early spring, year 02 - research deck, Eternal Reflection
Two weeks had passed since the Eternal Reflection first rose into the stars.Above Eryndor's faint blue glow, the ship drifted along newborn Astral Roads, its mirror-wings catching threads of silver light.
Lumiel adjusted a crystal gauge. "Resonance stable... but there's still interference in the core."Laora frowned. "From what?""It reads like mirror energy. Almost... alive."
Kain approached the viewing tank. The Reflector Core pulsed, silver one moment, crimson the next, matching his heartbeat.Acheron watched the rhythm. "Vorseth's echo."Selene's voice softened. "He's still inside you?"Kain nodded. "Not him. What's left of him. A memory of fear. I'll keep it contained."
Daniel flicked his ledger shut. "Contain it after we make a profit, please."
1 - first gate, first rules
They gathered around the control dais. The core brightened, projecting a ring of liquid light into the air.Lumiel steadied his breath. "Reflector Gate, phase one: open."
The ring expanded, revealing a world of mirrored clouds and floating markets.Kasumi whistled. "A city that reflects the sky."Laora smiled. "And sells it, probably."
Acheron touched the runes along the rim. "Astral stability ninety-two percent. Safe to send projections."Kain nodded. "To the Room of Meditation. We go in light."
2 - the lunar market
Silver reflections rippled along the chamber walls as they sat in a circle.Breath slowed. Souls lifted like threads of starlight. Bodies remained behind. Minds crossed the veil.
They arrived in a bazaar suspended over an ocean of moonlight.Stalls drifted like lanterns. Voices chimed in harmonies. Merchants of glass, smoke, and song traded not in gold, but memory.
Daniel grinned. "Now that's liquidity."Acheron nudged him. "Try not to sell your common sense.""Already spent it on you."She sighed, smiling despite herself.
A trio of figures emerged, cloaked in shifting glass."Mirror Brokers," Lumiel murmured.
"Travelers of reflection," the three spoke in one calm voice. "We see your flame."
Kain inclined his head. "We seek trade."
"Then bring us a fear you no longer need."
Acheron's eyes narrowed. "Vorseth."Kain exhaled. "Let's turn a debt into value."
3 - transaction of fear
Back on the research deck, Laora prepared a mirrored crystal in a containment cradle.Kain drew a sigil of silver-crimson light and, very carefully, coaxed a fragment of the echo from the Reflector Core. It writhed like a red thread in water, then settled into the crystal with a faint hiss.
Acheron's fingers hovered near his wrist. "Pain?""Not pain. Memory." He sealed the crystal. "Enough."
Their astral forms returned to the market. Kain offered the crystal.
"Deal."
Light flared. The Brokers dissolved into a scatter of motes, leaving behind a hovering sigil that pulsed with coordinates.
Lumiel scanned it. "Direct access to the Market's licensed trade hall. Tier-two privileges."Daniel's grin widened. "Our first contract and a door key. Efficient."
4 - stalls of moonlight
They entered the trade hall: a ring of floating kiosks orbiting a spindle of light.Selene paused at a stall selling bottled constellations. "They sing."The vendor bowed. "Stars caught mid-breath."
Kasumi tested a bar of mirror-iron that hummed like a tuning fork. "Forge-grade. Drinks mana, but doesn't spit it back. I can work with this."Laora bartered for dreamwater, a pale liquid that smelled of rain and apples. "Catalyst potential is enormous."
Daniel approached a merchant made of midnight smoke. "Fifty essence crystals for thirty dream fragments.""Thirty-five," the smoke answered."Thirty, and we include a purification recipe."The smoke trembled, amused. "Done."
Acheron watched the flow of traders, eyes half-lidded. "No predators, but plenty of teeth."Kain nodded. "We bite only if bitten."
They set a small kiosk for After Life brand goods: tonic vials, warded glassware, and a discrete black ledger labeled Information.Reika's talismans hid the ledger in plain sight. Yoriko's sigils charmed foot traffic to drift past. Within the hour, they had their first three sales and two requests for bespoke work.
Lumiel's quill scratched in the air. "Margins look healthy."Laora winked. "Alchemy never goes out of style."
5 - the rule of reflection
A bell tolled across the market. The Brokers reappeared, a ripple in glass.
"Reminder to travelers. What you sell, you forget. What you buy, you carry. Reflection is law."
Daniel's eyes narrowed. "Wait. If we sell fear, do we forget it?"Acheron answered first. "No. He anchored it." She nodded at Kain. "He didn't sell his fear. He sold Vorseth's."
The Brokers tilted their heads.
"Correct. The flame's owner knows his own reflection."
Kain met their gaze. "We deal fairly. We protect our crew. And we don't traffic in souls."
"Understood," the Brokers said. "We don't buy souls. We buy the echoes they leave."
Kasumi leaned toward Laora. "That's somehow worse."Laora whispered back. "That's why we brought a prince."
6 - a soft warning
As they prepared to withdraw, the nearest Broker's mask flickered. For an instant, Kain saw a shard within it, dark and sullen, like cooled bloodglass.
"A courtesy," the Broker said. "A fragment of the one you sold remains in circulation. Not ours. Another's."
Acheron's voice turned to steel. "Who kept it?"
"A collector of echoes. They call him the Curator. If you trade here, you will cross paths."
Kain bowed slightly. "Then we'll be ready."
Back aboard the ship, their souls settled into their bodies. The ship's hum felt warmer, almost pleased.Selene exhaled. "We did it."Daniel spun his coin. "We did business."Lumiel checked the tallies. "And stayed solvent."Laora tapped her satchel. "And inspired."
Acheron rested her shoulder against Kain's. "And you?"He watched the stars through the viewing pane, where the Astral Roads shone like silver threads stitched into night."I'm thinking about our next stall," he said softly. "And the Curator."
The Reflector Core answered with a slow, steady pulse, silver bright around a quiet ember of red. Not a threat. A reminder.
[Status Update]
Name: Kain Machiavelli
Race: Half Aeon • Half Blood Dragon
Level: 35 Exp: 7,810 / 8,400
Tree Rank: Gevurah (3rd Sphere)
Guiding Aeon: Ix – Aeon of Nihility
Unique Skill: Shadow Nihility Flame Lv 10
Domain: Nihility Domain - Silver-Crimson Form (85% stability)
Vessel: Eternal Reflection
Title: First Astral Trader
Objective: Expand trade rights in the Lunar Market and identify the Curator who holds a fragment of Vorseth's echo.