Caesia didn't understand why the royal messengers looked so excited to hear that she was a dormant telekinetic. Nearly a third of all magic users fell into that category — born with the marks that signified their heritage and power, but never able to touch that power, and thus doomed to a life of even more all-consuming normalcy than those born without any marks at all.

But she couldn't think of another reason for the messengers to be excited. The only other things they'd learned from this brief and spontaneous interview were that she was from the outer colonies, her family couldn't even afford to send her to a proper school, and no, she had never heard of the Doemnian Mirror Gates, whatever the heck those were.

"Could you please come with us, Miss..."

"Caesia Vallenscey," she reminded them. Maybe that was why they were excited — they had found someone who could offer nothing to society and would be using her for target practice. But no, the looks in the guards' eyes weren't malicious. Just genuinely thrilled to have found her.

"Yes, Miss Vallenscey," the guard said, nodding. "We'd like to invite you to meet His Royal Highness, Prince Allium, at the royal palace."

After a long second, Caesia crossed her arms. "Sorry, what?"

"The Prince is looking for someone of your specific nature to aid him in something vitally important."

"Oh, thanks, that's not vague at all," she said with a roll of her eyes. She didn't believe them for a second.

"Really," the guard emphasized, looking almost desperate. "His Highness is in great need of people such as yourself for a vitally important task."

"Repeating the words 'vitally important' will not convince me, no matter how many times you do it," she told them.

But this was the Crown Prince they were talking about, and she was talking to his personal guards. She wasn't sure she really had any choice here at all. "Alright, fine, I'll come," she sighed after a long moment, and with a little more drama than was strictly called for.

"We are most thankful for your cooperation, Miss Vallenscey."

Caesia followed them to the palace with her head held high and a strut in her step. After all, she was on her way to meet the Prince, and she would be damned if anyone still saw her as useless.

Yet still, she wore her sleeves down to hide the marks of her failed magic.

Prince Allium was much less... interesting-looking than Caesia would have hoped. He was tall and thin, strutted about in a domineering manner, wore his eyebrows so high they became part of his well-groomed black hair, and was overall such an embodiment of a snooty royal that Caesia thought she could have drawn his portrait before seeing his face and done a better job than nature had.

When he saw the amused expression on Caesia's face, his eyebrows squeezed further into his hair.

"Your Highness," Caesia said quickly, remembering her manners and kneeling down if only to give his eyebrows a break.

"You may rise," the Prince said in a clipped, businesslike tone. "What's your name?"

"Caesia Vallenscey," she told him as she climbed back to her feet.

"And you're a dormant telekinetic from the outer colonies."

She nodded.

"Perfect. Follow me." He spun on one heel -- something Caesia thought must have been a practiced act of balance -- and strode toward a doorway at the side of the room.

Caesia hurried after him, almost tripping but regaining her balance just as she speed walked through the door.

Inside was a small sitting room, with two chairs on opposite sides of a table so small it must have been put there purely for aesthetic reasons. It was maybe six inches at most in diameter.

"Caesia," the Prince said to get her attention.

"Hmm?" She looked up from the tiny table, then hurriedly took her seat. It took her a few seconds to be surprised that the Prince was using her first name. Isn't that super informal or something?

"I'm going to put this very simply, because we don't have much time, and I'm an impatient person," Allium told her. "Our kingdom is in imminent danger, and I need you to help me fix it."

Caesia furrowed her brows, searching for a hint that he was joking, but his expression was as blank and royal as ever.

"You said you haven't heard of the Doemnian Mirror Gates, correct?"

"Is that a problem?"

He chuckled, but his eyes stayed cold. "No, not at all. I'd be happy to fill you in." He leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs in what was possibly an attempt to appear casual. "They're a set of cross-dimensional gates that separate our dimension from the Astral Blind one."

"Riiight, which is..."

"Full of demons."

"Gotcha." Caesia's eyebrows were doing their best to imitate the Prince's.

"And the Gates are slightly less than halfway open at the current moment."

Not sure what sort of joke she'd gotten herself into, Caesia silently regarded him for a long moment, hoping her lack of reaction would convince him she wasn't going to be fooled.

"I'm completely serious," Allium told her in a low voice. "I'm the Crown Prince. I don't have time to play practical jokes."

He sort of had a point there. "Okay, then why can't the demons or whatever open them the rest of the way? Or just... go through the crack?"

"That's not how cross-dimensional gates work," he said as if it were obvious. "As open as they are currently, there would only have been enough energy to push one demon through. And I have reason to believe that's already happened."

"So there's a demon already in our world?" She didn't like that thought at all.

"Yes." He leaned forward, putting both feet back on the floor. "And that's why I need to close the gates; that demon is probably doing everything it can to get its brethren into this dimension."

"Fantastic," Caesia declared. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm going to lead you to the gates so you can close them."

"ME???"

Allium actually winced a bit at the shrillness of her voice.

"I'm a dormant telekinetic, in case you can't remember." Angrily, she tugged her sleeve back, showing him the marks. "Which means I can't move things."

To her surprise, this didn't seem to deter the Prince at all. "They're called the Mirror Gates for a reason. They can only be closed or opened by someone with dormant magic. That's why the other demons haven't gotten through."

Caesia blinked, mouth slightly open. "Wait, you... actually need a dormant to do this?"

He nodded, dark eyes meeting hers. "Yes, I do. Already, the demons have possessed people from other worlds and other dimensions," he told her. "I'd like to ensure that my people remain free of their control."

"Why me, then?" Caesia asked. "Why not any other dormant telekinetic? There's lots."

"Most dormant telekinetics aren't as helpful as you are."

That wasn't true in her experience -- most others she knew would be just as eager to mean something to society --  but she still couldn't help but feel good at the compliment. "Well, thanks," she said. "My sister Zhaika is really helpful too, though."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"So... where are these gates?" she asked finally.

Prince Allium pushed himself to his feet. "Right under the palace."

"Oh, of course, of course. That's just where I would put a set of evil demon-summoning gates," she muttered as she followed him out of the room.

He led her through a few corridors, to a tapestry, which he pulled aside to reveal a set of very dark and gloomy stairs going down.

"That's not conspicuous in the slightest," Caesia remarked.

The Prince ignored her, starting down, and again, she followed. The stairs twisted down for what felt like a very long time. The walls were thumping, but after a few minutes of worrying about it, Caesia realized it was just her heartbeat in her temples.

At last, the stairs opened into wide darkness. Caesia followed Allium into it to see a massive cavern, thats ceiling stretched high into the shadows. And against the back wall were a very, very, very large set of stone doors. They seemed to have swung partially into the cavern, and shadow crept up to the very edge of the opening, even spilling into the space slightly.

"Come on," the Prince said impatiently, motioning for Caesia to follow him toward the gates.

She pushed her foot forward, then followed it with the other. They were so big, so solid. She didn't think the strongest force in the world could move them, much less the magic that had failed her her whole life.

But by the gods, it was not going to fail her now.

Allium stopped a distance from the gates, and Caesia walked past him.

So this was really it. This was where her life had led her. To a very large and very ominous set of stone doors that weren't even all the way open. As long as they remained where they were, they posed no direct danger to the world, and yet she was here to close them.

It's fitting, really. That I end up ~kind of~ saving the world.

Caesia raised her arms, palms facing the doors, then slowly pushed them in.

A thunderous rumble filled the air, and ever so slowly, the gates began to inch open.

Open.

OPEN.

Caesia stopped, taking a shaky step back. She'd only moved them an inch, but already, the darkness was creeping out further. Spinning around, her eyes landed on the Prince. "What did I do wrong?" she demanded.

"Nothing," he told her. His eyes looked pitch black in the wake of the darkness. "They're Mirror Gates. Send magic at them, they do nothing. Push with the power of nothing and they move. Push them open, they close. Pull them shut... they swing wider."

Caesia remained perfectly still for a long second. "So... does that mean opening them is a good thing?"

"For me, yes. But I took control of my human years ago."

For a second, Caesia stared into his oily black eyes. Then she spun back around, frantically raising her palms, but when the doors started to inch further open, she stopped. "No, no, no," she muttered. "Why won't they close when I tell them to open?"

"Your mind is still telling them to close. Even more so now."

"Then I'm not going to move them at all!" she declared, spinning back around and glaring at the Prince -- at the demon -- as hard as she could. Her eyes darted toward the stair entrance, but it was a frighteningly long way away.

Allium let out a long sigh. "And that's why it has to be this way."

Pain blossomed from the back of Caesia's head, and the world went dark.

"Inch by inch."