Few are born with the potential for magic, and fewer still are allowed to live with it. They are the Mage-Slaves, those who have traded unconditional servitude to the Emperor for godlike powers in the form of the Marks on their skin. They have made their choice, and made it willingly... All except for Safram, who develops a mysterious set of Marks spontaneously at 17, the age of magical maturity. What do his tattoos do? Why does he alone bear them? If he is found to possess Magic outside the authority of an Imperial Ministry, he faces certain execution. But his powers may be his only means of protecting everything, and everyone, he loves. ---------- This will be a slower-paced story along the lines of a traditional vanilla fantasy.