With a low rumbling sound, the gondola landed beside a wooden pier which protruded from the land on which the city was standing on into the water that looked black even though the light from the nearby buildings and streets reflected from it. The splashing sound of waves hitting the planks was a constant background noise as Mike looked around in awe.

All around him gondolas were floating, either coming from one of the many openings all around the cave, unloading their passengers who walked on swiftly into the city, or departing empty with only white-clothed children as steersman. And even though there were people all around, the only sound that reached Mike´s ears were coming from the water. It was eerie. Before Mike could ask, Harvey had already jumped out of the boat and was beckoning Mike to follow him. Swallowing down his curiosity, Mike left the boat and followed the older lawyer as he waked over the pier, destination clear in mind.

It happened when Mike was halfway between land and sea; on foot on the paved street, the other still on the wooden pier. Suddenly it felt as if Mike was underwater, a high pressure weighting him down. He moved his other foot, but it was as if time itself was working against him. With agonizing slowness, he tried to move on but his body would not obey him and move faster. And with each passing second the pressure became heavier until it felt as if Mike was shouldering the whole of New York above him. Black spots danced in front of his eyes and Mike started having difficulties with breathing.

It was when Mike felt like he was about to fall unconscious that he felt his second foot touching the ground. As fast as the pressure had come it vanished again. Mike who had not anticipated it, lost his balance and fell on his knees, breathing heavily.

"What was that?" he asked, his chest still lowering and lifting as his whole body greedily demanded more oxygen.

"You just went through the Great Sphere for the first time," Harvey answered, who was standing beside Mike, completely unaffected by the turmoil that had crushed over Mike only a few seconds ago. "Its magic has judged you and found you worthy."

"And what if it hadn't found me…worthy?" Mike demanded to know as he got his body back under control and stood up from the ground. Now that he was no longer in fear of dying he noticed that the silence, that had been surrounding the piers, had been replaced by the sounds of hundreds of people milling on the street. Merchants clamouring for the attention of the pedestrians, the low murmur of so many conversations, the clacking of shoes on the cobbled road.

"You would have died," Harvey replied nonchalantly.

"What!?" Mike nearly screamed as he stood up.

"Relax," Harvey soothed. "I had complete trust in your moral integrity."

Mike sputtered something in protest, but before Harvey could answer a woman had pushed herself between them.

"You look like you are new here, sweetie," he crooned in a sweet voice that sent shivers down Mike´s spine. It sounded false. "Let me show you the wonder of Undertow. You´ll never want to leave after that!" While she spoke her breath ghosted over Mike´s face and he had to use every bit of his composure to push down the bile that was rising in his throat. It smelled rotten – decaying – and when Mike saw her yellowish teeth and greased hair he took a step back.

"You won´t do anything," Harvey warned. The air of nonchalance he had projected just a few seconds ago had been replaced by one of authority. Standing there, his arms crossed and eyeing the woman as if she was nothing more than dirt under his feet, Mike couldn't believe that there were people stupid enough to refuse him.

"Don't be such a prude," the woman admonished Harvey in a playful tone. Obviously she hadn't noticed the steely glint in Harvey´s eyes and the way his mouth was pressed into a thin line. "Let the boy have some fun for once!"

"Leave or I call the Wardens," Harvey threatened. The woman´s eyes widened in fear and without another word she scurried away, vanishing in the crowd.

"You!" Harvey said and pointed at Mike. "You will follow me and under no circumstances will you leave my side, am I clear?"

"Crystal-clear," Mike gulped. Harvey nodded in satisfaction. When Mike stood beside him he started walking, looking beside him every few seconds to make sure that Mike was still beside him.

Mike meanwhile had difficulties with following Harvey. Not because the other man walked so fast, but rather because there was so much around him that it was difficult to take everything in and keep the steady pace that Harvey set.

Undertow looked like a mini-replica of New York, only that the buildings had less floors. Mike could see an Empire State Building, the Trump Tower and in the distance the silhouette of the Brooklyn Bridge. If you weren't a native New Yorker you could easily confuse it with the real city above. But there was one thing that prevented that: No cars on the street.

It was a strange feeling for Mike, who had spent his whole life in New York, to walk the streets that were so similar to New York but had no cars driving over it. The lack of characteristic noises – honking cars, cursing taxi drivers or wheezing pedestrians that just escaped being nearly run over by an overzealous driver – only added to the impression of 'otherness' that penetrated the whole city.

As Mike followed Harvey through the streets, not knowing where they were going, he noticed that the shops around him offered various items that were either banned by the government above or which existence wasn't known to Mike before. He saw bookstores that offered books on nearly every aspect of magic from using herbs to brew healing potions to old druidic rituals and Mike had to force himself to keep following Harvey. He was really – really – tempted to delve into those shops and to only come out when he had put every word in those books into his memory.

Books weren't the only items to be sold: There were clothing stores ("Our products are charmed to never get dirty"), electronics ("Our TVs have real 3D!") and so much more. If this wasn't some kind of hallucination then he would definitely come back and buy himself self-washing clothes, Mike vowed to himself.

But not only the shops around him rose Mike´s curiosity; the people that walked the streets did so as well. Some of them would have fit into New York with no problems, others not so. Mike saw women clothed into colourful Victorian dresses that would have better fit into the court of Ludwig XII than on the streets. One wore something that Mike couldn't identify at first: It was a dress in a rich green that would change its colour to bright red every time the wind flared up. When the woman passed by Mike´s jaw dropped as he noticed that the dress was not a dress but rather hundreds of butterflies sitting atop the woman´s skin. Every time the wind waved over them they would flutter with their wings, showing their red underside. Only a not so subtle cough from Harvey tore Mike out of his reverie and he continued walking.

The biggest difference and the most shocking revelation for Mike, though, was the fact that not everyone around him was human. Some of the people around him possessed otherworldly beauty, their complexion without flaw and their steps graceful like a predator. When Mike looked at one of them he noticed their pointed ears.

Elves, he thought and his mind was filled with childish awe. But elves weren't the only creatures that Mike met on his way. On one intersection they had to wait until an at least five-meter big giant had crossed the street. Every now and then glowing balls of light would fly over his head, leaving behind a trail of glittering dust that slowly dropped to the ground.

Suddenly one of those balls floated directly in front of Mike´s face. Looking at it Mike noticed that what he was looking at wasn't a ball of light, but a miniature human with big dragonfly wings that emitted some kind of glow. Fairies.

"Hello, little one," Mike greeted and the little fairy – a female – let out a high-pitched giggle.

"You have beautiful wings," Mike added and the fairy hid her face behind her hands as a glowing red blush took over her face. It was so sweet that Mike held back the urge to coo at the little being. Thus he was completely unprepared when the fairy propelled itself at him, pulled a hair out of his eyebrows and vanished faster than he could look.

"I was assaulted by a being not bigger than my right hand," Mike said in bewilderment to an amused Harvey who just stood there with intact – and very attractive – hair with a smirk on his face.

"Fairies are the most peaceful beings in existence," he simply stated. "Claiming that they assaulted you is like saying that ready-made suits look good." Mike, who wore a ready-made suit, took offence to that and was about to support his views, but thought better of it.

"What are we doing here exactly?" he asked Harvey. "Don't get me wrong; all this –" Mike made a sweeping gesture with his hand "– is fantastic and I will be ever thankful to you that you showed me that there is a world beyond the bleak one I live in. But why did you show me – me! – all this?" Harvey took a step forward until he crowded into Mike´s personal space. Mike tried to not let it affect his composure – he failed. Something in the intensity of Harvey´s gaze made his breath go faster and heat rising to his cheeks.

"Look around you," Harvey said. "What do you see?"

"Houses, streets, people…" Mike recounted.

"Exactly," Harvey stated. "People. And what is it that all people – no matter what race – like to do?" Without giving Mike the chance to answer he continued. "They like to fight. And what does a normal person need in order to put his own needs and pettiness over other´s? Lawyers. That´s why we´re here."

"You mean, you´re like a supernatural lawyer?" Mike´s jaw dropped in surprise. "And I can become one as well?"

"I wasn't only looking for an associate for Pearson & Hardman," Harvey answered. Mike decided to postpone his freak-out until he was back in his apartment.

"You still haven't answered me where we are going," he added instead, putting extra empathises on the last few words.

"It´s easier to show you than to explain," Harvey responded. "You´ve followed me – a stranger – into a magical city underneath New York, so you should be able to follow me for another hundreds meter without complaining." There wasn't a real response to that, so Mike just kept his mouth shut and nodded. Harvey, obviously satisfied with that, took the lead and guided Mike in one of the lesser frequented streets. He halted in front of an impressive looking building and beckoned Mike to come nearer.

"That´s where I was leading you to," he said and pointed at the building in front of him. If Mike was to guess, he would say that the structure in front of him was a mixture between a Greek temple and a modern skyscraper. There were four pillars that reached from the ground to the roof of the building and they looked as if someone had stolen them from the Acropolis. Between the pillars was a front mad of glass, that gave the building a modern flair. The roof consisted of a triangle made of stone that nestled atop those pillars. Right in the middle of it Mike could see golden letters: Defende eos qui se ipsi defendere non possint.

"Defend those who cannot defend themselves?" he asked Harvey for clarification.

"It´s the motto," Harvey replied nonchalantly.

"Of what? 'The League of Supernatural Lawyers'?" Mike joked with a little bit awe in his voice.

"You could say that," Harvey responded with a dry smirk. "Now, let´s get you in there and registered, so that we can finish this whole business today." With that he marched forward, Mike trailing behind him. Glass doors parted in front of them and they entered the foyer.

"Wow," Mike marvelled at the sight that greeted them after they had walked through the door. The hall that laid before him seemed to stretch endlessly in every direction. Mike was sure that it was actually bigger than the whole building. The floor was outlaid with white marble that was so clean that it practically reflected the light from above. The ceiling itself hung at least ten meters above them and displayed a sunny sky. It created an illusion of openness and tranquillity, which Mike liked very much.

"That reminds me of one of the books I´ve read," he said to Harvey. "It´s about a boy that is told that he´s a wizard on his eleventh birthday and then goes to a magical school that is in a castle in Scotland."

"That doesn't sound like something you can buy in Barnes & Nobles," Harvey remarked.

"Yeah, you´re right," Mike replied. "The author is a single-mother from England that was fired because she fantasized about magic. She published her work on some internet forums so that it would be more difficult to trace it back to her. She wrote seven books altogether." For a moment Harvey just looked at him, the emotions behind those brown orbs unreadable, but then the moment vanished and the suave mask was back in place.

"I have meant to ask," Mike began. Might as well use this moment for a question that was burning in his mind.

"You want to know if I have magic?" Harvey spoke is thought out loud.

"Yeah," Mike just nodded weakly.

"I wondered when you´d work up the courage to ask," Harvey smirked.

"Hey, I was kind of busy with this whole 'yeah, there is a magical city underneath New York' sprung at me," Mike defended himself.

"What do you think then?" Harvey asked imploringly. "Do I have magic?"

"The fact that you hired me specifically after you knew that I had magic indicates that you don't," Mike reasoned. "But then you led me into a city populated by creatures that I thought only existed in fairy tales, which makes me wonder if you have at least some magic."

"Sound reasoning," Harvey commented. "Your first observation was right on spot. I don't have magic of any kind. I´m as mundane as you can get."

"And yet we are here," Mike responded.

"What can I say," Harvey replied with that arrogant smirk that Mike was getting well acquainted to. "Genius is universal."

"Harvey," they were interrupted by the booming voice that seemed to sound throughout the whole hall. Harvey turned around and a small smile crept on his face when he saw the corpulent man waddling towards them. He wore a black smocking, his right hand in a white glove and grasping a black cane. Atop his eye laid a golden monocle and on his white hair rested a cylinder. It reminded Mike of an old English gentleman.

"Richard," Harvey greeted back.

"Who do you have with you, lad?" Richard asked as he looked at Mike.

"That´s Mike Ross. I chose him to be my Apprentice," Harvey introduced Mike. "Mike, that's Richard Magnusson, my former mentor."

"It´s great to see a new generation of Advocates entering this hall for the first time," Magnusson boomed and shock Mike´s hand. "I remember Harvey´s first trip to Undertow as if it had been just yesterday. So young and impressionable. Good old times, eh, Harvey?"

"You say it, Richard," Harvey said with warmth in his voice.

"So," Richard continued, turning towards Mike. "You´re excited about becoming an Apprentice, boy?"

"Eh, well," Mike spluttered. "I guess?" Richard looked at his confused expression and then gave Harvey a smack on the back of his head.

"Hey!" Harvey exclaimed.

"Have you told the boy nothing?" Richard questioned.

"I was going to," Harvey defended himself.

"Oh, sod it," Richard exclaimed. "You were enjoying the whole thing, weren't you? The air of mysteriousness and all that?" If Mike´s eyes didn't betray him then Harvey looked at least a little bit abashed.

"Don't worry, lad," Richard said with a kind smile. "All the people around here are Advocates. We are lawyers for the inhabitants of Undertow. Apprentice is a fancy word for associate. And don't let Harvey scare you, the initiation process isn´t some barbarian blood ritual. The only thing you have to do is to write your name in the Book of Names."

"Why do I sense an upper case?" Mike asked to which Richard responded with roaring laughter.

"A smart one you got here, Harvey," he commented. "I leave that explanation to Harvey. He´s your mentor after all." He turned to Harvey. "Treat that boy right, you understand me? It isn´t often that I like the people you associate with – that Donna is a great one, though. I have to go. The elves of Gilbert Street are involved in another gang war and I have to save their hides from being skinned by some wizards." And with a flourish of his cylinder Richard walked away.

"So, that was your mentor?" Mike asked.

"Yes, and maybe if you prove yourself to be the sound investment I think you could be I´ll allow you to speak with him again."

"But enough with wasting time," Harvey continued. "I have a function that Jessica forces me to attend. She´ll skin me alive if I embarrass her by coming to late." Mike didn't know who this Jessica was but if she could put fear even into the hearts of the likes of a Harvey Specter then she had to be truly formidable. He followed Harvey who led him into an elevator. Harvey pressed the button for the floor he wanted to go to and the doors closed.

"So, what is this Book of Names?" Mike asked curios while he supressed the urge to fidget with his fingers.

"It´s a magical artefact," Harvey explained. "You write your name in it and you become part of the Advocates. Once you´ve written your name down, it will only disappear in two cases: You are cast out or you die."

"That sounds like a hell of a commitment," Mike commented.

"You bet it does," Harvey replied. The elevator came to a halt and Harvey and Mike stepped out through the doors. The room they entered wasn't that big with only a reception desk and a door at the other end. Behind the reception desk sat an expressionless looking woman who stared at them with grey eyes.

"Please state your business," she intoned.

"Harvey Specter, Advocate, here to register one Mike Ross as Apprentice," Harvey stated.

"Identity confirmed. You are allowed to pass," the woman said. Then she turned back into her unmoving form.

"A construct," Harvey explained as he led Mike through the door. "A soulless being made of magic that is programmed for one specific purpose only."

"They´re creepy," Mike commented. Harvey just snorted.

The hallway ended in a round chamber. In a table amidst of it laid a book, which Mike presumed, was the Book of Names. To be honest, it didn't look like much. Just a leather-bound book opened up on an empty page. Right next to the book stood an inkwell with a golden feather lying beside it.

"Last chance to back out," Harvey announced. For one short moment Mike seriously consider it. But then he thought about what would await him if he did: An empty apartment, an unreliable friend and crippling debts. After all he had seen today there was no chance in hell that he would leave it behind to continue his life of hiding who he was. Resolutely Mike walked forward.

When he closed his right hand around the feather, he could feel a sudden jolt surging through him. His magic summed satisfied underneath his skin as he dipped the feather into the inkwell. For a short moment he let the black stained feather hover over the virgin parchment. Then one stroke after another, carefully and with reverence.

Michael James Ross

When Mike finished, his name lit up in golden light for a moment, before it vanished again, leaving behind nothing but an empty page.

"Welcome to the Advocates, Apprentice Ross," Harvey intoned formally. Mike couldn't help but feel that his life would never be the same again.

"Be at Pearson & Hardman at eight o´clock sharp," Harvey instructed him as the wall behind them closed again, separating the denizens of Undertow from those of New York. "The work up her will be as demanding as in Undertow."

"I´ll be there," Mike confirmed. One firm handshake and the two left in different directions.

"And buy yourself a better suit," Harvey shouted after him. Before Mike could shout something back, Harvey was already around the corner. Harrumphing – albeit with fondness – Mike made his own way home.

As Mike laid in his bed, he let the events of today pass by in front of his inner eye. He still couldn't quite believe it that Harvey had shown him a completely new world – one that was populated by those who possessed magic. Every now and then Mike had had the urge to pinch himself in order to make sure that the whole thing hadn't just been a very detailed dream. But it wasn't: He didn't wake up in his shitty apartment to a stoned Trevor with no way to pay for his and his Grammy´s bills. Undertow was real and that thought filled Mike with a strange sort of happiness and content.

It was like a pressure that he had never realized was on his shoulders had suddenly been lifted. There was a place on earth where Mike didn't have to fear to show his magic. A place where he could be whole; where he could let go of fear and paranoia that so often had been his constant companions throughout his life. Maybe he just realized it now, but he had never been truly happy. No matter where he went or what he did, Mike had had always to mask parts of him in order to hide himself from those who would be all too happy to cast him aside and betray him if they knew what he could do – if they knew what he was.

There was only a such a small number of people that knew him and that he trusted implicitly: His parents had been amongst those, his Grammy, Trevor – and now Harvey. Harvey didn't care that he had magic, didn't care that Mike could do things that he would never be able to do. He had taken a look at Mike´s abilities and had judged him worthy and Mike felt somehow proud of himself that it was recognized that he was a being capable of many things without being reduced to just his magic.

Maybe the world wasn't as bleak as he had previously thought if Undertow and people like Harvey existed, Mike mused.

He was about to close his eyes when he noticed a week glow out of the corner of his eyes. As silent as he was able to Mike stood up and summoned a flame into his open palm. It could be used to scare off any possible burglar – and even more if it really came to it. Tiptoeing through his rooms, careful not to stub his toe anywhere, Mike sneaked through his apartment until he had reached the doorway leading to his little kitchen. Carefully he peaked around the corner, the flame held at chest height, ready to be used against the invader, when a familiar sound reached his ears.

"What are you doing here?" Mike exclaimed, allowing the flames to fade away. Startled by the sudden noise, the little fairy fell into his empty pot that still stood on the stove. When she flew out of it she floated in front of Mike´s face and going by the red glow around her and the high-pitched wailing sounds, she wasn't happy with him.

"I´m sorry that I scared you," Mike apologized and the red glow started to fade. "But I thought you were a burglar." Another high-pitched sound in the face of such an outrageous claim.

"I know, I know, you aren't a burglar," Mike appeased and he wondered to himself when he had exchanged his sanity for the ability to read a fairy´s emotion by their glow.

"Why are you even here?" he asked. "Did you follow me?" At least the fairy had the decency to look a little bit ashamed. "What if someone had seen you?" The last statement was met with an incredulous head-shaking as if the fairy wanted to say that if she didn't want to be found then nobody would be able to find her.

"I have to bring you back," Mike said his voice tinted with panic. What if someone thought that he had kidnapped the fairy? He couldn't have a criminal record in Undertow after only one visit! The fairy – hearing his statement – began to shriek again as her aura turned into a bright red.

"You don't want to go back?" Mike asked tentatively. The fairy nodded.

"But where will you stay? Here?" Another nod.

"And there is nothing that I can do to dissuade you?" A third nod.

"If there´s nothing I can do, then you can stay – for now," Mike said. The fairy let out a cry of joy and kissed Mike chaste on the cheek as her aura pulsated in blue.

"You need a place to sleep," he added as an afterthought.

Fifteen minutes later and Mike was again laying in his bed. The fairy was sleeping on one of his sweaters that he had put into an open drawer of his bedside table. Only a feint greenish glow betrayed Mike´s new roommate´s existence. It was somehow soothing as the room was no longer as dark as before.

Tomorrow he would start at Pearson & Hardman. After all what happened, Mike couldn't believe that it would be that difficult. But you never knew.

Mike fell asleep to fairies, elves and to a Harvey in shining armour, brandishing a sword at a menacingly looking dragon.