By the time I woke up, my neck was stiff and my muscles felt like fire. Disoriented by the darkness and unknown surroundings, I got up in a panic, before memories of the previous days flooded my head.

After we had entered the Caverns, I had slept maybe a dozen times. Whenever my body wasn't tired, my mind was. Every day we 'trained' in magic, as the old lunatic called it. To me, it was akin to physical torture, just to make my 'instincts' awaken. If my progress so far was anything to go by, my instincts weren't worth much.

Had the day started already, the Mystic would already wait for me with another form of torment. However, all I found were the darkness around me and the smell of wet earth in the air. Somehow, the Caverns always smelled like life. The city never smelled of anything. Even though I had the time to return to sleep, the dull pain of my overworked muscles made any more sleep feel impossible. Thus, I left my room, towards the smell of life.

When I reached the balustrade of the main circle, I could see the many fires of human activity down below. Since not many of them were active, I guessed that it must have been the middle of the night.

Below, the people of the Squalor had settled into their new lives, as best as they could. I tried to do the same. Maybe I had improved after all. When I started my training, I would have slept through the pain, too exhausted to even notice. Now however, my mind was fit enough to awaken from the agony. As I arched my back and stretched my arms, a pained groan escaped me.

“Evening.” Although the voice surprised me, I wasn't shocked. My stiff neck turned to find Sophie a few meters along the balustrade, her upper body leaned out and into the Cavern, the two of us only separated by a single earthen wall.

“So, you can't sleep either, huh?” I asked, rather than reply to her greeting.

“Nah. Somehow, I'm not tired. Too much stuff went down these days.”

“Tell me about it. Whenever I'm not getting tortured from the training, I'm asked to study magic sensing.”

“How is that, by the way? Seeing magic?”

For the first time in our conversation, I was surprised. So far, she hadn't asked questions about my talents.

“What?” She raised a brow in response to my curious look. “No matter what you’re thinking, I’m not that petty.”

My head returned to a more comfortable position while my mind was filled with the new senses I had experienced these days.

“It's difficult. Like you're trying to read one of those old 3D-images all day. But you're doing it with your tongue. You know, with a sense you've never really used before.”

“And what does magic look like?”

“...familiar. Feels like it's a part of me. Maybe people were built for magic.”

“Or you're just special.”

“No real reason to assume you wouldn't feel the same if you had a mana reservoir.”

“So you'll lead the revolution then?”

“Revolution?” Confused, this time my entire upper body turned to face the girl. “What Revolution?” My face must have looked a special kind of dumb, since Sophie showed the hint of a grin, before she turned her face back into the Caverns.

“No, nothing,” she pressed out between her narrowed lips.

“Tell me or I'm coming over there.”

“Come over and do what exactly?”

“Tell me or I'll lecture you about your societal responsibilities.”

“Urgh, fine,” she pretended defeat. “I was just surprised you didn't know yet. I mean, maybe the old man didn't want you distracted, but you really should be informed I think. So here goes:” Sophie pushed a long streak of hair out of her face. “Whenever you're busy with training, the old man lets off some weird lectures about... the city, and the future.”

“Why have I never heard anything about that?”

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Somehow, my stomach pulled in, as if to retreat from the answer. However, my mind pressed on.

“You're too busy drowning. Whenever you do your training, the old man stands to the side and drones on. I'm not surprised you've never realized, with how busy you always look.”

There it was again, Sophie's disrespectful grin. However, I was too busy to consider her rudeness. My mind returned to some of the Mystic's stranger, more dangerous words during the theory lessons. ‘A fire to burn away the rot of the world.’ While my mind raced, desperate to uncover the old man's intentions, Sophie continued.

“Anyways, I sometimes stick around during training, as moral support, and I overheard his talks. I asked some questions and gave some answers, so we ended up in a conversation somehow.”

“Not something dangerous, was it? I'd rather you didn't get pulled into this any more.”

Again, Sophie's eyes returned to the fires below.

“...did you know that the Squalor has its own economy? There is no fundamental difference between their system and ours. Except in Astralis, you have to play by the rules of the City Council. Like how a display at a gallery increases your monthly allowance, or how you need to get approval to move. Every day we play by the invisible rules of an untouchable god.

“In the Squalor, the judges of your worth are not the Grand Mages, it's people. Whatever you do, if someone likes it and wants more of it, they'll pay you for it. This place isn't half as bad as the council makes it out to be. At least the rules make sense to us mortals. No wonder the council wants it burned down.”

“What are you talking about? This place is filled with criminals, in the hands of ruthless gangs! Did you forget what happened before we came here? Les would have killed you!”

Although Sophie's head retreated between her shoulders, she bit her lips, her eyes firm.

“In the end, they play an important role too. And I never said this place was perfect, by the way. If I can do that, you have to admit though that the city isn't paradise either, not the one we've been promised at least. To me, Astralis still looks like an insidious way to sloth the people up.”

“Bullshit. If this here is the alternative, then yes, we do live in a paradise. It's not like the art exhibitions are random either. If someone is willing to display someone else's work in a gallery, that makes it worthwhile art. Art, philosophy, music... those are ways to shine beyond magic, ways to give us the most precious good: Purpose. Since we can't contribute to society in terms of magic, this is our way to create progress.”

“Progress to where exactly? Where are we going?” A bitter sneer had snuck onto Sophie's face. “To me it looks like we're going nowhere.”

“At least we're not headed for certain doom! Do you wanna be here when that 'revolution' starts?”

At last I had managed to silence Sophie's delusions. Her eyes turned large and looked over the masses below. Maybe only now had she realized that she was part of this, not just some curious observer. No matter how bad she spoke of the city's intellectuals, Sophie was one herself. After a look over the shoulder, I continued in a quiet voice.

“...we could leave, you know? Right now, the Mystic's asleep, no one guards the door. No one can stop us.” In fact, I had been making plans to leave the Caverns for a while now.

“You really think so?” Sophie's sarcastic tone had returned. “I don't think the old man would be that careless. You seem pretty important to him. Plus, your grabby friend is still looking for us, isn't he, out there somewhere? Even if we get past the old man and the gangs, we still don't know how the red guards will react when they meet someone from the Squalor.”

All this time, Sophie's voice had remained dry, matter-of-factly. Again, she had created a strange distance from the events around her.

“You don't wanna go home?”

“What does that even mean, home?” she scoffed, but still wouldn't look me in the eyes. “With my parents, I might as well stay here. You know, there's a reason I live by myself even though I still go to school.” A single, troubled glance was all I needed to know.

“...sorry. Guess that was unprofessional, huh?” I asked.

“It's okay,” my ward sighed. “You're doing fine, I think.”

Awkward at the unexpected compliment, I looked down at the people, and somehow felt Sophie do the same. Maybe it was my awakened talents, or maybe it was just human intuition. So we stood there, in the moist air, alone with our thoughts. Between us, the wall turned into a barrier again, though I couldn't do a thing about it. If only Nate was here, he could have done more, helped Sophie better. Maybe I wasn't cut out to be a caretaker. Maybe I was supposed to be a mage right from the start.

“So what about your family?” To my surprise, Sophie tore at the barrier. As if the sun had broken through the roof of the Caverns, the ice between us melted into nothing. “You had two sisters, right?” When I turned, I looked right into Sophie's bright eyes.

“Yeah,” A smile stole itself onto my face, but it soon turned into a smirk as I realized why I cared so much. “The younger one reminds me of you, actually.”

“So she's a troubled genius?” Sophie joked.

“She's a bit of a difficult one, all clever and gloomy. Dresses weird too, with those dark colors. I'm not an expert in fashion or anything, but I'm pretty sure that's not haute couture.”

“Oh? I like her already. Tell me more.”

As we whispered past the walls and throughout the night, we found comfort in each other's existence. We might have been dragged into a strange, new world, but at least we were not alone.