"Lady Bel!"
The voice pushed through and pulled Noble from her slumber.
Opening her eyes, she was forced to block the morning light with her back of her palm.
"I was beginning to think you won't wake up, you sleepy head!" A gorgeous mossy head of hair looked down, bringing a shadow over Noble's face.
Child of Promise fluttered her eyelashes. "Syrce?"
The woman came into focus, as did the mosaic of mirrors over her head. Noble blinked, startled.
The memories of the night before came flooding back.
The Doom War had played out before her eyes, or at least part of it had.
Then she had drowned in the waters of Northgate. A deluge like that should have damaged the throne room. Yet, looking around, everything seemed fine.
She wasn't wet either. If she had been in water, then at least her hair or Helios's fur should have still been damp. Yet her braid was dry, and the echo below her was obediently waiting for his master to untie herself so he could be dismissed.
Noble rubbed her eyes. 'Was it all a dream?'
"I have never seen anyone sleep that deeply! Your breathing was so slow I almost mistook you for dead!" Syrce laughed.
"Why are you sounding so cheery about the prospect?" Child of Promise dismissed the rope and her echo as she floated upright.
"I'm not happy about your death. I am happy you are well, silly!" The Saint clicked her tongue. "You aren't allowed to die!"
"Thank you, I think." Still groggy, Noble looked around for the other members of her cohort.
Syrce followed her gaze. "Ah, yes, I suppose you want to check on them. I don't blame you. When I woke them, they were very out of sorts as well. What happened here last night?"
"I am not sure. Will you excuse me for a moment?" Noble didn't wait for a response.
Dismissing Helios, she moved briskly toward Roan, who was examining the archway around the throne with Aether and Helie. Flint stood on the other side of the enormous chair, rubbing his forehead.
"Why do so many of Mirage's tricks leave me with the feeling of a hangover?" he muttered loudly.
"Tricks?" Noble caught his words as she neared. "Does that mean you saw it too?"
"The destruction of the city?" Helie answered. "We all did."
"I think the column funneled the light to make the mirrors work. When we all thought about the same event, it triggered the mechanism to bring the scene to life. At least, that is my humble guess," Aether touched the asymmetrical stone.
"But the drowning sensation, I really felt like I was dying." Noble could feel the other's emotions. They had thought the same.
Roan scratched his beard. "That has us stumped as well. The best we can figure is that it was a shared delusion. The picture was so vivid that our other senses responded to the stimulus. It's amazing how the body can react when the imagination believes something is true."
"Imagination, indeed." Noble tucked the stray wisps of hair behind her ear. "It is a very powerful thing."
"I'll say." Flint rested one hand against the throne as he forced his eyes shut. "I think if we ever try that again, we should think of something a little less murder-y."
"Weren't you the one who wanted ghost stories?" Noble raised one eyebrow at him.
The man waved his free hand in the air. "Let's not relive who said or did what. The point is, I don't want to experience the death of a demon ever again."
"On that we can agree," Noble nodded. The intense experience had put enough stress on their souls to make them believe they were all drowning.
Another encounter like that might actually cause some long-term damage. Noble looked up at the ceiling, careful not to wonder anything in case the mirrors might still have some power in them.
They weren't like the maze below true Bastion. That place had shown her what could be based on her imagination. This wasn't like the Wonder Woods either, which could lure people away by showing them what they imagined they wanted to see.
This contraption was purely a relay of events. A record of sorts, a recounting of the past through the reflections in the world. Now that Noble thought about it, the mosaic made sense.
Each mirror gave a point of view from a different reflection, stitching them together to make a three-dimensional whole. That was how it was presenting so many angles all at the same time, overwhelming the Masters' senses in the end.
'Curiouser and curiouser...' Noble looked away as a man rushed into the throne room.
"My lady!" An out of breath soldier fell at Syrce's feet.
He handed the Saint a slip of paper.
Seeing the man's state, Noble approached her friend with urgency. "Is everything alright?"
Syrce lowered the page to her side. "I was about to ask you the same."
"We are fine. Though I recommend you either keep everyone out of this room or remove the mirrors. They seem to tell of real events in a way that could kill a mundane human. Not the safest thing to have around your subjects." Noble glanced up warily at her own reflection.
"Oh my! That is good to know. I will have someone take care of it very soon. Thank you, Bel! It was very thoughtful of all of you to spend the night up here and make sure it was safe."
"Very thoughtful?" The floating Master furrowed her brow. "I was led to believe by Maelys that it was your idea."
"My idea?" The Saint tapped her chin. "Perhaps it was. I had a lot on my mind yesterday, and don't remember everything I said. When Mae gets back, I'll have to remind her to be more careful about repeating my desires without consulting me first."
"Gets back? Has she gone somewhere?" Noble had noticed that the elder sister was absent but hadn't given it much thought.
"I didn't tell you, did I? Forgive me, Bel. You must be so confused!" Syrce tapped her forehead. "Sweet Mae and her army have gone out to clear the area of the Nightmare Creatures. They set out just before sunrise."
"They...they what?!" Noble's exclamation brought the others into the conversation. "We were planning on doing that today."
Syrce opened the page that had been handed to her by the servant. "Well, now you do not have to. It looks like she has taken care of all of them!"
"Surely not. There were at least seven hoards that we were going to take down. The one to the south and east would take days to exterminate all on its own!" Child of Promise floated a little higher from the ground.
"That one is clear, as are the six others that I assume you mean. Look here." The Saint held out the paper for Noble to read. She scanned the words incredulously.
Lady Maelys had indeed exterminated the Nightmare Creatures in the area.
"I...don't understand. How could she have even known where to find them?" Noble furrowed her brow.
"I think I might be able to help with that," Aether rubbed his neck. "I mentioned the map to one of Lady Mae's soldiers when we were coming to rescue you. When you went to take care of something before dinner, she came by and asked to take a look."
"It seems Lady Mae has impeccable timing," Noble pursed her lips.
Shouldn't she be happy? Ecstatic even! If the report was true, then weeks of work had been completed while she was sleeping. That meant that Noble didn't have to repeatedly put herself in harm's way.
That was a blessing.
It was silly to be bitter that Maelys had left her out of the fighting. She refused to let the feeling take hold. Taking a deep breath, Noble smoothed her braid.
"Did you hear that, everyone? It seems our work for the morning is already done. We should go thank Lady Mae and her army for their hard work." Clearing her throat, Noble addressed the second sister. "Where might we find the lady in question?"
Syrce flipped over the paper, and her smile grew wider.
"Mae never could sit still." She placed her hand to her ear. "You want to find her? Just follow the sound!"