In this chapter's epigraph, we are introduced to a new character, a "heathen snake" , who has come to the rescue of a "vulgar" man. The snake is a remnant of a time before the invention of electricity, when magic was a widespread and powerful force on the surface of the earth. It was believed that magic could heal the weak, and that the weak were powerless to resist it. Because of this belief, the snake's name is derived from the Latin word vulgar, which means "weak" in Greek. Because the snake is so weak, he is unable to resist the power of electricity. When the man asks him why he is following him, he replies that everything about him is "half- hearted and ill-made" . The man explains that he was once a viwia "mage" who took the weak and led them into a new world, a world called the "mundus magicum" or "the magical world." Since then, "mages" from the mars have trickled down to earth. Through out history, they have avoided the spotlight, but they have used their powers to "work their evil" across the land. In other words, they are using their power to work their "evil" across "the land." This is a reference to the fifteenth-century invasion by the martians, who brought terrible suffering to the village. The martians used their "magic" to "apologize" to the people of the village for the pain they had caused them. The narrator explains that there are only five humans in the world who are able to use magic, and the only one who can do so is the "Martian Atk" who is 25 mag, five earthlings atk, five mags, and 0 mags. Because he has nowhere else to go,