Chapter 2547 — 2547: One Thousand and One

Sunny shivered. It was not every day that he had a conversation with an Other… well, technically, he had conversed with many of them here in Mirage City over the last few days, but he had never spoken to one who knew their nature.

'The reflection of Omer of the Nine…'

Why was the reflection of one of the Nine serving as a custodian of Mirage's palace?

He lingered for a while, then said in a subdued tone:

"Well, you haven't been doing your job well, have you? The place is a mess."

The Castellan remained silent.

Sunny and Effie exchanged glances.

Now that they had found the ancient reflection, they were supposed to get the authority over the Palace of Imagination back to Effie, somehow. The easiest way would be for her to destroy the Castellan, most likely… but Sunny was not sure how powerful the Castellan was, and therefore whether they would be able to shatter him.

Could they convince him to surrender the authority voluntarily? That would be the best outcome, since Effie would be able to use the Castellan to draw much more potential from the Palace of Imagination then. However, Sunny did not know if the reflection of Omer of the Nine could be convinced, either.

In any case, they did not have much time to try.

The Castellan finally spoke:

"...My Mistress is away."

This seemed to be his answer to the accusation of not maintaining the Palace of Imagination properly — this reflection had been designed to help the Castle Master control the Great Mirror, after all, not to control it in their master's stead.

Effie scoffed.

"Who is away? I am the master of the Castle, and therefore your master as well. Yet, not only did you fail to assist me, you even stole my authority and tried to kill me. No wonder this whole place has collapsed. Do you see the problem here?"

The Castellan stared at her silently.

"You are wrong."

'He doesn't seem to be blind anymore… at least not here, in the Palace of Imagination.'

Could Mirage have imagined a world where the blind could see?

While Sunny considered that small detail, Effie raised an eyebrow.

"I'm wrong? What am I wrong about?"

The Castellan lowered his gaze.

"I only have one Mistress — Mirage, the Demon of Imagination. And you are not her. The castle you rule is nothing but a shell… the illusory one is the moat, and the true one is the gate. Both merely lead to the Palace of Imagination. The Palace of the Demon of Imagination, the place where my Mistress resided and ruled, has always been the Great Mirror."

Sunny smiled.

The Castellan was mistaken, of course. There had been a time before Mirage created mirrors, so Bastion was far more ancient than the Great Mirror. It did not matter which had come first, anyway — now that the Spell made the Castle into a Citadel, they were all inseparable.

It was interesting that this ancient reflection suffered from such a delusion, though…

Nevertheless, Sunny had sensed a note of stubbornness in the Castellan's voice when he denounced Effie's claim to authority over the Great Mirror and proclaimed that he would only ever serve Mirage. It did not feel like challenging his stance directly would be fruitful… but there was also a vulnerability there that could be exploited.

Instead of pressing the reflection of Omer of the Nine on this issue, Sunny glanced at the covered expanse of the replica of the Great Mirror.

"Why is the reflection of one of the Nine serving the Demon of Imagination, anyway?"

The Castellan remained silent for a while.

Then, he carefully plucked the strings of his guitar.

"...It was because my Mistress has become lost in her own illusions. She abandoned the real world, preferring the company of reflections. A fantasy upon fantasy — she lived countless lives in the Palace of Imagination, not caring about what happened outside its walls. And she was happy."

His quiet melody turned wistful.

"But what to do? The Nine needed the Demon of Imagination to join the other daemons in their Rebellion. And so, Omer came to the shores of the Mirror Lake. Who better was there than a poet famous for his tales and songs? Mirage took an interest in him because of how vibrant and inexhaustible his imagination was. And so, she invited him into her Palace."

The Castellan stopped playing and looked into the distance.

"She gave him control of the Great Mirror, so that he could bring his stories to life. Omer created a fantastical realm for her to explore, and a thrilling story for her to experience. Mirage enjoyed his fantasy greatly… but eventually, she grew bored with it. She wanted to reward the blind poet and send him away, but he offered to imagine another fantasy — and with her permission, he did. And then another, and then another."

His gaze grew distant.

"A thousand realms, a thousand tales. No matter how much Mirage tested Omer, his imagination never exhausted itself, just like her sense of wonder and hunger were inexhaustible. They experienced a thousand fantasies together… and when the thousandth fantasy came to an end, Omer made a request to Mirage."

The reflection of Omer put his guitar on the floor.

"So, the Demon of Imagination gave him a final task... she told him to imagine something that she could not imagine herself. Even I do not know what Omer showed her in that final illusion — but when that illusion was eventually dispelled, Mirage left her palace and joined her siblings in the rebellions against the gods. Omer followed her into war, as well."

The Castellan looked at Sunny with emotionless eyes.

"Only I remained."

Sunny smiled faintly.

'What a beautiful story it is…'

But despite the beautiful story, his voice sounded cruel:

"Mirage died in that war, you know. And Omer must have died with her."

He looked down at the Castellan and said evenly:

"You say that your Mistress is away, but you are the one who lured her out, into a hopeless war. You claim to be loyal to Mirage, but you were the one who destroyed her happiness. You killed her. You are a hypocrite, Omer. Ah, I really hate hypocrites the most."

Only then did the Castellan's gaze finally show hints of emotion.