It was a night as dark as pitch. The muffled pounding of our running feet on grass and rattling of our broken chains are overlaid by the sonorous shouts of our pursuers. The shadowy outlines of walls curve before us in the near distance, high enough to make anyone think twice about scaling them. Freedom. Tantalisingly close.

But our pursuers are mere metres away. They spot our dirtied, white prison uniforms immediately from their higher vantage point and start towards us. We are forced to halt, exhausted, crouching in the damp earth, desperately drawing in breath.

"Our pursuers..."

"It's no good, we can't do it. We can't escape!"

I glance for a moment back at the fast-approaching guards, thinking rapidly. "...No wonder it's called the 'Iron Wall'. It's not that simple..." I look at my companions. "Let's split up and flee separately. If I'm on my own, I can do something. But if you two are around you'll just be in the way..."

"But..."

"We can't-!"

"You can, and you will," I cut in firmly. "Go. Now!"

They have no choice - it is now or never. They flee and do not look back. I turn to meet those towering men swathed in long, black cloaks and top hats with faces hidden by pure-white cloth. Despite my pending fate, I cannot help but think how ridiculous those men appear, and the beginnings of a smile tweak at my lips.

I was giving myself up for those two idiots' freedom. They would never have had a chance if they had been recaptured. I, at least, could do something.

I do not protest as that thick metal collar welded to equally thick chains slams once more around my neck. But this time there was a sense of finality that I cannot help but sense: there will be no second chance for me - I am too dangerous for them to risk my escape again.

They stand over me, those chains in hand, as I kneel helpless before them.

"Sacrificing yourself to save your friends... That's fine since this man is the main culprit." Their voices are flat and emotionless.

With their chains they drag me back. Futilely, I scrabble at the metal as it half-choked me. They take me down the many floors through which the three of us had fled through to escape. But they do not stop at the level where we had been first imprisoned.

"You will be contained in the lowest levels of this prison. Your powers will be sealed, you will be immobilised, there is no hope of escape for you this time."

For the first time in my life I feel a measure of fear. Those cells - those dark, light-deprived, watery prisons where only the worst criminals are kept - there truly is no escape from them. None.

Despairing, I let them drag me, unresisting, to the lowest floor. It is as dark as rumours claim; deeper black than the mouth of an abyss. Yet it seems that they can see well enough: a thick chain wraps around my torso to pin my arms to my sides. The shattered cuffs on my wrists are replaced with thicker ones, joined together. More chains: around my thighs and my lower legs. Their weight is oppressive.

I am lifted up, shifted about, and suddenly I know that I am above water. Before they drop me in, they attach cuffs around my ankles and I feel something press against my right eye - the eye of illusions, the source of my power. When I reach for my skills they slip from my grasp. It feels like my other eye is shut too, but in this lightless place how am I to know?

My breathing comes shorter - I am panicking. Why? I do not know. It is that unreasonable fear that defies rationale. I make one last attempt to struggle; the chains clink gently. Then a mask is fastened around my head over my nose and mouth.

And I fall.

...Cold...weightless...

Where am I...? My limbs feel heavy... Am I asleep or awake? What is this lulling feeling around me...?

...Am I dead?

Oh, please, let me be dead. The pain of rebirth is more welcome than this living nightmare of nothingness.

Light...

And suddenly I am bathed in it.

My eyes open and squint at the bright onslaught. There is suddenly light in my dark world.

Where is the grass...? And there it is. As fast as I think of things, they spring into being, creating a brilliant, shining world around me.

I stare at what I have made.

I chuckle.

I laugh.

I fall to my knees on the lush grass, clutching my quaking ribs as my laughter rings out across the impassive, lifeless world I have created.

I know where I am.

This parody of Heaven is worse than any I could witness in Hell.

This is what remains of my power of illusions...and I managed to deceive myself.