Chapter 28

28

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The outside of the castle looked as vibrant and pearlescent as it had for thousands of years. But upon entering, it was immediately obvious that some form of arson had been at play. The pungent scent of smoke and fire lingered all throughout the inner palace. Caste felt drawn to one room in particular. Within the charred confines of Delia's childhood bedchamber there sat a thick leather-bound journal atop a blackened cherry wood desk. It unfolded and opened right up at Casterline's touch. Scrawled in meticulously beautiful cursive lettering was a message written by Delia, "This book is for my eyes only. I have sent it off to my mother in hopes I may keep this secret all to myself. Two conditions must be met in order for this book to open. Condition One: I have died and the enchantment placed herein has perished along with me. Condition Two: I have decided to abandon the Kingdom of Krowne for whatever reason and am now able to access these writings with my own hands." Casterline flipped to the next page. "I'm fascinated by the voices I hear coming from the hidden chamber I found in the underground caverns of Krowne. Curiously, no one else can hear them and think I'm daft whenever I ask questions about the room. But I sense it so strongly. What lies beyond that door has been calling out to me. Calling to me, and me alone. Perhaps I am too young to venture inside? Perhaps my powers haven't become strong enough to be welcomed there yet?"

Page flip. "Gwenevier tried to hurt Karnelian today. She sent hunters after his White Lion Cub...and he took an arrow for it. His arm is badly wounded. I ran as fast as I could to catch up to him and when I found him, he was lying in a pool of blood. The scene haunts me. It has shown me how precious my prince is to me. It has taught me that I must become stronger, in order to protect the ones I love. And so, after he was sent off to the infirmary, I went to that locked room in the basement and I knelt and prayed as earnestly and as loudly as I could. Out loud and in my thoughts I prayed to those swirling, hush hush voices. I prayed for those voices to grant me a reprieve from my life here, if only for a moment. I was fearful of Gwenavier, worried for my prince, and homesick for my garden. Once this book arrives home, I'll imbue it with the power to make my garden everlastingly beautiful, with flowers always in full bloom. When my heart is heavy like it is now, I shall think fondly of my pink and purple roses, my cherry blossom trees, my dastardly little foxes...Oh, my lovely Fox Bloom Grove."

Page flip. The date written had suddenly advanced many years since the previous entry. Caste kept reading, "I've returned home but only temporarily. I haven't abandoned Karnelian's beloved homeland. I've come for a wellness check of my own people because..." Caste takes notice of the tear stains that have blotted the ink here. Though the writing is a bit faded, it is still legible enough for her to continue reading. "Something awful, frightening, terrible has taken hold of my child this day. I believe her Affinity has awakened...and none for the good. She is cursed by Darkness. I have Sealed her deadliest gift, though it is far too late to have done so now. My arms ache, my body feels heavy, but I forced myself to head to the basement. I forced my trembling hands up, I knelt on wobbly knees and I prayed harder than I've ever prayed to be granted a reprieve from this life I lead, if only for a single second of solace from this pain. And lo, I pressed my head against the door with tears streaking down my unseemly face. I placed my fingers round the knob and pushed, ever so gently. The whispering muses on the other side grew aggressively loud in their chatter. And I fell through, into a room with yet another door! The Mirror Door, I've decided to call it. Within that mirror...lies another world. The room did call me to it for all the years I've lived here, but only now, when everything I know and love is being destroyed, has it granted me my peace. The whispering voices have vanished and all that's left are the strange languages of the humans and animals on the other side of my Mirror Door. Perhaps this can be my home too, someday? Perhaps there are medicines there that can save us from that which my beloved child has unleashed...that which she is inflicted by through no fault of her own."

Page flip. "The Mirror Door cannot save us all, as I'd dreamt it would. When I went to my Knights and asked them to witness the glorious room with me, the caverns changed completely. The basement room was nowhere to be found. Everything was so different that we eventually wound up lost! I apologized profusely to my men and the very moment I chose to give up my trying to show them my Mirror Door, our ability to return to the Castle above became the easiest route we'd taken all day. Stubbornness prevailing in me, I bade the Knights good day and traveled right back down there...and entered the room just fine! And so, it is with a heavy heart that I realize no one but I shall ever hold love for this mysterious other world...the one called Earth. It is beautiful and wondrous there. And so very advanced, it seems. I've come to long for this world very deeply. I often wish I'd been given life there instead. But I shall pray here. I shall pray here everyday. For the Powers That Be to grant my Kingdom...nay...to grant my entire world...a miracle."

Blank pages ever after. So this is what Delia had been describing to her upon their meeting within the Tarot Cards. But wait...who was Delia again? What Tarot Cards? A powerful twinge of pain shot through her head as Caste thought back to a hazy conversation with the blurred visage of The Blonde Woman who'd written in this precious journal years and years ago.

"If I shatter the Mirror I'll never make it back home."

"If you shatter the Mirror you'll be saving your home world. You can't convince her to come with you. She'll destroy everything whether she intends to or not. That is the nature of her Darkness. But if you best her, Odinsai will be free of her curse and you can search the lands for powerful Nobility. These Nobles may be able to help you reconstruct my Mirror. I know it's terrifying but it's the only choice you really have. Fiaerna is frightfully lonely and drunk with power. She's a danger that must be irradicated lest your Earth meet the same fate as our Odinsai. Now do what you must!"

Casterline's head swam as she reeled with confusion. What were these fragmented images trying to convey? What was this urgency welling up inside of her? "There you are." When she turned 'round to face her companion, Fiaerna swiftly and suddenly grabbed Caste's face, her whole hand covering her eyes, nose, and mouth. Casterline couldn't breathe, a surge of panic ripped through her but there was nothing she could do. Her entire body was paralyzed from fear or a wicked Spell, or perhaps both. "Now sleep as you always do. It's time to play." As Caste lay immobile and unconscious, Fiaerna disguised herself as Harumi. She'd done so after reading Caste's memories and decided to enjoy manipulating Casterline's mind one last time before the final boss. Upon waking, Casterline found herself strapped into a Virtual Reality headset and body suit. "You're in, Mommy! The network dive worked!" Harumi said with a malicious grin. "Net...work dive? What do you mean, Harumi? Mommy's head hurts a lot so she doesn't understand..."

"Disori...distorti...°disorientation° is normal when you log in for the first time, Mama! It's OK, I got a big ouchie when I first started playing too! But it went away real fast so you should be ok soon. And then you can choose your fighty stick thingy and we can go on an adventure together! Grandma Kat and Daddy said they'd take us out for ice cream if we cleared this map all on our own, remember? So we gotta do our best to take down the big bad guy!" Using her daughter's speech patterns and mannerisms, Fiaerna had fully convinced Caste that they were simply playing a VR Simulation Game in an Arcade in Japan, that Daddy and Grandma chose a separate side of the adventure map and that if she killed the boss quickly enough, the other part of the map would open up and she'd be reunited with her mother and husband so they could all go out to eat together. And to Fiaerna's delight, she believed every word. Just as the child had said, the painful throbbing in her temples subsided quickly. She took a few moments to learn the ins and outs of her available skills and weaponry before immersing herself in the game. "This is so much fun, Rumi!" Caste exclaimed as she jumped and stabbed at the lesser beasts surrounding them with the broadsword she'd found in her Equipment Interface. Pink sparks blazed from the weapon as she poised herself for a charged spin attack. The Area of Effect attack took down twelve monsters in one swing. Harumi smiled wickedly but said nothing as she watched on. So much fun, indeed. She clapped and cheered for her mother as she continued to take down spawn after spawn of monsters.

Eventually, Harumi even joined in. Her attacks were incredibly weak, resulting in only one damage per attack. Her weapon was a silver spiral staff which stood at the full height of her body. A perfectly rounded Amethyst sat cradled within the spiral's rotating center. It seemed to act as an energy core for Harumi's Spells. Though she hadn't seemed to grasp the concept of the Magic imbued within it, choosing instead to smack the monsters atop the head with it. Caste came over to help her unlock the staff's true power. She knelt down beside the little girl, gingerly holding the child's hands in her own. "Hold the hilt of the wand with all your might and think of a big, pretty spell shooting out like a bottle rocket." Caste knew fireworks were one of Harumi's most favorite things to see in the whole wide world, she'd said so herself during last year's New Year's Hanabi Festival. And so it was a bit jarring to see Harumi's sweet little face turn intently serious as she concentrated on a Sparkling Pink Slime with fluffy ears and a poofy tail. There was such a deep, dark coldness in those eyes. It chilled Casterline to the bone. She raised the wand with the accuracy of a trained assassin and let loose an extravagant fireworks display upon the poor, unsuspecting Slime. It whined in agony before exploding into a shower of glitter that fell down around them like a gentle rain. "Impressive!" Caste said as the last of the glitter fell away. "Did I do good, Mama?" Casterline smiled and nodded approvingly. "Frankly, I'm °shocked° by how good you are at this game, my little marksman. I can't wait to show Daddy, can you?"

Caste made yet another mental note of Harumi's hesitant confirmation. It was as if Harumi had matured since that morning. She no longer held the sweet, innocent spark Caste loved and adored so much. Perhaps it was simply a byproduct of the game they were playing, causing each user to act as stoically as a true to life hero? She herself felt very empowered with a Magical weapon in her hands and so she brushed it off as a pointless and unfounded worry. Striking Vipers slithered up to them from all sides and forcing them to turn back to back, Caste cutting down one side, with Harumi blasting beautiful pyrotechnic marvels at the other. By the time the sun began to sink beneath the horizon to paint the sky with twilight colors, Caste had grown tired and offered to take a break from fighting mob monsters so that they could explore the lovely garden they'd chanced upon as they traversed the game's map. There were pink and purple roses everywhere, long vines, freshly bloomed cherry blossom trees, ivy sprawling all across the outer walls of the large pearl castle. Exotic flora stretched on and on across the horizon. The expansive garden seemed incredibly healthy and well taken care of, despite there being only devilish creatures in the area.

Not a human in sight, aside from themselves. Perhaps this game wasn't popular? Recently deserted due to a worldwide server shutdown maybe? "But it's all so beautiful..." Caste muttered aloud, stopping herself mid-step before accidentally crushing an incredibly fat, bulbous flower. She found the little thing truly enchanting. She leaned down to smell the delightful aroma wafting from this particular flower but the two open petals quickly curled around it, closing off access. She gently touched the enclosed petals and the flower let out a squeak. Her curiosity turned to surprise as the two petals popped open again, this time revealing a fox-like face within the flower. A poofy little fox tail popped out from the flowers base. And suddenly four whole rows of the foxes awakened to stare up at her.

Before she could express her fondness for them, Harumi abruptly pulled her back. "Read their Data, Mommy." With an unsettlingly serious face, Harumi tapped at the invisible Interface before her, causing a description of the floral fiends to pop up just above their Titles and HP Bars, which each individually read as Fox Bloom 99/99. Their eyes wandered upward to the Description Screen. "Fox Blooms: A highly dangerous and spiteful species. Emits noxious gas when stepped on. Said gas causes instantaneous confusion and paralysis to offender. Effects can only be nullified with powerful White Magic. Healing Tonics do nothing. Will make yipping noises to lure trespassers into touching them. This action is only safe when their ears are fully enfolded. Do not be fooled by their cuddly appearance. Threat Level: Deadly"