"Who is Weaver's heir?"
His teacher shrugged.
"I don't know, that was one of the few things Weaver didn't tell me. All I know is that they are a child of shadow, specifically one of his divine children."
"I thought all they died when the shadow god died,"
His teacher shrugged again.
"Actually, I have no idea how they truly died, as I was hiding here before the Doom War started, at least I think."
"What? You told me they died in the Doom War along with every other deity, and what do you mean you don't know? Wouldn't Weaver have told you how all of them truly died before all of it started?"
The man shook his head and leaned back into the couch with a frown.
"No, that's one of the other few things they didn't tell me about for some reason."
Mordret nodded before another question popped up.
"I see. Also, how did you meet Daeron and Windflower before the Doom War? They traveled to the tomb of Ariel so that future challengers would have help in the third nightmare, so the children of the storm goddess had to have been infected with the nightmare spell. So they would have been born after the Doom War."
His teacher shrugged again, for the third time, and Mordret couldn't help but frown as his teacher spoke again.
"I've been alive and have been surrounded by these reflections for so long that I often get the time of events mixed up because everything blurs together. As for Dareon and Windflower, yes, they would have been born after the Doom War, now that you mention it."
Mordret didn't understand how he could forget such a thing, but then again, he wasn't over several hundred thousand years old, so he held his tongue and smiled in satisfaction at his answer.
"Do you know how long you were in the Eternal City then?"
The man shook his head, moving to put his arms behind his head.
"No, I haven't a clue; it could've been a few centuries or a few millennia. But I do know that after I recommended the tomb of Ariel, and Daeron told me he planned to go there, we had to seal the flesh of an evil king named Kanakht again, and it wasn't easy at all. As powerful as Daeron was because of his source element, he put up a ferocious fight, along with using all the sorcery he knew. "
The man wore a sad look as he continued.
"It was for naught, though, as he died many times, as it was a great terror that couldn't die at all because of his curse, while Daeron was a supreme beast. Whereas I didn't die at all because I couldn't die even if I wanted to because of what Weaver did to me."
Moving over to the far left side of the couch, the man crossed his legs together and let out a tired sigh.
"It took us years to seal it again, and we only managed to do that because fate happened to be on our side and gave us a way, and with that way, we even managed to seal the madness of Kanakht. Alas, that was thousands of years ago, so the seals we made have most certainly broken again, and now Daeron and Windflower are likely stuck battling that thing in a never-ending hell. Along with their ascended…. no hopefully transcended warriors who are likely still battling the ghost fleet."
A sad smile formed on his teacher's face.
"But that's just wishful thinking, the real truth is that Daeron and his people have likely become puppets for the flesh of Kanakht long after I brought them back to the Eternal City. But… but moving on from that. The reason we had to seal it again was that corruption had weakened the runes Rime had cast over the centuries to keep his parts sealed. Oh yes, I forgot. Kanakht, the being I keep mentioning, was one of the first humans to come from the sparks of the flame during the age of the gods."
Mordret's reflective eyes lit up when his teacher mentioned the gods' ages. Ever since the original Mordret conquered his first nightmare and he met that woman, Mordret had become a big fan of history. So he kept his ears metaphorically open whenever his teacher talked about these things. If Mordret was being honest, it was his dream to find someone besides his teacher to talk to about history.
"You've mentioned him before, but never told me how he became cursed. What's the story there?"
His teacher reclined on his side of the couch, satisfied, and began speaking again.
"Kanakht, who was merely a supreme being at the time, was so hungry for power and knowledge that he did the unthinkable and foolishly tried to consume a piece of the shadow god as he had finished battling an unholy titan. Kanakht did this in hopes of gaining Shadow's knowledge and power to become a divine being."
"That fool's thought process was that since Shadow was likely in a weakened state after the battle, he wouldn't notice a piece of him missing. It was simple; all he had to do was consume a small piece of death, and he would become divine. A deity such as Shadow wouldn't notice an insignificant piece missing, right? Anyway, despite the obvious failure, this still angered Shadow so greatly that his rage could be felt across all of the realms."
Mordret shook his head in dismay.
"How foolish of him. I'm assuming Weaver told you all of this?"
His teacher nodded, making his hair move.
"Yes, Weaver told me that no matter what time it was that day, the realms became pitch black and were consumed by darkness as the shadows around them writhed and wailed in rage, making every being in the realms, including nightmare creatures no matter the rank, tremble at his wrath, many of them even dropped dead because of how frightened they were."
"As a result, the god of death cursed the king by taking his shadow so that he may never die and be unable to achieve apotheosis or become a divine being. That is how he became the first being to be cursed by Shadow. But, he didn't seem to be bothered by it as he formed a kingdom of his own over the centuries."
"What happened then?"
"After more centuries of being cursed, he eventually found an alternative and tried to become a lesser god by devouring his entire kingdom. His people tried to kill him, but because of his curse, he couldn't die, and so his enslaved people called upon the daemons, any of them, as it didn't matter which one showed up. Their prayers were answered when Rime, the Demon of Repose, came to their aid, and with her help, they stopped him from carrying out his plan and toppled his throne."
"Then Rime quite literally took him apart and cut out his spirit, mind, as well as his entire body and soul. She placed them underneath the fragmented part of Twilight, the Eternal City. Speaking of which, in your time spent in the dream realm as a child, do you know what became of that part of the realm of the twilight sea?"
Mordret smiled.
"My former teacher, for whatever reason, mentioned in passing that the Nightwalkers occupy it now. I'm pretty sure they call it the Storm Sea. They live in a citadel, it's a titanic ship called the Night Garden."
Mordret's teacher smiled brightly at the news.
"My my, the Nightwalkers? The descendants of the storm god, the distant relatives of Daeron and Windflower, now call it the storm sea? With a titanic ship called the Night Garden? How fitting! Did you know that the ship was made by Rime from a young branch of the world tree as payment from the heart god for saving his avatar, the very same world tree? She made it her home until she went to the Doom War to assist her siblings in killing the gods and died there."
Mordret was stunned.
"No….no I didn't,"
His teacher's smile became wider.
"Well, now you do. It brings me joy to hear it's still around and occupied by people after all this time. Anyway, the second place was the realm of war, the one that you call the waking world. Now, tell me, what about the jade palace?"
Mordret paused.
"The what?"
His teacher's smile dimmed.
"The jade palace, one of Ariel's creations, I know I told you about it. Do you know what has become of it?"
Mordret thought back to whether he had ever heard such a name, but nothing came to mind, and he shook his head.
"I'm not sure I've seen it, teacher, but I do remember you telling me about it. I know of Raven Heart, though, that's where Miss Ki Song and her daughters live. They have the beast god lineage, as you do."
His teacher's eyes widened as he laughed.
"These young ladies have the blood of my great-grandmother running through their veins? Good gods! I do have relatives after all! What a joy it is to be alive!"
Mordret laughed as well.
"I hope you meet them too. So, back to Kanakht, he's still alive, yet he's long fallen to corruption?"
His teacher nodded as his smile went away and a rare sullen look formed on his face.
"Correct, a fitting existence for someone who tried to devour his devoted."
A smile was suddenly on his face again as he continued.
"But getting back on topic! After sealing that creature, Daeron and Windflower got me out of that damn place and traveled to the Twilight Sea, which is the name of their realm, by the way. They went there to get the rest of their warriors and brave the white desert by ship, as I had made a runic circle in between the oars so that it could fly, much like my previous ship, along with a tree in the main mast."
"Anyway, after retrieving them from the tomb of Ariel, I decided to come here to the kingdom of imagination to continue hiding, as I thought I was still being hunted, and I was being hunted. However, I didn't know that it wasn't one of the nine, as I thought they were still alive."
His teacher paused as he furrowed his eyebrows in thought.
"Though now that we're on this topic again, the reality could be that my hunters died and the Doom War truly did end while I was in the Eternal City. And the truth is that I had no reason to come here in the first place, and yet I did because I was still being pursued by something else."
His teacher paused and smiled as he pulled out a metal band, tied his hair into a ponytail, and wiggled his eyebrows at Mordret.
"Well, should I really be so surprised? I mean, who wouldn't want to pursue a gorgeous, smart, talented, extraordinary, kind-hearted, one of a kind man like me? Anyone would!"
"Teacher, please focus."
His teacher suddenly threw his head back into the couch cushion and laughed.
"Of course, of course! The truth is that I would have come here regardless of whether I was being chased or not! Do you want to know why? It's because, as I said when I first met you, it was fate that brought me here to you! I just know it! Fate brought me here to guide a young boy who was lost and lonely."
Mordret couldn't help but smile at his teacher's infectious enthusiasm, but it soon faded as he realized something, and his teacher continued to laugh.
"Teacher?"
"Hmm?"
"You're a very unreliable source."
His teacher suddenly stopped laughing, his head snapping over to him, jaw hanging open, looking taken aback.
"I…. You…what?! How dare you! I'm the most reliable person in all of Mirage City! You will find no one else who is more reliable than me, the high priest of the nightmare spell, the greatest sorcerer in all of the kingdom of imagination, and the former Lord of the-"
Mordret interrupted with a forced smile.
"That's because you're the only sorcerer in this place, teacher."
His teacher gave him a half-hearted glare, which was immediately replaced with a wide smile as he dramatically fixed his garment.
"And what does that tell you, dear student?"
Mordret shook his head in amusement, but something else still bothered him.
"But teacher, there's something I still don't get. You said that you can't leave because the castellan will try to kill you, as he believed it was still his mission."
His teacher nodded.
"I know,"
Mordret leaned back into the couch.
"And you said that they likely died while you were in the Eternal City, so how can a dead person complete a mission?"
"Who said they were a person?"
Mordret raised an eyebrow.
"What? What do you mean?"
His teacher sighed and stretched as he stood up and walked around the corner into the kitchen.
"The Castellan is a reflection of the member of the nine who was hunting me, so the creature still believes that it's part of its mission to kill me as well as its current mission. And that's to help the master of this castle, which happens to be your father, control this place to fit his imagination. You can go on, I'm still listening."
Mordret listened as his teacher began opening and closing cabinets while presumably grabbing ingredients around the kitchen.
"Yesterday, before I answered your call, I made the snow go away, I mean, I made this entire place into what it was decades ago, so wouldn't that mean that I'm the master of the castle? Since it's helping me?"
The sound of his movement stopped as his teacher presumably paused in place and poked his head around the corner, then shook his head.
"No, it wouldn't,"
Watching as his teacher retreated into the kitchen, Mordret frowned.
"That doesn't make any sense then, since it's been helping me imagine whatever I wanted in this place since I was brought here."
His teacher shook his head… well, Mordret assumed he did, since he didn't really know what he was doing.
"Your imagination is important to this place, not because you are not an actual reflection, but because of your aspect [Nobody's Reflection], you are seen as a divine reflection of Mirage, despite the others being neither divine nor profane. You are also seen as a nobody, a being that dwells in nothingness. And because of one of your attributes specifically [The Other], the children of Mirage see you as one of their own."
When Mordret looked confused, his teacher somehow sensed it from the kitchen and elaborated.
"Meaning because of your high status, you are considered to be the foundation of this place, so it would obviously be more than willing to help you as it recognizes you as a child of its former mistress. That's why Mirage City looks the way it does now, because it helped make your imagination come to life. But since you are so important, then if you were to leave this whole place would come crashing down and cease to exist."
Mordret took in the information as he sat for a long while and asked.
"What about the others?"
His teacher appeared from the kitchen with a plate of sandwiches in hand and sat back down next to Mordret.
"They'll be fine, there are trillions of them, and they are reflections; whenever someone looks into a reflection, a child of Mirage is created."
Mordret pondered on his words before a thought popped into his head.
"What if one of the reflections of Mirage was still alive?"
"This again? Fine, I'll entertain you. The Castellan would help her, not you, as she would still be considered the original master of this castle and its creator, which means she would be the foundation rather than you. Unless, of course, the reflection of Mirage gave the castellan specific orders to keep you as the foundation and master of this castle instead of your father, and continue to create whatever you imagined. Oh yes, speaking of your father."
Mordret quirked an eyebrow.
"What about him?"
His teacher hesitated for a moment, which was unlike him.
"He was here once, well, he was here multiple times long before you were here. But then strangle enough, his reflection suddenly disappeared for a while before showing up again."
"He… what?"
It was just like the reflection of Morgan and Uncle Jest.
"Yes, yes, and it just so happened that his reflection appeared again days before your brother brought you here. Now, you could call that a coincidence, but I don't think so. This place is hiding something, and remember what I told you about hiding things."
Mordret recalled his words and said them aloud.
"Always hide them in plain sight,"
His teacher nodded.
"That's right, everyone always thinks you're trying to be smart, so they never think to look in the obvious places. I'm sure the answer to what Morgan truly is right in front of your face, yet you can't find it because you're looking, not seeing ."
Mordret took his teacher's words to heart as he always did and nodded.
"Do… Do you think it had something to do with Weaver?"
The man pondered for a bit before shaking his head.
"I doubt it. Now enough of that, we will definitely continue this conversation later."
Mordret lingered for a while contemplating the information before he stood up from the couch and nodded.
"Good, to be honest with you, I was getting bored with writing those runes,"
His teacher wagged a finger at him as he took a bite of his sandwich.
"Watch your words, Mordret. Something tells me that things are going to get hectic soon, and you're going to wish you were bored again. You're going to wish that you were still at peace."
"I doubt it, I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"
His teacher gave him a long look and eventually shook his head as he finished chewing.
"Gods, you just had to open your mouth, didn't you?"
Mordret didn't reply and instead moved to grab a sandwich before a hand smacked him away.
"Don't touch my plate! Those are all for me, go make your own food."
Mordret retreated his hand and walked into the kitchen.
"You still never answered my questions about how you got Daeron and Windflower out of the tomb of Ariel."
"Yes, I did, I said the answer is oblivion."
"Could you be more specific? And what about his people? Did you leave them there?"
"I got them out too,"
Mordret stared at his teacher with disbelief before shaking his head.
"That's impossible,"
His teacher shook his head as well.
"No, it isn't, the entire pyramid was a loop, and time holds no meaning there."
"How many were there?"
"13 million,"
Mordret's expression of disbelief only grew as he stared at his teacher.
"So you're telling me that you somehow got a supreme being, a transcended being, both of whom were still in their transformations, and 13 million ascended, possibly now transcended warriors out of the tomb of Ariel and brought them to the Eternal City?"
His teacher smiled.
"Yes, that's right, along with a young priestess of the nightmare spell who was also a good friend of mine."
"I'm sorry, teacher, but I find that very hard to believe. Unless you somehow went back in time to before Daeron and Windflower were corrupted and convinced them and their people, along with the young priestess, to leave with you on their now flying ship."
Mordret's eyes widened as his teacher's smile grew.
"And just like that, you have your answer to your first question from earlier. As for your second question as to how I got past the ghost fleet, I used Daeron's ship. For your third question, as to how I got back into the eternal city again without a ship, along with their corrupted bodies? I used his ship again, and they weren't corrupted at all, at least not at the moment. Though we only had so much time before the knowledge of the void buried in their subconscious took over again."
Mordret's shock gave way to confusion again.
"But you're still not explaining how you wiped their memories of the knowledge of the void; they would have become defiled again before you reached the city."
His teacher stared at him for a while before shrugging carelessly.
"You'll have to ask them yourself. Now, get my tasteless mask, will you? I have some errands to run."
Mordret was disappointed at his answer but nodded nonetheless and began walking to his teacher's room.
"You mean the dark, demonic-looking one?"
His teacher frowned but eventually shook his head.
"No, no, the other black one, I don't want to scare the little reflections the others call children. But speaking of the color black, I swear to the dead gods that if I see someone dressed like they're going to a funeral and they tell me it's their 'style' then I'm going to have a mental breakdown."
Mordret walked away before stopping again.
"Teacher, who was the young priestess you got out of the tomb as well and brought to the Eternal City?"
His teacher smiled warmly at the mention of the priestess.
"Ananke, her name was Ananke."
I know that these chapters have been pretty slow so far, but it's necessary, trust me :) Also, let me know what you all think of the name for Mordret's aspect and one of his attributes. I think it's decent, but I wouldn't be opposed to some other name suggestions.