"Hurry along now, everyone. Tanya, begin the sixth mantra, remember it’s in the Ephesium cant. Ah, Jeremy, you’ve prepared the scrying bowl at last, excellent, just set it on the table... good."
Several incantations later.
Let’s see what’s going on at the Fortress then... Gods, look at that! No wonder the mirror realm is overrun with the Unreal... hmm, what’s this? The Fortress seems to have been attacked, there are cracks and holes all over it. Actually that’s odd, it seems to have ruptured from the inside. Douglas, what’s that on the ground there? My old eyes can’t make it out."
"Umm... it’s a puddle, sir."
"A puddle of what? Some vile poison, maybe. Or perhaps the blood of a murdered God... ah, I bet it’s molten quicksilver, no?"
"Errr, looks like water, sir. I think there’s a little fish swimming in it. To be honest the whole place looks a bit swampy."
"Odd, I wonder what caused that... hmm, probably explains why the sea level dropped by a mile a few days ago, actually. Anyhow, let us attend to more important concerns, now if my earlier divinations were right they should be arriving somewhere over to the East... yes, there they are. Look, Douglas - the armies of Africa, led by the Hunter and... ah, no wait, actually it seems that they’re led by Roax, hmm, well I suppose that he is God of War."
Peter grimaces.
"This should be fairly straightforward then; as soon as the Unreal come out of the Fortress the entire army will charge and then they’ll fight until everyone on one side is dead. I wish someone had explained the concept of `infinite hordes' to Roax before he set off on a war of attrition. All of you be ready, when the fighting starts then I expect to see the results of my teaching out there on the battlefield helping the Real. Oh, and do remember that those are real people down there; try to keep collateral damage to a minimum. Now everybody get yourselves ready; we do not have long..."
Some time later the room is filled with frantic chanting, swift but controlled movements and the occasional small explosion.
"Jeremy, Tanya; leave them now, they’re good as dead I’m afraid; help those Children on the motorcycles over there to the West. If you were to summon some Lightning sprites in amongst the Unreal then they might still be able to break free. Douglas, you should try and coordinate with Peter-of-the-Bottle’s coterie; see how they’ve enacted a binding charm upon those cultists... Hold on, there’s some new force arriving from the North; where the blazes did they come from? Looks like Unreal reinforcements are joining up with them, blasted scrying pool won’t focus quickly enough..."
Peter’s grumbling complaints go on a time until they are suddenly replaced by a relieved chuckle.
"Hah, I never thought I’d be so relieved to see the demon army of the Underworld, and look, the three greatest of the Underworld Gods are in attendance. Douglas, we’d best try and steer the mortals away from them; demons can be a bit indiscriminate... Quandisa and her ilk too when you come right down to it. Ah excellent they’ve completely cut the Unreal off from the Fortress; looks like the Gods are going to fight their way inside. Douglas get a move on! Or do you want to explain to the Empress of Africa why you saw fit to let Kelekorax the Brutaliser eat the 35th Cavalry division?"
More time passes and the apprentices begin to look decidedly haggard.
"Jeremy, you oaf, your enunciation is getting sloppy; you almost called up the five Disks of Geht in my sitting room! Tanya, you should try to... something is flying towards the Fortress! Hmm looks like Kami in his oversized armour suit; he must have finished defending the Garden of Lovers. It appears that he intends to attack the Fortress itself... oh. It seems that the realm of mirrors sends champions to battle him, three reflections of his gargantuan construct to rival his own."
Peter narrates the battle of giants to his weary students, exclaiming with some relish as each of the three mirror creations is sent shattering down upon the battlefield below.
"...That’s the last of them then. Now what’s he up to...?"
Seen in the scrying pool, Kami’s sword is a blur as it slices through the mirror "branches" sprouting from the top of the Fortress.
"All of you, I want Brodhe’s Indestructible Shield above the mortal army right now; the whole thing is crashing down!"
In the pool the mirrored branches rain down upon the landscape of dream; occasionally bouncing off a hastily composed mystic barrier. More significantly however, the great Fortress of the Unreal begins to slowly topple sideways, disintergrating as it falls. It hits the ground with a mighty crash and all the water in the bowl suddenly evaporates. After a moment of shocked silence one of the apprentices speaks.
"Errr, what does that mean then, sir?"
"I... don’t know."
The fall of the mirrors and the chaos in Dream, brother.
- The very cut and thrust of the war! Come closer to the fire, brother, that I may see you the better - perhaps my old eyes are beginning to tire, or perhaps the night has become darker.
It is the latter, brother, for the fall of Mirrors has healed an old wound in the world.
- Tell me how this happened.
The mirrors kept by mortals where dealt with swiftly, for in one day the Messenger carried warnings and curses to all, and those who dared to gaze on a mirror after hearing the Messenger's proclamation, save to destroy it, were struck blind. The forces of the Gods were then drawn together for the incursion. Nominally Time was leading us, but he was hesitant, and the lead was taken by Isis. Riding the Pegasus, Isis flew into the Moon, with the stars following, and we followed. Within commenced the mighty battle, the forces of the gods battling the seemings and the simulacra of the mirror-realm. We shattered its oundations, and broke the Hall of the Second Self, and ripped apart that nexus of Mirrors the Moon once hid.
Meanwhile, great Kami in his armour of power was attacking the node of Mirrors at the Unreal fortress, smashing it from without, and with its twin capitals destroyed the Realm of Mirrors began to fracture. We left just in time, as the Moon shattered into a million fragments, which were consumed and destroyed by the Sun the next day.
- So what of the Realm of Mirrors now?
It is destroyed forever, its Estate gone. I have thought much on what happened, and it seems to me that the reason the Estate existed was because of the blasphemy of Destia, trying to bring light into the darkness of Night. With the Moon gone the Night is restored to its full health, and the Mirrors are no longer so much of a threat to Creation.
- Ah, I thought that this Night was much like the Nights of old. So what is the nature of Mirrors now?
The making of a mirror is more difficult, requiring crafty magics. Should two mirrors be made and bound to one another through ritual, they can be used as a means of divination, or swift travel, but there is no great mirror-realm, no place from which all mirrors can be accessed.
- Mirrors are become a mortal magic, then, of paltry significance. Tell me of the battles in Dream.
There was a great fury at the Unreal's fortress, but others can tell that story better than me. In the wider dream... Laetatio sent in his frail butterflies to distract mortal dreamers from the Unreal, but the Unreal made short work of them, and they began to fly back to the Wall of Dream, their wings turned to mirrors and their minds corrupted. Yaraan Dreamwalker summoned the bees, his allies, and the bees stung the butterflies to death. Africa and Grace, under Roax, attacked the Dream riding brilliant horses and motorcycles and wielding dulled weapons. Yaraan made incursions, whilst great Kami in his armour of power battled to save his Garden of Lovers. The Dream is still held by the Unreal, however, but the Wall holds.
- Life is full of hardship and trials nowadays. Truly an age has passed. Where do you go now, Dolfod?
I go back to the road - until the next time, brother.
Harry Cale here, reporting once again from our offices in lower Manhattan - it's been a long and tiring month and things don't look like they're going to change anytime soon. Things have been hotting up recently with a new recruitment drive for the Stealthful Army, after the successful buyout of the K Group by Smith-of-Shadows. The Cockroach gang better keeps their heads down if they don't want to be at the brunt of the greatest fighting force the world has ever seen! Now, if you want to sign up for the Stealthful Army, what you need to do is... ah... hold on, listeners...
We've just had a report of an Unreal-backed coup in New Vegas. We're not yet certain what happened, our sources are mainly trying to escape the carnage, but as far as we can tell the Unreal have poured into the New Vegas Empire and are currently putting down the last Real resistance. Once we get some firm details we'll announce them right here on KNNY, so stay tuned people!
Coming up next, we have full coverage of the fact and the fiction behind how the K group was bought out, here's Johnny to tell us more...
Oldster 1: Hey, lil' Illisozt, we got yer a chicken an' good whiskey. Why don'cher come here an' sit a spell?
Oldster 2: Yup, Illisozt, come here an' sit a spell in the chair muh grandpappy made for ye.
Illisozt emerges from the cornfield and sits in the chair, drinks the whiskey, eats the chicken.
- It's been a long time since I was summoned so politely and competantly. I always liked your grandfather.
Oldster 2: How's he doin'?
- You know I may not answer questions about the secrets of death!
Oldster 1: Heh heh heh, there's no trickin' him, eh Jeriah?
Oldster 2 (Jeriah): Heh heh, no sir, there ain't no trickin' him. Why don't ye ask the first question, Zeke?
Oldster 1 (Zeke): Mighty generous of you, Jeriah. Illisozt, ah've been puzzlin' somethin'. Ever since the Messenger tol' us about how the mirrors were not to be trusted and we were at war wi' the nameless hordes, I've not been able to get t'sleep, not a wink have ah had. Ah jess find it better, more relaxin' an' restful, to sit out here an' watch the sky, an' when dawn comes ah'm jest as fine and dandy as if ah'd slept for a week. Why is that?
- Sleep has been taken from you by the God of Night, who has given you a better rest in return. This is to protect you from dreams.
Jeriah: How about that ol' tower you can see better at night than in the day - the tall one?
- That is the Tower of Night that Arenmei has made for himself. None know what transpires in there.
Zeke: An' what have ye been doin' for yer Court in this war, lil' Illisozt?
- I've... erm... I've... well, if you must know I've been ordered to clean St. Paul's. With my tongue.
Jeriah: Thank ye kindly, Illisozt. Ye'll be wantin' to get back to that, I dare say.
- Is there no more whiskey?
Jeriah: Can you give more answers?
- No.
Jeriah: Well, then.
Illisozt disappears.
Zeke: Caught m' grandson lickin' a toad down the creek yesterday. Damn kids...
That's all from this newsletter. In our next issue look out for the roundup on religion today and how you can get the most from your local group for company and a good old time.
Editor: Ethel Malone.
Enrico lets his trousers fall the floor and waves his backside in the air.
See? See? Yeah, iss' better than any o' theirs, thass why I'm king... I knew it... the stars, they were watchin' me, watchin' poor Enrico, so I struck up a tune, in my ear see... they didn't like my dance... oh no... they fled they did, all fly away home... I know they're still watching me, hiding in the night, but they're scared now, put the wind up `em I did, wind and rain both, rainy rain dance I did... 'til they're all gone... Found a magic eye... yeah... powers of the Lord in me eye... wanna see it?
Enrico begins to hike up his grubby vest.
It’s right here in the middle of me belly... awww come on, don’ run away from poor ol’ Enrico!