Altera entered the narthex of the “Crystal Temple of Twice”. She lowered her head and walked through the nave past six rows of banks, where the visitors had closed their eyes as they whispered their prayers to the Godking. Snippets of their pleads and gratitude reached Altera’s ear. It seemed, in its desire for decadence, the city of sin strengthened the faithful’s conviction to Twice.

Altera’s steps slowed down, and her eyes scanned the church’s interior.

Its size couldn’t compare to the ones in Midgard, but just like them, it had adopted a vaixian-style layout that resembled a church. Churches belonged to the culture of Vaix, but their design and means for organized masses had impressed Allfather Farmatyr, who had eschewed the temples Midgard used for their prayers for the Vaixian churches, and the other kingdoms followed. Only Kemet-Raa preferred mosques since they revered the sun god Raa, and Utgardians and some Avalonians still used temples.

Some Midgardians said that the kingdom had lost its way when they adopted foreign culture into their religion, but would Twice care for such trivialities? She didn’t care either since she had been grown up knowing only churches. It wasn’t until the incident in the Rising Forest that she had set foot in a temple for the first time.

Incenses and light music for the prayers filled the atmosphere. Altera inhaled the scents and let the sounds soothe her mind.

How nostalgic. A smile appeared on Altera’s face.

She used to pray every day before she had started her Bragi. Back in Auster, she could always count on the church. The villagers might have hated her, wished to get rid of her, or indulged in worse desires, but in church, no one could harm her. No one dared to shed blood within the rooms man had dedicated to Godking Twice. It had been her sanctuary and retreat, and whenever she entered a church, Twice protected her and listened to her plights.

Past the crossing, Altera reached the chancel surrounding the altar and ascended its three steps. She entered the mirror circle and kneeled in front of the statue, where two crystals combined into a humanoid shape lacking any anatomical details. The right shone in cobalt, the left in cerulean light. Altera raised her arms and intertwined her fingers. Whispers breezed out of her lips for Twice to hear.

Ever since she had entered Utgard, her emotions had been in disarray, and she couldn’t blame it all on her bipolar disorder. The fake Ragna had a point when she had berated her for her selfishness during the seventh trial.

At times, she wished to have Ragna all for herself. Altera’s soul started to burn whenever Ragna paid attention to anyone but her. A fire raged inside her. Its embers might linger, but how long until they blazed into an inferno that could turn the world to ashes?

She should be mending her relationship with Eric, yet her thoughts circled back to Ragna. Altera had to focus before her behavior burned all the bridges. And why did she obsess over her best friend?

Altera took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Her finger brushed over the mirror circle. “Thank you for listening to my words again.”

The glass fragmented her image into several reflections, all looking back at her. She rocked her head, inspecting herself from different angles. The mirror images copied her movements and looked back at her.

Altera smiled. Wow. She was pretty.

Suddenly, her reflection vanished, leaving behind an empty surface on the glass.

“Huh?” Altera’s fingers touched the crystal, and a white light burst. All colors within the church faded out.

֎

Altera’s eyes shifted through the space. She pressed her partisan against her chest and let the Orichalcum armor cover her body.

Where was she?

Black and white squares spread out on the floor until they escaped her peripheral vision. In random intervals, pieces of a wall would connect to the ground, continuing the pattern on their surface.

Mana filled the atmosphere, and crystal pillars copied Altera’s image, creating innumerable reflections. Their eyes had locked onto her. They watched every move she made, about to cast their judgment.

Altera kept her pace and lowered her neck. She balanced from one foot to the other, and whether she had to go into offense or defense, she could take either stance. The atmosphere was pressing against her shoulders, and she couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone was watching her.

Altera spun her partisan in a half-arc. Its head chinked against the rapier’s point and pulled the weapon down. The girl with the unicorn hair clicked her tongue. She jumped back and freed her rapier from Altera’s lockdown.

“I remember you. You were with Clockwork.” Altera lowered her partisan. Thorns grew from the ground, forming a ring that imprisoned them inside. “Have you brought me into this world to avenge your comrades?”

Altera carried her partisan over her shoulder. She stepped forward, and the girl walked backward. “I’ve no interest in any quarrel. Even an untrained child should realize the difference in power between us.” Wings spread from Altera’s back, and ice had covered the ring’s half behind her.

The girl growled and pressed her lips together.

Altera raised the palm of her hand to the air and curled her fingers. She continued to walk, stealing the space from her opponent. The girl retreated further back until her back pressed against one of the crystal pillars.

Altera’s voice shifted and deepened. Like steel cut her words through the air. “You’re trapped, and you can’t defeat me. If you wish for me to release this prison, then give up. Trying to fight me will end up in your defeat. And if you can’t quelch your desire for vengeance, then become stronger first before you challenge me. So, what will you do?”

The girl didn’t say a word. Raising her hand, she showed Altera her middle finger and let her body fall against a pillar.

The crystal glowed in white light, and the girl disappeared. A second later, her image looked down on her on the mirror’s surface, flipping the bird a second time before it vanished.

“Rude.” Altera walked towards the pillar and knocked against it.

Nothing happened.

Well, she should have expected that. That girl might be a child, but she had survived as a criminal and developed a Fylgja. She couldn’t defeat a Valkyrie candidate in combat, but she wouldn’t make a mistake like leaving a door open. If Altera had interpreted her ability correctly, that girl could use mirrors like portals into another world. Did she create this world, or had she transported her to the Mana Realm? It would explain the abundance of Mana particles in the air.

Altera looked up. Piece of the checkboard field floated in the sky, and crystals grew out of the air like thorns out of a flower’s stem.

“If nothing else, this world seems to abandon physics as much as Ymir’s tower,” she said to herself.

She beat her wings and ascended into the sky.

If she flew high enough, a birds-eye-view of this realm might help find an exit.

֎

Altera navigated through the crystals, passing by the spiraling patterns of black and white until her eyes latched onto an azure patch that stuck out of the environment. A hole in the sky through which a light without luster shone.

Her wings beat faster. Altera’s speed increased. She shot through the orifice, and the sky opened. A vast azure sea greeted her as far as her eyes could see while a colorless gas giant loomed on the horizon in the sun’s stead.

Wait a minute…

Altera’s eyes gazed down. Below her radiated a castle light upon a barren island. A colorless ocean surrounded this piece of land that contained nothing but stone and sand. From the palace, numerous spires raged into the sky. Staircases spiraled around them like a double helix, and through the windows, the black-and-white patterns peeked through.

She didn’t imagine it. This girl had transported her to the Sea of Emptiness. She couldn’t see the crosses or the skyscrapers, but the atmosphere around her felt the same. That also meant that she was within the Mana Realm. In that case, this might work.