Morgan was a blinker – very handy for an amateur thief. The ability to snap from place to place came as naturally as catching a ball to him. Provided he could see a way to a place, he could be there in an instant. With only a little logic and careful thought, he had even learned to blink across solid objects.

From an early age, Morgan realised that not much about his ability helped him save others. He had been forced to stand powerless and watch his mother slowly fade into death. For all his searching, he had never found his father after he had left to tend the farm that day and never returned.

Realisation that the world owed him nothing dawned on him once he gave up the search. Only concerned with himself, Morgan stole at first to eat, and later to inflict the same sense of loss on others as he felt in himself.

That was, until the day that everything changed.

It was the day of his biggest heist: stealing the very kingdom for himself. If he could lay his hands on the Sceptre of Dantez, he could rightfully claim the throne. And if anybody deserved the riches of a kingdom, it was him.

He had planned it down to a tee. Having acquired plans of the cathedral vaults, it was just a simple matter of practicing blind jumps of a certain distance. He knew the guards' routes and the blind spots. He had even managed to acquire a complete guest list for the ball that was taking place on the day, in case he had to resort to his backup escape plan. He wasn't going to end up trapped under one of the infamous damping veils that the cathedral guards wore and used to restrain magically adept intruders.

Morgan looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was just about to pass between the two steeples of the Sun Cathedral. He knew that the guests would be finishing their lunches and about to parade out into the square where they would watch the elaborate fire-dances performed in the Square of Rays, which was slowly being filled with the focussed light of the noonday sun. It was almost impressive, but Morgan had seen the blueprints of the building and knew that it had all been achieved with simple architecture.

He looked to the far end of the square. As the wave of radiance met the buildings at the far end of the square, he closed his eyes and threw his mind forward exactly twelve feet.

He felt the usual rush of air and saw the flash of energy through his eyelids. When he felt still again, he opened his eyes. Accurate as ever, he was standing in the alcove at the side of the corridor that he was expecting to be in.

Knowing that he needed to conserve energy in case of a long jump, he made his way along the passage on foot. He turned a corner and began counting his steps, quickening his pace slightly so as to reach his destination before the approaching patrol.

Twenty, he thought to himself, and came to a sudden halt. Footsteps sounded all too loud in his ears as their producer approached. Forcing himself to calm down, he concentrated on making the next jump without burying himself in a wall.

"Hey, you! Stop there!"

Ignoring the shouts of the oncoming guard, Morgan pushed his mind downwards through the floor. He felt the movement of a well-thrown veil as it arrived in the place where his head should have been just as the flash happened.

Immediately, he knew something was wrong. The jump had felt far more draining than a simple five-foot drop should have been. The countermagic aura of the veil was interfering with his flash-magic. He applied a greater force to his motion and shot down through the ground, travelling several feet further than expected.

He was in a completely different place from that which he was expecting. Everything felt wrong in his head – the brief influence of the veil had shifted the boundaries of his power just enough that he knew that the precision he needed for this job was lost to him. But even so, he had to try. The rewards were too great, and he might never have another chance.

Morgan took in his surroundings. He was in the cloakroom of one of the guest rooms. Judging by the colours of the furnishings, all of which were a fantastic purple, suggested that it was a female chamber.

He knew that the vault that contained his prize was a few floors below him, but it was surrounded by earth on every direction. Without being able to find his location more precisely, a blind jump into the lower floors would probably leave him buried alive, his body sharing its space with mud and roots. He had no desire to find out if it would be fatal.

A noise came from the bathing room off to one side of a chamber. The female occupant was about to enter the room that Morgan had found himself in. A glimpse of her face would be enough to give him a room number and a clue to his position. But what was she doing down here in the middle of the Prayer of Passing?

She emerged and Morgan held back a gasp. The woman had brilliant blue skin and her head was elongated backwards. She was not dressed in the pure white veils of visitors to the Cathedral. Everything about her, even her species, was wrong for this place.

"You...," she whispered. "I recognise your face."

Morgan decided that it was time to go. He ran for the door and wrenched it open, pulling back as he realised that four guards were about to enter the room from the other side. He slammed it shut in their faces and rested his body on it to keep them out.

The blue-skinned woman was still staring at him.

"I have no business with you," he told her. "Is there another exit from this room?"

"I cannot help you. Unless..."

The guards began to pound on the door.

"Are you hurt, Sage Wohlan? We were distressed at your absence from the Square."

"I am fine. Leave us, please." She approached Morgan and lowered her voice. "I sense that you flee from many things, not all of which are in this cathedral. I give you this charm in the hope that it may help you find peace. Now flee, wanderer."

Morgan was not going to wait for another misfortune to fall upon him. He gathered all of his energy, including a surprising boost from the charm, and prepared to move himself as far as he could. He didn't care about the direction.

He faced the sage one more time. "Thank you," he whispered, and threw himself through the walls of the cathedral and beyond.

And suddenly, everything turned to blackness.