I Can See Evolution Paths

Silence.

Sun stared. "What?"

Arthur nodded. "An ice copy."

Kong pointed at Arthur, then made a copy gesture with his hands.

Arthur laughed. "Exactly."

Athena looked intrigued. "It replicated your appearance?"

"Everything."

Arthur explained that it had even recreated Dusk.

Sun’s expression became serious. "And it could fight like you?"

Arthur nodded. "It knew my fighting style."

Mithra’s eyes narrowed. "That’s dangerous."

"Very."

Vedas asked, "How did you defeat it?"

Arthur smiled. "I didn’t."

Everyone paused.

Sun: "...You didn’t?"

Arthur shook his head. "That wasn’t the point."

Athena’s expression changed. "Then what was?"

Arthur looked ahead. "It kept adapting to whatever I did."

Arthur explained the individual failures. Guardian Strike stopped working. Guardian Shield collapsed. Magic Burst was redirected. Guardian Conceal failed. Even Dusk became too heavy to use.

Sun slowly shook his head. "That’s horrible."

Arthur nodded. "It was pretty annoying."

Sun looked at him. "That’s your description?"

Arthur shrugged. "I was annoyed."

Mithra laughed. "Of course you were."

Athena asked, "What about Evolution Path Vision?"

Arthur’s expression briefly changed. "That didn’t work either." He explained that the information had become incomplete and contradictory.

Athena frowned. "Even your Talent?"

Arthur nodded. "It was like the Mirror itself was preventing me from relying on what I already knew."

Athena became quiet. Then she said, "So it wasn’t trying to make the trial impossible."

Arthur looked at her. "No."

"It was trying to make your existing answers insufficient."

Arthur smiled. "Exactly."

Arthur told them the moment everything had clicked. He’d tried abilities, weapons, different attacks, different movement, different strategies. And every time he’d found something effective, the Mirror had changed the situation.

Arthur looked at the group. "Every time I found an answer, it changed the question."

Everyone became quiet.

Athena nodded slowly. "Adaptation."

Arthur smiled. "Yeah."

Mithra asked, "So the Mirror wasn’t testing whether you could win."

Arthur shook his head. "It was testing whether I could change."

Vedas nodded. "That explains why your familiar abilities became ineffective."

Sun scratched his head. "So basically—" He looked at Arthur. "—the Mirror wanted you to stop being predictable."

Arthur smiled. "Pretty much."

Sun pointed at him. "That sounds like something you should have figured out immediately."

Arthur laughed. "I’m working on it."

Mithra smiled. "You already are."

Arthur glanced at her before looking ahead again. The conversation left him quiet for a moment as he thought about everything that had happened inside the Mirror. At first, he’d thought the trial was simply trying to find a way to overwhelm him, but the longer it went on, the more obvious the real purpose had become.

"I think that’s what made the trial so strange," Arthur said. "It wasn’t that any individual obstacle was impossible. It was that the moment I found something that worked, the Mirror made sure I couldn’t keep relying on it."

Athena nodded slowly. "It forced you to abandon certainty."

"Yeah. Every time I thought I’d figured it out, I had to start thinking again."

Sun scratched his head. "So the whole thing was basically teaching you not to get comfortable."

Arthur smiled. "That sounds about right."

"That’s actually a pretty useful lesson."

Arthur looked at him. "You sound surprised."

Sun shrugged. "I’m surprised you learned it."

Arthur laughed, and even Athena’s expression softened slightly.

For a few moments, they continued walking in silence, the enormous eastern barrier still visible in the distance.

Arthur couldn’t help thinking about how different the trial had been from anything he’d experienced before.

It hadn’t rewarded him simply for being stronger. It had forced him to change the way he thought, and somehow that lesson had led directly to Star’s evolution.

Then Sun suddenly seemed to remember something.

"Wait."

Arthur looked over. "What?"

Sun pointed toward Dusk. "You said you threw that away."

Arthur looked over. "What?"

"You said you threw Dusk away."

Arthur nodded. "Yeah."

Sun looked genuinely stunned. "You actually did?"

Arthur nodded. "Yeah."

"You threw Dusk away?"

"I had to."

Sun looked from Arthur to the golden spear at his side, almost as if he still couldn’t believe what he was hearing. "You’d rather fight without your weapon than keep using something you already know?"

Arthur nodded. "The copy knew everything I knew. If I kept using the same attacks, the same movements, and the same weapon, it would keep finding ways around them."

Athena’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "So you deliberately removed one of your greatest advantages because it had become predictable."

"Exactly."

Mithra smiled. "That’s probably the most important thing you took from the trial."

Arthur looked at Dusk for a moment before smiling. "It was strange fighting without it, though."

Sun laughed. "I can imagine."

Arthur glanced at him. "Did you just compliment me?"

Sun immediately looked away. "No."

Arthur laughed. "You definitely did."

Arthur’s expression became more serious. "But that wasn’t the end."

Sun groaned. "Of course."

Arthur explained the icy landscape, the path, the exit, and Star. He explained how Star had been frightened, how the Mirror had told him to continue without it.

Sun’s expression immediately changed. "It told you to leave Star?"

Arthur nodded. "Yeah."

Eden looked toward Star. "Why?"

Arthur answered, "Because it was weak."

Vedas became quiet.

Arthur continued. "The Mirror said Star hadn’t proven its value."

Sun looked angry. "That’s messed up."

Mithra nodded. "It was testing something else."

Arthur smiled faintly. "Yeah."

Arthur looked at Vedas. "I told the Mirror that Vedas was weak too."

Vedas looked at him. "...You remembered me."

Arthur smiled. "Of course."

Vedas’s expression softened.

Arthur continued. "Being weak when we first meet doesn’t mean someone stays weak."

Vedas looked toward Star. "That is true."

Sun looked between them. "You two are making this weirdly emotional."

Arthur laughed.

Vedas smiled. "Perhaps."

Sun looked at Kong. "Say something."

Kong just stared at him.

Sun sighed. "Right. You can’t."

Arthur laughed.

Arthur told them what he’d said. "I told the Mirror Star didn’t need to prove its value."

Athena looked at him. "Why?"

Arthur looked down at Star, who had quietly moved closer to him while they were talking.

"Because it’s my Beast," Arthur said. "That’s enough."

He gently patted the little celestial crown resting on Star’s head.

Star wiggled happily beneath his hand, the tiny stars inside its translucent body shifting like a miniature night sky.

Nobody spoke for a moment.

Eden’s expression softened as she looked between Arthur and Star, while Mithra smiled quietly. Vedas simply gave a small nod, as though he understood exactly what Arthur meant. Even Athena’s normally analytical expression relaxed.

Sun scratched the side of his cheek and looked away.

Arthur noticed. "What?"

"Nothing."

"You’re making a weird face."

Sun sighed. "I’m not making a weird face."

Arthur waited.

Sun finally looked back at him. "...That’s just a good answer."

Arthur smiled. "Thanks."

Sun immediately looked away again. "Don’t make a big deal out of it."

Arthur laughed.

Arthur explained what had happened afterward. The Mirror had recognized their bond. Then the Water Mirror’s energy had entered Star. Arthur described Star’s transformation, the stars appearing inside its body, the tiny crown forming above its head.

Eden looked delighted. "It really became like a little night sky."

Arthur nodded. "Yeah."

Kong looked at Star. Star bounced. Kong gave it a thumbs up.

Arthur explained Star’s new ability. "It also got something called Mimic Form."

Athena immediately became interested. "What does it mimic?"

"Physical properties," Arthur explained. "Not abilities or magic. If Star touches something, it can temporarily change its body to reproduce the physical characteristics of that material."

He looked around at the surrounding snow and ice. "Metal, stone, rubber, ice, water... things like that."

Sun crouched down beside Star. "Can you demonstrate?"

Arthur looked at Star. "Want to?"

Star bounced enthusiastically.

Arthur picked up a small piece of ice and held it out. Star stretched one tiny pseudopod toward it, touched the surface, and immediately changed. Its soft body became clearer and more rigid, with a faint crystalline sheen spreading through it.

Sun tapped Star with one finger.

Tok.

He blinked.

"Oh."

He tapped it again, harder this time.

Tok.

"That’s actually hard."

Arthur smiled. "Looks like it works."

Kong immediately reached toward Star.

Star bounced toward him before wrapping itself around his finger. Its body softened, then stretched as Kong pulled his hand back.

Kong stared at the elongated Star for a moment before his eyes lit up.

He pulled again.

Star stretched even farther.

Sun immediately grabbed Kong’s arm.

"Don’t."

Kong looked at him.

"You’re going to fling Star across the entire mountain."

Kong reluctantly stopped, although his expression made it very clear that he still wanted to try.

Star bounced happily as though it had just discovered a new game.

Arthur laughed. "We’ll practice that later."

Athena nodded thoughtfully. "It has considerable potential."

Arthur smiled proudly. "I know."

Star bounced again, so enthusiastically that its tiny celestial crown nearly slipped off.

Arthur caught it and placed it back on Star’s head.

"Apparently, it agrees with you."

Eventually, the enormous eastern barrier came into view.

Even after everything they had already seen beyond it, Arthur still found himself slowing down as they approached. The barrier stretched across the landscape like a colossal sheet of frozen water suspended vertically in the air, its translucent surface extending so far in either direction that it seemed to disappear into the horizon.

They had already passed through it once.

This time, however, they were returning with something they hadn’t possessed before.

Luna walked near the front of the group, staring at the barrier with a mixture of familiarity and anticipation. She had heard stories about the sealed east for most of her life, and now they were about to enter it again with the Water Mirror in their possession.

"We’re here," she said quietly.

Arthur looked toward the barrier. "So this is the way back in."

Luna nodded. "Yes."

Sun looked at the Water Mirror Arthur was carrying. "It’s strange. We already knew the barrier could be crossed, but now that we actually have the Mirror that controls the passage, it feels like we’re finally starting to understand what this place is."

Athena studied the enormous structure. "Or we’re only beginning to understand how little we know."

Sun sighed. "You really know how to make things sound ominous."

Athena ignored him.

Luna continued staring ahead. "The stories my grandfather told me always made the east sound different from the rest of the Everglades. He said there were ruins that nobody could explain, lights that appeared in the forest at night, and creatures that didn’t resemble anything found in the other regions."

Arthur’s eyes immediately brightened.

Sun noticed and sighed. "There it is."

Arthur looked at him. "What?"

"That expression."

"What expression?"

"The one that means you’re already planning to investigate everything she just mentioned."

Arthur smiled. "I’m only curious."

Sun shook his head. "That’s what you always say right before we end up inside something dangerous."

Mithra laughed. "He’s not wrong."

Arthur shrugged. "We’ll be careful."

Athena glanced at him. "That statement would be more convincing if your definition of careful were consistent with everyone else’s."

Arthur smiled. "I’ll take that as a compliment."

Athena looked back toward the barrier. "It wasn’t intended as one."

"Still taking it."

Arthur raised the Water Mirror toward the barrier.

Nothing happened at first.

He waited a moment, then adjusted its position slightly.

The surface of the barrier rippled.

Everyone immediately became quiet.

A faint blue wave spread outward from the point closest to the Mirror, moving across the enormous frozen surface like a ripple traveling across a lake. The barrier began to flow, its solid appearance dissolving into something that looked almost liquid.

Luna stared.

"It’s opening."

The center of the barrier folded inward, forming a wide circular passage surrounded by blue light.

Arthur lowered the Mirror slightly. "Looks like we’re going back in."

Before they entered, Star suddenly stopped moving.

Arthur looked down. "Star?"

Star was staring through the barrier, its celestial interior beginning to glow. Arthur followed its gaze. Nothing obvious. Then one of the blue lights in the forest moved. Then another. Then another.

Athena noticed. "They’re moving."

Mithra’s hand moved toward her weapon. Vedas raised his spear. Sun gripped Long.

Arthur watched. The lights didn’t approach. They simply shifted deeper into the forest, as though something had noticed them.

Arthur’s expression became serious. "Looks like we’re not the only ones who noticed the barrier opened."

Luna looked nervous. "What are those?"

Athena shook her head. "I don’t know."

Arthur smiled slightly. "We’ll find out."

The group stepped through. The instant Arthur crossed the barrier, the atmosphere changed. The cold disappeared. The air became strangely warm. The snow behind them felt like another world.

Arthur looked around. Then he noticed something in the distance. Something enormous rose above the ancient forest. A gigantic structure. Broken. Ancient. Its shape was unmistakable.

It resembled a Mirror.

Arthur stopped.

Athena noticed. "Arthur?"

He didn’t answer immediately. He stared at it. "...That’s not a ruin."

Athena looked toward it. "Then what is it?"

Arthur smiled, his eyes filled with the same curiosity that had gotten him into the Water Mirror in the first place. "I have no idea." He adjusted Dusk. "Let’s find out."

The group stood at the entrance to the sealed east. Behind them was the frozen mountain they’d just escaped. Ahead lay the unknown region. And far beyond the ancient forest, the enormous broken Mirror waited silently.

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