Chapter 12: Reversed Mirrors

Shiori was back in the Emporia, tears streaming down her face.

She had read about that world for hours. Book after book. But when a heroic knight faced a Colossal Kryptic or a brave Speaker fought a corrupt Usurper warlord it seemed tragic and romantic. The people’s suffering wasn’t a story. It was real.

She felt silly now that she’d seen the truth. She had seen giants crushed by the boy in front of her.

No, he wasn’t a boy. He might be the same age as her upperclassman, but not a boy.

He was a monster.

He burned a fellow soldier’s body without remorse, killed enemies with disdain, and left his comrades to die in a trap he created.

In the Emporia between their minds, he felt her disgust with him. He looked down.

“We hadn’t imagined the Princess would be outside of Nyx. I barely survived a portal to this world. When I arrived, I found the entire castle under a spell, but the Speaker who cast it was gone. I took advantage of the spell to disguise myself.”

“That’s why everyone thought you were a student here,” she said.

He nodded. “I’m not good with that style of magic, but I managed.”

“And you recognized me as the Princess.”

“The old books say Royalty has a power about them. Their words carry effortless energy. I felt energy around you.”

Shiori recalled how he had looked at her across the school’s courtyard the instant the mirror vibrated in her bag.

“You’re special,” he continued, “someone like you could push back against the darkness. People need you. People in Felthal, where I grew up, need you.”

“You’re their soldier. You want those people to like you.”

“Maybe I do.”

“If I help, can I come home after or will they kill me? Am I to be your prisoner?”

“I…” he hesitated, and that told her everything, “I wouldn’t let that happen.”

Shiori recalled Motohara-senpai’s warning. Speakers were searching for her, trying to kill her. “What if I go with you?” she asked. “Can you guarantee my safety? Can I trust you? The people there want to kill Royals almost as much as the monsters do.”

He frowned. “I’ll do everything I can to protect you. I promise. People need you. A lot of good men died to bring you back to Nyx.”

“Those good men didn’t like you much.”

“Most good men don’t,” he said. She felt his despair, even if she couldn’t know his thoughts. He wasn’t supposed to charm the Princess for aid. It was supposed to be the more sociable Ribald.

Otonashi hadn’t known anyone who liked him since his mother passed. How was he supposed to get a Princess to trust him?

He sighed, “I can’t return you to Nyx right now. I lost the tool that brought me here.”

She was almost frustrated that it had been easy to figure out how the Outlander had gotten here. She had wasted her first Emporia question, since he planned to show her everything. She considered Motohara’s plan.

At the thought of Motohara her stomach fluttered. She wanted to be with him, whether that meant bringing him back or traveling to him.

Otonashi must have sensed her desire. “Are you willing to go?”

Shiori almost denied it but reconsidered. “You lost the portal-opening tool?”

Otonashi winced. “They were Reversed Mirrors. Tools formed around a hole in reality. They see into each other and even open portals to each other. It’s difficult, risky, and there are rules about when it can be done.”

“How did you form a portal here?”

He waved a hand at her. “The temple is connected to Royals. Long ago they used it to travel freely between realms. Regular Speakers like me have a hard time traveling between realms, but many rules don’t apply to a Royal like you, Princess.”

That told Shiori everything she needed to know about Otonashi’s arrival. She couldn’t wait to tell Motohara-senpai.

The portal that took him away was meant to capture her. Ribald created it, but Motohara reacted quickly and pushed her out of the way.

The stranger who ran after falling through the portal was Motohara. How had he survived? Thankfully he had the presence of mind to take a Reversed Mirror. Without that they’d have never been able to communicate.

Shiori finally knew what the bookmark was. It hadn’t been in the book when Motohara had given it to her. It had fallen next to her, possibly through the fractured remnants of the portal that Ribald had created.

It was a Reversed Mirror, a portable hole in space. Motohara had the other one. Using those mirrors, perhaps Shiori or Motohara could open a portal back.

She couldn’t trust Otonashi to open the portal for her. She didn’t want to go to Nyx. Otonashi’s memory had haunted her.

Otonashi shook his head, “Royalty like you Princess can open portals at will. I must teach you magic to get us there even if we can’t find the mirror. Unless we find the mirror, and hope it leads somewhere safe.”

“You can open a portal connecting the two mirrors?”

“Objects like the mirrors let Speakers direct portal openings. They’re valuable. I’d like to return them to Felthal.

It had been too easy. She had everything Motohara needed. She knew how the Outlander had come and how to get the same job done. She had gotten the Outlander to promise to teach her magic.

There were a few loose ends. “You said someone had been doing magic here.”

Otonashi nodded. “Your castle is riddled with odd magic. I figured it was used to control your subjects.”

“Subjects?” Shiori asked, processing what he said. “This is a school. Those are my classmates.”

“That makes sense,” Otonashi said. “They don’t pay you proper respect as a Princess.”

Shiori almost laughed. “But not just around the school. Ribald said someone nearby used magic when he formed the portal.”

Otonashi nodded.

“When you found us in the park, was it because someone used magic nearby?”

He nodded again.

“Could the park magic have been the mirror?”

Otonashi shook his head. “I can’t sense the mirror. I felt a spell.”

Motohara’s plan didn’t include this, but Shiori was convinced another Speaker was on Earth and involved in recent disasters over the last couple days.

A Speaker cast a spell when Motohara-senpai was giving her the book. It was probably the same Speaker that had cast spells around her school and directed the Kryptic shadows to attack with a different spell.

Motohara heard a Speaker was searching for her to kill her.

After Emporia, she didn’t want to go with Otonashi, but he wasn’t trying to kill her. She didn’t trust him, but didn’t think he wanted to kill her.

She’d be dead otherwise.

“Any other questions for this Emporia?”

She shook her head and felt his satisfaction that this had gone well.

Shiori felt the same satisfaction. Next, she had to learn magic, save her senpai from another world, and avoid getting killed by an unseen assassin wizard.