And the Magician himself is just that—an accomplished stage magician with an interesting twist. He mesmerizes his patrons. That would be the drunken men hanging out in the Green Hyena, and can somehow make them see whatever he wants them to see. He literally shows them their mythical account of creation, with the spiraling and dancing Divine celestial dragons that created all the stars and the world.

But Kel, though not yet a full-fledged shaman, discovers the reason those watching the Magic...