Though she backed off, soon her body pressed into the barrier-covered walls behind her. I don't know what I would have done had we continued like this, but just before I could do the irreversible, loud footsteps interrupted us. Our heads snapped around as a small patrol of guardians walked down our corridor.

In horror we saw them shout commands into their radios, guns at the ready. When they reached halfway across the corridor, one of them moved in on our hiding spot. Meanwhile, the others stayed behind to observe. I could never take out all of them and avoid an alert. Even if I somehow won the fight, we would only end up with even more guards on our tail. There had to be a better way. As a desperate plan formed in my head, I turned and pressed myself into the wall next to Sophie, before I reshaped the light barrier that had masked our surroundings.The flat barrier across the corridor retreated and shaped itself around the two of us, as well as our victims.

Oblivious, the guard walked past me, past Sophie, past the bullet holes and past the corpses, all covered by the snugly refit light barriers. Again, my brain had worked by itself. Until then, I hadn't even known that I could manage such fine work. In the end, the guard marched around the corner and looked at the empty server room, still in pristine condition. However, on his way back his path would cross directly over the hidden leg of his downed colleague.

Quick-witted as ever, Sophie hooked her boots onto the dead guard and managed to pull back the foot at the last second. Still, the sound had made our pursuer suspicious. When he turned towards us, the faceless mask stared into the empty space in his front. The knowledge of what was underneath the red cloth only increased my tension. In that moment, I could sense nothing but my beating heart inside my ears, as it crescendoed into a boom. Once again mana began to collect in my fist as I got ready for another desperate fight.

“Unit 4 Beta, report.” The sound of the guard's radio saved our lives, and his own.

“Area clear. Nothing to report,” he said in a sonorous voice, so wholly unfit for the man underneath, before he marched off with his squad.

I looked after his back, almost glad about his interference. The incident had been far too close for comfort, but at least it had given me the chance to calm my mind. For once, I was able to think beyond myself and my own family. Instead, I thought about the wishes, dreams and aspirations of those men and women in the Squalor, about the sacrifice and benevolence of the Mystic, and about Sophie.

Here was a girl full of talent, full of brilliance, who had spent her life trapped in a meaningless existence. Finally, she had found a chance to change the world, like she had never thought possible. How could she not get upset when I denied her demand for change again and again. Once I understood her, I couldn't take that from her, just as I couldn't leave my family behind. Thus, only one option remained, one I understood the Mystic had predicted long ago.

“Phew, that was close,” Sophie whispered with a look down the hallway.

Without a word of answer, I stretched out my hands towards the girl. When she turned to face me, my fingers had already landed on her temples.

“What are you doing?”

I ignored the girl's confused voice and focused on the shape of the mana. The old man's actions during our separation back in the caverns were still clear in my mind. This time, I would be the one to give my mana away. When we had walked through the empty towers with time to think, I realized how strange the old man's actions had been. At the end of his life, he only had so little mana left that the amount I had received was minuscule compared to my own reserves.

Now I realized: Maybe the Mystic had wanted to teach me the shape of mana transference, to prepare me for this exact moment. While I concentrated on my work, I looked into Sophie's eyes. The girl became more and more uncomfortable as the shape around her head was built. Flustered, she tried to pry away my hands, but I wouldn't budge.

“Don't move. I'm giving you some of my mana.” I explained myself, but it did little to calm the girl down.

“What? Don't! You'll need all the strength you can get later! We need you to destroy the council! We need you to lead us into the future!”

Sophie struggled even harder, but my strength, reinforced through my mana shell, was far too great for her to overcome. Thus, I continued to trickle mana into her atrophied veins.

“Why would I lead any sort of revolution?” I answered. “You really think I'm cut out for that kind of thing? I'm the soft guy, remember? The one who's gonna feel sorry for everyone, who can't make hard decisions. The old man knew that as well, I'm sure of that. I might not be much of a thinker, but if there's one thing I'm good at, it's reading people.”

At last the girl stopped her struggle. With large eyes she listened to my revelation.

“Why do you think the Mystic let you into his home, a place no one has been to in ages? Just because you were with me? Why would he spend all his free time talking to you? He couldn't even move a muscle without mana, so why waste it on you? Because he was bored? No, the Mystic knew just as well as me: Out of us two, the one who's cut out to lead a revolution isn't me, it's you.”

Finally, my work was finished. Although a lot of mana had been wasted, a tiny amount had entered Sophie's own system. As someone who was born as a normal person, her own capacity was much lower than mine. Still, it would have to suffice. Unaware of her new powers, Sophie tried to refute me.

“You're wrong! I- I'm nobody. I can't lead anyone, who would listen to me? In the first place, where would I even start? You think some weak girl can just waltz in and take over the gangs in the Squalor?”

“That's why you have all this mana now. Here.”

The guard's barrier glyph was still in my hand from before. When I held it up to Sophie, she took it with a dull face, overwhelmed by my actions.

“Just pump mana into this thing and you can make your own shell. You'll be stronger than anyone in the Squalor, anyone outside of the towers. Considering this disk's efficiency, the mana stored in the battery and in your body is gonna last you years. That's more than enough time to make it to the top of whatever hierarchy your revolution will produce. Wear the guard's clothes. In all this confusion right now, you should be able to make it out of here and back to the Caverns all by yourself.”

After I had sent the revolutionary on her way, I turned towards the second guard, eager to finish my own journey.

“Wait! Where are you going?”

Sophie panicked. Surely, she hadn't expected all that responsibility out of nowhere. It was a pressure I had felt ever since we had entered the Caverns. Under other circumstances, I would have relished in the karmic justice, but I had more important things to worry about.

“While you might be convinced of the Council's evil nature, I still don't know what this place is. Not really. The answers you came up with might have been enough for you, but it's not enough for me. It’s all just speculation, and I need proof. I have to go find Eileen. And if, only if, you're right, you might see a spark from the distance. One which will set this dried-out city aflame, to burn out and revive from the ashes.”

Again, Sophie shouted my name, but I had already reformed the light barrier around myself, gone from her view. I took the second guard with me and left in silence. At that time, I wasn't sure whether or not I would meet the headstrong girl again, but now wasn't the time to be sentimental. There was still much to do. First, I would have to find a place to change clothes.