Meera stared at the circle around her wrist, and it reflected the planet above. She brought it closer to her face and could even see her reflection. It was a mirror in the shape of a bangle. It was about a centimeter in width. She ran her finger along the outer edge, winced, and pulled her hand away. It's sharp.

She looked back to the mirror, hoping her reflection would do something different, but it did not. It was a boring reflection that followed everything she did. Then in the mirror, a giant appeared behind her.

She yelped as she jumped forward, turned around, and put her back to the mirror, which was now solid for some reason.

The older man with a long beard stared down at her. "How did you do that?"

"I-I'm not sure," Meera stammered. "I just thought about going home, and I—"

"Do it again!" He commanded. His tone suggested that he would take no arguments.

Not like Meera was going to argue with him. She was only so happy to comply. She quickly tried to ram her hand through the mirror again, and she couldn't this time. Frowning, she tried again with the other hand. When that didn't work, she tried both hands. Finally, she pushed on the mirror with her entire body.

"Stop," the old man drawled. "For a moment, I thought you were someone special."

Meera would have been offended if she wasn't so scared. The man dwarfed her by a good two heads, at least. The seven-foot giant grumbled something and was about to turn when his eyes fell on the mirror or bangle or whatever you would call it on her wrist.

His eyes widened, and he asked, in a hushed tone, almost a whisper. "What is that?"

"I don't know," Meera answered truthfully. "I got it when my hand went through the mirror."

He squinted at her, making her squirm. "You're saying that she allowed you to reach in and pull out a gift as mighty as that."

"B-But it's just a bangle made out of a mirror. It will break easily."

He sighed and rolled his eyes, and the entirety of his bushy brows seemed to shake with it. "It's not just some jewelry. That is perhaps the greatest gift she has given anyone in two thousand years."

Meera's eyes popped open. "This. Are you sure? It doesn't seem—"

"Use Identify on it."

She looked at the bangle and then back at the towering man. Without sounding too stupid, she stared at the mirror bangle intently, and nothing happened.

The giant sighed, and his shoulders drooped. "By the rings of Mirithia, all of you newbies are so idiotic." He spoke to her next as if he were speaking to a child. "Identify is one of your general skills. You must have been granted it. When you were sitting there, staring off into space, you must have been going over your stats, attributes, and skills. Am I correct?"

Meera gave a single nod.

"Was Identify one of the skills granted?"

Again, she nodded.

"Then use it."

Meera hated to sound like an idiot. "Yes, but how? I've never used it before."

He crushed the thorny fruit in his hand. "Look at that gift and—look at it," he snapped.

Meera dropped her gaze to the bangle and kept it there.

"Now, think about the Identify skill or even call out its name if you have to."

So, Meera did as asked. "Identify."

A ringing sound in her head, like a bell, made her jump.

*ding!*

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[You have acquired the Chakram of Echoes. It is a mythical weapon granted only to those blessed by Midiea. A Chakram is primarily a throwing weapon, but you can also use it in melee combat. You can toss this weapon into a horde of enemies, and it will always return to you. This Chakram will multiply into more as you level up.]

Again, the words in her vision didn't disappear until she said, "Stop."

She looked at the giant, who was no longer there. She frowned and looked around, and he was back among the trees, picking another fruit from one of the branches, but curiously, his head was still towards her. She ran toward him. For as much as he scared her, she needed answers. Answers to a whole lot of questions.

"Wait, please," Meera called as she approached him. Either he didn't listen or pretended not to, as he kept staring ahead. "I have a few questions."

He didn't respond and kept staring intently at something. She followed his gaze, and it turned out he was staring at the mirror.

"Excuse me," Meera tried again. "I'm sorry for disturbing you, but I had a few questions I was hoping you could answer."

"No," he replied.

"But-But, I—" She felt her voice edging towards choking up. She hated appearing weak, but more than that, she was confused. She didn't know what to say, so she tried for the truth. "Listen, please help me. I came here to find my brother because my reflection in the mirror said he was in trouble. Then I get here, and all this business about systems, abilities, and stats is overwhelming. If you can please answer a few questions, I promise I will leave you alone to your…staring."

"Three questions," the giant replied without looking at her.

"Yes!" She nearly jumped with joy. "Thank you. A hundred times, thank you."

He didn't respond in any capacity, which could've been a good or a bad sign. Three questions were little to work with, but something was better than nothing. Now, what to ask?

She pondered her questions for the next bit, trying to figure out how to word her questions to compile multiple questions into one to save the slots. She thought about asking about the letters in her vision, but she deduced that they must've belonged to this system that the mirror was on about. Then there was the error that she couldn't earn skills. It was definitely system related as well.

Meera snapped her fingers. "I got it." She turned to the old man, grinning, but the way he sat, eyes fixated on the mirror, gave her pause. He didn't even care about the juices dripping down his beard. She swallowed and focused on coming back to it if she happened to have some time.

"My first question is, what is the system?" Meera asked.

An eyebrow went up slightly at that. "It is everything." That was all that was said.

Meera feared that he would say no more as he took a bite of his fruit, juices dripping from his lips. Meera waited some more patiently. Her father was a shrewd businessman, and she had taught him that if you kept quiet long enough, the other person would start talking to fill the silence and reveal all sorts of tidbits. The trick was to be patient.

The old man sighed. "It is what governs everything in this world, from the tiniest of insects to the greatest of dragons. They all have their classes, skills, and abilities. You level up, and you get more skills. Eventually, your skills and classes evolve into better versions."

"It has put a limiter on me, stating that I cannot earn any skills because I'm not from around here," Meera asked. "So, my question is, does it ever make mistakes?

There was finally some expression on his face. "All the damn time. It is too much for her alone, but she does not listen. She just had to take up the burden alone. So, yes, there are errors in the system."

Meera almost asked about who this she was, but something twinkled on her wrist. It was more like a reflection of one of the multitudes of smaller moons above. She remembered that this Chakram of Echoes was given to her by someone called Midiea. Meera wondered if that was who it was in the mirror, back in her world. The one who spoke using Meera's reflection.

She had one last question remaining, and so many more questions were burning through her mind. But she couldn't resist and had to ask.

"What is your name?"

He actually took his eyes off the mirror and looked at her before answering. "Asterion…though they call me by another name these days. You'll hear it soon enough."

She patted her pockets and found her phone. Thankfully it still had half its battery but no connection. She opened the gallery app on her phone and found a picture of her brother. She put it before the man's face, but he moved his head.

"You wouldn't happen to know which way my brother went, would you?" Meera asked, hopeful he would answer, even though she was a dunce and forgot to ask before the man's name. Now, she might have lost her chance forever.

He didn't say anything for a long time. So, Meera hung her head, clicked her phone shut, and put it in her pocket to prolong its battery life. "Well, goodbye, Asterion. Happy staring."

With that, she turned toward the trees to try and find a way out of this clearing. But Asterion raised an arm and pointed to her left. "A boy resembling that picture went that way towards the village of Belacre."

Meera's eyes teared up. There was a vague path she could make out between the trees. She grinned and would have hugged the man if she wasn't afraid of being thrown into the closest tree.

"Thank you," she cried. "Thank you so much. But why help me?"

"No one ever asks my name anymore," said the old fellow.

A lump formed in her throat for the quiet giant. With immense courage, she patted his shoulder, ready to duck any swings that might have come her way. But Asterion didn't even bother to look her way.

"Okay, time to go find my brother." Meera punched her fists together. "After all, he has a day's head start."

She began to move when Asterion said, "Not a day…six months. I saw that boy jump out of the mirror six months ago."

Meera froze. "But he only went missing a day ago."