Gorgons weren’t morning creatures… at least that was the conclusion one could come to in Nerosal, since there was only one gorgon and she tended to go to bed roughly at the same time that others woke up. The forging communities frowned at the practice, the artistic circles applauded them, and since Euryale was part of both, she received the benefit of the doubt on all sides. The only thing that she was not allowed to do—and only because she hadn’t bothered to buy a workshop of her own—was to forge into the night.

Initially, Dallion wanted to introduce Euryale as his girlfriend upon arriving at the workshop itself. Gloria, however, had successfully nagged him into sharing ten steps after exiting the inn. Her reaction was definitely not what Dallion had imagined.

“Really?” Gloria asked, with enough doubt in her voice to sink an oil tanker.

“Yeah,” Dallion replied for the third time. “Why is it so difficult to believe?” In fact, her doubt was starting to annoy him slightly.

“You’ve only been gone a few months and you’re already in a relationship with a hunter?” Gloria gave him the look. “Anyone will find it hard to believe. Not to mention that she’s the only gorgon in the city.”

“There aren’t that many furies either, but—”

“You’re not in a relationship with a fury, are you?”

Seeing the futility of the argument, Dallion decided to quit for the moment. Thankfully, Gloria had the good sense to make a pause with the questions as well.

The number of people staring at them steadily increased the further away they went from their neighborhood. By the time they got to Euryale’s workshop, close to a dozen artists had requested that they draw a portrait of Gloria, to which she had responded with the chill reserved for strangers. The way she did it was so close to an actual noble, that the greater part of the artists quickly left with an apology.

“You have to teach me that trick one day,” Dallion semi-joked.

“It won’t work for you. You’re not a Luor.”

That was a strange thing to say. Dallion’s grandfather had been the village chief before the Luors. There probably was more to the story than that. For one thing, the person who had cursed them and placed the chain-mail echo in Aspion’s awakening realm had almost certainly been a noble. Dallion had seen quite a few awakened in their twenties lately and none of them seemed capable of having such echo powers.

“Maybe one day I’ll become even more,” Dallion whispered. At some point, his grandfather had said that to Aspion. “Anyway, that’s it.” Dallion pointed at the entrance.

After a single long look, Dallion could tell that Gloria was far from impressed. Her motions were virtually screaming disappointment, but politeness kept her from voicing her thoughts.

“What’s with the statues?” she asked, diplomatically changing the topic.

“I’m not sure,” Dallion replied. “Just ignore them.”

Reaching the door, he knocked out of common courtesy, then—when he didn’t get any answer—knocked again and opened a crack.

“Eury?” he asked in his normal voice. With her perception, it was more than likely she had heard him. “Eury, are you still awake?”

“I am now,” came the response from the bedroom. There was a hint of annoyance, but on the whole, the gorgon didn’t sound too upset from what Dallion could tell.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I wanted to catch you before you went to bed. Want to introduce you to someone.”

“You always pick the worst time… Give me a minute, I’ll be right up.”

“That means things are okay,” Dallion whispered to Gloria, who gave him a critical look. Already she was displaying signs of nervousness. Given her high opinion of hunters, she probably was slightly star-struck.

It didn’t take long for Euryale to join them. Both visitors had heard her stand up from her bed and slip something on with the least amount of effort. Dallion had expected it to be a robe. Instead, it turned out to be a pair of britches and a shirt of some sort.

“Hey,” the gorgon said with a yawn, her snakes focusing on Dallion and the other visitor. “You’re Gloria, right?”

Dallion felt a momentary chill in his stomach.

“That’s right,” Gloria replied, more nervous than she should be. “How did you know?”

“Your brother told me about you when he was here yesterday. That and I doubt there are too many pure blondes in Nerosal who are friends with Dallion. Although with him, you can never tell. He can be secretive when he wants to,” she passed by, giving Dallion a beck on the cheek.

“That much is true. He told me that you’re a hunter.”

“A very tired hunter. I’m usually in bed at this time. So, what do you two need?”

“She’s usually more fun when she’s awake,” Dallion said, earning him a tap on the back of the head. “I just wanted to finally get you two to meet. With everything going on I’ve been delaying this for ages, so though there’s no time like the present. Besides, how could I not introduce my fiancé to my childhood friend?”

As he spoke, Dallion added a few subtle touches of acceptance and calm, just to be on the safe side. About a quarter of Eury’s snakes moved in his direction while a mixture of joy and embarrassment rang from her.

“You’re sweet,” she said with a second yawn. And she’s cute. You and your brother better be careful while you’re here. With the festival approaching, the amount of attention you’ll get will be crazy.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” There was a short pause. “Dal told me you’re a thread forger.”

“Definitely. Though a bit pricey.” She yawned again. “Just tell me what you want when I’m fully awake and I’ll give you a price and time. Realm or real world?”

“Real world.” Gloria glanced briefly towards Dallion. “We’ll talk later today. Let’s go, Dal.”

“Hold a bit,” Dallion protested. “I’ve got something to ask as well.”

The blonde gave Dallion a warning glance, letting him know he should be somewhat more understanding. One thing about awakened—with the exception of Dallion—was that they were very protective of their sleep. From what Dallion could tell, it didn’t have to do with endurance or level. People in this world just were very cranky if they got their real-world sleep interrupted. Nil had tried to get Dallion to learn those values when he had started tutoring him, but quickly gave up. Even magic could do little to change a gamer’s sleep habits.

“I’ll wait for you outside,” Gloria said after a while, hinting that Dallion should just leave with her. Despite that, he didn’t.

“Childhood sweetheart?” Eury asked once the door closed behind Gloria.

“Not really. Enemies turned friends, sort of. It’s complicated. I’ll tell you about it someday. Right now, I want to ask you if you’re heard about something called Vermilion.”

If the answer made a few snakes on Eury’s head to stir, the name got tenfold the reaction.

“Where did you hear that?” Her tone was calm, but Dallion felt seeds of fear sprouting within her.

“I was asked to do a job for the mirror pool. It involved facing a guardian—”

“Are you an idiot?!” This was the first time Dallion had seen Eury shout, and judging by her emotions, she meant it. “We made a deal so that you wouldn’t get involved with the pool, and you jump into the lion’s den on your own?”

“It wasn’t because I wanted to!” Dallion did his best to remain calm, fighting not to snap back at her on instinct. “They threatened Gloria. If I didn’t do what they asked, things would have gone badly for her. Possibly for Veil as well.”

For several seconds, no one said anything. Then the gorgon shook her head.

“Dal… you’re too naïve for your own good. If things worked like that, do you think people would bother making deals?”

They tricked me? Dallion felt shocked, although there was no reason he should. The mirror pool’s entire existence was based on lies and deceit. Of course, they would lie when dealing with others. Dallion had felt so confident that he could see through their lies that he had become the perfect target. As the saying went, a little skill was a dangerous thing.

Some of us tried to warn you, dear boy.

“If I had refused, nothing would have happened, would it?” he asked.

“No. There’s one thing about hunters: if you cross one, you cross them all. You’re not a hunter yet, so you don’t count. They asked you to do something for them and you agreed. If they tried to use force…” Eury left the sentence hanging.

“Either way, I face that thing. It was different from all the other guardians I’d thought.”

“It’s supposed to be. Those things are ancient. We think that they used to protect treasures back in the day, but now they’re just broken guardians like all the rest. What was the item it was in?”

“A one level spheric ring. The thing is, I think that it was the one that caused awakened to get sick or die. If I hadn’t been lucky, the same would have happened to me.”

“I doubt it. Named guardians can do nasty things, but Vermillion isn’t that special. Also, bad things have been happening to explorers way months before he came to Nerosal.”

Dallion’s eyes widened.

“I brought him here,” Eury clarified. “Part of the deal to keep you safe. I warned them he was trouble, but leave it to the pool not to believe anyone.”

That sounded about right. With the amount of lies the members of the mirror pool were weaving, they would never believe anything someone said. Quite possibly, they had forgotten what the word really meant. To risk the lives of so many awakened, though, that was outright monstrous.

“That’s not the thing I wanted to talk to you about.” Dallion swallowed. “After the guardian was defeated, he said that a copyette was on the loose… Possibly in Nerosal.”

The gorgon became perfectly still, only a few of the snakes on the head moving slightly. Sensing that she wanted him to continue, Dallion went on.

“From what I understood, he must have been in a prison of sorts and Vermilion was guarding him… not very well by the sound of it. Do you know any way to tell if someone’s a copyette?”

“Fire,” the gorgon replied. “The easiest way to determine is fire. It hurts copyettes more than anything else, also it never leaves a mark behind.”

“Can’t they just make a wound?”

“They could, with experience, but you’ll be able to tell that there’s something wrong with it.”

If you wanted to know about copyettes, you could have asked me, Nil grumbled. The method she’s suggesting is highly unreliable. For one thing, you’ll have to start burning people throughout the city to confirm whether they are a copyette or not.

As much as Dallion didn’t appreciate the butting in, especially since the echo had mentioned numerous times that he wasn’t an expert in non-human history, he had to admit the glaring problem of Eury’s method. Setting a few nobles on fire in the hopes that they would turn out to be a copyette was a quick way to end up dead.

“I was told that a kaleidervisto can also help to find a copyette. Is that true?”

“it is, but they’re not easy to come by. They had a few other uses as well and those who have them aren’t willing to give them up. I’ll try to find you one, but until then, you’ll have to rely on the fire. Just keep your eyes open and don’t tell anyone else about this.”

“I know. Apart from my gear, you’re the only one that knows. Well, and the mirror pool.”

“I’ll have a chat with them.”

That was her hint that the conversation was coming to an end.

“One last thing. When I fulfilled the ring’s destiny, it changed into a key. Any idea what it might be for?”

“Key rings seem to have been common ages ago. This isn’t the first such item I’ve found. In most cases, they just open jewelry boxes of the like. This might be nothing more than a coincidence.”

“Do you think it is?”

The snakes on the gorgon’s head moved about.

“No,” she said.