He was late.

Nobody made the Zelas Assembly of Elders wait, at least not in normal times. But these were far from normal times, and this was a man used to having others wait for him.

As the leader of the Council of Elders, Alia could not allow the others to see her disdain, or her anger. She clasped her hands around her back to resist the urge to clench them, ignoring the pain that erupted in her swollen knuckles. She strolled over to the window, taking care to appear relaxed. Alia could feel the eyes of the other Elders upon her back, each of them still sat at the ornate carved granite table; Alia had been the only one standing.

She trained her own eyes on the city of Zelas, beyond the window of the Elder Tower. They were based on the highest floor of one of the tallest towers in the city, afforded a view of almost every other rooftop or grand parade that spiralled out from the centre of town. Zelas was conical in shape, the tallest towers in the centre of the city, decreasing in size to mere humble shacks at the very perimeter. Without city walls, Zelas relied instead on the centricity of all their most valuable structure to hold out against any enemies. Not that there had been any since the tiefling sprawl so many decades ago.

Alia heard him coming long before the door opened, the man making no effort to disguise the sounds of his shoes hitting the elaborate painted tiles. When the servants finally opened the door of the chamber, Alia saw no sweat on the man’s brow, no sign that he had made any particular effort to be here on time.

‘I’m glad you waited,’ Yusef said.

Alia noted that this was not an apology. In fact, it only seemed to really imply that he was worth waiting for. Over the past few years, she’d been starting to wonder if this wasn’t typical of Players, no matter what the legends say. ‘We waited,’ Alia echoed. ‘But our time is short. Perhaps we might jump straight to matters of importance?’

Yusef bowed his head in agreement. ‘That’s my preference too. We all have places to be, and I don’t think this needs to take any longer than it has to.’

There that arrogance was again. Alia drew herself tall, taking in a deep breath. ‘Since arriving in Zelas three days ago, you have caused quite a commotion. Key industries find themselves without employees. Mothers have lost sons and daughters to you. Our economy is on the brink of—’

‘Yes, yes,’ Yusef said, waving Alia down.

This time, Alia failed to stop the irritation from appearing on her face. Many of the other Elders noticed, but none seemed to mind; this was a slight too great even for a Player. ‘Yes, yes?’ the Great Elder repeated. ‘Yusef, this is of rather too much importance to dismiss us with a mere “yes, yes”.’

Yusef blinked, raising his eyebrows in irritation, then approached the granite table, placing his hands upon it. ‘I am being pursued. I do not have time for this. In fact, I took this meeting out of good manners, but… no, let’s get right to it.’

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A vision erupted in Alia’s mind. Despite the images before her, the Great Elder still had enough presence of mind to note the gasps of her colleagues; they, too, had been gifted prophecy. She saw herself and her colleagues dressed in the pale orange so fashionable of late, standing in the desert amidst a crowd of thousands. Perhaps tens of thousands, or more. She saw Yusef himself, floating above them, glowing with the magicks of Divination. She saw the Player raised his hands, and in a moment, they were transported.

These thousands in orange were no longer in the harsh desert environment in which they’d spent their lives. They found themselves instead in a paradise, lush with plants and flowing fresh water. No longer was the air dry, harsh on the throat. No longer was the heat something to combat each and every day. What’s more, their bodies, too, had changed. Alia’s skin, so leathery in the past two decades, was soft and smooth. She reached a hand out in front of her, eyes bulging, and she clenched her fist. Her knuckles no longer caused pain. Nothing did, in fact. This was…

‘Your reward!’ Yusef shouted, his voice echoing around this new landscape. ‘The realm of the Architects. Your new eternal paradise.’

And then, in an instant, the vision was over.

Alia, for one, needed no more convincing.

‘So, will you serve?’ Yusef asked. ‘Is this meeting over?’

The Great Elder couldn’t quite believe herself when she was the first to move, running to the Prophet’s side and throwing herself at his feet. It had been so long since she bowed to another, and yet, with what great gift this man would eventually bestow on her… how could she not?

‘Good,’ Yusef said, smiling faintly, as though this was a sight he’d seen so many times before.

‘Whatever it takes, I will—’ Alia started.

‘Find the spawn of the Architects,’ Yusef cut in. ‘Use all your resources in the city, and find he who goes by the name “Styk”.’

‘Kill him?’ Alia asked.

‘If you can, but that will follow anyway if you can steal the artifact he carries. The one he uses to seduce others away from our cause. Do that, and you will be rewarded as you see—’

The door to the chamber burst open once more. This time, the man standing in the doorway was coated in the layer of sweat that Alia—the poor, naive old Alia—had once expected of Yusef. To Alia’s surprise, she saw Yusef groan, slumping his shoulders at the sight of their latest guest.

‘You? Again?’ Yusef asked, though from his tone it was rhetorical.

‘The Councilman does not admit defeat so easily,’ the other man replied.

‘For the last time, Simm, you’re not in the Council. We don’t want you. You’re lucky we even let you live, considering the mess you made in Tradum.’

At this, the other man’s eyes widened. ‘Let me live?’ he repeated. ‘But I’m one of you! I want all the same things you do! I’ve even killed for the cause now.’ He said this last bit with a slightly strained voice. ‘I want in. Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it. Whatever it takes to prove myself to you, to the Council… I’ll do it. I can do it.’

Yusef stared the man down for a minute, perhaps two, considering him. Finally, he sighed. ‘There is… one way that you might prove yourself.’ Yusef turned to Alia, and the others gathered around the table. ‘Elders, if you might give us the room?’

Alia leaped to follow his command, standing at the door to usher her fellow elders away. As she bowed to the Players, and closed the door gently behind her—sincerely attempting not to eavesdrop—she gleaned only one word. Coldharbour.