[-1 Infinite Mirror]

I choked, nearly biting my tongue off. The nightmarish memory of my acid-burned flesh being converted into clouds of sparkling nanites shaped like snowflakes was pulsating in the forefront of my mind.

The croissan'wich fell from my hands, bacon spilling across the fancy, Art Nouveau table of the cafe portraying the avatar of Nemendias blessing students with magic scrolls. I had full control of my body once again - I was no longer bound by Eunice into absolute obedience. My knuckles turned white as I gripped the edge of the table tightly, staring at the face of Nemendias and hyperventilating.

I distantly heard someone asking me things, trying to get my attention. My mind was still there, in the future Andross that was being devoured by machine life, my consciousness clinging to a doomed timeline. Were there infinite mirrors within infinite mirrors? Was I now a chain of Yulias stretching backwards in time across the fractal multiverse, interconnected by magic and the power of Sempiternity?

I let go of the table and rubbed my burning face, trying to calm my rapidly beating heart. My eyes finally settled on the faces of my worried companions.

“Juni? Can you hear me?” Emerald was holding tightly onto my hand. “Did you have another vision? What did you see?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I died... a bit too soon if you ask me. First Barrie… now Eunice. Life is becoming far too dangerous for this little cendai.”

I thought about what I had just learned. I now carried a grave understanding of sorts in my mind’s eye. I knew more about Infinity and about Inaria… or Eureka. There were people up there too, somehow still alive, trudging on through the snow, ignoring the flesh-eating clouds of machine death. How? What was the secret of Charles Snippy? How did he survive in that desolate place where the wind and snow consumed people? Did the killer nanites not target the Eureka-born? Was this the answer to the mystery of the nearest Inarian or was there something else that I was missing?

The most important thing I had learned was that Eunice wasn’t invincible, nor the biggest threat to local humanity. The breath of the Dead Zone, the storm clouds of microscopic superweapons, was simply waiting out there, eager for someone to open the gate, to get to Andross… onto "Installation Rozaline" where it would consume all. The Infinite Dungeon wasn’t something natural… It was made, manufactured, part of some ancient project made by Eurekans or perhaps by their machines.

I stared at the magitek clock on the wall. Soon my sister would send the S-O-S and I would be pulled onto a path from which there was no turning. All I had to do was show Eunice that I could use Endy and then the arch-cendai would activate the hidden hexagram within me and use me to open the way to… Eureka and unleash annihilation.

What could I do to step away from doomsday, to street the future away from the looming catastrophe? Endy couldn't help me defeat the arch-cendai. Infinity’s key could destroy concepts, unlock them out of existence, but it had to touch them in order to do so. Endy was powerful, sure, but it was extremely limited in range, limited by my own perception of concepts, and took too bloody long to utilize.

One by one, my eyes drifted over the faces of my friends.

An understanding dawned upon me - I had a power far beyond that of Endy and Eunice. I had something that the arch-cendai did not even comprehend in her lonesome, millennia-long existence - the power of friendship and support that bound my little group together. The power of human connections. I had completely disregarded my friends in my prior run and failed because of it.

“Agatha, take me to Lomb,” I said, standing up.

. . .

As the glider flew towards the township of Lomb, I called Antoine, Anniya and Lambert, asking them to meet me at the tower.

Once again, my sister called me via the Domion threads asking for help and then confessed about the deathshawl. This time I was a lot calmer, a lot more collected. I knew exactly what was at stake now.

We left Arouetta outside of the office as the rest of our group filed in.

The Inspector was already there, sitting behind his desk, with Anniya and Antoine framing him at the ready. It seemed that Lambert had not completely surrendered his position as the absolute authority of Lomb.

“Inspector,” I said, sitting down and facing the trio. “I need your help.”

“We can do everything within the Imperial law,” Lambert answered.

“This might potentially fall outside of the law,” I rubbed the back of my neck.

“Hrm,” Lambert stared at me wearily.

“What’s powering the tower of Lomb?” I turned to Antoine. “What is it that allows tourists to bring down dragons with a repulsor ray? What sort of magitek permits the formation of a magic shield over all of Lomb and even the little villages beyond it?”

“The heart of a dragon,” Antoine replied. “A catalytic crystalline-organic mana to spell-fire converter. The heart is held within a magitek engine I designed myself.”

“How big is it? Can it be removed from the tower and still function?” I asked.

“Out of the question,” Lambert shook his head. “We cannot leave Lomb undefended - we don’t have another dragonheart to spare!”

“Can it be removed on a technical level?” I looked at Antoine. “Could it power a single armacus, magnify a single wizard’s power?”

“Technically… it can,” Antoine nodded. “I don’t know how a single wizard would carry one around though - it is twice as tall as I am.”

“Not a problem,” I said. “I’ve got a big bag.”

Lambert frowned.

“Inspector, I want to rent out your dragon heart,” I declared, looking directly at Lambert.

Lambert stared at me with wide eyes for a moment like I was completely mad.

“What price can you possibly offer me that offsets the safety of everyone in Lomb?” He asked, having recomposed himself. “What is it that requires you to disable our tower and to break every rule in the book?”

“The lives of everyone on Andross,” I said, putting my hand upon the truth-sphere. “Plus... I will tell you the true name of Inaria!”

There was a spark of hunger in Lambert’s eyes. He shuddered visibly as the room became bathed in green shimmers cast by the green auroras blossoming in the artifact beneath my fingers.

“Tell me everything,” he said after a deep pause.

“There is a threat to humanity that is perhaps greater than that of chimera cendai,” I began. “Living death that exists on the surface of Inaria. You know that the infinite city is cursed, but what you do not know is that the curse itself is coordinated and self aware as much as you and I are. Sentient death persists on the surface of the infinite city. It cannot be halted or held back by magic. It seeks to come to us to devour all life. Its true name is the Dead Zone.”

I spoke for a while. My friends’ faces became more aghast with every revelation that emerged from my mouth. I told them how I killed a deathshawl with Endy and how my Master used me as a key to open the gateway to Eureka. I explained to them in magitek terms what Infinity was and how she was a concept akin to Dawn - a living being manifesting within the End gates and also the speaker for the Dead Zone, for a magogenic, sentient catastrophe that covered the vast surface of the the silent city of Eureka.

“I need your help,” I said, turning to each of my companions as I was done with my tale. “I’ve come to all of you with my truth, revealed to you that I am from another world, and opened my heart to all of you. I need the aid of the Foundation of Dawn, so that all of us may continue to live in peace, to reach all of our dreams without being converted into clouds of microscopic death.”

"You know… the lawful thing to do would be to confine, hide you and to take that knife away from you and destroy it," Lambert commented.

"That is true," Anniya nodded. "This artifact is a threat to all of us. It needs to be destroyed."

"You think that anyone from Andross would be able to damage the concept of infinity?" I offered Endy to Lambert and Anniya. "Eunice could do nothing against the Dead Zone and she is likely the strongest archmage in the Empire. Grogtilda’s father told me that the gate in Undertown is immovable, unyielding to both magic and fire. You’re welcome to try to break the knife.”

Lambert took the black knife from me and handed it to Antoine.

"Tell me what this is," the Inspector said.

Colorful lenses clicked on the artificer’s face, replacing one after the other. A frown appeared on his mouth and then his jaw fell open.

“This thing has no imprint, no shadow cast into the Astral,” Antoine finally said as he rotated Endy in his gloved hands. “It’s inert… absolutely inert. Magical zero. It doesn’t make any sense. Even common rocks have the tiniest bit of magic in them.”

He pulled a gemstone capped wand and waved it over the knife.

“Nothing,” he said. “This metal… whatever it is… is completely impervious to magic. Mag-waves simply bounce off it or go around it.”

“Huh,” I pondered. “Would armor made from this metal make me completely invincible?”

“Well… only against very specific, linear effect spells,” Antoine mulled. “But yes… armor made from this metal would theoretically make one impervious to direct magical attacks. Not radiance, astral-transient or allure magic though. Radiance-magic will find holes, go around or even beneath it.”

“I don’t think that hiding this knife would stop the arch-cendai’s plan. Eunice seemed pretty confident that she would be able to locate the knife if I were to die,” I said at Lambert. “I do wonder how she could do something like that.”

“The knife is very distinctive because it lacks magic. It also has a very specific, unchanging shape,” Antoine mulled. “Theoretically… if Eunice has a big enough presence in the Astral, if every single one of her angels is a re-broadcaster of her Astral-resonance, all she has to do is look for a knife-shaped void.”

“Of course!” I gritted my teeth. “That's how she always knows where the knife is! That’s how she knows where I am. That’s why she wasn’t worried to hand Endy to me, to let me go to Illatius!”

"Indeed," Lambert nodded with a sigh. "As much as it pains me to admit it - we have no choice but to break protocol. Doing the lawful thing would doom your chimera sister and only delay the inevitable. Eunice has Illatius under wraps - her Archmage cendai would undoubtedly find a way to get you and bring you and the knife to her by force."

He looked at Anniya. The female Inspector lifted her armacus to her face.

“As the new, acting Inspector of Lomb,” Anniya spoke into her armacus. “I hereby order the tower of Lomb temporarily decommissioned… due to an unforeseen breakdown of the dragonheart core catalyst engine.”

I smiled.

“How long would it take to take the heart out of the tower?” I asked Antoine.

“Not long,” he said, handing Endy back to me. “Especially if I have extra hands to do the job. Come! I’ll need all of you to come help me decouple the brackets!”

Everyone present nodded or voiced their affirmation of assistance. It was good to have friends!

. . .

The door of Galissi unlocked, letting me out. I stepped down the unfurled metal steps, my boots sinking into the gold sand. I glanced at the mossy edge onto a row of waterfalls and set off in a direction towards the skull.

When I came closer to it I noticed that Eunice was looking down at me from the balcony of her home, a sanguine smile sitting on her face. She was confident that her little, chimera-shaped tool was ready to be tested against a powerful chasm monster. That if I killed the deathshawl and proved my worth, the gate beneath her home would finally reveal the secrets of Inaria to her.

“Greetings, my monci,” Eunice said as I passed by her.

I shook my armacus-covered arm at my Master.

“Call him back,” I said.

“Call whom back?” The arch-cendai raised a gray eyebrow.

“The deathshawl!” I said. “I know it was you. If you got him to climb atop of my home, then you can send him back into the bloody Chasm!”

Eunice barked a laugh.

“You’re more astute than I expected, monci,” she finally said. “The deathshawl is a test of your skills. If you want your sister safe, you must defeat it.”

“No,” I said, trudging through the sand.

“No?” Eunice raised an eyebrow. “She will die soon if you do nothing. Do you not care for her safety at all? Was I wrong in my evaluation of your relationship?”

I ignored her, walking across the edge of the garden.

“What are you doing, monci?” She asked, observing my trudging.

“Angry pacing!” I replied. “I’m bloody scared, okay? I don’t wanna fight your bloody deathshawl! I know that it spits acid! It’s going to melt my face off! By the Still Forest, I’m only four winters old, Master! Why do you do this to me?! I don’t want to die!”

“Then your sister will get eaten,” Eunice said simply.

“Thanks!” I barked angrily. “Thanks a lot for everything, Master!”

“Being angry at me won’t solve this,” the arch-cendai shook her head. “Killing the deathshawl will. I’m confident that I’ve trained you enough to defeat it. You’ve proven yourself to be a capable cendai! Use the knife I gave you! Destroy the monster! Amadea told me that you can dismantle magic spells - strike down the deathshawl and I will reward you!”

“Nope, I’m scared,” I paced off away from Eunice.

In a few minutes I reached the edge of the cliff, momentarily looked down onto the Chasm and turned around, pacing along the same path I had made in the sand.

The arch-cendai was still standing on her balcony. She looked annoyed. Her plan wasn’t working as intended. I wasn’t rushing off like an idiot to save my sister.

“Go and strike down the beast,” she said. “You’re wasting time.”

“Let me pace for a bit!” I shouted back. “I’m dealing with a lot of issues here, okay?”

“What sort of issues?” She asked as I walked by her.

“Personal issues,” I replied. “You’ve put a lot of responsibility on me and I’m having a bit of a panic attack. Just let me pace for a bit around your lovely garden… I am building up the confidence to go face a monster way above my level, damn it!”

“Fine,” Eunice rolled her eyes. “I can wait. Your sister on the other hand...”

She shook her head, sat down onto a bone-carved bench and opened up a book.

I trudged onward, praying that the dragonskull wouldn't melt too quickly under the assault of the deathshawl.