... a prison. You walk down the lonely corridors. At first, unfamiliarity washes over you, but slowly, as you fall into your dream body, sadness and familiarity fill you. This is where your brother is imprisoned. He committed the crime of desertion. The pact that forms the Rosers, of Hell, the Fingerkings, and the magicians of your home despise those that would derelict their duty against the invading Copper and Motherlings, and the strangling hands of the puppets of the Bazaar. For that, your brother will remain in prison, unfed, till he dies.

You have tried to save him. You gave him water, and held him close to you in hopes it would give him the will to survive.

You have nothing to offer Hell for his freedom. You are only a minor adept, and you are yet to take a pilgrimage behind the glass.

And yet, the warden calls upon you, with an offer prepared. In a room of gleaming brass, the warden slides over a shard of glass. "We wish to raise your standing with our allies. In exchange, you will make a pilgrimage, and accept one of the Fingerkings into your own consciousness. But where it may be in most control can also be a trap. Give the shard to your kings."

You ask of the shard's value. The devil smiles. "It is the highest. Stolen from the guards of the Bazaar, and its wards of sunlight. It leads into the treasures of the Bazaar. Or more accurately, they will think it is. You will meet our ally, the one who procured it."

He gestures to a rippling mirror. You lay your palm on it, and recall the light of a false sun. The glass opens, and you step through. The Fingerking there is black enough that it drains the light around itself. Spines line its back, glowing with irrigo.
"You must forget your mission." You let it sink its fangs into your fingers, and drink the memory from your mind.

At your rose sanctuary, you hold the shard in front of the massive mirror. Hissing rises from the thousands in the briar court of the Fingerkings. "This is the shard that will bring us to the heart of the Bazaar!"

The Rosers are preparing to enter the Bazaar. You are asked to take the pilgrimage. And so you walk through the glass and forests. A light breaks through the trees. A Fingerking, radiant as sunlight, stands in front of you. It meets your eyes, and you let its mind meld with your own.

You return. You feel an ancient mind at the edge of your consciousness. As your proud comrades congratulate you, your mind thinks only of your brother. You leave to his prison as soon as you can.

The warden leads you to the lower levels, into a room surrounded by mirrors. You see night fall on Parabola, and a dark figure rises from the underbrush. You recognize it as the Fingerking you had dealt with- the Purveyor of Night. There are others with it. Devils. You walk into the mirror, and feel the Radiant Fingerking try to leave. The Purveyor slinks into the underbrush as the devils open boxes. Boxes of sunlight that wash over the Radiant Fingerking, who burns under the light of a trapped sun.

The devils smile at you, and one walks out of the mirror. "You have upheld your end of the bargain. Thank you for your aid in our pursuit of the long night."

You have bought the life of your brother with the death of a Fingerking. You are certain that their wrath will fall on you both. You lead him through the war torn streets of the Fourth. While you may be deserting the Fingerkings, you still have their teachings. You both cover your footsteps with silence, attack from the mirror. At last, you both find a boat and maps, and you sail away from the Fourth City.

Every night, you try and avoid sleep. You know the Fingerkings will search for you. It is that that haunts you as you and your brother build a new life.

One night, you hear hissing behind you. You run immediately, but stop as you feel your mind invaded by another. The Fingerking leads you through Parabola, to the briar court of the Fingerkings. They judge you for your crime. You see some of your old comrades look at you with shame. The highest and the most powerful were taken by the Kings when the Fourth City died in lacre and sunlight. Some of the Rosers escaped into dream, others were not as luckily.

The Fingerkings imprison you, as Hell did your brother. They bring you the delights they reserve for their highest servants. You endure your hunger, until at last you are forced to eat. You feel the poison tear through you, but the Fingerkings heal you when you near the edge of death. It begins again and again; For even in heaven, one can make it hell.

You feel your mind leave the Pernicious Adept's mind. You remember the burn of the Fingerking's poison and the emptiness of gnawing hunger. You walk the paths of the Castle of Forests, which is bare of all- dreamers, Fingerkings, rosers- and walk to the cell of the Adept. Parabola grows darker as you walk, until the cell is almost black.

You see a shape in the darkness, coiled around a skeleton. "The Adept was silenced long ago." The Purveyor says. "But we have another we must contend with. When the time comes, deliver the mirror to our ally on the other side of the glass. It draws closer. "The mirrors with which we hold our deals become more than just a mirror." A flash of inky blackness, and you feel the serpent bite into your palm. A shard of glass lies there. "For when you need it to carry out our will."

You see another shard lying at the skeleton's feet, which you pick up. The Purveryor draws closer to you.