The excitement in Yom's voice was palpable and I too wanted to check it out, after all, I did kill every single monster in this floor of the labyrinth.
"Before that. Is there a limit to how many bonded artefacts one can have?"
"Yes, one for Walkers, two more for Runners so on and so forth." -Cael
So a total of 45 artefact when you reach the 9th step of any path of power…
With my question answered there was no more need to delay.
I willed the new artefact to appear and on the pointer finger of my left hand, a silver band that seemed to be made out of broken mirrors appeared, every fracture appeared to be glued down by a green substance. Every shard resembled the shape of a fang and there was not a single reflection that was perfect.
It was beautiful.
[Mirrorfang refraction, ring.
The first lie of the labyrinth finally found it rightful owner.
Abilities:
• Glutton of reflections -> this ring can eat other enchanted mirrors and absorb their abilities, the stronger it grows the more mirrors it can eat. (0/3 mirrors.)
• Labyrinth of mirrors (passive) -> when walking through a maze-like or concealed area, your instincts sharpen and lead you to the right destination through wrong paths.
• Stolen refraction -> steal a refraction of your enemy's reflection. When you injure someone through magic, if the enemy manages to escape, you can trail their refraction and find their whereabouts.
This artefact grows with the owner.]
This was marvellous… not only the artefact seemed to be tailor made for me, but it was also perfect for my continued use of enchanted mirror.
If it could absorb them, it would save me a lot of money and even effectively boost the numeber of bonded artefacts I could have.
"Is it already bonded? Do I need to offer it my blood or something?"
Cael chuckled at my clearly excited face and nodded.
"Yes, you need to feed it your blood to successfully bind it to yourself, but if someone else other than you tries to do the same, they will get cursed. That's why it's impossible to steal or sell these."
I wanted to kiss the man. He gave exactly all the information I needed without my follow up question. Cael was really starting to understand my absurd curiosity.
"Well, there shouldn't be any more monsters on the floor, should we explore a little before going on to the next one?"
My proposal was accepted quite eagerly by everyone, but when I insisted to forget the maps and go on blind, there were different reactions.
"There may be no more monsters, but traps are very much real, we didn't exactly disarm them all." -Niven
"I think it'll be fun though, it's not everyday you can explore a labyrinth without fearing monsters." -Yom
This was bound to get us nowhere and I really didn't want to stay there anymore, the smell of blood was still somewhat disturbing.
So I took out a few mana stones and asked everyone to give me their mirrors.
"Phones won't work inside, but with a little tinkering…"
Lyss that was right by my side watched carefully and once he understood what I was doing he snatched a few of the stones and the mirrors to help me work.
"That is really an interesting way of using the runes for [reflection], [link] and [sound], but I don't think it will work…" -Lyss
"Of course it won't if we just let them be like this on a general set of mirrors, to work they would need to reflect the same image and that is virtually impossible."
He nodded expecting my answer, it was clear he too was well versed on enchantments.
"But what does a pocket mirror reflect when it's closed?"
"Nothing, the absence of light prevents the ability to reflect images." -Lyss
This was my time to nod in appreciation. However there was a detail he didn't take in consideration.
"But Lyss, there is something that your mirrors always reflect… let's just check if they work."
Cael took one mirror, Lyss another and they went at opposite sides of the room.
As I had ordered, the pushed the mana into the mirrors that now had a coin shaped pendant and started whispering.
Lyss and Cael's reactions were diametrically opposite.
Cael was looking all smug and proud as if he was the one to have enchanted the thing, Lyss had his mouth slacked open mumbling something about runes.
"Well, since we now know it works, let's split up, who wants to explore without maps is welcome to follow me, let's meet up in three hours by the stairs leading to the next floor.
I didn't want to wait anymore and started walking away. The curiosity created by [labyrinth of mirrors] was gnawing at me.
I also wanted to see if I could find other Laithath inscriptions and what do you know? After only walking for ten minutes I found what I was looking for.
"This… how did we arrive so quickly? This is the drop point were we first arrived! There's no way we were this close!" -Yom
I ignored my confused brother and beelined for the statue in the middle of the room. There was no need to explain the functions of my new ring, especially since nobody asked.
This time, the statue was clearly that of a elf and surprise surprise, another Laithathic inscription was at his feet.
With my black booklet in hand I was already copying the weird scripture and didn't notice Cael that was right behind me with a questioning look.
He only spoke when I closed the book.
"You can really see something we can't."
A shiver run down my spine and cold sweat started to cover my forehead. I knew it was a rookie mistake to show that my reaction before wasn't mere exhaustion, but my actions were not thoughtless in any way.
I breathed in and out slowly before turning towards him.
In our small group of wanderers, the possibility that the traitor family was with us was both highly reduced and increased at the same time.
If I wanted to bet, I needed to bet big.
"Yes, I can."
Cael frowned, the instinct to reach for him and massage that frown away was hard to fight back, but this was the moment I needed to make my stance clear.
Yom, Auriel and Aurelia were all looking at me with excitement clear in their eyes, but I was not going to entertain any of them.
"Then why didn't you say so with every one else?" -Cael
"Because, except for Yom, I don't trust any of you. I have only known you for what? 2 weeks?"
I waited for my reason to sit in their mind and bring out the next possible question.
"Why now?" -Cael
There were multiple reasons for my choice of timing, for once: outing a traitor in a small group was easier than in a big one, but also…
"Because you are the ones that would most likely answer my question if I give you something in exchange."
The frown on Cael deepened and that same frown appeared on everyone else.
"I'm not as naïve as to think we are all big buddies, it might be possible for you 12, but me? I'm an extra, an unknown variable."
I turned around and started touching the statue, tracing the inscription with my fingers.
"So spare me the emotional nonsense, friendship and care are things that build up slowly and all my life, I've never known them."
"What is it that you want to know?" -Cael
Finally. It was time to understand what was really going on.
"Why am I still alive?"
My words echoed through the room like a bolt from the blue. The frown on their faces disappeared immediately replaced by something akin to unwillingness and disbelief.
"I'm not a fool. I know my actions would have warranted death if they were committed by someone else, so I'm sure there's something the big guns know that I'm not aware of."
Nobody spoke. Beads of sweat started to form on all their foreheads and they were clearly distressed, that was enough for me to understand.
"Very well, how many drop points are there in this dungeon?"
"Twelve… nobody expected you to drop in the wolves nest, it's not normal." -Yom
I nodded at the expected response, this was no mere dungeon, there was something important here, something I needed to uncover.
"You may leave. I will proceed on my own."
"But the traps…" -Yom
"Will be taken care of by my doppelgängers, leave. I'll meet you by the stairs when the time arrives."
When I turned to leave I watched as the frown appeared on Cael's face.
This time it really suited him.