The floating fireball above the meeting continued to radiate an intense heat. But it gradually dissipated as it bled off its energy with the furious display. Mimic just glared as Fiona sauntered closer. She laughed softly, taking her Fate and dragging the tip across his skin. Mimic’s struggles against Randidly’s Seize briefly intensified, but he couldn’t shake the grip.

Not without an image or Skill of his own. The difference in their Stats was too wide a gap. His Nether Core gleefully spun, tying up all of his potent Skills.

“There was once a boy who was not very creative,” Fiona whispered. “A boy who straddled two worlds, due to some confusion about the father’s identity. But it could not be denied his mother was a cherished member of the Raesham. He was given a place and educated, even if he was just a replaceable part. Perhaps the shunning from the adults would have warped him beyond belief with their conflicting attitudes, had it not been for a similarly aged boy, one with a charming smile and direct manner.”

Mimic released a choked sob. “Duulys… was always the best of us.”

He followed up the melodramatic statement with a sudden burst of effort to rip his Mimicked Activation out of Randidly’s Seize. Randidly almost rolled his eyes. This isn’t even difficult for me. Do you think I’m going to be swayed by showing a little emotion? Even if I was the one lost in my memories, I don’t think this would be hard…

“For a while, the days were long and fulfilling for this sad, almost twisted boy who had made a friend,” Fiona continued. “And then someone new showed up. Someone who began to monopolize Duulys’s time. Someone who ruined everything. A girl. Me.”

Mimic stilled. This time, Randidly felt genuine hatred seeping out of his skin.

Fiona crouched down in front of him and used the tip of her black dagger to push his head to and fro. “Did you ever wonder what it must be like to spend so much time with him? To have him desire your company like he craved mine? I recall Duulys often asked you to cover for us to his parents. You enabled this to happen. How does that make you feel, Mimic?”

Mimic gnashed his teeth. And leaned forward. Randidly wondered if he should worry about him trying to physically attack Fiona. “He needed me, much more than he needed the diversion that you represented. And the proof? In the end, he came back to me, the most reliable person in his life, to tell the sick truth about your barrenness. I was to whom he confided!”

All the joy and amusement sluiced off of Fiona’s face. She pursed her lips, suddenly vengeful and sadistic. With a sharp twist, she pulled back Mimic’s head and exposed his pale neck. Her image activated in a strange way; a second Mimic began to overlap the first. This one seemed younger and brighter than the well-dressed version now present. And the spirit burned with an inner fire of ambition.

“What… what the hell is this?!?” Mimic was trembling now, his eyes flicking around at the hints of his spectral double he probably could barely see.

Fiona shrugged as she reached and tightened her grip on the spectral projection. “If I’m just making my theory about your life up, then this won’t harm you at all. Perhaps I’m delusional. But if you really held those secret desires… if your biggest taboo is to possess Duulys in the way that I did… well, I wonder how one fares when their secret desire is cut out of them?”

“NO-” Mimic’s eyes bulged as Fiona’s black knife cut down into him. He moved, but Randidly was faster, gripping his arms and holding the physical Mimic in place. Where the blade cut, the darkness bled into the specter. A short while later, that projection began to curdle and rot away, leaving a hollow-eyed Mimic in its wake.

At first, Randidly stared at Mimic, waiting for a response to this dangerous wound. The struggles against his Seize had completely stopped. Pullas helped a somewhat bedraggled Xershi come stand next to them in vigil. A wind blew across the top of the platform, but otherwise, there was no noise.

Randidly began to frown; the more time passed, the more nervous he became. Especially because Fiona stood quite close to Mimic, her hair swinging across her face to hide her expression.

Mimic had become blank. He was entirely still. Whatever had been killed had been a very necessary part of who he was.

“You can relax,” Fiona’s voice was hoarse. She took a long sniff before she continued. She wrapped her arms around herself, as though she were cold. “He won’t be a problem any longer.”

After a bit of hesitation, Randidly released his First Authority and took a step back. Energy quickly began to pool in his Nether Core. He released a small sigh, happy to not have to remain so constantly tense and poised to suppress. Yet he couldn’t feel quite comfortable with the victory; the longer he looked at Mimic’s blank face, the more disturbed he became.

“Fiona-” Pullas began to speak, but Fiona held up a hand and shook her head.

Xershi didn’t bother to acknowledge that request for peace. He leaned forward to examine Mimic more closely. “Was all that stuff he said true?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Pullas glared at him, but Xershi just shrugged. Fiona swayed visibly, her head still down. But when she replied, there was iron in her voice. Her fingers squeezed her arms. “Almost. Everything he said was accurate… but one particular thing.”

Randidly gave Fiona a sidelong glance. Theirs is a tragic story. But I just have a single question: What did Duulys do that made it so difficult for Fiona to consider forgiving him? I feel like there is a bit more to this situation than that.

After a few more minutes, everyone had recovered. Mimic continued to linger in that empty abyss of self, but the Ascension Pact had restored their power. Randidly looked up and noted that the floating island had used their fight against Mimic to gain a lot of ground. Almost forty golden spirits bristled in the air around the island, preparing to dive-bomb the group. He began drawing up curtains of Nether to impede them. “I think it’s time to go.”

Everyone agreed. Fiona brought up the rear, her face still lowered behind the veil of her hair. As much as Randidly wanted to say something to her, perhaps like he had managed to do with Pullas, he had other concerns.

As they moved, Randidly became more acutely aware of the strange connection that seemed to exist between himself, the Stillborn Phoenix, and the owner of this ring. The feeling pressed against his neck, drawing goosebumps across his arms.

Perhaps the fight had allowed that being’s attention to loom closer without Randidly noticing. He took several deep breaths through his nose, but he couldn’t quite catch the essence of who this was. And Randidly didn’t want to force the issue; considering that a confrontation with Duulys Ambar waited on the next floor, a fight now would just make things more complicated.

Tension marched across Randidly’s shoulders like a line of jumpy fire ants. The group loped across more muddy roads, heading toward the edge of the ring. This time Pullas took the lead, her blasts of death smashing aside any wandering fighters that they encountered. In her images, Randidly could profoundly feel how much she had improved as well.

Their time together might have been short, but the differences in her image were less some profound discovery about the self and more about usage: suddenly, Pullas’s good death was being used to pave a road for herself and her friends forward.

From that, she discovered power. Each attack brought her a little closer to image fulfillment. Purpose shaped her and animated her.

The journey to the side of the ring took an entire day, even with them moving at full speed. Randidly continued to play a game of cat and mouse with that other presence to no avail. By the end, he almost wished an attack would come, proving that he wasn’t imagining the impression. The massive battlefield truly had a ridiculous amount of fungible hills and muddy valleys. Occasionally they passed by a group of fighters struggling, but they avoided garnering their attention. The floating island’s speed just wasn’t enough to keep up with them.

And yet. Randidly’s anxiety only grew worse. His jaw hadn’t unclenched in hours. His Nether moved in unfamiliar presence, slight threads pulled off by the fixed attention of the owner of the ring.

A confrontation brewed. A ball of significance formed in Randidly’s ribcage, hinting at the approaching exchange. He could feel forces he couldn’t quite trace flowing together and weaving a unique bit of significance.

Despite that powerful premonition, they reached the Engraved staircase without incident. Even as Randidly stood on the construction and felt the resonance of images up through the different rings, it was hard to believe nothing had happened. He pivoted and looked back to the rolling hills.

All was still; they had outrun the floating island several hours ago.

Unable to think of another response, Randidly bowed and released all his tension; so the master of the ring had allowed them to proceed without interfering. At the small gesture, the ball of significance that he had been building floated out of his chest. It became a gift, a deepening of this stranger’s significance that might empower them. The connection between Randidly and this figure flared briefly, then began to dim.

After one last look behind at the muddy battlefield, Randidly turned and climbed with the group.

They passed through the portal without incident, rising to the fortieth floor, home and seat of power of Duulys Ambar.

Their entry point was at the side of a lake, a thick mist surrounding their position. The tall of pine trees poked out of the mist, but otherwise, the land was shrouded. Butting up against the shore was a flat boat. Fiona grimaced as she gestured at the boat. “Well, at least nothing has changed. We will need to take that to the castle. Duulys always insisted on creating a dramatic reveal for his residence.”

“A seafaring journey,” Pullas adjusted her glasses. “This, too, is something that I’ve always wanted to experience. How intriguing.”

“You spent waaaay too much time hunched over books in Idylla.” Xershi shook his head in disgust as he led the way into the small vessel. All four clambered into it. However, the most dramatic shift came when Randidly stepped up; the wooden vessel groaned and sunk so deeply into the water that a few small waves dribbled into the interior.

Fiona pursed her lips and Randidly flushed with a weird surge of embarrassment. Hey, I have several planets inside of me! And my body has been remade several times. Don’t shame me for being a little extra heavy…

However, the issue of weight soon proved irrelevant. A gorgeous Engraving scrawled along the barge activated. They lifted off out of the lake and rode up the slope of mist into the sky. Pullas cooed and gasped in pleasure. Soon they breezed up through a layer of clouds and emerged into a golden wonderland of soft lines and water vapor.

“Stolen entirely from the swan’s ring, because Duulys liked how it looked,” Fiona leaned back on the far end of the barge and made herself comfortable. She gestured for the others to do the same. “We will get to his castle eventually, but not soon. He designed this ride to be a three-hour-long tour of all the images he had plundered from those weaker than him. He also has a powerful defensive Engraving made to make sure you stay inside the vehicle. We could fight through it, but it would only take longer and tire us out.”

Randidly groaned, both at the time and at the personality being revealed of Duulys Ambar, but sat down to meditate. Because while it was somewhat obnoxious, it was also a useful time to recover and prepare.

After a bit of meditation, Randidly pulled out his Hierarchy of Burden. His eyes blazed. It was time to see how far he could push himself in this last stretch of opportunity.