The lack of a crowd and market stalls makes this place feel empty and new, like I recognize it well enough to know that I've been here before, but new enough to leave an odd feeling to it. Azor has yet to pack up the market stall. All of the objects that formerly laid on the table are gone. Azor himself is sitting on a chair behind it and waiting, like someone had notified him I was on my way.

"I have it," is all I say when I arrive at the market stall.

I can feel it in my head, how it's pulsating and spreading its disgusting presence inside my mind. I have to get it out of my head soon, and preferably as far away from me as possible.

"Welcome back. I've been waiting for you."

"I have some questions for you," I hiss and the creature makes a gesture with his hand.

"Not here," he says and stands up, "follow me."

He leads us to the same short wooden door, but once we enter it I realize we don't end up in the cabin. We're in an entirely different world and it's unlike any other I've seen. It's blank and impersonal, clad in white in every direction with grey, floating platforms in shapes of squares. Bridges of rectangles hover in the air, each one leaves large gaps between each other.

"Where are we?" I ask.

"A small, forgotten world. Abandoned since there is nothing but what we see in front of us. The truth is that no one has cared enough to see what it has to offer... below."

"Why did you take me here?"

"Because it's a perfect place to speak of forbidden things. No one is listening," he says and watches me intensively. "So, do you have it? The dagger?"

"What the hell is this thing?"

It scratches against my mind. It wants out of my head. Something we can agree on, but to give this dagger to this disgusting creature is foolish and certainly dangerous.

"That's not part of our deal, is it, Orchid? Unless you'd like to make another deal with me?"

He grins.

"Go to hell!"

"Hell? Is that some human thing? I'm afraid it has little meaning to me." He takes a step closer. "You made a deal with me, Orchid. You knew what you were agreeing to. Don't try to say otherwise. Now give me the dagger so I can fulfill my part of the deal."

I take a step back; it's like claws inside of my head.

"This dagger," I begin and close my eyes tightly when it cuts into me, "I should tell the guardians what you're doing."

Breathe. Don't think of it.

He laughs. "Little girl, how are you going to do that? Will you explain to them how you got it? How you helped one of the fractured to charge a Stormcoin? You won't have a chance to tell it when they see you with the dagger. They'll destroy you."

I think of what Cerberus said, that they weren't almighty and that Azor's threats are empty.

The dagger cuts into me so deeply that I fold in pain. I push a hand against my open mouth, I'm just about able to swallow the scream growing in my throat.

"You said," I take a deep breath, "you said it wouldn't lead to fading."

"I lied," he says nonchalantly. "But the likelihood of that is small as long as you don't run to them and admit what you've done. I can disappear if I need to, but you... If they don't fade you, they'll lock you away for eternity. The guardians can be grim at times. I advise you to give me the dagger before it or the guardians destroy you entirely."

A stab to my mind and I fall down on my knees. I need to get it out of my head before it cuts me to pieces. I cannot give it to Azor, I cannot let him give it to someone else. I focus on my hands touching the gray platform, on the cursed dagger and how it cuts me to pieces.

I call it forth and it sends shivers up my arm as it materializes underneath my palm. I grab it tightly and with a swift movement I send it sliding towards the platform's edge. I don't know the repercussions of it, but it has to be better than it ending up in Azor's hands.

Azor narrows the white eyes at me and then the dagger sliding across the platform. He lunges for it and the black transparent veil moves in the air.

He hangs over the edge with half of his body and groans as he gets up again. My stomach turns – in his vile hand he holds the silver dagger.

I don't have the energy to get back on my feet when he turns fully towards me. The disturbing eyes studies the weapon until it disappears from his hand. His entire face grimaces and creates even more wrinkles.

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He can feel it. How it cuts and stabs him inside of his mind.

"Pleasant, isn't it?" I hiss between clenched teeth.

Azor moves his three eyes towards me and blinks a few times. The grimace disappears and is replaced with the regular, unpleasant expression.

"It certainly has a life of its own. But I won't have to have it there for very long."

My mind is pounding in pain. I cannot find the energy to get up or move away from Azor as he crouches down in front of me.

"Unlike you, I respect the deals I make. The mirror and the information you asked for are yours."

I want to spit in his face and tell him I don't want anything from him. He puts down the mirror in front of me. I don't touch it; he stands up.

"What do you want to know first? What I told Cerberus or the information on Clover?"

"Go to hell..."

"This again? Mm, not good, Orchid. Is this how you thank my generosity? After what you just tried I should throw you into the depths. But I won't. I still offer you your part of the deal. Will you really let everything you did be in vain? If you're not a fool you'll take my offer. Now, Cerberus or Clover?"

"... Cerberus."

I hate myself for playing his game.

"Good. As you can tell, this is much nicer, isn't it?" He grins and I wrinkle my nose in disgust. "Cerberus came to me after he had heard some rumors. He wanted to know if they were true."

I look up at him with disdain, he doesn't care what I think of him now when he has what he wants.

"What did he have to give you?" I strain myself to ask before he can continue. "What was his side of the deal?"

Azor smiles. "The Stormcoin."

It was just like Sixxteen had said. That our deals are connected. There was someone who had asked for the dagger and that was connected to mine and Sixxteen's deal with Azor.

"Of course, I began asking for a charged Stormcoin, that would have made things a lot easier. But Cerberus did not budge. A discharged Stormcoin was harmless, it would take a lot for me to get it charged. There's not a single being stupid enough to enter the human world unless they've been forced to. Furthermore, a soul wanderer is needed to charge it. To Cerberus there was no one defiant enough that would agree to such terms. He didn't see a threat."

A lone shiver climbs my back.

"The thing that Cerberus forgot was that newcomers do not understand the rules of the Realm until they've lived here for a long time. The young ones are always dumb enough to join deals of desperation or wonder. The more desperate they are, the more likely they'll say yes to deals far beyond their understanding. Specially if they're looking for answers in a world that has none. That's something your kind don't get. You try to understand it from your human mind and never receive the answer you wished for. He should have known better. He's after all not that different from you newcomers with your thirst for knowledge and comprehension. But you Orchid. Your thirst of knowledge was of selfish reasons. Not the same foolish questions without answers, that thirst to understand the worlds and death. No, you wanted the answer to other people's problems, like you had the right to know. Selfish. I'm not sure which is worse. If anything, it's a little more interesting than the regular questions I often answer for you newcomers."

"Why are you telling me this?" I ask and try to make my voice sound confident, but it breaks and I sound like a scared, pitiful animal.

He bends down and closes his eyes a few seconds in pain when he feels the dagger in his mind. "Because you annoy me. And it's a pleasant truth to give you. But it might not be as pleasant for you."

"You enjoy telling me these things."

"Yes, after what you've done there isn't much else that could please me right now." He straightens his back and looks out over the whiteness. "You should be happy I caught the dagger. Otherwise as my last demand, I'd send you down after it. And not even I know what hides down there."

I clench my jaw and stare at him with all the despise I can muster.

"How enjoyable it might be to share your unpleasant truth I don't have time for it. So let me continue." The white eyes narrow. "The rumors Cerberus had heard was that The Raven had been seen in some of the inhabited worlds. Cerberus came to me to hear if those rumors were true."

I frown. "The Raven is dead."

"Dead?" Azor laughs. "He's as dead as you and the rest of you soul wanderers."

"What?"

"The Raven would have his funeral, that part is true. But before they would take his soul, he left our worlds and kept to the abandoned ones. The guardians faked a funeral to avoid panic within the soul wanderers and beings, but it was also a warning for him. No one leaves the guardians and comes back."

The Raven was alive. If Sun and Clover found out...

"And the rumors, where they true?"

"Yes, I told Cerberus that the Raven had been seen in a few worlds. Often dressed in a black cloak and an enlarged raven-skull as a mask. I also told him that several lost soul wanderers had been seen in similar attire. What they are planning I have not yet found out, but they are seen more often."

"And Clover? Was it the Raven he met by the well?"

"No. It was a soul wanderer by the name of the Fox. He was dressed in the same attire as the raven, but instead of a raven he wore a fox-skull mask."

"What did they speak of?"

"About the Raven. The rest you should see for yourself." He takes a step closer. "This is where the mirror comes into play. You see, everything leaves marks in the world. With the right tools you can see these marks and memories. All you need to do is to look into the mirror, and once it has locked itself you turn it against the well."

"Is that all?"

It sounded too simple. After everything I couldn't trust him, not that I ever fully did. He had lied straight to my face, told me I didn't have to worry about the guardians when we made a deal. I had been stupid, taken the deal in desperation and ignored the red flag that he had been waving around from the moment I had met him.

"You don't trust me..."

"How could I?"

He slowly leans forward and extends a grey arm through the transparent fabric; he pushes the mirror with sapphires closer. I want to spit in his grotesque face.

"I have everything I'd want from you. To a beginning. There's still the second favor. But you can trust that the information I've given you is true, that the mirror is the real deal. I do after all have a reputation to upkeep.

Azor straightens his back and moves his hand over the fabric. "We're done here for now. Once I know my last demand I'll get in touch. I hope you won't make me as disappointed as I've been today."

Azor leaves me sitting on the grey platform in this empty world.

I feel guilt and shame when I take the mirror into my mind. What he had said had been cruel, but it was the truth no matter how much I hated it.