Ryan stood in disbelief, shocked that he had been teleported even after blocking its attack. Around him were thousands of floating mirrors, each in different shapes and sizes. A cold, marble floor was below, and an endless black sky above.
'Where could I possibly be now?'
He reached into his pocket for a cigarette, then remembered he was out.
"Finally," a voice came from behind. Ryan swung around, then saw Eric sitting on the ground. "It's been five minutes. What were you doing out there?"
'Five minutes?'
"Uhh… I'm pretty sure it wasn't that long. But I ended up touching one of its crystals and was sent here."
Eric stared at Ryan for a few moments.
'Does he think I'm lying?'
"So time passes more slowly in this mirror prison?"
Ryan's face turned pale.
"Shit."
Looking around, Ryan saw no end in sight—just countless reflections of himself.
"I've been waiting for someone to come before trying to escape, especially you."
"You want me to use my ability?" Ryan asked.
Eric stood up, unsheathing his sword.
"Yes, I'll try attacking these mirrors first. Then we can figure out exactly what that thing behind you is."
Ryan spun around, failing to notice anything at first. But as the mirrors slowly moved around, a strange object revealed itself a few dozen meters away.
Dozens of mirrors encompassed a large sphere—one that Ryan couldn't see, yet could sense.
"Is that a core? The Amethyst Burrow's?!"
Ryan didn't believe it would be so easy to locate.
"Most likely not, the Abomination wouldn't teleport us right to it. I bet it's the core of whatever we're inside of right now."
Ryan looked at Eric suspiciously.
"And you really didn't try destroying it?"
He paused before answering.
"I did, but my attack backfired and almost hit me."
'Was he going to lie to me?'
Ryan glanced back at the core and couldn't find any damage done around it.
'Is that the power of these mirrors? To reflect every attack onto the user?'
No matter what they were trapped in, it was troublesome. Even Eric couldn't escape on his own.
"Wait, where's Greye?"
Eric frowned in confusion.
"I haven't seen him. Was he also hit by the Abomination?"
"Yeah. I saw him vanish just like you. Unless…"
"You think he used his teleportation?" Eric interrupted.
"If he's not here, then he must have."
Ryan could only hope Greye was safe, considering he was a normal human in a Grade-E Abomination. But with the gun and ability, he's living better than any other non-gifted he knew.
"Okay, how do you want to do this?"
"I'll attack directly, shoot water, and do nothing. You can give me signals for each."
Ryan nodded.
Five seconds of silence later, Eric sighed.
"What happened?"
Ryan, whose voice was a little shaky, recounted the events.
"Well, in the first one… You shot a beam of water into one mirror, and it came out of a different one and hit me."
Eric looked surprised.
"Oh. Sorry."
Ryan reminded himself never to get into a fight with a Triarch.
"In the next one, you tried to slice it in half with your sword. But it simply phased through the mirror when it hit the edge, like a hologram. I'm not sure if all physical attacks will result in that, but we can try more of them."
"Just give me a second," Ryan added.
About twenty minutes later, they ran out of ideas.
"What the hell is taking them so long outside?" Ryan complained. "Don't tell me starboy actually killed that Abomination."
"Probably not, it was able to hit me with its crystal before I realized anything."
They figured out a few things while waiting, like that most of the mirrors were closer to the core. As you traveled away from the center, less and less appeared. It was like walking into a black void. Also, there was a pattern to which mirrors led to others. Specifically, each one was in a pair that didn't change. Eric himself traveled through one and came out the other unscathed. Or at least that's how it appeared. Ryan didn't follow through with that path for fear that something unknown might be wrong.
But still, there was nothing that could help them escape.
Any attacks towards the core landed somewhere else. Any damage dealt to the ground wasn't enough to break through and would heal on its own over time. And the ceiling was endless. Eric used water from his sword to lift himself, but found nothing as he rose for hundreds of meters.
"Whatever's happening out there doesn't matter. We need to spend our time escaping on our own, or we may die from starvation."
Eric was right. There was no way to know whether the others would come, so they should assume the worst.
'Damn.'
Ryan sat on the ground.
'We can't move the mirrors because we phase through. We can't break them because our attacks miss. And there's no visible way to leave!'
While Ryan ruminated over their situation, Eric aimed his sword and fired another beam of water. By now, he was familiar with some of the mirrors and their pairs, so he knew it would come out of one behind him and hit the marble ground. A small crack appeared, but somehow repaired itself before Eric could fire another.
"Did you see that, Ryan?"
He shook his head.
"Your attack?"
"No, what happened to my attack."
Now he was confused.
'It hit the ground and did practically nothing?'
Ryan watched the water gather around Eric, then move back into his icy sword.
"It was slightly sped up. These mirrors amplify the attack that goes through."
Ryan stared blankly at Eric, then looked at the mirrors surrounding them.
"Really? But… how does that help us?"
The hundreds, no, probably thousands of mirrors slowly moved and rotated around Ryan as he looked for some pattern.
Then, he saw something.
"I have an idea."
***
Cullen opened his eyes to a dim azure, slightly lighting a narrow cave in front of him. He stood on tracks, coming from the town behind him and leading into the mine ahead.
"I can teleport us to the castle in half an hour, but we won't be able to escape right away if we get in trouble. If we wait longer, though, it may put the others in danger."
When Greye finished speaking, a soft creaking could be heard further down the cave. They saw two miners come into view, pulling a cart filled with coal back into the town.
"How did that Abomination find us anyway?" Adam whispered. "The only way I can think of is if the miners secretly contacted it."
The three of them moved off the tracks, making way for the cart. The miners were covered in black dust, and they paid them no mind as they hauled their quota.
"I don't know," Greye responded, "but we need to be careful. I saw a Jewel enter a different cave while watching from above. It didn't seem too powerful, but we certainly don't want that crystal one coming back."
That was bad news. From what Cullen knew, the lower-grade Abominations are not part of a hivemind, meaning they couldn't all know where they were if only one saw them. But The Amethyst Burrow works like a kingdom. News will spread by mouth, and their location would be leaked if one got away.
"So we can't let anyone see us and escape," Cullen said. "Does that include the miners?"
They looked back and watched the two miners slowly move to the exit, stepping into the white light.
Even if they were Abominations, nobody wanted to kill them.
"How about we let this be a test."
Adam and Cullen looked at Greye strangely.
"We don't know if a Jewel spotted us in the town or if it was a miner. So, we will hide in here and only be seen by miners as they come through. Then, if the Abomination comes, we will know if it was them."
'It sounds like it'll work, but what's the point of knowing if the Abomination just kills us?'
"Fine," Adam said.
Cullen was surprised that he, of all people, would agree.
'Are the miners getting to him?'
"But, that means we have to deal with that."
Adam pointed further in the cave, where Cullen could now see a figure approaching them.
Greye backed away and Cullen raised his knife. The silhouette turned into a knight made from green gems, reminding Cullen of the Jade Titan. It was around three meters tall and had two crystals floating around its head.
"It has blue crystals," Adam informed them. "If it works like the one I just fought, then those ones are sharp and cut extremely well. Try to avoid them."
He raised the katana, still in his hand, but missing part of its tip. But Adam didn't shoot the Abomination. Instead, he had a change of heart.
"Cullen, how about you get us some crystals?"