-Mirror Dimension-

After landing outside, the group ran through town. Geo looked back, noticing the mansion's color slowly shifting to a gray-silver color and losing its shape. The sky above was transitioning, making him wary. He searched around town, noticing no one around. A low grumble escaped his lips.

"The mansion changed too quickly."

Kali came to a sudden halt, ceasing her run and catching her breath. She scanned the surrounding area. Noticing she was not running, Geo and Blaze stopped abruptly and turned their attention to her.

"Kali," Blaze shouted. "Come on!"

"But what about the people?" She sounded frantic. "You notice that no one is around, right?"

Geo frowned. "Yes." He looked around, then at the mansion. "It is strange."

"We need to get everybody out!"

"Hold on." Blaze turned to them. "Maybe Selen-ja led them away. Remember? The speculum said bringing them to the real world would return this world to normal."

"If they have a small mirror attached to them." Geo patted the back of his head. "We don't have one, and we will die here if we stay. We need to find Selen-ja quickly, so you stay with us until we find her."

"Children!"

Startled, the warriors jumped and spun around to see the grinning Javo running toward them. His arms were outstretched, expressing joy at seeing them.

"Javo!" Blaze cheerfully shouted. "You're here." He noticed a harness and glowing laser attached to him. "Huh? What's that?" He eyed the Count in Blaze's arms. "Ha ha! You are victorious and you arrested him. With your track record, I thought he would have fallen to his plan."

"Letting him rot here was an idea," growled Geo.

Javo chuckled. "No worries, it may have been better to arrest him. We can lock him in a cell and ask him questions."

"What more do you need to know?" Blaze asked. "He pretty much said his origin. Got his power from a tablet."

"We want to know how his metamorphosis came into being. Remember, children. Knowledge is power." Javo turned to the shadow warrior. "Ah, it's great to finally meet, Shadow Radiant. I hope your battle has been a rewarding experience!" He held a thumbs up. "You should feel victorious over defeating the Count and having the curse lifted."

The black-clothed warrior smiled warmly, feeling a little bashful at his praise. "I had help."

"Glorious!" He laughed, then his expression turned serious as he noticed the area changing. "Come! We need to go."

"But what about the civilians?" she asked.

"After Selen-ja's battle, they feared more monsters lurking around. We lured them from the city with the promise of safety, no monsters and new beginnings. Our speculums searched for missing folks, coercing them to come and be safe."

"If it were anyone other than you saying that, I would be suspicious." chuckled the fire warrior.

Javo smiled, then his smile fell as he watched the changing world. The city grew to be dull and almost formless with each passing second. "We need to leave."

The trio noticed his attention and glanced behind them at the changing environment. They nodded and followed after the muscular man.

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Near the forest entrance, Selen-ja and her speculum were guiding civilians in groups of three through an open portal, sustained by Portal Hub's energy coursing through the cable. She emphasized a slow entry every two minutes. One concern was the safety of the civilians once they left the world, considering their mental and physical states post-departure. Hopefully, Luka was on the other side, checking on the freed civilians. Her speculum had alerted her that the small mirrors would shatter once they arrived in the real world, and the speculums would return to the mirror world. Another reason was to make sure the kids would arrive on time, which was why Javo remained in the city. She hoped she did not send the kids to a losing battle. If she did, she failed Blair and the others. Mostly for the girl she grew compassion for, someone she thought of as a friend and daughter.

"You three." She pointed to a woman and child. "Go."

The trio nodded and cautiously stepped into the portal. After they left, she witnessed the world returning to its original state. Already, the mansion had taken on a grayish-silver hue, and its form was distorted, almost as if it were melting. She turned her attention to the big group that had dwindled, but still a large group. She continued to order three people to enter every two minutes while watching the world shift. Then, her expression turned to relief when she saw the group of four approaching with the Count apprehended. She signaled for three people to walk through as her team joined her.

"My younglings."

"Selen-ja!" Kali cheered happily as she embraced the elegant warrior. "I'm glad you're alright!"

"I feel the same relief." She eyed the pale man in the red-clothed warrior's arms. "The speculums ensured a victory over him. Taking half a portion of each person's mana may have given him an edge, but you had your power combined with the speculums. Feel proud."

"Thank you." Kali replied cheerfully."

"What do we do now?" Blaze stared at the portal, then turned his attention to the people. "Do you want us to help?"

"You can do that, or you can step through." replied the elegant warrior as she gestured for three more people to walk through the portal. "I don't want our friends to cross over to fight a speculum."

The elegant speculum nodded. "You all do not have time."

Kali watched as three people walked through the portal. Her attention shifted to the remaining civilians. Each person looked confused, scared, agitated, and curious. She exhaled softly and turned to the group with her decision. "I'll stay to help."

Blaze smiled. "Me too." He looked at the Count over his shoulder. "But what about him? He might wake up soon."

Javo shook his head. "I can't go. I need to keep the harness on to keep the portal open."

Geo nodded. "I will take him." Geo approached the fire warrior. "You're all more qualified to ensure they walk through safely."

Blaze nodded. "Right, tell the others we will be out soon."

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-Rye-

When the trio appeared from the mirror, the miniature mirrors affixed on their bodies shattered. Immediately after the shattering, three speculums tied to them were forcefully sent through the mirror to become one with the dimension again. The trio of people started experiencing vertigo before falling to the floor, slightly conscious. Moving toward them was Luka, in her human disguise. She knelt down and began to examine them. They appeared to be delirious, mumbling incoherently. She checked their eyes, noticing their pupils dilating. She used a tablet to scan bodies. She frowned, noticing their mana was lower than the average human. As she examined them, she sensed two figures approaching. A smile was displayed as she sensed the terra warrior. She looked up, seeing Geo exit the mirror while carrying an unconscious pale man. A look of relief appeared on his face.

"Geo." the bird greeted him. "I am relieved you are well."

"The others stayed behind to ease people out of that world slowly." He sighed as he looked around, noticing some unconscious people. "Aren't there more people?"

"For each person that comes out, the others come and take them to their homes, or at least safely place them around the city." She smiled. "It's easy with a small town and population of nearly 5000." She stared at the people. "You need to tell me what happened there."

"The Count took half their mana reserves to increase his strength."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

The bird woman shook her head. "Horrible." She glared at the Count. "This is a situation where I must monitor if their mana returns if you destroyed or tampered with the source. If not, many of them will have their lives cut short. The elderly will die sooner."

"Damnit." He cursed, angry at the news. "Where can I put this bastard?"

"Jack?" Jin was heard through the comm. "Jack?"

"Jin, I have the Count. Return me to the Hub to imprison him."

Immediately, the others started chatting to him and sounding excited and worried, making him annoyed as he started growling.

"Shut up!" He shouted. "You idiots need to calm down."

"We were worried, Jack!" Ivy's voice sounded more excited than worried. "You will have to tell us everything. How were you able to breathe? Was it endless space with pockets of land? Are your eyes adjusting?"

"YOU ALL BATTLED WITH YOURSELVES, RIGHT!" shouted Bolt. "You fought against yourselves, didn't you!? Saw the darkness, your inner beast, your persona. I bet yours was an angry bull."

"Are they okay?" Lumina asked. "Is Blaze okay? What about Javo? He's fine, right? Blair and Selen-ja are good, right?"

"Jin." Geo grumbled.

Geo and Count Edgar were teleported away from the city. Luka smiled at seeing the boy's mannerisms, knowing it was him. "Jin?"

"I will help him lock the Count, but I think he turned off the comm."

"Why?" whined Lumina.

"It was rude, but I believe we annoyed him." said Frost.

"Bombarding with questions all at once would have also ticked me off," said Aqua. "If he does not want to talk, leave him be."

"We will wait for the rest of the fam to arrive," said Aero.

"We still have work to do." reminded Renstar. "I am in the process of placing evidence to persuade people into thinking they had one big party and there were... substances."

"Will this even work?" questioned Aqua.

"Probably not, but we want to make sure these people are under the impression an illegal substance or a strange gas leak gave them delusions. People still believe cosmic radiation made everyone lose their rage that day."

"A wild night of alcohol and drugs." chuckled Aero. "Folks do say small towns have a shady history. Next time Lance and I collab, we'll talk about small-town nightmares while probably playing either a horror or a survival game."

"It's kind of hilarious but on par for the crazies." chuckled the electric warrior. "Need more tin foil."

"Keep placing people around the town." Luka looked up as three people emerged from the mirror. "If any of you are done, come back and relocate the civilians."

Everyone agreed and resumed displacing people around the small town.

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-After midnight-

The second to the last group of three entered the portal. Earlier, some people were getting restless and wanted to find another place to escape or stampede through, but Selen-ja 'calmly' persuaded them to be patient. Before stepping through, the canokian woman turned to her speculum and curtseyed, which surprised the speculum.

"I appreciate you and your brethren for helping us and acknowledging my strength."

"You showed strength." The speculum turned to Blaze and Kali. "As did them. Warriors of Order will face challenges against the malignancy."

"You know about the Radiant?" questioned the fire warrior.

"Order needs to prosper over chaos. Do not succumb."

Blaze and Kali nodded at the message, though they had different feelings. Blaze felt this put more of a burden on him than necessary. The need to improve his power to protect his friends and family continued to rise. Kali felt this would put more attention on her than she wanted and reminded her of the looming journey to Galvania later on in the future.

"Right." Blaze nodded. "We won't."

The speculum walked away. "After leaving, displace the gate however you please. After the situation with the Count, I don't think we would allow something like this again."

"I will see to it." Selen-ja walked forward. "Come along, everyone. Javo, walk next to the last person."

Javo nodded and then firmly grasped a hand on the shoulder of the man, who looked bewildered at the warrior's imposing stature. The group looked back at the world, now clearly resembling a grayish-silver void with only a small patch of land beneath them. After one last glance, they immediately moved into the portal. After the last person left, the world reformed to its ordinary state, a gray-silver void. The speculum reverted into a silver humanoid before melting into the void.

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-Rye-

Returning from the dimension brought smiles to their faces as they passed through the mirror. Spotting Luka made Blaze smile, but concern rose on his features when he saw people lying on the ground. His concern increased as those with him suddenly collapsed to the ground.

"They are disoriented, showing signs of fatigue." The physician gazed at Selen-ja. "They had their mana stolen, correct?"

"Yes," Selen-ja shook her head. "I will write a detailed report later, but here is the shortened version. By the Count's orders, they had half their lifespan taken to supply him additional power to face us."

"I see." Luka stared at the mirror, which appeared to be shrinking. "Anything else?"

Selen-ja watched as the artifact's size decreased. "There is more, but I can share information later. The look on your face is concerning." She picked it up when the mirror shrunk to the size of her palm. "Bad news?"

"I want to wait and see, but these people could have shorter lives. The elderly may not have long to live when they recover later."

Selen-ja frowned, wondering if she should tell her about the siphoning of mana from the town whenever they engaged the speculum outdoors. A glance at the children made her decide to wait until they were out of earshot. At the moment, helping civilians was a top priority.

Luka roughly sighed, then turned to look at Kali. "Blair, we finally see each other in the present. It's Luka. I don't believe I showed you my disguise."

The black-clothed warrior's eyes widened, then approached the physician with a smile and hugged her. "Luka! I finally get to hug you!"

The bird woman chuckled as she embraced the girl. "Me too. I'm surprised you are hugging me like this. You're usually reserved."

"Talking to you once a week helps. I couldn't visit, and you could only leave during emergencies. We can have tea with Selen-ja and anyone else who wants to join."

"I would love that."

Blaze smiled while watching the two. Since they had known each other longer, Kali was less shy, or did transforming give her more confidence? He did not know, but her demeanor differed from talking to her earlier today. He shrugged, knowing he would continue to get to know her.

"JAKE!"

He heard his name and chuckled as their voices emerged on the comms. Each one was asking if he was alright, and Bolt sounded jealous. He sensed three of them approaching the courtyard. He turned to the entrance and saw Lumina, Ivy, and Bolt run up from the entryway toward him. Lumina rushed up first and embraced him, knocking them both to the ground. Bolt chuckled as he walked up while Ivy approached Kali and held a thumbs up.

"Are you okay?" the light warrior had an apprehensive stare. "You're hurt! Did it hurt when you changed? Bolt and Aero kept trading theories about what happened in there. Was your body inside out?"

"What? No! Bolt, Aero!" groaned the fire warrior.

"A mirror reflects!" Bolt comically waved his hands from side to side. "A reflection of a person. Your body could be inside out."

"Or lose sense of direction. Brother, your mind could have been scrambled." said Aero

"It wasn't. I'm fine. Other than the sky and grass being different colors, it was... adventurous."

"Awe." Bolt sighed and then perked up. "Was there a wicked queen? Rabbits? Card people?"

"No, guys. Didn't Geo tell you??"

"Geo mentioned you all connected to the speculums." The plant warrior glanced at him, then at Kali. "You need to tell me the experience."

"Okay." said Kali, straining a smile at the curious look in Ivy's eye. A dangerous expression that made the plant warrior want to conduct an extensive study.

Lumina smiled at Blaze. "I'm glad you're okay. I was worried." She stood up and turned to Kali. "For all of you. Kali, right? We never met, but I was worried about you too."

Bolt turned to the black-clothed girl, then smiled. "Yo, Midnight Maiden! Glad to meet you in the flesh."

Kali nodded while appearing uncomfortable under their gaze. She sighed. They were to be her new teammates, and she had no reason to be wary of them. They may interpret her shyness as her not wanting to be around them, or they may think she hates them. She did not want to be their first impression of her, not after avoiding contacting them.

"S-same." she responded with a smile. "A pleasure to meet you too."

"Sweet! You live in London, right? Do the Buckingham Palace guards always act like stone gargoyles? Do you like vegemite?"

"RYU!" shouted Aqua. "Don't overwhelm her with your questions."

"Sorry." Bolt rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Selen-ja shook her head. "Everyone." She looked around, noticing unconscious people displayed around the courtyard. "We can get acquainted later. We finish the mission."

"Right." Luka nodded. "Help us displace the people around town and set up party decorations."

"Why?" Blaze asked.

"We want them to think nothing supernatural happened," said Reinstar. " We are trying to make it look like a festival happened."

"Oh..." He furrowed his brows, sounding unsure of the idea. "I don't get it."

"With drugs and alcohol," said Lumina with a solemn expression. She saw Blaze and Kali react with surprise. "We're not giving them anything. It's the illusion of it."

"Awful as it sounds," said Frost. "it is probably not a proper ruse to establish, but they might reason themselves to believe it."

"Everyone assumes a solar flare rendered a whole city unconscious," said Aqua, sounding exasperated. "This might be something they are willing to accept."

"It will turn into an urban legend or folk tale." Bolt crossed his arms while comically smiling. "Then it will turn into a crappy B-rated movie someday that will have a cult following. Think of the memes!"

"A conspiracy is going to develop," said Aero. "Whether they accept the party or not."

"No matter how dumb this is, do we want more people exploring the supernatural and other dangers? People similar to Mistress M, Masked Piper, and the Count." reminded Geo. "There are already enough fools chasing secrets. We don't need more."

"Curiosity is powerful," Ivy said, her tone serious. "But what happened in Parkerville, makes me question what people are willing to accept."

Kali nodded. "Agreed."

Blaze shook his head. "I get it. We want to lower the number of supernatural hunters." He looked at the civilians who were still lying on the ground, confused or unconscious. He glanced at Selen-ja and Luka. "What do we need? Any supplies?

Selen-ja nodded. "We have a long night. Let's put in effort."

"Be careful with transporting." The bird woman glanced down at one of her patients. "They are fragile."

The group resumed their task. They were displacing civilians around the town while planting evidence of a festival that was hijacked by someone wanting to spice up the festivities. Everyone wondered if the civilians would be alright after the adventure within the Looking Glass. They defeated the Count, but what kind of victory would it be if there were lingering effects? All Blaze knew was that victory was theirs, and he hoped the populace would recover and continue their lives.