Consciousness returned to Elian not like a light switch flipping on, but like being forcibly dragged from the bottom of a deep well.
The first thing he felt was cold. A chill that pierced straight to his bone marrow, making him shiver uncontrollably on the hard stone altar. The second thing was pain. Every inch of his body screamed; his blistered back rubbed against his wet tunic, and his legs, clawed by Ghouls, throbbed with heat—a sign that infection was beginning to crawl in.
"Cough..."
Elian vomited the remaining swamp water from his lungs. He tried to get up, but his left hand felt as heavy as a mountain. The Ring of Weight was still there, faithfully torturing him even on the brink of death.
"Elian! Are you alive?!"
Lunaria's voice echoed from a distance, faint amidst the roars of the trapped turtle monster.
Elian lifted his head with great effort. He looked across the lake. Lunaria stood at the edge of the ruins, her bow aimed at the water, covering Elian's position from Ghouls trying to climb up.
"I'm... alive..." Elian answered, his voice hoarse and weak, barely audible.
He turned his head to the side. The object was still there.
The Mirror of Souls.
The mirror stood tall in the center of the altar, its pure white bone frame contrasting with the cave's darkness. Its surface was no longer pitch black like a whirlpool; now, it reflected Elian's face.
However, something was strange.
Elian stared at his own reflection. His face in the mirror was clean, without blood, without mud. And the eyes in the mirror... the pupils weren't black, but liquid gold swirling slowly.
The figure in the mirror smiled. A smile full of ancient sorrow.
You have come, Little Shard, a gentle voice whispered directly into Elian's mind. The voice sounded like his mother's voice, Elara's voice, and the voice of the forest wind combined into one harmony.
"Who are you?" Elian whispered.
I am a memory. I am a forgotten promise, the voice replied. Take me. Do not let those who worship the Void touch me.
Suddenly, the mirror's surface rippled. The image of the woman in the black flower dress that Elian had glimpsed before appeared for a second, then vanished, leaving behind an ordinary glass mirror.
Elian blinked. The illusion was gone. His reflection returned to normal: dirty, bloody, and pathetic.
"Take the mirror!" Lunaria shouted, her tone urgent. "The stalactite is cracking! The monster will break free any second!"
Elian snapped back to reality. He looked at the giant turtle monster. The stalactite pinning its neck was indeed cracking as the monster continued to struggle with brutal strength.
Elian crawled closer to the mirror. He tried to lift it.
"Heavy..." he hissed.
The mirror was half Elian's height, and its bone frame was incredibly dense. With Elian's physically drained state and the Ring of Weight compressing his muscles, lifting this object was torture in itself.
Elian gritted his teeth. He took off his tattered outer cloak, then used it to wrap the mirror and tie it to his back like a very uncomfortable backpack.
The straps pressed against the burns on his back.
"Argh!" Tears of pain leaked from the corners of Elian's eyes. He wanted to scream, he wanted to give up and sleep here forever.
Don't be a crybaby. Elara is waiting for you.
He repeated the mantra in his heart over and over.
He stood up, his legs wobbling. The weight on his back nearly made him tip over backward.
He looked at the path home.
The stone pillars that served as the bridge earlier were mostly destroyed by the monster's Breath of Decay. The nearest distance between footholds was now about four meters.
Impossible to jump with this load.
"Master! The path is broken!" Elian shouted in despair.
Lunaria saw the situation. Her face hardened. She reached into her storage pouch and pulled out an emerald-green seed glowing brightly.
It was a Life Ivy Seed—a rare item from the Mist Forest usually used for emergencies.
Lunaria attached the seed to the tip of her arrow. She took a deep breath, concentrating her pure nature Mana into the arrow.
"Elian! Be ready to run when this arrow hits the water!"
Whoosh!
The arrow flew, striking a shattered stone pillar in the middle of the lake.
As the seed broke, an explosion of life occurred.
Giant vines grew with explosive speed, spreading from pillar to pillar, intertwining to form a sturdy but narrow green bridge over the black water. The plants glowed green, resisting the corrosion from the lake's toxic fumes for a short time.
"Run! That plant will die in one minute due to the swamp poison!"
Elian didn't wait for a second command. He ran.
His footsteps were heavy and halting. The mirror on his back hammered his burns every time he stepped. The ring on his finger dragged him down.
He navigated the root bridge. Below him, water Ghouls jumped like hungry piranhas, trying to grab his feet.
Snap!
One Ghoul hand managed to grab the hem of Elian's pants.
Elian stumbled, nearly falling sideways.
"Not this time!" Elian slashed downward with his left Karambit without looking. The blade severed the undead hand.
He kept running.
CRACKAAA!
The sound of exploding stone came from behind. The stalactite holding the monster finally shattered.
ROAAAAR!
Free from its restraints, the Grave-Shell Turtle went berserk. It slammed its front legs into the water, creating a massive wave that hit the root bridge where Elian was running.
The bridge swayed violently. Elian fell flat on his stomach, hugging the slippery root tight. Toxic water soaked his body.
"Get up!" Lunaria shouted. She fired a barrage of arrows at the monster's eyes to distract it.
Elian crawled. He couldn't stand anymore. He crawled the last ten meters like a wounded animal, dragging the mirror on his back.
Five meters.
Three meters.
The monster opened its mouth again. Grey light began to gather in its throat. A second Breath of Decay.
"LUNARIA!" Elian screamed.
Lunaria saw the danger. She couldn't stop the attack with arrows.
So, she did the only thing she could do. She jumped to the edge of the root bridge, extended her hand, and the vine suddenly shot out, elongating to wrap around Elian's waist, then yanked him roughly toward the exit.
WHOOOSH!
The breath of decay sprayed out, disintegrating the root bridge and the altar where the mirror had been into dust.
Elian's body flew through the air, pulled by Lunaria, and landed hard on the stone floor of the exit corridor.
Thud!
Elian rolled several times, protecting the mirror on his back from breaking.
"Move! Don't stop!" Lunaria grabbed Elian's tunic collar, forcing him to stand.
They ran down the temple corridor which began to collapse from the vibrations of the monster's rampage. Stone debris fell from the ceiling.
They only stopped when they were out of the cave mouth, back in the cold, foggy air of the Black Swamp.
Behind them, the entrance to the Sunken Temple collapsed completely, buried by a landslide of rock and mud, entombing the monster back into the darkness.
Elian fell to his knees in the swamp mud. He untied the mirror from his back with trembling hands.
"Hah... hah... hah..."
His breathing rasped like a grater. He coughed, fresh blood coming from his mouth—a side effect of inhaling a bit of the poison vapor earlier.
Lunaria stood beside him, also panting. Sweat soaked her forehead. Even for a high-tier Elf (who was hiding her power), that situation was too close to death because she had to limit her Mana output to avoid collapsing the cave.
She looked at Elian, who was sprawled like a bloody heap of meat.
Then, slowly, Lunaria knelt. She didn't scold Elian. She didn't mock him.
Her cold, soft hand touched Elian's cheek, which was hot with fever.
"You're crazy," Lunaria whispered. There was a strange tone in her voice. Not anger, but... fear? Or perhaps reluctant respect. "You blew up that stalactite. You gambled your life on a single throw with your left hand crippled by the ring."
Elian opened his heavy eyes. He smiled weakly, revealing bloodstained teeth.
"I... hate... turtles..."
Lunaria gave a short laugh. A laugh that sounded exhausted. "You truly are my student."
Lunaria took out a bottle of high-quality healing potion—a golden liquid—and fed it into Elian's mouth.
"Swallow this. It will prevent the infection from spreading to your heart. We can't stay here. The smell of your blood will invite Swamp Hydras."
Lunaria lifted the cloth-wrapped mirror with one hand, then helped Elian stand with the other.
"Let's go home, Elian. You got your ticket to see your sister."
***
The journey back to Stormwatch was a painful blur for Elian. He walked in a semi-conscious state, his legs moving automatically out of fear of death if he stopped.
As the morning sun began to shine on the walls of Stormwatch, Elian and Lunaria sneaked in through the sewers (again) to avoid gate inspection, as their blood and mud-covered condition would provoke questions.
They arrived at The Blind Seer shop in the Red Light District before it opened.
Lunaria kicked the wooden door. "Open up, Hag! We brought your order!"
Moments later, the door opened. Madam Vex stood there in her nightgown, her face sour. But when she saw the bundle on Lunaria's back, her blind eyes widened as if she could see.
"You... actually got it?" Vex sounded incredulous. "I thought you would die and become swamp rat food."
They entered. Lunaria placed the mirror on the table with a heavy thud. She uncovered it.
The Mirror of Souls gleamed dimly in the gloomy room.
Vex approached with trembling hands. She touched the mirror's surface.
"Ah... the cold of death... the scent of eternity..." Vex sighed ecstatically. "It's authentic."
"Where is our part?" Elian demanded. He slumped in a chair, his face pale as death, his eyes sunken. He looked like a walking corpse.
Vex didn't turn. She was still mesmerized by the mirror. She snapped her fingers, and a drawer behind her opened. A parchment scroll and a silver badge floated toward Elian.
"Map of the secret convent location on the Celestia border," Vex said without looking back. "And a Pilgrim's Badge. With that, you can cross the border without being inspected by Inquisitors. They respect mute pilgrims."
Elian caught the scroll. He opened it slightly.
A name was written there: Convent of Saint Marigold, Silent Valley.
"Saint Marigold..." Elian spelled out the name, storing it in his heart.
"Now go," Vex shooed them away, still caressing the mirror. "Before I change my mind and sell your information to Solara."
Lunaria snorted in disgust. She helped Elian out of the shop.
"Greedy old bat," Lunaria grumbled as they hit the street. "She didn't even offer a glass of water."
"Master..." Elian stopped walking. He stared at the silver badge in his hand.
"What is it?"
"That mirror..." Elian hesitated for a moment. "There was something inside it. Something that recognized me."
Lunaria stared at Elian sharply. "Cursed objects often try to deceive their owners. Forget what you saw. Don't let dead things manipulate your mind."
Elian nodded, but in his heart, he knew it wasn't a trick. The woman in the mirror... her smile was too real.
"We need to leave this city immediately," Lunaria said. "Your condition needs rest, but we aren't safe here. The Black Viper might be disbanded, but the disappearance of their leader will attract the attention of the city's true rulers."
"Where to?" Elian asked.
"To the harbor," Lunaria replied. "We won't go by land. We'll take a smuggler's ship to the west coast of the Kingdom of Noctis, then cross into Celestia through the mountains. It's a more dangerous route, but faster and with minimal Imperial patrols."
Elian looked toward the harbor, where ship masts swayed in the distance.
His body was broken. His emotions were drained. He had just faced death for the second time in a week. But as he gripped the map of his sister's location, the pain somehow became bearable.
Elian Vane, the little fugitive, had successfully completed his first impossible mission.
And on his left index finger, the Ring of Weight still coiled tightly, constantly forcing him to become stronger every second, forging his body in silence as he stepped toward the ship that would take him away from one hell into the next.