With a heavy sadness they left the alderman’s cabin. They had drunk far too much and ate much more than they should have. The deadly array of cheese set before them proved fatal to Jano and he succumbed to try the entire selection more than once. They had regaled him with tales of their youth, when they had taken Dariea into Molinia as a cast away. How she had proven useful more than once, and had led them into trouble more times than enough.

It had been interesting for Jano to listen to such tales. About Dariea and the others climbing up society in this mythical Molinia which he was growing more and more excited to visit. He had always saw her as immensely powerful and wise. It was good to know that she had not always been so.

Now, the land stretched out before them. It was a patchy mix of brown mud and pebbles, light green grass and dark patches of low shrubbery. A stream twisted and turned through a small gorge at the bottom of the valley.

Steam rose up from some nondescript patches of rock, Jano ran closer to inspect the cloud which slowly drifted into the sky. “They’re geysers Jano, don’t touch those. They’re extremely hot due to the pressure deep underground.” He extended a hand over to the steam. “Don’t. Unless you want to lose that hand.”

He reluctantly pulled his hand back. In the distance, Jano could see distant groups of houses built into the hills and running down the slope. He watched small seats and wooden cabins being fed up hill on thick cables elevated above the ground. They fed around in a big loop, before coming back down to a station on the ground.

“Is that Molinia?” He asked, pointing towards the hills.

“That’s the start of it. On the other side of the hill, there are reams of houses built into various different sections of the hills. It’s a bit of a weird society, but they’re at least not governed by a tyrant. Or they weren’t the last time I was there anyway.”

“So why are they separate then?” Jano asked as they passed a patch of deep shrubbery. As spring was on them, he noticed small flowers blooming on the sides and exploding from the middle.

Dariea examined her surroundings as she walked. “They’re separate hill societies, they were never one people. They fought amongst themselves for hundreds of years, until the Empire was founded and they banded together due to the common threat relatively close to home. They still don’t like each other much, but they do tolerate one another. Either way, they’re all extremely skilled warriors from their constant warring. They might even be able to teach you how to use that scythe of yours.”

She nodded to the cumbersome weapon which was haphazardly strapped to Jano’s back. Occasionally, he had practiced with it himself and Dariea had noticed him swinging it at trees and branches. Even still, it was a particularly difficult weapon to master. Jano regarded the weapon in his hand which still felt out of balance.

“You never told me what was so interesting about this by the way.” He unhooked the scythe and played with

It’s balance through his hands. “But I have a feeling I know what it is.”

“Oh really? I was hoping to wait until you actually knew what you were doing with it before discussing the matter. But since you have figured out all of the secrets of an age old weapon; why don’t you explain it to me?”

Jano paused, he had clearly piqued her interest. But he felt much less confident now. “Well.. erm. I think it has something to do with my spirit. When I used it back in Qursa, it seemed to, sort of….” He was starting to trail off as he searched for the words he wanted to use. “It healed my spirit. I think.” He rushed out the words so quickly that it sounded much more higgedly-piggeldy than he wanted.

Dariea’s face tightened somewhat and her grin widened. Was that pride slowly creeping into her expressions?

“Yes. Yes it does exactly that. It is a spirit weapon, and a powerful one at that. When used in combat it draws on the spirit of your enemies and draws a bit of it out, which then can be absorbed by your own. If you practice with it.”

Jano tried to suppress a smug smile. He had known it. Ever since the first Guard in Qursa. Then his face saddened a little.

“It is only useful in battle then. Do I have to kill to draw on its effects?”

Dariea’s smile disappeared and she fixed her hair, which was getting blown around in the breeze of the day.

“No, it doesn’t require death. When the blade makes a cut or the handle makes contact, it is able to connect to the person’s spirit and draw from them. Though I believe if you fell an enemy in battle, you will be able to draw from their entire spirit. Now do you see why I wished to wait? It is a dangerous weapon and it cannot be wielded by simply anybody.”

“Will we have to fight a lot, do you think?” Jano asked.

“I don’t see any other way to defeat the Empire now. But don’t worry, the scythe will work on the Shimmer too.” Dariea seemed to brighten a little then. “Also, there is essence all around us, remember? Every living thing has some sort of spirit.”

Jano fixed the weapon to his back once more. He had visions of him cutting large swathes of grass to horde its power. His face reddened slightly that that had been where his mind went. He supposed that grass had less strength in its spirit than another Mage did.

“So, these folk in Molinia - are they all Warrior-Mages?” Jano asked. He knew that the elite fighting Mage’s used by the Emperor were called that, and they had their own ranking system. He had never bothered to learn more about it, as it was only open to those of a Class III or higher.

Dariea chuckled a little. “Some are, I suppose, if you want to call them that. Names like that don’t exist out here, not really anyway.”

“Oh. What do you mean? So like Arch-Mages?”

“Yeah, so those names were used within the Empire and at the University particularly as some way of giving hierarchy within that structure. Sort of like the way they divided the citizens into classes. Out here, people have their own ways of classifying themselves. But in reality, nobody cares unless you’re strong or useful.”

She hesitated and looked at Jano, whose face was scrunched up a little.

“So you could call them Warrior-Mages, but they probably wouldn’t call themselves that. Just warriors who use some magic, along with their skills with weapons to win in battle. Depending on the place of course, hierarchies exist everywhere. Whether they’re earned or not.”

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Jano was trying to wrap his head around it all. He knew so little about the outside world and though he had always hated the class based system, at least he knew where he stood. Usually at the very bottom. Though that would probably always be the case outside of the City anyway.

“So what’s an incarnate?” He finally remembered what the Emperor had said about Dariea. That she had perfected her spirit so that she could use all types of essence should she wish.

“Ah. That is an old term, Where did you hear that?” Her face soured when she realised that it must have come from Eradin.

“Before the Empire was created and that ridiculous class system was set up. There used to be rankings to gauge where a student of magic was at. Then there yet more rankings when a student became a fully fledged Mage. Incarnate was at the top of that. It basically means the highest stage of essence control that one can have.” She waited a moment.

“But during my travels, I have realised that there is no such limit. There are a million different ways that essence can be used and controlled. I have met Mage’s who profess to know attacks in one hundred different types of essence be beaten by someone who has entirely mastered one. But it is funny to believe that Eradin still thinks that it matters.”

They walked past another geyser, which sent another boiling hot column past the pair. Jano jumped as he was forced outside of his head.

“So how do I get stronger then? How do we even begin to begin dismantling the Empire?” Jano asked. “I assume that is our plan?”

“Well, to get stronger, you need to practice channeling essence and using it, as we have been. Not just one or two runes, but you are going to have to be able to call on it instinctively. Across a wide range of uses. We’re going to have to fight and gather some allies. Fortunately, a good place to start might be those who aren’t happy about having an army of the undead on their border.”

“So how will I feel that I’m strong enough?” He asked.

“Well when you are strong enough, you won’t need me to tell you. Probably.” She waited a few seconds. “But don’t forget, you can be as strong as you like, but without an army behind us, we’re going to die against the Empire. We were damn lucky we escaped last time, and I’m not entirely convinced that he didn’t let us escape.”

They crested the hill and Jano stopped in awe. There were four large hills, arranged in an uneven square pattern. Each hill had thousands of wooden houses built into it, as though they were footholds for large creatures to climb them. Various banners hung from each hill, black on one side, yellow on the opposite, azure on the furthest hill and an odd sort of pattern on a white background on the final one. Each town on the top of the hill was connected by a huge walkway, to save the residents going down to the bottom and climbing each hill to move around. It looked like a floating paradise.

“The hills themselves form a range, from which Molinia takes its name. It apparently meant ‘Range of the Stars’ in the old tongue of those who lived here. Come on, no sense in hanging back.” Dariea said.

Jano noticed a yellow path made with what looked like pebbles and shells from the stream which ran through the hills. The path snaked through the various different settlements like a massive snake with many heads. A tame yellowing hydra. It crunched softly underfoot as they walked.

As they headed down the path and they got closer to the bottom of the first hill, Jano watched a series of wooden carts being pulled by large oxen, or at least, that’s what he thought they were. He had only seen anything remotely similar occasionally in Qursa, during parades and such. There were at least ten carts just in the immediate area, heading up towards the closest settlement. He could hear the masters driving their carts up, and the soft rolling of the wooden wheels on the pathway.

He squinted his eyes and noticed that there were small roving dots across most of the hills.

“Merchants, carrying goods between the different settlements.” Dariea said as she noticed him watching.

“As I said, they didn’t really get on with each other. Trade helps grease the wheels of diplomacy. Each settlement specialises in a different area of essence and can use those specialities to make different products. It seems simple, but it works.”

“I guess that makes sense..” Jano offered.

They continued down the path until they reached the bottom of the first hill. He found his eyes drawn to the colour on display. It stretched up far higher than he could see from the bottom, and it looked much smaller from a distance. There were dazzling red banners stretched across the nearest buildings which seemed to flicker as he watched them. They had little black letters on which he guessed gave the name of the building and perhaps its purpose, but he could not make it out clearly. The fauna had a red tinge to it and some of the residents he spotted were wearing largely brown and red clothing.

“This is the settlement of the Berserker Fire.” Dariea smiled as she saw Jano’s face smudged with a look between bemusement and wonder. “As you can probably guess by the name, they’re purveyors of a particularly aggressive fire essence.”

Jano watched children running after one another, throwing fiery balls at each other. Those being chased erected walls of fire behind them which consumed the attacks, laughing as they did so. Though there was still daylight, little white panels lit up the hillside in preparation for the darkness.

“As I said before, each settlement has their own speciality. There is the Berserker Fire…” she motioned to those they were walking past as she spoke. “Then there is: Shadow Air, the Shifters and Chaos-Shapers. As I said, essence is what makes up all things in existence. There are then plenty of variations within those depending on a whole variety of things. There are many types of essence, but one of the benefits of specialising as these settlements have, is that they are experts in their chosen type.”

Jano watched as crates of supplies were shepherded up towards the town on long cables. He had no idea what was propelling them, but they reminded him of the conveyor belts at the factories he had worked at. The crates were taken to a huge building at the top of the hill; it was big enough to be a palace. He walked in wonder. Everything seemed so different. He couldn’t see any slums anywhere.

“Where are we going?” Jano asked as he watched more play fighting with elaborate fire attacks. They were being tossed around as though they were harmless, but he knew they would probably have killed him.

“We’re heading to the scary looking settlement at the end. They specialise in chaos essence.” She said, pointing at the furthest hill, which was shrouded in a thin layer of darkness, with clouds floating around its peak. It was by far the tallest hill in the area.

“What is that?” Jano asked.

“It’s sort of hard to explain, without showing you. But it’s the kind of essence which I draw on for Jumping… amongst some other things. They believe it is given to them by the god of chaos, but all I know is that it is incredibly powerful.”

They walked along the path, the shells and pebbles continuing to soundtrack their footsteps. They passed the next two settlements. Each was similar to the others, but distinct in their own ways. The hill for those who channelled water essence was shorter than the others and there was a tributary which traced its way halfway up, which the largest buildings were centred around.

The people on the Shifter settlement seemed calm, their movements smooth and deliberate. “They use essence to shape their own matter. It is something quite special to see. Remind me to take you on a visit.” As they walked by, Jano tried to move closer, drawn in by the serene surroundings.

The Shadow Air settlement was similarly calm, but there was a definite breeze as they passed. It seemed to be swirling up the hill, but not in any way which obeyed the laws of the common breeze which Jano had been subjected to before.

Jano’s heart dropped as he looked ahead, to the Chaos settlement. Dark clouds billowed atop the hill and light seemed to be repelled from the rest of the settlement, as though the sunlight which greeted the other hills and was washing over his skin on the path was not welcome in the Chaos.

He focussed his eyes, and he could see a singular person, in a mask and dark robes at the bottom of the hill, where the path met the slope. Whoever it was, it was apparent that they were waiting for them.