Qube awoke from her strange dream at the exact same time as the others woke up. She was secretly rather thrilled about the fact that she’d now had multiple dreams that she could remember — she was becoming a regular dreamer!

But she had to focus. She looked at Definitely Bad Guy and noticed him glance away from her.

Sometimes she wished that he hadn’t declared his everlasting protection of her. It was really very inconvenient at times like this, when she desperately needed a Mage friend. But she wasn’t naive. She knew what a declaration of protection at first sight meant. It meant, for whatever reason, that he had fallen madly in love with her.

It was difficult. She didn’t want him to think that she had a special quest to give him, or that she wanted to eat his cake (Qube still didn’t quite grasp the nuances of Sexy Screamy Spider Lady’s speech) but she needed to talk to him privately without raising false hope.

Fortunately, as a fully trained childhood companion, she was a master of diplomacy.

“Can I ride you?” she asked. From the tent she heard both Sewer Bard and Sexy Screamy Spider Lady simultaneously choke. “I just have some Mage related questions!” she hastily added. “I’m not riding you for pleasure!” Sexy Screamy Spider Lady and Sewer Bard both seemed to be having fits, presumably about her desire to spend some one-on-one time with the Mage. Qube ignored them; just because she was going to spend some alone time interrogating someone else did not mean that this was a date!

“Of course,” Definitely Bad Guy said distantly. He turned his back to Qube and spread his wings. Taking care not to look at the other party members, especially Sexy Screamy Spider Lady, Qube wrapped her arms around his neck.

The Chosen One shot Definitely Bad Guy a very meaningful look, then set off across the room, dodging the various lighting strikes. Definitely Bad Guy seemed to have no trouble keeping a respectful distance.

For the first few minutes they flew in silence, Qube enjoying the relatively smoother ride, and also trying to think of how to delicately ask Definitely Bad Guy exactly how effective his spying had been in gathering information. She decided to start with the least controversial of her planned topics.

“I was wondering,” she started, “if you knew any way of deepening my mana pool? I’m having trouble keeping up with the number of spells the parties need, and thought, as Mage Advisor, you would know of any techniques to help me last longer in the battlefield.”

Somehow, from half a room behind them, she heard the other two party members giggling like children. She was really going to have to talk to them about being more mature — it wasn’t like she was discussing her spells with him, just mana! It was a professional talk! Definitely Bad Guy certainly seemed to take her question seriously.

“You should have been naturally deepening your pool as we progressed. Combat experience is often the preferred method of most Healers for increasing their mana reserve. That is strange,” the Mage trailed off into thought. “Is it possible that your pool has in fact deepened, just not at quite the same rate that the spells you are learning increase in their mana consumption?” he asked.

“No…” Qube said uncertainly. “I don’t think so. I feel like I haven’t gotten any stronger since we left the village.” She licked her lips, before voicing her fear: “It couldn’t be something related to the invisibility curse, could it?”

Definitely Bad Guy deftly spun to avoid a stray lightning bolt.

“I should not think so,” he said, once he righted himself. Up above, the Chosen One was furiously flapping in place and shouting that the clouds should go fiddle themselves. “I can think of no logical reason for why he would remove your ability to expand your mana pool. Invisibility, that would make sense, considering.”

Qube nodded. The invisibility had certainly made things more difficult for the Chosen One and herself, until she’d figured out the trick to it. Even then, it was still troublesome. Perfect for someone who wanted to appear to be playing along with their shadowy overlords without doing too much damage to the other side.

“But interfering with your mana pool… if indeed it is something he did, then there are three distinct possibilities.” Definitely Bad Guy held up a hand, ticking off each point on his fingers even as he flew.

“One is that, for some reason, he wishes to avoid you becoming stronger. The second is that his curse accidentally has the side effect of damaging your mana pool and it will be resolved once he removes said curse. The third is that he is acting in accordance with his own prophecy.”

So there was a Dark Prophecy! Qube knew it! But wait…

“So there’s no workaround? We have to find the Evil Emperor and make him remove this curse before there’s a possibility that I’ll grow stronger?”

“If indeed it even is the cause of your mana deficiency,” Definitely Bad Guy cautioned. “When we return to Cobbletown I will be able to conduct some more experiments on you in my Wizard’s Tower.” The back of his neck turned pink. “Only if you wished, of course. I would just be better able to — it would be — having my books around me, and rare reagents, would mean that I would be more accurate in my examination. Of your mana pool. And the curse. Your curse. His curse. On you.”

“That would be lovely, thank you!” Qube said cheerfully. While she was upset that he wasn’t able to instantly increase her mana ability, she didn’t want him thinking she was ungrateful for his assistance. And hopefully he would, if not help her, at least be able to give her some answers.

She’d also uncovered a very interesting piece of information. Definitely Bad Guy knew about the existence of a Dark Prophecy.

“So about the Evil Emperor’s prophecy,” she said, only to be cut off.

“I have no knowledge of the Evil Emperor’s prophecy; it is kept in a room behind his throne that only he has access to,” Definitely Bad Guy rattled off the information as if he had memorised it. Presumably the Exiled Prince and Exiled Princess had been pressuring him to try and find out what, exactly, the Dark Prophecy said.

Fortunately, Qube had access to information that the Exiled Prince and Exiled Princess had not: the exact verbiage of the Golden Prophecy. While she couldn’t guarantee that the Royals hadn’t been in communication with Alderman, she knew that the village had been isolated from the rest of the world. In part to protect the growing Potential Chosen Ones but also to hide the Golden Prophecy. However, Qube, as a Potential Prophecy Approved Companion, had been allowed access to the sacred text whenever she had wanted. So she knew what questions to ask.

“So, you’re the Evil Emperor’s Mage Advisor,” she started.

“Correct,” Definitely Bad Guy replied in a much more natural tone.

“Is there anyone else who advises him? Maybe in non-magical matters? Not that you wouldn’t be perfectly capable of advising in a non-magical context, I just — I was wondering if there was someone around him who acted as more of a guide to make sure that he stayed on the side of Evil, you know? Maybe a young woman whom he grew up with?”

“There are several young women around the castle, but none of them act in any kind of advisory role,” Definitely Bad Guy said, in a hollow tone. “He pays them no attention at all,” he added hastily. “They are simply there as ... guards.”

Qube frowned thoughtfully. Maybe one of those guards was her counterpart? Or there was someone else that Definitely Bad Guy didn’t know about? Given how hostile his environment sounded, it would make sense that the Evil Emperor would conceal anyone who actually mattered to him.

“Did he grow up with anyone? How long have you been with him? Actually, how did you come to be involved with him?” She suddenly realised that she knew almost nothing about the man who was currently carrying her through a peril-filled Temple. She wished she could see his face — it was rather difficult to carry on a conversation with someone when she could only see the back of his head.

“I was in an orphanage,” Definitely Bad Guy said. “Once my magical talent became obvious, I was recruited into the Royal Academy. After the coup, I was the highest level Mage left.”

“How did you —” Qube tried to think of a tactful way to ask him if he had decided to work for the Evil Emperor of his own volition, and had been brought back to the side of Good by the Exiled Prince and Exiled Princess, or if he had always planned to betray his employer.

“Naturally, once I managed to locate the Exiled Prince and Exiled Princess, I approached them and informed them of my willingness to work with them,” Definitely Bad Guy said. A lightning strike nearly hit them, but he flared at the last minute, killing all his momentum. After a second, he continued, landing gracefully on the ledge next to a doorway where the Chosen One was waiting for the rest of the party.

Qube reluctantly got off his back and joined the Chosen One. He was watching her with raised eyebrows.

“Good bonding experience?” he asked levelly. He looked at Definitely Bad Guy and raised an eyebrow even higher. “That last strike singe you a bit, sparky?” he asked mockingly. Qube turned and noticed that the Mage was quite flushed.

“No,” he replied shortly.

Sexy Screamy Spider Lady and Sewer Bard landed next to the trio, Squiggles wrapped around Sewer Bard’s head.

“Squiggles, no, you’re suffocating him,” Qube gently chided, detaching the sharktopus from the Bard’s face. Squiggles writhed her tentacles about in displeasure, before determinedly setting off to chew on the bottom of Definitely Bad Guy’s robes. The Mage kept stepping away from her, trying to dodge her playful chomping.

Qube, meanwhile, was sorting through her mental list. Even if she didn’t know exactly who her counterpart was, or if there even really was a version of her that worked with the Evil Emperor, she would still need to understand the Evil Emperor if she was to convince him to work on their side.

But how could she do that? How could she persuade someone who may or may not want to be on the side of Evil to come over to the side of Good?

She felt several hairy arms wrap around her waist and tug her to the side. Qube squeaked.

“So, enjoying your date?” Sexy Screamy Spider Lady purred quietly in her ear. “I knew you had it in you. All that nonsense about not having a special quest. You’ve even been taking charge. Look at my girl, love-interrogating so forcefully like that.”

“It’s not a date!” Qube hissed as softly as she could. “I can talk to someone without it being romantic!” She peeked at the others, who were all busily examining the giant hurricane in the middle of the room. “I have to go help the Chosen One,” she said, and scurried off to his side, ignoring the mocking laughter that echoed behind her.

The Chosen One didn’t say anything when she joined them, just looked down at her and smiled. She reflexively smiled back, before she registered the gleam in his eye.

“There’s a chest in the middle of the hurricane,” he said. “Probably the Temple treasure that needs duplicating. And I know just the companion for the job,” he grinned at her with a disarming charm. “You ready?”

“Oh no,” she said, as he picked her up. She tried to wriggle free, but couldn’t break out. “Don’t you dare,” she glared at him.

“Don’t worry, I just saved,” he said cheerfully. “So even if it goes horribly wrong, it’ll still be fine. Now, go fetch!”

“Chosen One, no!” she cried, as he flung her into the hurricane.