Olivander, Giles, and Lucindre stepped through a portal into the city sewer. The large room with the pump equipment where Gregory and Reginald had fought the domain guardian looked much the same as it had the last time Olivander was here. The difference was the elaborate ritual etched into the floor.

Unlike the rituals that were drawn out using mana for casting spells, this was a longer lasting ritual. Olivander would hesitate to call it permanent since they were about to destroy it, though that was the typical name for such drawings.

"I sealed it up after going through it with a few of my own apprentices," Giles said. "We eliminated a few more mimics, but we didn't find any more threats."

"As I said earlier," Olivander said. "The biggest threat is the heart. If we don't destroy it completely, it could start regenerating and create more of the creatures. Sealing it as you did would probably prevent them from returning, but they might be able to create other exits.

"Giles, if you would?"

The High Magus created one of his huge ice spikes. With a wave of his hand, he drove it deep into the stone, cleanly severing the ritual.

There was a snap in the air as the containment magic dissipated. The entrance to the domain didn't open on its own, and Olivander set up the ritual to access it.

Once the domain entrance floated open in the air above them, Olivander conjured a set of stairs up to the portal.

He climbed up first, and the others followed.

Once inside, Olivander took stock quickly but didn't find any threats. He led them directly into the domain, towards the heart chamber.

Lucindre paused when they entered the chamber where the sky was full of cracks.

"What happened here?" Lucindre asked.

"I had the same question when I was here earlier," Giles added.

"This place, as you might know, is slightly between Realms. My constant poking of the metaphorical bee's nest was enough to bring the Keeper of the Eyes to this place, where it nearly broke through."

"He couldn't break all the way through?" Giles asked.

"No, he could have. I banished him."

Lucindre chuckled.

"I don't see what's funny about the situation?" Giles said.

"It's just funny, Giles. We were out there trying to save the city when it was far closer to annihilation than we ever knew."

Giles considered that. "No, it would have offered a trade."

"I agree with your assessment, Giles, but I don't know that I could have paid the price. Besides, it's never a sure thing to try to bargain with a mind that has been so thoroughly consumed by madness."

"Fair enough."

They pressed deeper, arriving at the heart chamber minutes later.

"As I predicted," Olivander said.

The heart of blue flesh had re-sealed itself, and something was clearly growing inside.

"How do we stop it?" Lucindre asked.

"Fire works well. We should take some samples. In more powerful domains, the heart is actually quite small and not nearly so reactive."

"You do what you want, Olivander, but I just came to see this destroyed," Giles said.

Lucindre shrugged and looked around the chamber.

From a dimensional bag at his waist, he pulled out some tubes and other items he had prepared for this trip. He carefully removed some of the flesh from the heart, and they drained some fluid that he assumed behaved like blood, but almost certainly wasn't. Satisfied, he cast some preservation magic on the tubes and stashed them away.

"There we are. Now, if we're all done, allow me to clean up this mess."

Giles and Lucindre retreated to the room's entrance.

"Flames of Annihilation!"

The heart was consumed by inferno.

The spell normally only lasted a few seconds, but Olivander continued pumping mana into the spell until the room became uncomfortably hot.

Another handful of seconds, and the fire cleared. The heart was gone completely. All that remained of it was a small amount of ash that slowly drifted around the chamber.

Removing the heart revealed something buried in the stone floor, directly over where it had been.

"What's this?"

Olivander crouched down and examined it. The two other Magi approached, trying to see what he was looking at.

"That is normal?" Lucindre asked.

"No, it's quite unnatural," he replied. When he was Arch-magus, he had cleared out a few domains that he had discovered very close to large population centers, but he had never seen anything quite like this..

Buried in the dark stone floor was a small square tile with a glowing green gem in the middle. He didn't sense any danger from it, and pressed a finger onto the tile.

----------------------------------------

Mimic Domain Tile

* Magical Construct

* When placed in an extradimensional space, this tile will transform the space into a Mimic Domain.

----------------------------------------

"What in the world…" Olivander said.

Giles and Lucindre each touched the tile.

"Does this mean the domain isn't natural?" Giles ventured.

"You know, I was trying to justify the appearance of one with such low levels. I assumed this was just how they began, and that I had never seen one before. But this…" Olivander trailed off, unsure of the implications.

"This opens up some new questions, certainly. But our priority is making sure this space can't reinfect the city," Lucindre said. "Based on the description, it seems like bad things will happen if we leave this here."

"I agree. I don't know if it's safe to destroy. If no one has any objections, I'll take it for study. Although I guess I'll need to carry it. Will mimics start crawling out of my dimensional bag if I put it there?"

"Do what you want with it. Is there anything else we need from this place?" Giles said. He looked a little uncomfortable. Olivander assumed it was because of the odd nature of the domain. The feeling of exposure due to the open otherworldly sky could be quite unnerving.

Olivander pried the tile out of the floor. It wasn't set in firmly, just barely buried.. He flipped it over, seeing a crude symbol carved into the back.

"We can leave. The heart has been completely destroyed. We should reseal the entrance though. It will go away in time, but we don't want anything moving in in the meantime."

Giles nodded and started back down the tunnel they had come through.

"Have you ever seen this symbol, Lucindre?"

He passed her the tile.

"Hmm. Looks like a cult symbol. Not one that I know though."

"Cult symbol? Like the Cult of Madness?" he asked, taking the tile back.

"Yep. They use symbols like that all over the place. I'm not familiar with that one, so you'd have to ask someone from the cult if that's one of theirs."

"I do need to find a cultist sometime. Did I tell you a Dungeon Spirit gave one of my students an Eye of Madness?"

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Olivander pocketed the tile and they left the domain behind.

* * *

"Wow, these are all really good," Gregory said.

"Thank you! I'm working on a breakfast tasting menu, and I think these are going to be perfect."

Gregory was eating tiny pancakes, along with Rebecca and Cooper. Each of the pancakes was flavored differently, with fruits, spices, and varying levels of sweet and savory. There was a big stack of them laid out on a tray in front of them.

"Does Olivander have some kind of event coming up?"

"Not that I know of!"

"What's the tasting menu for then?"

"I don't understand the question."

"Why are you making a tasting menu?"

The golem just hovered in the air in front of Gregory, staring at him.

Gregory stared back.

Rebecca looked between them, chewing on a pancake. Every time she leaned forward to grab another, she accidentally dipped her stuffed bear in syrup.

"Do you not understand what a Feast Golem is?"

"Hey, I was just asking a question."

"What's going on in here?" Leviana's voice said as she entered the small dining room.

"Olivander's Feast Golems were just making us breakfast," Gregory said.

"Oh, that does look good," she said, sitting down across the table. "Do you mind if I join you?"

"It wouldn't be a feast without people! Please enjoy, and let me know what you think! I'm preparing a breakfast tasting menu, and feedback is always appreciated."

"It didn't seem appreciated a minute ago…" Gregory mumbled.

"Dumb questions aren't a form of feedback, Gregory."

"Oh, gods. It's like there's another one of him."

"Thank you, do you have a name, Golem?" Leviana asked.

"We were just discussing that a few minutes ago! Olivander said I needed a name, and I think we did a great job! You can call me Sous."

"Sue?"

"Yes! But it's spelled S O U S, like Sous Chef. Very clever, right?"

"That is quite clever, thank you for the meal Sous."

"You're welcome! Gregory, would you mind returning me to Olivander when he comes back? I'm almost out of mana, and I can't contact him"

"I believe he and the High Magi were going back into the domain to make sure it was completely cleared," Leviana said. "I'm surprised you function at all."

"I am a permanently conjured construct, so I don't technically need to be with Olivander."

"We can't give you some mana to keep you active?" Gregory asked.

"I…I'm not sure actually," Sous said. "I might be able to drain mana from you, that's one of my abilities. How much mana do you have?"

"Eighty."

"That would give me around another half hour, if I stretched it. You don't mind? You'll be out of mana."

"I'm not planning on using it today. Go for it!"

Needing no further encouragement, Sous chanted a quick spell.

"Feast on Mana!"

A blue streak of power was pulled out of Gregory and into Sous. Gregory immediately felt a pounding headache set in.

"Oof. I forgot about the low mana headache."

"Sorry about that! The good news is that it worked!"

"What are you all doing the rest of the day?" Leviana asked.

"Cooper and I are going to go by the guild hall to pick up our new tokens! Do you want to come with Rebecca? Gloria should be back soon, otherwise."

Rebecca thought about it for a moment, but became distracted when she discovered her bear was covered in syrup. Cooper noticed the situation and started licking the bear, and Rebecca laughed at him.

Gregory was going to ask her again, when a portal opened next to Sous, and Olivander stepped out.

"It's really convenient not needing to hunt you down. I need to find a way to make you cheaper though. You should be about out of mana." Olivander let the portal close behind him.

"Gregory gave me some more!"

Olivander looked at Gregory with a confused expression.

"Did you gain more levels while I was out?"

"Just one, why do you ask?"

"Oh, sorry. I should have been more specific," Sous said. "I used Feast on Mana to drain it from him."

"Ahhh, that explains it."

"Yeah, and now my head is throbbing."

"Chin up, Gregory, no one likes a whiner."

Gregory threw a spoon at Olivander, but it hit an invisible barrier and bounced back at him.

"That's not fair."

Rebecca laughed at the bouncing spoon and started throwing anything she could get her hands on at Olivander. Cooper jumped up to catch the returning items so they didn't hit the little girl.

"Look at what you've done now, Gregory."

* * *

After making Gregory clean up the dining room, Olivander pulled Rebecca along the street on her new favorite mode of transportation — conjured horse. Olivander had packed up Sous after breakfast, promising to bring the Golem back out later in the day, and congratulating him on the fine name. Gregory and Cooper brought up the rear, chatting.

"You did hit Iron rank, right?"

"I have the levels. I don't think it matters though. You can either gain a token through power measurement or field capability. That's what Jeremy told me anyway. I think saving Garrick was enough to earn us Iron rank tokens!"

"You're probably right. I just didn't imagine I'd rank up so quickly."

"It's like I told you," Olivander chimed in. "Once you get into the fire, you'll be amazed how fast you move through the lower ranks."

"Does everyone do it this fast?"

"Not at all. The key is danger — at least for combat classes. If you recall that's what I once told you, Cooper. Most people don't go around risking their lives to save people. In fact, most people don't even have a class awakened."

"Really? Just about everyone I knew in Demering had a class."

"That's because Demering is a remote town without a protective force like the guards and constables here. The people need to be tougher because they have to rely on themselves. In the city…" he trailed off, remembering what the city had just gone through. It would be foolish to say they were safe here. Especially while pulling around poor Rebecca.

"Well, in the city, you can rely on the constables and guards," he finished.

"I guess that's true."

Gregory and Cooper continued chatting while they walked, and Olivander fell into silent contemplation.

The guild hall was packed and busy. Adventurers were called back to the city from the temporary dungeon. The city was doing pretty well, but there were hundreds of contracts that needed handling as the regular people were afraid to leave their homes. Much of it was rebuilding, but there was some general monster hunting too. The Guild wanted to make sure there were no more surprises around the corner that might incite a panic.

The adventurers packing the hall were mostly Copper and Iron rank, with the occasional Steel and more rare Silver. Gold rank adventurers were a rarity here, like in Demering, as the magical density was too low to give them much to do. People like the Constable General and the gold rank team that had helped the other day were exceptions — people who held regular jobs, or just lived in the city, but happened to be Gold rank.

Their group drew looks from the adventurers as they headed towards the stairs. Particularly the little girl on the small glowing horse.

Upstairs was somehow even busier than downstairs. This was where contracts were actually assigned, so it made sense, but Olivander was astounded at the number of people inside.

They waited in a long winding line to see Jeremy. Olivander asked why they couldn't try out one of the other lines, but both Gregory and Cooper wanted their new tokens to come from him.

"Boys! Great to see you. Miss Rebecca, a pleasure. Olivander, glad to see you're awake!"

"If I had known today would put me in front of you, Jeremy, believe me when I say I would have stayed in bed."

"As funny as always, Olivander. What brings your group in today? Have a contract in mind?"

"We're here to trade in our guild tokens, we're ready for Iron rank!" Gregory said proudly.

"Are you now? Let me check on something," Jeremy went in back and returned a moment later with a large file folder.

He paged through it, pulling out a document.

"Ah, yes! I thought I saw this. A recommendation for Iron rank promotion for both of you from the Constable General himself. He praised your work in saving constable Garrick and being crucial in the quick and successful sweep of the city. Outstanding work boys, you should be proud!"

Gregory had a broad grin on his face, and Cooper was spinning in circles with excitement, while Rebecca clapped enthusiastically.

"Based on this recommendation alone I could grant you Iron rank, but let me ask, have you both hit at least standard level ten as well?"

"We have!"

"Great. When moving up based on recommendation, I usually advise caution until your power level catches up, but since you've both grown more powerful, you're free to take any Iron rank contracts you want. Your tokens, please."

Gregory handed over his token, and the token he was carrying for Cooper. Jeremy brought them to a pedestal behind his desk. One at a time he placed each token in a permanent ritual circle, and then channeled mana into it. The tokens glowed, transmuting from Copper to Iron.

"There you are, congratulations! Welcome to Iron rank!"