Gio felt a draw on his magic as he watched the slippery bolt fly out of the water. He traced its trajectory through the air with his eyes, watching in awe as it slipped through the cracks in a Telchine’s tarnished bronze armor and out the other side, dropping the Telchine instantly.


    What was that? It looked like a reflective shard… but made out of water?


    Seeing the remainder of the assaulting group well in hand, Gio risked a glance over the side of the boat, noting with a grimace that the choppy water was difficult to see through.


    I didn’t even think about what the reflections would be like here… I hope he’s holding up well.


    Gio managed to catch sight of his reflection through the waves, watching as Rio curved his arm like he was throwing a skipping stone, slinging a fluid bolt of mirror out into the open. The bolt curved at the last second, dipping below the water.


    IT CURVED?!?


    A Thrall surfaced with a splash, with a thin needle of dripping mirror squarely lodged in one eye, before falling limply backward into the water.


    “Ew… and ooooh? Was that your… friend?” Sapphire asked.


    Gio blinked.


    “Uuuh… yes, that was Rio. I didn’t know… that he could do that.” Gio said.


    “Your ability did something that you didn’t know about?” Hatra asked.


    “Oh, Rio isn’t an ability,” Gio absently mentioned, still mulling over what he had just seen.


    “What?”


    “Hmm?” Gio said, looking up at Hatra and Sapphire, both staring him down.


    “What do you mean, your sentient reflection isn’t an ability? Is that a spell? How are you doing it if it’s not a passive ability?” Hatra asked.


    “Oh… well basically there’s this mirror in the academy that animates your reflection- it was supposed to be a simple tier-one reflection trap, if I recall correctly. Well, one day I realized that he was trying to teach me things. We figured out how to communicate with sign language, and… well, he figured out how to follow me around.” Gio said, gently omitting some details.


    “So he’s… a dungeon monster,” Sapphire said, her face scrunched in concern.


    “Well, that’s kind of… a demeaning way to think about him, but yes,” Gio replied.


    “And you’re not worried that he’s going to put one of those shards in your eye one of these days?” Hatra asked.


    Gio shot her a reproachful look.


    “No. He is me. Regardless of how it sounds, I trust him implicitly, and for what it’s worth, I have… confirmed that he harbors no ill intentions toward me.” Gio definitively said.


    Chandrika tilted her head at that but mercifully remained silent.


    “I chalk it up to some sort of class interaction, even if the system hasn’t taken credit for it. I’ve seen them spar, and they’re both certainly birds of a feather.” Jean said.


    he swooped back down onto the boat with a bit too much force, causing Sapphire to stagger slightly as the boat rocked to the side.


    “Oops. Too much oomph on the landing.” Jean bashfully admitted, rubbing the back of his head.


    “Regardless of where he came from… I’ve come to depend on Rio. Speaking of… I’m gonna go visit for a second. Pardon me.” Gio said.


    “What are you-”


    He jumped over the side of the boat.


    “-never mind.” Chandrika said, watching Gio disappear into the shimmering surface of the water by using [Mirror Jaunt].


    Gio splashed through the surface, still feeling the cool rush of the water on his face as he dove, but with the added bizarre sensation of not being wet as his spell allowed him to slip through into another dimension before the moisture had the chance to stick.


    Appearing in the Between with a burst of silvery mana, the momentum of his dive launched Gio high into the not-air of the liminal plane. He looked down, surveying the scene below him.


    Although the wooden boat itself was fairly featureless and grey, there were a few pinpricks of color and light where tiny bits of his companion''s outfits were shiny, like earrings or belt buckles, or disturbingly enough, the moisture in their eyes.


    The water was a different story.


    A rippling, fluid expanse of glimmering light revealed the world beyond. With each movement of the boat, the light billowed and morphed.


    From his hidden vantage point, Gio saw the upside-down boat, his companions all peering down over the edge (up, from his point of view), rocky, flower-covered walls, and the grey sky beyond.


    Gio looked down past his companions, peering into the endless fog below him.


    What a cool view. It’s just like the canal… an abyss of clouds instead of water.


    Noticing himself start to feel the need for air, he focused on his goal.


    “[Mirrorwalker].” he thought, invoking his other spell.


    Although he was already technically inside the mirror dimension, the version of the Between conjured by [Mirror Jaunt] did not behave at all like the counterpart he had explored when walking back from Hart’s Casino. When he cast the spell in the real world, it summoned a liminal space that only acted as a hallway between reflective surfaces, while when cast in the mirror dimension, it let him slip between reflections in a way that was clearly not bound by geometry or even logic.


    He had been exploring the similarities between the two for the past few days in between preparing for the dungeon run, but he hadn’t made any major progress on cracking open the mystery of why he could enter the Between from any reflective surface, while [Mirrorwalker] only worked with a pre-prepared targeting circle.


    Gio tried to feel the currents of the mana shifting into the spell, watching with his mind’s eye as the mana left his internal reserves and slotted into the machinations of the teleportation spell. Although he knew every line and angle of the spell, it became a gargantuan task to keep track of the whole of the spell, as each component glowed to life with its own intent, shifting the spell circuit into a complex knot of magical working.


    The now-familiar sensation of being encapsulated in a protective bubble poured over Gio, as he blinked out of the Between, appearing in the Mirror dimension proper.


    Gio panicked and tried to dodge as a volley of miniature glowing boulders flew straight at him, each perfectly spherical and bigger than his head.


    As he folded himself down to the floor of the boat, he braced for impact, holding his arm up and casting [Reflect].  Instead of the intense crash he was expecting, Gio was treated to a light show and a refreshing mist of water and light particles, as the reflected bubble burst upon impact.


    Sitting on a nearby rocky outcropping, Rio doubled over with laughter.


    “I’m crying. Oh spirits- you should have seen yourself. That was fantastic!” Rio said, wiping away tears.


    Gio wore a very annoyed expression, picking himself off of the floor of the boat, rolling out of the way as the specter of Jean’s boot nearly phased through his face.


    “Shoe polish. He’s been stepping on my feet all day long, and he doesn’t know it.” Rio said with disdain.


    Gio gave up his annoyance and giggled, surveying their surroundings.


    The reflection here was beautiful. Each splash of the water sent ripples of pale cerulean tinted light cascading across the shining rock walls. Each drop of dew on the white flowers shone like beacons, casting light onto everything present. Gio watched as a drop of dew dripped down into the canal. The mystery of the glowing boulder was solved as he watched a warped, globe-like reflection bubble around it as it dropped, splitting into a burst of smaller bubbles as it impacted the surface of the water.


    “Oh, I nearly gave myself a heart attack over a couple drops of water.” Gio said, now laughing with Rio.


    “Yup. It was a lot of fun to watch. But.. more importantly, how did you like my new trick?” Rio asked, grinning.


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    “It was awesome! That was [Reflective Shard], right? So shooting it through the reflection of the water gave it the properties of water. I understand that part. But… how did you make it curve in mid-air?” Gio excitedly asked.


    Rio smiled, but instead of responding with words, he caused a thin trickle of water to flow up the rock wall and into his hands, playing with the ribbon of water before making it curve out and back into the water.


    “[Flow]?!”


    “Bingo. Maintaining control of the spell as it crosses over into the real world was a bit of a challenge to figure out, but I can manage a few seconds of it before it slips away from me. I’ve been practicing under the water.” Rio said.


    “That’s pretty cool. I’ll have to experiment with that a little… It’s useful when we’re surrounded by water like we are now, but I can’t imagine that it will be incredibly relevant outside of niche situations like these.” Gio said, thinking out loud.


    “Unless you were to have a spell that creates puddles… or if it happens to be raining… or if you had a bottle of water…” Rio replied.


    “Alright, alright, I get it.” Gio conceded.


    “I’m just excited that I found a new way to be useful in real-world situations. I absolutely cannot stand by and twiddle my thumbs while you’re getting shot at.” Rio said.


    “Aww, how thoughtful.” Gio teased.


    Rio conjured a stream of water directly into Gio’s face.


    “I deserved that,” Gio said, dripping.


    “Speaking of real-world stuff… I’ve got a suggestion that you might not like.” Rio said.


    Gio sat down in the boat cross-legged on the floor. Jean was thankfully not present, so Gio was in no danger of being stepped on by a reflective pair of boots.


    “Hit me with it,” he said.


    Rio looked off into the distance, watching as Hatra and Sapphire began to harvest clumps of freshwater asphodels for whatever reason.


    “We should harvest blood from the dead Telchines,” Rio said.


    Gio winced.


    “You’re right… I don’t like it.” Gio said, looking down at his spellbook.


    “I know that it’s a little distasteful but-”


    “-their blood might have special properties. It might be the perfect material to use as ink for Baphelus’ assignment, too.” Gio said, finishing Rio’s sentence.


    “Exactly. We’ve got an Apprentice Thaumaturge and a True Alchemist with us… if there’s anything interesting to be found out from the corpses, they could do it.” Rio said.


    “We are in a dungeon, and it’s common for monsters to be used as material… It’s just that it feels a little different knowing after having a conversation with them. And… other things.” Gio said.


    “I understand. It’s a weird situation. Maybe talk to the rest of the group about it and see what they think?” Rio suggested.


    “Absolutely.” Gio agreed.


    Began to get up, but stopped and looked at Rio with an odd look.


    “What?” Rio said.


    “Do… you still have those reflections of the domain spells that you stole?” Gio asked.


    Rio quirked an eyebrow but quickly produced a glossy page. One of its edges was lined with a jagged silver fracture where Rio had broken it away from the rest of the reflection of its spellbook.


    “I had a feeling that you’d ask eventually. The other copies I had faded a while back, but this is a fresh one taken yesterday,” he said.


    Gio held the spell up. He recognized it instantly.


    “[Wizard’s Domain].” Gio said.


    “It certainly is. Are you going to try and cast it?” Rio asked.


    Gio took a moment to respond.


    “Not right now, but probably before we leave the dungeon. I want to reserve my strength in case we meet any more thralls… but I’ll try it out.” Gio said, affirming his decision.


    “What changed your mind?” Rio asked.


    “Sapphire called you a dungeon monster… and Hatra was worried about you turning on me. It’s part of the reason that I feel weird about taking blood from the Telchines. I know that Saph and Hat mean well, but it got me thinking.” Gio said.


    He stood up, looking over the edge of the boat, and down into the glassy reflection of the water.


    “I can’t control the perceptions of others.” He continued.


    “Whether it’s about you, or mirror magic… other people are going to think whatever they want about us regardless if it’s true or not.  We’ve already been informed that people are going to view mirror magic as a cheap way to rip off the magic of the noble families, and plagiarize spells illegally… while I don’t want to become someone who only uses magic to copy other people’s work, I think I have been denying the possibility of using our unique advantages to gather information in an… unorthodox way. I feel like I put in a lot of effort to create [Mirrorwalker], and I know that I am going to continue to improve on it through my efforts… and while the spell wouldn’t have been possible without the basis of the spell created by A. Hart, It’s not like it was a simple matter to adapt the spell for my purposes, either.” Gio said.


    “I couldn’t agree more. I doubt that the spirits care that we found a weird way to practice magic. It''s only people that would make a big deal out of it.” Rio agreed.


    Gio handed the reflection of the spell back to Rio.


    “Alright… with that settled, I’m going to go talk to the group about collecting materials from the dead thralls. Let me know if you need anything.”


    “Tell Jean to stop tapping his feet… or better yet, scuff his shoes so that they don’t manifest here as clearly.” Rio said.


    “I can do that.” Gio said, smiling.


    Activating the returning feature of [Mirrorwalker], Gio re-appeared in the Between. He braced himself as he swam up toward the surface, failing to find a suitable reflective surface to appear from without drenching himself.


    He tried to pull himself through the watery portal, but his hands just slipped through. As the effect of [Mirror Jaunt] dissolved, he began rocketing out of the water as the mirror realm rejected his presence like a guest that had overstayed his welcome. He flew into the air before flopping ungracefully back into the cool water with a splash. Gio surfaced, gasping for air and swimming toward the boat.


    The group fished him out, and Gio took a moment to cough out a mouthful of water before standing up and retrieving a towel.


    “How was your visit?” Chandrika asked, as she chewed on some sort of protein bar.


    “Getting there was fine… but once again I failed to fully think about what returning from the Between would be like while emerging from a liquid surface. No edges to grab hold of… it’s kind of like trying to get out of a pool without using your hands.” Gio deadpanned.


    “I guess I believed you when you said that you can just like… go to another dimension on command, but seeing you disappear, and then appear in the reflection of the water talking to another version of you… was pretty wild.” Hatra said.


    “What is it like there?” Sapphire asked.


    “It’s… a lot of things. Most of the time, the mirror dimension is exactly what it appears to be when you’re looking at… well, a mirror. Other times, like here with the surface of the water, the reflection gets warped with how the light refracts. Oh, also we need to make Jean’s boots less shiny, he’s stepping on Rio’s feet.” Gio said.


    Jean whipped his head around from where he was stacking bodies up on a small outcropping.


    “What? How am I...?”


    Rio approached, putting his face right up to Jean’s right boot in the mirror dimension, making it look like a giant eye had appeared on Jean’s foot.


    “Noted… sorry…” Jean bashfully said.


    “It’s no big deal, you didn’t know,” Gio said, waving him off.


    Gio looked at the limp bodies of the Telchines that didn’t sink to the bottom of the channel.


    “There’s something else that Rio mentioned… and we should talk about it as a group.” Gio somberly said.


    “What’s up?” Chandrika said, intrigued.


    “It’s about the dead Thralls… Rio brought up the fact that their bodies may have magical properties… and I was sort of thinking the same thing, as morbid as it sounds.” Gio said.


    Gio looked around, seeing a set of contemplative expressions on his group’s faces.


    “I also had the same thought… but I didn’t think it would be a good idea to bring up after we got the mission to help that poor kid,” Sapphire said.


    “It’s pretty common for monsters to be used as materials, though… my mom works in a factory that specializes in dungeon textiles, most of which are harvested from insects, but some are harvested from beasts that are less than docile,” Hatra said.


    Jean looked conflicted.


    “I was gathering up the bodies because I thought we should return them to their families…” Jean said, frowning.


    Chandrika put a finger to her chin in thought. After a moment, she grimaced with an inscrutable expression.


    “I have an unfortunately appropriate spell for… exactly this situation,” Chandrika announced.


    “Oh?” Gio asked, intrigued.


    “I do… but I need to lay some ground rules before I use it. My spell is going to summon an ‘avatar’ of my ancestors, so to speak. It is important that nobody else speaks to this avatar… you’ll see why once I cast it. There’s no real danger to any of you, but it is… important that you not engage with… him.” Chandrika said.


    “Who is ‘him’?” Hatra asked.


    Chandrika grimaced again.


    “I… it’s better if you see it for yourself. It’s a subject that I have a hard time talking about.” She said.


    Chandrika withdrew her spellbook, a beautiful yet sturdy tome full of tightly woven pages that glistened with golden magic the color of the last rays of sunset. She flourished her hand above its pages in a subtle, artful motion, watching as its pages turned toward one of the last pages in her book. She summoned a few strands of spectral golden light and began weaving patterns with the gossamer threads in mid-air.


    Spiraling loops, lattices of knots, and weavings appeared as she quickly worked on the spell, not stopping until a gilded cage of light appeared to surround the members of the party.


    “Alright… here goes.” She said.


    A golden crown appeared above her, its magic entwining with that of the cage. She spoke in a strong voice that reverberated off the walls of the waterway around them.


    “Ancestral spirits, answer my call.” She spoke.


    Simple words, but enough to cause an instantaneous shift in the magic around them. The fabric billowed in a non-existent wind, becoming opaque, like bedsheets woven from solid gold. Humanoid shapes began to appear in the wispy curtains, like hands and faces just out of reach.d


    A warm breeze that smelled of spices and herbal smoke wafted past Gio’s nose, as a male form stepped forward, pressing against the veil. A bassy, pleasant voice resounded from the faceless figure as if he was standing right in front of the group.


    “Hello, great-granddaughter.”