Jakhan glared at the sniggering Khemet, wishing that he could wipe the smirk off the rakshasa's furred face and bury his axe in it. The demon was now absently twirling the said weapon, intently observing several spheres of energy showing different scenes of violence – in the centre of them was Kaldros's progression through the necropolis's imitation of Qarsi Palace, the luxurious pleasure houses increasing in extravagance as he got closer to the other side. Kaldros looked fragile and weak in his half-naked state, and his brother wondered why he wasn't wearing anything.

Jakhan pried his eyes away from Kaldros, and looked at the other moving images of combat – the Sultai were obviously making an attack on the entire city, as many of the scenes showed locations from all around Sarashak. The Mardu grimaced as a contingent of local guards was slaughtered by an ambush of darting Sultai assassins that split up the Sarashans before killing them one by one. A small group of Jeskai monks, djinn and human, desperately fought against a snake-like and elegant hydra, the hooded heads hissing as they struck unexpectedly.

Similar scenes of battle were repeated throughout the city, the full might of the Sultai being unfolded against the neutral Sarashans, the corrupt councillors doing nothing to prevent the clan from building up their power in secret. Although they seemed to be winning overall, Jakhan still grinned as he saw Meja and some Abzan soldiers defeating the arrogant naga that had captured him and Arethe earlier in the day. The teenagers growled as Vasjai escaped from his pursuers, the Abzan mage that must have been Iniedra halting her soldiers and aiding the wounded Meja instead.

"It seems we will soon be having a visitor," Khemet purred, as Kaldros came into the replica of ancient Ukud.

.*.*.*.

The younger twin had just passed over a suspended walkway above a huge pit full of snapping, necrotic crocodiles, their foetid jaws covered in dismembered limbs and old blood. Kaldros ran through a series of humid chambers that were filled with strange and exotic pieces of machinery built for a purpose that the young Mardu could only guess at. These pleasure houses were filled with wide-eyed and intoxicated nobles draped in finery that were completely unaware of his passage.

Kaldros stopped to feel the pulse of one particularly corpulent councillor. His fat throat was cold, and the albino staggered back with horror as he realised the man was dead. Just what kind of "pleasure" is on offer here? he thought with revulsion for the Sultai. He apprehensively paced into another room and then instantly shut his eyes, the amount of vile debauchery on show penetrating the dark miasma clouding his magical sense and making the boy want to vomit.

Although the fact that he hadn't been challenged so far confirmed Kaldros's suspicions of this venture being a trap, he was glad that there were no more enemies as the bloody wound in his right arm hurt like hell. It throbbed violently, ignoring the mage's attempts to nullify the pain with soothing White mana.

Kaldros felt the feeling of corruption pass away from him, being replaced by an aura of absolute darkness – he had come to the source of the Black mana reverberating throughout Sarashak. A monolithic stone door blocked his way, engraved with sinister symbols that made his eyes sting as he glanced over them. At the centre of the portal was a carved representation of the Fang of the Dragon, although it was with a slightly different design to the ones worn by modern Sultai clansmen. Kaldros knew that this underground palace had been around for thousands of years, but the Mardu didn't know much about any other clan's history, Kaldros once again wishing that his clan valued knowledge as much as the other clans.

The albino placed his palm to the door, sensing the roiling darkness swirling around his brother's faint light inside. The portal was far too large to be open by a human, especially one as weak as Kaldros, so instead the mage focussed White mana into the door. When that did nothing, he tried a large flame of Red mana which sparked explosively when it hit the enchantments on the door, but left it unscathed.

Smiling grimly, Kaldros brought his Black mana to the fore – he hated using it individually instead of in combinations with other spells, as the incident where he had almost killed his now-dead father had made Kaldros fear what he could do with it on its own. It wasn't the fact that it was difficult to use or control – in fact, he found Red and White mana to be much more stubborn – it was how natural it felt to use it, and how addictive the feeling was. His palms were surrounded in shadow and once again he touched the doorway, the symbols not lighting up with shining darkness and the huge portal slowly swaying open.

.*.*.*.

Jakhan watched as Khemet finally tore his eyes away from his vision-spheres and swung his head towards the doorway at the bottom of the cavern holding the ziggurat, the malevolent slits glittering with avarice and anticipation as the portal slowly opened. Instantaneously, a bolt of incandescent flame smashed into the rakshasa, who absorbed it with a void of nothingness that gaped open without so much as a small gesture from Khemet.

Kaldros slammed onto the dais, shimmering wings framing his slender shoulders as he thrust with a spear of light at the golden armoured cat. Khemet released a deep-throated laugh and smashed the ethereal weapon aside with Jakhan's axe in his left hand and blocked with his right as the albino twisted and swung a kick of fiery Red mana at him. The rakshasa deflected the blow with his wrist and backhanded the boy, who crashed into the stone next to Jakhan and flipped to his feet.

"Kaldros!" the older twin shouted as his brother emitted a pulse of erasing White mana which freed his brother and Arethe from the chains, the Jeskai slumping to the floor as Jakhan rose to his feet. Khemet stood up from his throne, which disappeared as though it never existed.

"You cut me deep, young mage," the rakshasa sulked, his eyes still glinting in expectation, "I have been waiting all this time for you to pay a visit, and the first thing you do is attack me? How very rude," Khemet taunted, slowly pacing around the edge of the plateau as the humans were in the centre, the twins' hate filled eyes tracking him and watching for any offensive movements.

"I was thinking that we might be able to have a little chat before the violence started, but now I suppose the plan has to go into action," the demon stated, false regret dripping from his voice as he weaved smouldering sigils into the air. The rakshasa suddenly teleported away, leaving the brothers looking around in confusion, Jakhan's axe clattering to the floor. They both looked across at the other side of the cavern as a deep, rumbling sound echoed across the space, and a medium-sized passageway was opened up in the rock.

"However, I promised dear Jakhan that he could have a happy reunion with his little brother," Khemet's sibilant voice pierced into their minds, causing Jakhan to grunt and Kaldros to whimper in pain.

"After that, I want Kaldros to go into the passage – alone. Any interference from you or the girl and you will both die painful and horrible deaths, and that would be very unfortunate, wouldn't it?" blood leaked from Kaldros's nose and he fell to his knees holding his head, the demon's presence in his magically-attuned mind much more agonising than it was in Jakhan's, as the demon had to increase the pressure so that the larger boy could hear. The older twin reassuringly held his younger brother, as Khemet continued.

"Also, to stop you from wasting time and making me get bored, you have five minutes. If Kaldros has not entered the tunnel by then, Jakhan and the girl will meet the fate described already – and none of us want that, do we?" his voice suggesting otherwise, the rakshasa ended his connection with the twins.

"Bastard," Jakhan spat, and turned Kaldros round to face him, quickly pulling the smaller-boy forwards into a crushing hug.

"Ow, my arm!" Kaldros yelped, and Jakhan put him down, smiling sheepishly.

"I'm so glad you're alright," Jakhan said, at the same time Kaldros spoke: "I'm happy you're not hurt,"

Both of the twins laughed, before Kaldros looked down at the stricken Arethe and moved towards her, healing magic flaring up from his palms. He quickly expunged the poison from her veins and colour returned to the girl's cheeks.

"You can't seriously be thinking of going in there," Jakhan stated, addressing the issue on both their minds.

"Of course I am," Kaldros replied angrily, irritated at the fact that his brother would even suggest otherwise.

"If you go in, Khemet will kill you. Or worse," Jakhan's voice was filled with concern for his brother.

"I can't just let you two die when I know that I can stop it. Anyway, if the situation was reversed, you would be doing the same thing as me," Kaldros shot back, getting to his feet and looking Jakhan straight in the eyes, his red orbs full of determination. He softened his tone and continued: "Jakhan, stop worrying about me so much. I'll be fine, big brother."

"Promise you'll come back," Jakhan pleaded, once again feeling helpless and grabbing onto his twin's shoulders.

Kaldros smiled, and replied: "I will try," as he shook of his brother's grip and turned towards the yawning passageway.

"The bastard won't know what hit him," Jakhan declared, trying to mask his concern with boisterous enthusiasm and giving his brother a playful shove, taking care not to hurt his wounded arm. Kaldros leapt down the ziggurat and turned around at the entrance, winking at Jakhan. He then stepped through.

The second he did, a resounding crash echoed throughout the cavern, and Jakhan shouted as a wall of rock slammed down, cutting off the twins.

"Kaldros!" he yelled, smashing his fists against the solid rock.

.*.*.*.

"I knew that you would make the right choice, dear Kaldros," the hissing voice of the rakshasa spoke into his mind, though with less force this time, as the impenetrable barrier crashed down behind him.

"Shut up," Kaldros growled, slowly walking through the tunnel of rock that had clearly been made and sealed up in a bygone age. He could sense Khemet's malignant power emanating from a distance in front of him, but also something else – something majestic and terrifying in equal measures.

He scrambled over a piece of rubble blocking his path and entered a cuboid chamber, conjuring up a small light so he could see his surroundings. Kaldros gasped as he illuminated the walls – tens, if not hundreds of ornate sarcophagi lined the walls, each one with huge amounts of magical energy inside. He emerged into another cavern, this one with a thin bridge of stone connecting it to the other side. He shone the light downwards, and breathed heavily as he saw an obscene amount of corpses – most of them still looked fresh, and Kaldros sensed preservative enchantments cast all over the place.

"Wha...What is this place?" he asked, almost unable to comprehend the vast amounts of corpses littering the floor.

"It was the site of an ancient battle, one of the worst defeats of the Sultai empire, several thousand years ago – when dragons still ruled the skies and humanity was mostly under one banner," Khemet chimed in,

"The imperial army was soundly defeated by a host led by a renegade commander, as he had a secret weapon that they could never have expected. Eventually, the army defeated the traitor, but at the biggest loss of troops they had ever suffered. The surviving generals were executed on the spot and buried here, the imperial masters lying to the public, telling them that they died in battle to try to keep their fragile control of the people. They employed powerful geomancers and chasm-magi to seal the site of the battle shut, removing the embarrassing encounter from the face of Tarkir. They also murdered the mages they recruited, as had any in the public found out there would have been mass rebellions. They then built the palace above it, supposedly to honour the generals but actually to prevent explorers from finding the burial ground."

Kaldros silently processed this information and carefully across the bridge, Khemet continuing with his history lecture:

"The anaerobic conditions of the sealed tomb kept the corpses in the perfect state for reanimation, so when the Sultai of Sarashak found the place only a few years ago they cast the preservation spells so they could use the undead in their plans."

Kaldros stepped onto the other side of the chasm and walked into another tunnel, the terrifying aura he felt now eclipsing that of the demon's.

"Almost there now, young Kaldros," the rakshasa purred, and the mage emerged onto a ridge that overlooked another drop. Khemet was waiting for him there, his golden armour glinting malevolently in the light conjured by Kaldros.

The Mardu launched blinding orbs of light at the demon, who sighed disappointedly and batted them away, the magic detonating as they hit the walls.

"Again with the needless violence, Kaldros. You disappoint me sometimes, although you have not yet earned the wisdom of age. Come," he ordered, turning around and walking towards the edge of the ridge, "I have something fascinating to show you,"

Kaldros followed the rakshasa, knowing that the demon would fight him when it was ready, although he kept far away from it. Khemet stopped and raised his hands, illumination filling the chamber. Kaldros screamed in primal terror as a wave of panic swept through him, and he staggered backwards, falling onto his back as Khemet laughed, the deep booming noise entirely ignored by the Mardu.

"Majestic, is it not?" the rakshasa boomed, and Kaldros tried to turn away but found that his eyes were fixed on the creature. The dragon was a gargantuan, scaled beast that evoked a sense of absolute fear in the young mage, and even though it was clearly dead because of the huge wound in its side it stilled carried an exalted and predatory grace about it. Its dead eyes still shone with a sublime wisdom mixed with an all-consuming hunger.

"This is why you were brought here. To re-animate such a beast, one would require the soul of a Khan, or a person equally as powerful. As even the whole force of the Sultai would be unable to capture a Khan without being destroyed in their own right, we needed to find an alternative – that is where you come in. The Sultai want me to sacrifice you to bring a dragon under their control."

"Assuming that I am as powerful as a Khan, which is unlikely, why are you wasting time telling me this? Why don't you just kill me and go ahead with the reanimation?" Kaldros questioned, and Khemet smiled.

"Note that I said that the Sultai wish to sacrifice you. My own goals are different to theirs. Instead, I wish for you to side with me – with our combined power, anything could be possible!"

"And why would I do that?" Kaldros asked, his voice full of incredulity.

.*.*.*.

Jakhan pounded his fists on the door, but it was no use – the rock refused to budge. He sank to his knees, deciding to wait for Kaldros, when a voice rang out from the ziggurat.

"Jakhan?" Arethe shouted, urgency in her tone, and the Mardu ran up the to the dais, eager to see if Arethe was alright or not. He stopped when he saw the girl coming down towards him, holding his axe in her hands – the blade was alive with magical energy, and Arethe held it out to him.

"Where did you get the axe?" she demanded suddenly, and the confused Jakhan answered with: "It was my dad's, he gave it to me when I was 8 years old, though it has never looked like this before..." he broke off as the light from the blade became blinding when he touched it.

Jakhan felt power flow through him, a sensation that somehow felt familiar although he had never experienced this before. Arethe stood open-mouthed as Red and White mana swirled around the Mardu, encasing his limbs in plates of augmenting energy and making him feel more powerful than ever before.

The Jeskai recognised the magic but didn't say anything as Jakhan swung his axe at the stone blocking him from his brother, smashing it apart in an explosion of stone – his already formidable physical strength was vastly improved by the hidden enchantments of the axe, and the Mardu instantly ran into the passageway. Arethe resigned to thinking about the source of the magic after the coming battle, shrugged, and ran after Jakhan.

.*.*.*.

"Dear Kaldros, do you really think that I would be stupid enough not to have a good reason for you to join me?" Khemet laughed, "I will show you why you should take my offer." The rakshasa brought his palms close together, mystical energies flowing between them as Kaldros saw reality being replaced by a blurry vision. Kaldros was powerless to resist the demon's magic, and he fell to his knees as reality faded away, and Khemet placed his furred hands on the boy's head.

Just as the vision was about to start, a figure charged into the concentrating rakshasa, knocking him over and freeing the younger twin from the magic. Kaldros's vision snapped back into the real world, and he heard Jakhan's voice shouting: "Get your hands off him!"

"Insolent child!" the rakshasa shrieked; for a second its voice lost its human qualities and became more of a primal scream. Khemet punched Jakhan with a fist shrouded in the deepest darkness, but the Kaldros's brother's new armour held, and Jakhan pushed the demon away from him.

"Are you alright?" Arethe inquired, running to his side, and Kaldros nodded his head and got to his feet, disgusted that he would even consider listening to the rakshasa's proposal. Jakhan ran back towards them and Kaldros noticed the runes on his axe flaring up and the plates of crimson energy on his brother.

"I like the new look," Kaldros said, extremely glad that Jakhan had been there to disrupt Khemet's magic – the demon now stood up to his full height, his false display of sociability gone.

"It is such a shame, but now I will have to kill you all and go ahead with Sidisi's boring plan," he smiled, and brought his arms up, Black mana pouring from the rakshasa and rushing into the group. Arethe summoned a defensive shield of shimmering Blue mana and Kaldros reinforced it with his own magic. Together they warded off Khemet's magic, but the rakshasa had more in store for them. Opening up three gates into the realm of the Sidikur, a swirling existence populated by demons and horrors, Khemet pushed forwards and laughed as the three demons answered his call. One was a spindly, decrepit creature with four arms and huge bat wings, the second was a lumbering behemoth with a gargantuan mouth that spewed toxic fumes, and the final was a strange, whip like thing dripping with enigmatic golden fluid that Khemet grabbed and wielded as a weapon.

"Arethe, you get big-mouth over there. Little bro, I want you to kill the one with wings," Jakhan ordered, continuing when Kaldros looked like he was going to object, "No buts, I'll delay Khemet while you two get the horrors, then we can fight him together. Let's go!"