Two members of the mirror pool dead… along with the member of the Order that made three. All of them had been present when Dallion had cleared Vermilion’s ring. There was the possibility for it all to be a coincidence. The Order’s main job was to fight the Star and all of its spawn, and the underworld was known for its high and violent turnover. Deep inside, though, Dallion knew that it was all related to the ring. The thought scared him, though not as much as he thought it would.

“There were six in total,” Dallion said. He had also put on his blocking ring. What was more he had used the kaleidervisto to look throughout the workshop and the items there. With the exception of a few pieces of armor needing repair, everything else was deprived of echoes. “Myself, the fury, the tattooed guy, some grunt I’d never seen before, the woman from the Order, and someone with disfocus.”

Killing a fury. That was probably the scariest thing of all. Dallion had seen firsthand how furies fought. He himself had tried it only to get seriously wounded. Even now, he probably wouldn’t stand a chance on his own; not in the real world in any event.

“The tattooed guy is gone as well,” Dallion continued after a while. “When I went to the Drum, I was supposed to meet with him. Instead, I met with Belaal and his fury.”

“You think he’s dead as well?”

“I’ve no idea. I thought things had changed because he’d lost his tavern. That seems to be a mark of status in the pool.”

If the tattooed was dead that left only two people: Dallion and the person with disfocus. Originally, it had been that person who had brought the ring. Maybe it was his to begin with. At this point Dallion could only guess.

“So what do you plan on doing now?” Euryale asked.

“Find the copyette before it finds me? I have this.” Dallion took out the kaleidervisto from the pouch on his belt. “I was hoping you could make me something to make it less recognizable.”

Euryale looked at the artefact. While it was the size of a flask, not much could be done to hide it. It was too large to be made into a spyglass, and too fragile to be modified.

“Any ideas?”

“One. Can you make a mirror? But without glass.”

The gorgon sighed.

“Right. Well, I want you to make a box for it. It doesn’t have to be big, just large enough to have the device and a mirror inside.”

“I don’t get it.”

“The biggest issue is that I have to hold it in front of me all the time. But if there is a mirror at a forty-five degree angle, I’ll be able to look from above. That way no one will suspect a thing. They'll think I’m looking in some weird box.”

“Dal…” Euryale sighed. “That won’t work. The kaleidervisto will only show you the first thing it sees. You’ll see the mirror, not the image the mirror reflects.”

The gorgon’s comment came as a surprise. It meant that she had owned such a device at some point, or at the very least was aware how it functioned.

“That’s true, but I won’t be reflecting that image. The mirror will be in front of the device, so the only thing I’ll reflect is the kaleidervisto itself.”

If it were possible to show the state of smugness, Dallion would be beaming as bright as the sin right now. Finally, something from elementary school that had come into use. Or was it middle school? Either way, this was going to help him look around without anyone suspecting.

“I’d like you to put it in this.” Dallion placed the ring chord box on the workbench. “It just has to have a hole in the lid and on one end. And some decorations.”

“It won’t work,” Eury said and stood up.

“Why not?”

“It’ll never fit in that box. Besides, everyone will see you’re hiding something inside. I’ll make you something new. Wait for a bit.”

Before Dallion could protest, the gorgon had left, leaving him alone. Come to think of it, the entire conversation had gone much better than Dallion hoped. There was one thing he still wanted to ask her in regard to the overseer, but given the circumstances, he was going to leave it for later.

“Smart move,” a familiar voice said from nearby.

Instantly, Dallion jumped to his feet, drawing the Nox dagger, but when he turned towards the source of the voice, there was no one there. Only the entrance to the bedroom was visible.

“Using an artefact to find the copyette,” the voice continued behind Dallion. This time when Dallion turned around, there was a figure dressed entirely in black standing there.

“Arthurows,” Dallion hissed.

“Nasty creatures, the copyettes. But of course, you already know that. Or do you? The charming thing that you saw in the dagger was chained and bound to a realm. The one that escaped, wasn’t.”

Dallion created five instances of himself, four of which attacked the Star in a variety of different ways. Arthurows split as well, countering each of the attacks with overpowering ease.

“We’re not in an awakening artefact anymore,” he said with an amused expression. “Don’t worry, I’m still bound by the Seven Moons. That doesn’t mean I can’t lend a helping hand. The enemy of my enemy and that sort of thing.”

“What do you want, Art?”

“Are you stuck in a time loop? I just told you.”

“I heard you, but I know you’re lying.”

“Is that what your superior music skills tell you? And I thought we could put our differences away for a day or so. Especially, since we worked so well last time.”

“That was before I learned what you were.” Dallion made another attempt to attack, this time with six instances of himself, and just as before, he failed to do a thing.

“We can do this all day, or we can talk.”

Dallion glanced at the door, then back at Arthurows. A tactical retreat seemed like the best option.

“Do you stay or do you go?” the Star asked with a smirk. “Better make up your mind before your Eury arrives. She’ll only complicate things. Although, you knew that when you got involved. One gorgon in a city of a million and you picked her for your girlfriend? There’s no accounting for taste.”

The provocation was obvious. The star wanted Dallion to get off balance and do something reckless enough to remove the Moons’ limitations. Dallion could see all that, and still he found it exceedingly difficult not to do so.

“Let’s talk,” he said through gritted teeth.

“The copyette is bad news for both of us.” Arthurows’ smile suddenly vanished as his expression became deadly serious. “I might have plans for the city, but if the copyette gets going, things won’t stop there.”

“Isn’t chaos the thing you enjoy most?”

“You’ve been reading up on me? Yes, I do enjoy chaos—the absolute original. That’s why I hate when someone else tries to copy me. The copyettes were supposed to fail, and they did. If this one manages to succeed… things will be less than ideal.”

There was clearly something fishy here. Try as he might, Dallion couldn’t see the Star’s angle. There always was the possibility that he was using Dallion to do his dirty work, or at the very least discover the copyette, but if that were the case, why have this meeting at all?

“All your might and you can’t find one creature?”

“Copyettes are different.” A glint of hatred flashed in Arthurows’ eyes. “Especially this one. You guessed right that he’s an awakened, but not just any awakened. He was a noble, or rather a general whose job it was to do the actual conquering and he was pretty good at it. Seventy-one cities were taken over by him alone during the war, and I’m not counting all the assists. Some of those he infiltrated personally. And now, he’s discovered a way to break free from the awakening realm. Do you have any idea what he can do with that knowledge?”

“Yeah, yeah. Free his race.”

“Not only his race. You’ve seen how dryads and nymphs fight. If they are offered a way out of their prisons, whose side do you think they’ll join?”

Chills went down Dallion’s spine. The Star was right. Eons ago, the races might have been at war against one another, but alliances could easily shift. As it was said, there were no perpetual allies, there only are perpetual interests. The furies, while individually strong, were scattered, living in the ruins of defeat. The gorgons were few and far between, and Dallion hadn’t even seen a living dwarf, or knew anyone who had. That left humanity as the sole greatest power. If the copyette needed an enemy, there could only be one target.

“What exactly do you want, Art?”

“Many things, but for the moment I’ll settle for the death of the copyette.” He threw a small metallic object at Dallion’s feet. Looking down, Dallion saw that it was a case of dartbow bolts. “Slime bolts,” the Star said. “The name is self-explanatory. They were used a lot during the copyette wars. Getting them was quite difficult. There isn’t a person alive who can make one of those, even the dwarves.”

Slowly, Dallion picked them up, all the time not letting go of the Nox dagger. The bolts were flawless in every way, far heavier than he expected, made of an alloy that he couldn’t identify. His music and forging skills let him see some similarities with sky silver, but apart from that, it was anyone’s guess.

“How do I use them?” Dallion asked.

“Stick them deep enough in a copyette and it will go pop. However, be sure that it’s the copyette you stick them in. If he gets a whiff that someone in the city has these, he’ll be gone and start this somewhere else.”

“Isn’t that what you wanted? A free playground to play?”

“Not if that can ruin the long game.” Arthurows took a few steps towards the door. “Of course, nothing is stopping you from melting these down, or selling them. I’m sure the general will buy them for a small fortune. It might even be enough to get him to free that shield you so much like. I’m just hoping you do the right thing.”

“As if you’d know—” Dallion began, but the Star had already vanished.

Quickly, Dallon rushed to the other rooms in the workshop, but there was no trace of Arthurows. Everything was just as it had been before. If it weren’t for the case of bolts he was holding, all could have dismissed all this away as an illusion.

Quite convenient that you popped in while I had my blocker ring on, Dallion thought.

The offer seemed too good to be true. Even if it was Dallion who would be risking his life, being given a case of copyette killer bolts was suspicious, to say the least. He wasn’t the only person with a kaleidervisto in the city. The Star could easily have asked someone else to deal with the problem, someone with a far higher level and a better chance of success. Despite that, he had chosen Dallion. From the history scrolls he had read in the ring library, Dallion had seen plenty of examples of the Star making offers that seemed too good to be true, only to betray the people he made to them later. This wouldn’t be any different.

First rule when dealing with the Star—don’t, Dallion said to himself, and put the bolts away.

Several minutes later, Eury returned.

“Here.” She shook a medium-sized metal box. “Now you can have a proper spy in the box. I’ll need a few hours to get it done.”

“Thanks. I—” Dallion stopped, seeing that the gorgon raised a finger in the air.

“Considering how much work I have, this is going to cost you,” she said. “The price—I’ll be coming with you when you search for the creature.” A third of her snakes moved in Dallion’s direction. “It’s non negotiable.”