My Trip-Hammer howled, wind ripping behind it as it flew toward the Eyes of Perfection’s tiny, bird-brained head. It ricocheted off something inches away, jarring my wrist even through the Lock-Grip Gloves, then triggered, snapping back through the air. “Oh shit!” I yelled.

I stared at the intact bird; I’d accomplished nothing. That blow should have squashed its head—or at least hurt it. Instead, it strutted away from me, looking over its shoulder…smugly? Was this damn bird really being smug about being invincible, or was I just imagining things?

Before I could recover, the bird’s tail unfurled completely, and one eye after another started to open. I staggered—my whole mind focused on those beautiful blue eyes, with the lashes that reminded me so much of my ex’s false ones. I couldn’t tear my gaze away. The hammer lowered in my grip.

The eyes started glowing.

Then, something squeaked and thumped behind me. Before I could tell myself that the eyes were the most important thing in the universe, I’d turned to look.

It was a mirror—the kind of big, wide mirror with no frame you might find in a hotel bathroom. I saw myself in it, and I had a brief, wild thought; I looked like I was in the best shape of my life. Then the Eyes of Perfection’s glowing tail blotted out everything. I threw myself into the razor-sharp grass, yelling in pain as I landed on the blade-like leaves.

The room filled with fire and light as the Eyes of Perfection’s lasers lashed out where I’d just been standing. A dozen beams cut through empty space, hit the mirror, and bounced everywhere. I took another hit or two, but nothing compared to the first volley.

The boss’s arena went dark, and the stupid peacock went back to walking around the open space near the waterfall like I wasn’t even here. Its tail was recharging, but I had a moment to think.

My sister and I found a red ant hill when we were kids. Normally, Dad filled them with something that stank like gas if they were near the house, and that was that. But Beth had a different idea. She was about seven—old enough to have a science kit from Cozad Elementary—and that kit had a magnifying glass. She wanted to see what the ants looked like up close. It was a bright day.

One thing led to another, and Dad had to put the resulting fire out. He’d chewed us a new one. Then, Mom had done it again that evening. But I still remembered watching the sun hit that glass, and the first tendril of smoke work its way out of the horses’ feed.

The Eyes of Perfection were the sun. The mirrors had to be the magnifying glass…somehow. And they were coming from somewhere.

I looked up. Just below the fog wall, a catwalk ran around the wall. It was about halfway up, held in place by ropes and rusty-looking L-braces, and on it stood Tori. She was yanking on a rope in an attempt to lower another mirror—this one looked more like something my grandparents had in their entryway.

I yelled and waved to get her attention, but she acted like she hadn’t heard me. Maybe she couldn’t. Then, she turned. Her eyes went wide, and she pointed and started yelling at me. I couldn’t hear a word she was saying, either.

An overwhelming wave of heat rippled behind me, shimmering my vision. I turned, then yelled, “Oh shit!” again and started running from the inferno that had whipped up behind me. The stray rays had set the grass ablaze. Smoke billowed into the air, rushing up toward the teenager, but I couldn’t spend the time to worry about her. She was relatively safe, and I had my own problems.

It was getting hot in here.

I lunged for the water as the Eyes of Perfection unfurled again. This time, I wasn’t looking at it, but I still knew the attack was coming because the room went dazzlingly bright. There weren’t any mirrors by the waterfall, but I didn’t care. It wasn’t hot.

The water was ice-cold, just like the pond in the ‘Beasts’ wing. It was deep, too—shockingly deep, almost like a cliff’s edge instead of a gradual pond. My feet finally hit the bottom after a second of sinking. The arena went dark again a moment later—orange lights flickered across the surface overhead. I pushed off and headed for the surface.

Now, everything was on fire, not just the grass. The logs were burning, and the catwalk hung on a few remaining L-braces, but huge chunks of it had collapsed. Where was Tori? As I dragged myself up the steep pond’s edge, I searched the catwalk for her. She had to be alive, right? The lasers hadn’t been able to kill me. They couldn’t kill her, either. My eyes scanned the wreckage.

There! I spotted her lowering one last mirror, but with the shape the rest of the catwalk was in, that’d be the end of her help. She started working through the twisted, jagged metal as the room grew lighter.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

I gritted my teeth and ran toward the freshest mirror—a full-length one from a fancy clothes store. It hung from its smoking ropes, which threatened to burn through at any second.

The Eyes of Perfection turned toward me. Its many eyes opened, and I stared them down. They seemed to bat seductively at me, like the eyes of every femme fatale in the noir movies Dad liked to watch. He hadn’t been much for film, but noir crime dramas got him every time. These were every bit as—

No. I was better than this. I closed my eyes, shook my head, and threw myself right at the peacock as I activated my Fast-Hoof Boots. A blink later, I stood at point blank—I dropped like a sack of grain. Its laser eyes exploded toward me as I hit the ground. The air over my head flashed white, but this time, the bird’s tail didn’t droop, and the eyes didn’t close.

I opened my eyes.

The bird’s tail was ablaze. Its eyes blinked rapidly, hundreds of eyes twisting horrifically in the flames. It screeched—the first sound it had made the whole fight. I grabbed the Trip-Hammer and rushed it. The hammer rose, slammed down, and fired.

A few swings that landed with meaty, crunchy thuds later, it was done. The bird’s twisted, burned body sat in the clearing by the pond. Bones stuck through its sapphire-blue feathers, its neck bent at three impossible angles and the tuft on its head was smashed into its ruined skull. It looked nothing like perfection. Not anymore.

Boss Defeated: The Eyes of Perfection

Level Up! Twenty-Five to Twenty-Seven.

Dungeon Delvers who were not in the arena will receive fifty percent of your team’s experience.

----------------------------------------

As Tori hit the ground next to me, I scooped the three items the Eyes of Perfection had left behind into my inventory and let the tension burn off my shoulders. She raised her eyebrow at me, ready to say something.

“Was that blue?” she asked. “Blue always means better—it’s video game rules! Green’s common or uncommon, blue’s rare, purple’s epic, and orange is legendary. Show me the loot!”

I shook my head. “First, we need to get out of here and get back up to Calvin.”

She pouted for a second. Then she went cross-eyed. “Ninety-three percent. Stragglers, that’s all! I know the way out, but we’ve gotta get up there.” She pointed at the top of the catwalk, where an undamaged section matched up with a fake rock halfway up the waterfall. The boulder hung from a pair of hinges.

“That’s how you got up there?” I asked. I walked toward the waterfall.

“No. You’ll see.

We climbed the rocks; the handholds seemed almost built for scrambling up. Then, Tori led me through a storage room and out a door that wasn’t locked but looked like it had been. We emerged onto the brick path to see Calvin standing next to two dead wading birds, eyes wide. He panted a little. “Thanks. That level saved my ass.”

“No problem.” There was a time—soon—to talk to Calvin about splitting the party, but here and now wasn’t that time—or place. I pulled the three items from my inventory. A book appeared, along with a ring that looked like a bird and snake intertwining as it circled around and around. The final item was a peacock-feathered helmet made from a blue stone cut so thin it felt like paper, with a dozen small, eye-like feathers forming half a halo over the top.

Tome of Embrace (Common)

User learns the spell Embrace, which allows the caster to share damage and healing done to another target. While active, half the damage taken by a target will be redirected to the caster instead. Effect breaks if a life-threatening injury would be suffered. The tome remains intact, but loses its ability to transfer magic after use.

Zoologist’s Clutch (Common, Charge 10)

+1 Awareness

As long as the wearer’s attention remains locked on an animal-based enemy’s corpse, the body will not vanish, allowing the wearer to loot crafting materials.

Perfection’s Gaze (Rare, Charge 20)

+3 Mana, +1 Body

Wearer may designate the target of their gaze. So long as their spells target the target of their gaze, it takes increasing damage for every spell the wearer casts.

“I can’t use any of these,” I said. “I don’t have traditional spells, and I’ll never have the Mana to cast Embrace. Maybe the Zoologist’s Clutch, but it’d be better with Calvin if he’s building a less combat-focused build, right, Tori?”

She knelt by the items, reading their descriptions. Then she nodded. “Tome and Clutch to Calvin, Gaze to me. That’s my vote.”

“Nope.”

We both stared at Calvin. He didn’t say anything; he just stared at the Tome of Embrace like it was going to bite him or something. He shook his head again; his hands were shaking, too.

“Come on, man,” Tori said. “We’re trying to build you into a support mage, right? That’s a support mage spell!”

“Nope. I ain’t doing it,” Calvin said. “I’ll take the ring, but that spell’s a trap built just for me. You take it, Tori. Or…”

“Or?” I asked.

“Or give it to Brian and let him decide what to do with it. His party helped clear this place. They deserve something. It’ll help build some goodwill, and if this Integration thing drags on, goodwill’s gonna be hard to come by. Besides, he’d actually use it. He wants to keep those twins alive.”

Tori rolled her eyes. I caught it, but I wasn’t sure Calvin did. “Okay. Clutch to Calvin, Gaze to me, and hand the Tome to Brian. That’s fine. It all works out just fine,” I said.

“As long as you’re okay with it, Hal. You’re not getting anything,” Tori said.

“Am I supposed to get something every time?”

“Nah. I bet the game’s throwing loot at us to make sure we all have something. The good stuff will slow down over time. Honestly, the only piece worth fighting over is my helmet,” Tori said. She stood, picking up the peacock helm. It appeared on her head, making her look even less like an emo girl than she already did. Now, she looked like someone out of The Great Gatsby’s party scenes.

Calvin scooped the ring up and followed her, sliding it onto his finger. Then he followed Tori back toward Fort Kiosk as she yelled and shouted, trying to attract any monsters we hadn’t already found. As I bent down to grab the book, though, something Tori had said kept bouncing around in my head.

She’d called it a game.