Arad and Aella approached the mansion's door, pushing it open as they walked inside.
Arad's eyes panned around the corners, inspecting the walls and floor for magic or traps. But there was nothing. The little pixie doesn't have any more tricks. "I expected you to trap the whole place," Arad looked at Aella's head.
"I did, but removed them when we finished the contract." She pouted, "I had several ones rigged up to blast you out. Had you managed to somehow chase me inside?" She smiled, "Luckly you didn't."
"How could I have done it?" Arad walked forward, "You shrunk me. I had to fight all the bugs outside."
"There are three ways to break the magic. The first is to break my concentration, but that's impossible. I've been using that magic for over nine hundred years." Zephyr smiled.
"That's one," Jack looked at her, "What about two and three?"
Lydia glared at Zephyr, "A banishing smite would send you back to the fey world. You can't keep the spell from there, can you?" She stared at her. With golden glowing eyes.
"Dman it, paladins. Gods really gave their warriors the best chance of winning. What next, coming back to life?" Zephyr glared at Lydia with a grossed face.
"If god still had fate for us, we won't die till we achieve it. The great paladin of old, Dorak of the golden oath died in the great holy war before the final battle, stabbed in the back by a traitor." Lydia smiled.
Zephyr looked away, "Heard the story. The bastard rose back to life as an angel, blasted the traitor, and won the battle, the gods wanted him to win, and they blessed him. But after the war ended, he disintegrated into golden ash."
"The gods wanted him to win the war, and by their will, he achieved it in their name." Lydia lifted her fist, tapping her on her armor. CLANG! A radiant clang emitted from the tap sent a weak wave of holy magic.
Zephyr looked at Arad, "The last one is magic density. I might have the power, but Aella's body can't withstand my full output. She's bottlenecking my magic. A powerful mage should be able to dispel it, as long as they are more versed in magic than Aella."
"So I can dispel it?" Arad smiled.
"You should be able to, as long as you focus hard enough. The one inside you is more than capable." Zephyr flew forward, "Follow me,"
Arad and Aella walked after her as Jack and Lydia headed to explore the other rooms.
Cerilla, Dalla, Isdis, and Eris followed Arad and Aella in silence, trying to guess where the wind spirit was taking them.
After a few moments, they reached a locked door, "I was told to bring you here once you become a spirit master. It has the prismatic mirror, a magical artifact your mother kept hidden."
Zephyr shrunk her body and flew into the keyhole, opening the lock after a few seconds. "Come in, there isn't much, but it's here."
Arad and Aella walked in, seeing a large silver mirror with gems all around its frame, "Is this it?" Arad looked around. That was the only thing in the room.
Arad looked in the mirror. Strange magic danced around its corners, reflecting the candlelight coming from the hallway. "This mirror is strange. The magic isn't acting normally."
Aella approached the mirror, "I never heard of it. What does it do?"
"I don't know," Zephyr shook her head, "Such knowledge was hidden even from me. Your mother wanted this to remain a secret until it fell in your hands."
Aella looked at the mirror with a worried face, "I have a bad feeling about this. Mother never kept dangerous magic items, but this one is giving me the creeps as if someone is watching through it." She approached the mirror, wiping the dust off its frame with her hand.
The mirror quaked, vibrating as a brilliant multicolored light flashed from its surface. In the blink of an eye, Aella disappeared alongside Zephyr.
"Aella!" Arad shouted, grabbing the mirror.
The mirror flashed again, and everyone disappeared, leaving the room empty.
SPLASH! Arad fell headfirst into a pool of hot water. "What is this?" He growled, standing up. The water wasn't warm, yet it wasn't boiling hot. The strange smell reminded him of the royal bath smell, so he looked around.
A pure white room made of opal stones. At first glance, this was a bath, but not the royal one. He didn't recognize it.
"Where are we?" Aella cried, standing beside Arad and wiping the water off her face.
Arad looked at her, she was naked, and so he was.
"HOT!" Cerilla cried behind them, and when Arad turned, he saw her, Dalla, Eris, and Esdis all naked inside the hot water behind him.
FLASH! A ray of multicolored light flashed from behind Arad, and everyone closed their eyes, crying in pain. "My eyes!" Isdis fell into the water, blinded by the light.
Arad turned around, barely able to keep his eyes half open. "[Arad, don't move. This magic is tremendous, far above what a hundred of me can handle.]"
Arad covered his eyes with the void, trying to erase as much of the light as he could, but that achieved almost nothing. He could only make the rough shape of a woman of the source of the light.
"What's this light? A divine being or something?" Arad growled.
"I'm no such a thing. I'm but a mortal struggling to live." A voice came from the rainbow-glowing woman. Her voice sounded like that of a woman in her forties, gentle, yet has some depth to it.
Arad clenched his fist, extending his void behind him to reach the others. ^I will teleport them as far as possible with void step, this thing is dangerous.^
"Child of my old friend, I welcome you." The woman's voice boomed as her light intensified, flashing forward as she approached.
Arad stood between her and Aella, "Don't get any closer!" He growled. When the golden light touched his skin, it burned with holy magic. And when the red reached, it burned like flames.
"Sorry, I sometimes forget how fragile other people can get." She smiled, her teeth blasting Arad with a brilliant white light.
"The prismatic mirrors, artifacts that I made." Another mirror appeared before Arad, sending a dark shadow around him and everyone.
"Aella, daughter of my old friend. Take the second mirror to your house. It should allow you to move back and forth between them." The mirror floated and landed beside Aella.
Thud! Arad stepped forward, approaching the glowing woman. "Who are you?" He clenched his fist, swinging forward.
Thud! His fist stopped mid-air, "A void kid, you still have some time before swinging at your elders. The mirror should only work in your house and Aella's mansion as they are mana-filled places."
Arad clenched his second fist and swung again, "I asked, who are you?"
"Me? Let's say, someone that her mother helped in the past." She pushed Arad away and sat in the water. "A light dragon, a magic dragon like you. But unlike you, I already surpassed my twilight and have achieved the peak of my draconic heart."
"Twilight?" Arad gasped, his eyes forced shut from the light reflected on the water.
"The stage after great wyrm. It's only a few years long when a dragon rapidly declines, grows old, and dies. I managed to survive it," leaning her back on the tub's edge, right now, I only met one other dragon that achieved it, he is a pain to deal with." She then put one leg on the other, "But words out that the queens already surpassed it long ago, that's why they are still alive."
"What's going on?" Aella growled in the back, "My skin is burning!" She cried, splashing water on her body.
"Oh, my! If not for your shadow, they would have already died." She smiled, "Well, it's not my mistake that you barged on me bathing." She kicked Arad backward.
"You can find more mirrors scattered across the world. Feel free to take them. But I can always sell you one for a hundred platinum coins. Just throw the money on the mirror, and it will spawn a second one."
Encased in a brilliant light, Everyone disappeared, falling back where inside the secret room in Aella's house. Clothed as they were before.
***
In the bath, the glowing woman looked at the ceiling, the massive gem door ahead of her opening as a woman walked in, covered in full black armor.
"Your ladyship, we sensed a wave of dangerous magic around here." The armored woman said.
"Don't worry. It was my old friend's child."
The armored woman looked around, "I sense a spirit elf, a vampire purple dragon, a human, and two high elves. And a void dragon," She walked forward, "Which old friend are you talking about? The Deianira or the Orion one?"
The woman in the bath smiled, "How did you guess?"
"Deianiras are the only spirit elves, and Lady Orion is the only dragon you respect enough not to step on." She stared at her, "The fact he barged on you bathing and left with his life is a testament to that."
The glowing woman giggled, "Come on, I'm not that bad as to kill a baby still reeking of his mother's womb. He's barely out of the egg, a few months fresh." She stood, giggling, "I will wait for him to grow up. That if he survived the Draco rage curse."
"You don't intend to stop it?" The woman sighed.
"Why would I?" the glowing woman gasped, her head tilted to the side, "Neither Orion nor Chronos bothers to interfere. Why should I?"
"Probably, it's better than staying in a bath for over a decade, don't you think?" The armored woman growled, "Get out,"
"No way!" The glowing woman gasped, curling into the water, "My skin isn't clean yet, look how dirty I am." She cried.
"No, you're clean, you're glowing enough to blind anyone looking at you. I can barely make your shape out of the light," She sighed.
"No! I need to get more polished, cleaner, and brighter!" She gasped. Her body flashed even brighter with a brilliant, stream of multi-coloured light.
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