Mirror

Mentally touching the fragment he created he felt his entire body shift and was surprised to find himself staring through the eyes of what seems to be a man who was walking down a stone path in a city.

'It is different from when I looked at the scene of Stelle from a third person perspective…'

Yuuto followed along to where the man looked, from the bright shop lights glowing through the night to the sights of people walking around during a bustling night market.

"Hey, I'm not lying when I say I took this picture!"

"Yeah, Yeah like I'll believe you actually climbed that mountain."

"It really is what Zarathustrazapala looks at the top and you know it you bastard!!"

The voices of a few drunk men echoed out a bar Yuuto passed as he continued to take in the scenery he was gazing at.

So far he was able to infer that he was currently in a normal city where people came to enjoy their lives during the night with entertainment such as shopping in the night market.

To enjoy a few drinks with their friends.

'So far everything is normal.'

Yuuto continued to watch how the man walked down the street until there was not a single soul left to be seen.

'Suspicious.'

His focus was heightened when he noticed this shift in atmosphere and felt like something will start to happen soon.

The man Yuuto was looking at the memory through walked towards a small food stand where the lone image of a cloaked figure was sitting alongside him as he waited for his food.

The man order a few dishes to what seemed to be his dinner and patiently waited until the lone figure beside him spoke 

[Do you believe in Gods?]

A calm and cold voice echoed to the man's ears. The voice came from a woman whose surreal face was concealed under the wide brim of her cloak.

[...Sorry but I'm not really the religious type.]

The man awkwardly laughed as he felt slightly strange at the women who suddenly asked him a question about Gods.

[Would you believe that Gods truly exist among us?]

[...Well that would be pretty surreal for me.]

[How surreal would it be if I told you that Gods were once mortal and that they hold different authorities depending on the path they walk?]

[That…]

The cloaked woman chuckled lightly seeing the slightly stunned look the man showed her and she began to tell him stories about these Gods she had mentioned.

'She's talking about Aeons based on the description she's giving.'

Yuuto who was carefully listening, pieced together the information he had gotten from this strange women's stories.

Things regarding the power from each path and how each Aeon resides onto their own specific concept that each path represents.

'But a Mirror Holder…'

Even with his memories regarding the majority of the game, this term was vaguely new to him as Yuuto never dove that deep into Star Rail's lore and knew what he knew.

This however was slowly being strengthened with his active attempt to learn more through the Archive's vast information on the Express but all he had currently was superficial information about certain things.

The cloaked woman spoke of being an Emanator of the Aeon of Beauty while also being a Mirror Holder at the same time.

Yuuto tried his best to recall any information about them but only a miniscule amount was all he could bring out.

'I only know that they follow the Aeon of Beauty but that's all.'

[You look confused.]

[Of course!! It is very bizarre for a person to talk about Gods like that! Even more when you say that they were mortal at one point!]

[It is normal for you to be confused.]

The woman spoke in a tone that was cold and at the same time calm as if she had expected this.

[How about seeing it for yourself.]

Not sparing a single second further, the woman reached into her silk cloak and with her slender fingers, she brought out a cracked mirror.

Its appearance captivated the man and he blankly stared at the mirror before snapping out of his daze when he heard the woman's frosty voice.

[Look inside and you will see what an Aeon looks like.]

The man's curious nature took the best of him and he stared into the mirror.

Inside was not a reflection of himself but the image of a magnificent stone sculpture. It stood proudly until a a large crack began to descend right through it's middle before turning into two equal halves.

One side was the image of a muscular man while the other was one of a gorgeous woman.

They reached towards each other and supported their opposing body but at the same time held onto a carving knife. The two halves intertwined as they supported their structures and seemingly carved as they intended to craft each other.

The man fell into a deeper daze as he thought this bizarre scene was…

Beautiful

'This is.. interesting…'

Yuuto who was watching felt intrigued as witnessed what this man saw through the mirror. Although it was a bit strange he thought it was an interesting object and wondered if this is what an Aeon looked like.

Yuuto focused closer to see more of this scenery but this stopped when the man suddenly jumped away from the mirror.

[..So that is what your God looks like..]

The man felt cold sweats dripping down his back and watched as the woman turned the mirror towards her and gently stroked the mirror with her hands.

[This is what they ARE…]

The woman spoke to herself and Yuuto felt his hair rise as the tone she spoke in gave him the shivers for some reason.

But one word immediately appeared in his head when he remembered the tone she spoke in.

Fanatic

The woman who was in her own world continued to stroke the mirror before stopping when she saw something strange happening to the mirror.

[What is this..]

The image that appeared in the mirror began to slowly shift as it turned into a scene she had never seen before.

Mirror of Transcendence– These special mirrors do not reflect the material world, but instead reflect what is considered by the beholder as 'beauty' and project that into its current reality.

As such the woman should only see what she considers 'beauty' but a whole different speculation was being shown.

On it was a lone pristine marble pedestal where the images of a moon and sun were engraved along its smooth edges.

The surrounding was dark until the scenery of a white moon slowly rose upon the dark sky where its light shone gently on the pedestal.

Flickers of silvery white coldness floated through the air and it brought upon a calm and quiet atmosphere.

However this scenery was quickly interrupted when the image of a bright golden sun appeared on the opposing side.

Compared to the calm and gentle glow of the moon, the sun brought upon a powerful and intense light where harsh golden light was passing through every second it appeared in the sky.

[Celestial bodies?]

The woman looked confused and her eyes turned towards the man who sat back into his chair.

[What do you see over here?]

[Again? Let's see.. Whoa! I see a moon and sun and I think a white pedestal?]

[You can.. see it too..?]

The woman's eyebrows deeply frowned and wondered if something damaged the mirror as this had never happened before.

What she didn't know however was Yuuto was looking at the scene in the mirror with a daze and he felt sucked into the image the mirror was creating.

The moon and sun slowly began to reach the apex where the two bodies would eventually meet and what happened surprised both the woman and man.

The two bodies overlapped and what replaced the gentle white glow and overwhelming golden energy was a deep violet light.

The light was steady but within it was the same gentle glow and overwhelming energy from the two opposition elements.

It had a mysterious feeling where its energy was oddly hard to figure out.

[An eclipse.. so a beauty that represents harmony and perfect balance..?]

The woman mumbled to herself and her eyes locked on the speculation when she saw another shift.

The purple light converged onto the pedestal and two objects appeared on it.

A sword and a book.

The woman saw this image for a brief second before seeing that the scene disappeared and the cracks on the mirror began multiplying to a greater degree.

[What happened?!]

[I-I don't k-know?]

The woman furiously screamed and scared the man who shrunk his body as he hoped to not get caught in her fury.

What she didn't know was that a certain person had disappeared right as the image turned off.

***

"...Yuu..to…wa.."

'....'

"..Yuu.to!"

'....'

"Yuuto! Wake up!"

Yuuto's eyes suddenly opened when he heard the cries of a person and looked around to see that his surroundings were in chaos.

"You're finally awake!"

"...What's happening?"

Stelle who looked worried, gave a relieved sigh as she hooked onto his arm and quickly dragged him towards the center of the control room. 

"There's a monster attacking the space station and Himeko urgently called for everyone to meet her. You didn't open your eyes after a long time of me yelling so I started to wonder if something was happening to you."

"I see…"

Yuuto's mind was still on the memory he saw in that mirror and felt frustrated he wasn't able to see the last image that appeared on the pedestal.

But once he heard that a monster was attacking, his mind pushed those thoughts aside which was then focused on a brand new thought.

HIs mind cooled down and he ran with Stelle towards the center of the control room, preparing himself for the obstacle that he had waited for.