Star sat on the floor of her room, her back against the bathroom door. Behind her, Marco was showering.
This was a solution they'd been using: so long as they were within the radius of the mirror, they could mask the effects of the curse.
Star hadn't slept. As she feared, the mirror didn't prevent the nightmares. It did, however, allow her to rest peacefully, which was good enough in its own right.
There was a question that had been burning on Star's mind ever since she got out of bed. Now that the mirror was repaired—or at least semi-repaired—what kinds of questions could it handle now? Would it be able to handle questions that weren't previously answerable?
Star looked at the mirror in her lap. "What are the Artificers?"
"COMPOSITIONALLY, ARTIFICERS ARE IDENTICAL TO ORDINARY MEWMANS. HOWEVER, THEY HAVE SUFFERED SIGNIFICANT ALTERATIONS, INCLUDING BOTH PHYSICAL DEFORMATIONS AND METAPHYSICAL ALTERATIONS SPANNING THEM ACROSS MULTIPLE PLANES OF EXISTENCE."
Star's eyes widened. That was a question that the mirror wasn't able to answer before. "How were they created?"
"ANSWERING THAT QUESTION REQUIRES THIS DEVICE TO ACCESS ONE OF ITS DAMAGED MODULES."
"Do it anyways."
"ERROR: UNABLE TO ANALYZE CORRUPT DATA."
Star narrowed her eyes. Damage, or Sabotage? "How long does Marco have to live?"
"49 DAYS, AT THE LATEST." Probability: 0.9999
That means there's still no way to save him. "How can I save him?"
"THAT REQUIRES THIS DEVICE TO ACCESS ONE OF ITS DAMAGED MODULES."
"Do it."
"ERROR: UNABLE TO ANALYZE CORRUPT DATA."
Star rolled her eyes. Then, while staring at the ceiling, she asked, "How can I learn how to cast Fate magic?"
"THAT REQUIRES THIS DEVICE—"
Huffing, Star admonished the mirror. "Just report the error and tell me that it required a damaged module access."
"ERROR: UNABLE TO ANALYZE CORRUPT DATA. QUERY REQUIRED ACCESS TO A DAMAGED MODULE."
Star's eyes suddenly widened. "What is Fate Magic?"
"ERROR: UNABLE TO ANALYZE CORRUPT DATA. QUERY REQUIRED ACCESS TO A MISSING MODULE."
"Alright, so..." Star broke off her next thought.
Query required access to a 'missing' module.
Not a damaged module.
Missing.
One module missing.
Perhaps... A Module describing what Fate magic is? And 30 million more modules that depend on that knowledge to function?
The Iris Experiment (probably) created the Artificers, and the Artificers can perform Fate magic.
There was a knock at the door, and Star stood up. Marco, now fully dressed, but his hair still wet, stood at the door. "Your turn."
Star handed him the mirror, grabbed her change of clothes, and followed him into the bathroom. He closed the opposite door, sitting behind it the same way Star had.
As Star cleaned herself, she felt a nagging sensation in the back of her head. A sensation that had been familiar to her for quite some time now.
The sensation that she had forgotten something important.
Class was bearable. That was a change of pace from what they had been dealing with for the past week.
Star could understand what was being said when people spoke. She could see the text. The headaches and ringing were gone.
Which meant she could carry on a pleasant conversation.
If only.
"How are things going?" Janna asked.
Star briefly recounted everything that they'd discovered over the weekend.
"Oh snap!" Janna responded.
Star folded her arms. "It's sort of the same problem as when I had you over, though. We're learning a lot about what Eclipsa was doing, and in particular, how she used this mirror, but we're not any closer to figuring out how to save Marco."
Janna had a worried expression on her face. "You still have like 7 weeks."
Star sighed. "Yeah, but we've gone 10 days without discovering anything useful. Or, well..."
"Hmm?"
"I haven't had a chance to talk to Marco about it yet, but I have a... I guess you could call it a Hypothesis... So now we know that the Mirror is damaged, right? And even though we had it repair itself, it still couldn't repair a bunch of its functions. Well, I was talking to the mirror, asking it questions, and I had it tell me whenever a question depended on one of the damaged modules. But it gave me an odd response when I asked about Fate Magic. It said that it depended on the missing module. It was the only time it had given me a response like that."
Janna raised an eyebrow. "So, what? You think that module is all about Fate Magic?"
"Well, that's the thing. The Mirror can't understand Fate Magic, and the Artificers are perfectly capable of performing Fate Magic. When I ask the mirror about Fate Magic, it tells me it can't talk about it because of a missing module. So knowing all those things? I think the Artificers stole knowledge of Fate Magic from the mirror, and in doing so, damaged it."
Janna widened her eyes. "That sounds like a significant lead."
Star nodded. "So while the Eclipsa stuff isn't helping much, I'm pretty confident now that if we just keep watching it, eventually we'll find the Iris Experiment, which will enable us to find out how they did it."
Star stiffened. A cold wind was blowing against her elbow. She started looking around.
"Something the matter?" Janna asked.
"Am I under a vent or something?"
Janna started looking around too. "I don't know."
Star scanned the walls of the room, and gasped when she looked outside.
The fog.
"Oh no." Star whispered.
Janna looked in the direction Star was looking. "What?"
Star grimaced at Janna. "I don't think you can see it. Which is good, because I'm pretty sure it can't hurt you if you can't see it."
"See what?"
"The fog. There's a black fog that rolls in now and then, and with it, come these... creatures. They're not Artificers, at least I don't think so, but they're almost as dangerous."
"Do you see any of the creatures?"
"I don't... Hang on." Star pulled the mirror out of her backpack. "Disable the filtering just for me, keep it going for Marco."
When the mirror did this, the fog immediately rushed into the classroom, and for a brief second, she saw the horrifying version of the classroom without the masking. The students nothing more than piles of flesh. The desks, chairs, and tables nothing more than veins and arteries. The walls plastered in blood and throbbing, as though alive.
Staring towards the front of the room, there was just darkness.
But, critically: no glowing red eyes.
"Alright, reactivate."
The room faded back into view, but the fog remained outside the room.
"I think Marco and I are safe for now, but I need to keep an eye on things," she said, directing her attention at Janna. Then, to the mirror, she said, "apply the masking for me only halfway. I need to be able to see with my normal vision for a while."
The effect was disorienting, as the fog seemed to now breach the edges of the classroom, but no further. Everything in the room had taken on a red tint, and if she squinted, she could see the outlines of the horrible visage awaiting her whenever she fully disabled the masking. Marco immediately stood out, looking normal against the rest of the class, who looked human, but unnerving.
She turned to look at Janna, whose face now appeared fake, almost like she was a doll. "yOU OKAY?" Janna asked, in a warped and twisted voice.
Star clutched her head, trying to get used to the dissonance. "I... I think so, but it's weird seeing this."
"wHAT NOW?"
"We have lunch next, right? I'll grab Marco, and we'll try to find a place where we can stay safe. If this lasts beyond lunch, then... I don't know. I don't see any of the creatures yet. If they don't find us, then... This might all blow over."
When class ended, Star immediately ran up to Marco, whose face reflected Star's fear. "What do we do?"
Star ushered him into the hallway. "We stay together, and we keep our eyes peeled for them."
"iS THERE ANYTHING i CAN DO?"
"Augh!" Star clutched her ear, which was ringing from Janna's outburst. "No, it's fine. I don't think you can do anything to help us."
Janna frowned slightly, but then nodded and walked off.
"Are you okay, Star?"
Star shook her head. "I reduced the strength of the mirror on me."
"Why?"
"Well, because the mirror can't normally see those things. I'm worried that if it's obscuring my vision entirely, even being able to see the fog, I might not be able to see the creatures until they get close enough to attack us."
Marco's eyes widened. "That's actually a really good point. Maybe..."
"No." Star grabbed him by the shoulder. "If I see them, I'll have it do the same for you, but—"
"But what?" Marco gripped her hand. "I can take care of myself."
Star sighed, and said, "I know you can, Marco. But you..." She averted her gaze, worried that what she was about to say would sound mean. "You don't react well when you're dealing with this stuff. Remember how upset you got last night?"
Marco lowered his eyes. "Yeah, but—"
"I don't know if it's because you're the one who has the death sentence, but somehow, it seems like when the curse is at full strength, it hits you a lot harder than me."
Marco didn't say anything in response.
"I can keep a level head while doing this."
Marco shuffled his feet. "Alright."
They walked briskly through the hallway, making their way first to Star's locker, then to Marco's. Once they had their lunches, they sat down in the cafeteria.
Star couldn't see any of the walls. She could see a fair chunk of the room, but with the way the fog permeated the room, it felt like the whole room was a disk in the middle of a void. When Star was little, she once asked her parents about what happened to people after they died. What she saw now reminded her a lot of the things she had imagined during that conversation.
She took a bite of her food, and immediately recoiled.
Oh yeah.
It wasn't as terrible as when she'd tried to eat under the full force of the curse, but it wasn't much different than when she and Marco had first started noticing the curse's effects.
She ate quietly, her eyes scanning the room, looking for anything hostile.
"hEY GUYS."
Star turned to face the source.
Jackie.
Marco grimaced. "Hey Jackie. Uhh. You should probably know we're in the middle of a... thing... right now."
Jackie raised an eyebrow. "wHAT DO YOU MEAN?"
"The fog's back."
Jackie gasped. "oH NO!"
Marco followed Star's eyeline. "We haven't seen any of the creatures yet, so for now we're okay, but we might have to leave at a moment's notice."
"wHAT HAPPENS IF THEY DON'T FIND YOU?"
"Obviously, nothing," Star said, in a snippy tone.
"Could I see the mirror?" Marco asked.
Star broke her concentration, reached into her bag, and handed the mirror to Marco.
"Thanks. Mirror: Do you detect any creatures like the ones we've been seeing anywhere near us?"
"It can't see them," Star said.
"Well, right, but that was before we partly repaired it." Marco looked at the mirror. "Oh. Uhh, it says 'NO'."
"Figures."
"Mirror, do you know what those creatures are? … It says 'NO' again."
"It's like I said, Marco," Star said, scratching herself. "It's part of the curse. The mirror can't detect them."
Jackie held out her hand. "cOULD i TRY SOMETHING?"
Marco handed the mirror to Jackie.
"wHAT IS sTAR SEEING, RIGHT NOW?"
Star ignored it while Marco leaned over to look at the mirror. "It's just a normal cafeteria."
Star glared at her. "We know, Jackie. It's... Ugh." Star stood up. "I'm going to try a different vantage point."
She began to stride away from the pair of them. "Uhh, Star?" Marco called out.
"What? I'm just gonna—"
Star realized what she had done.
The fog closed in around her entirely.
"Ooo-kay, I think we're just going to—"
Star turned around to walk back towards Marco, Jackie, and the mirror, when she saw it.
In the back corner of the room, beyond what she had been able to see, a single pair of glowing red eyes.
It didn't look like they had seen her yet.
"Oh no."
"Star? What is it?" She heard Marco say from a space in front of her.
Star ran towards the mirror. The surrounding students, benches, and tables faded into view again.
The eyes vanished.
When Star was adjacent to Marco, she yelled, "Mirror! Disable the masking, for both of us!"
The room vanished, and Star could see the eyes again.
They were now looking squarely in her direction.
She grabbed Marco. "RUN!"
Grabbing the mirror, Marco jumped out of his seat, and the two of them began to run out of the cafeteria. They had to narrowly dodge a few students (who looked perfectly monstrous in their own right), but once they were in the hallway, the path was a lot clearer. Star looked behind herself. There were several pairs in the cafeteria.
"Oh my god."
They ran down a hallway until they reached an intersection. "Where do we go?" Marco asked.
Star peeked down one hallway. There didn't appear to be anything there, but before Star could vocalize her suggestion that they go that way, there was a shimmering effect, and a pair of red eyes materialized at the end of it.
Now she understood: they were spawning in.
It wouldn't be long before the school was completely overrun by them.
She grabbed Marco, and led him down the other hallway. "This way!"
Her heart pounding rapidly, Star tried to remember where they were in the school. Without being able to see the walls, it was difficult to remember where exactly they were.
But then she saw an intersection she recognized, due to the odd angles at which the hallways joined. The two ducked down one hallway, and Star saw what she knew would have been one of the Janitor's closets.
She glanced both directions in the hallway, and didn't see any red eyes. "Alright, in here."
She yanked open the door, they both got inside, and she closed it quickly.
Star and Marco backed away from the door. Now that they were catching their breaths, it was easier to observe just how disgusting it was. The handle was slimy, and appeared to be oozing a foul-smelling yellow liquid, almost like pus. Star knew it wasn't real, but she still shook her hand, trying to wipe it off. "Marco?"
Marco placed his hand on her shoulder. "I'm okay. I'm okay."
Star tiptoed up to the vent on the door, and tried to peer through it. She could just barely see two pairs of red eyes at the end of the hallway before she quickly retreated. "They're out there."
"What are we going to do if they find us in here?" Marco whispered.
Star ruminated on that. "When we were in the Archives," Star whispered back, "it seemed like they weren't completely immune to magic. At least not in the way the Artificer was. I don't want to risk it, but if they get close enough and it's certain they're going to find us, I'll try to fight them." As she said this, she twirled her wand. "I don't know how it'll go, but I don't plan to just let them kill us."
"Okay."
They sat in the closet for a long time. Occasionally, Star saw a pair of red eyes get near the closet, but for a while, the creatures weren't trying to look inside.
But then, one did.
It stood in front of the door for a long time, and Star saw the knob begin to turn.
"Star...?!"
Star prepared a spell. "I'm ready."
The door opened. The creature wasn't close enough for either of them to see it, but the red eyes bulged at the sight of them.
It began to emit a piercing shriek, but it cut out the moment Star unleashed a Narwhal Blast at it. The creature flew backwards, against the opposite wall of the hallway.
"Let's go!"
Star grabbed Marco, and they ran out of the closet.
Dozens and dozens of red eyes, all staring directly at them.
Star grimaced. "Alright. Let's do this."
She unleashed another blast, targeted in the center of the creatures, now charging towards the two of them, and blew open a hole, through which she and Marco ran. Star blasted away at every creature that was now chasing them. Their screeches echoed down the hallway.
Star and Marco found themselves in a clearing between multiple hallways. Red eyes were lunging towards them from every angle.
Star blasted away in one direction, trying to clear them out, but though the creatures were thrown back by the attack, more showed up to replace them. They began to form a circle around the two of them, until they were completely surrounded.
"Star?" Marco yelled out. "What do we do?"
"Just stay close to me, I got this."
Another set of the creatures began to charge towards them, and Star blasted them away. They came from another angle, and Star spun around to answer them. She paid no attention to how much magic she had left; she just kept blasting away at them.
"Uhh, Star?!"
Star spun around to face Marco, and gasped.
One pair of red eyes was right next to Marco. From this distance, she could see a veined, twisted limb that she could only assume belongs to the creature.
Star gritted her teeth.
"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM!" She bellowed, flinging the creature backwards.
Marco looked around, panicking. "Star? Something's not right!"
"You can't have him, you understand that? I will die before I let you lay another finger on him!" She approached the creature that was on its back on the floor, its red eyes bulging at her, emitting a piercing klaxon of screeches.
"Star, you need to listen to me!"
"Don't worry Marco. I'm going to end this nonsense." Star raised up her wand. Her cheeks began to glow.
"Star, wait!"
Star unleashed the spell, concentrating all her energy directly at the creature. It began to wail, and the ground beneath her began to shake from the raw concentrated power of her attack. Star's eyes swiveled around, and the other creatures were now abstaining from attacking, seeing the power of the spell Star had unleashed.
This was all part of the plan. Star had worked out that these things were more intelligent than the Artificers. Before, all the two of them had been able to do was momentarily disrupt these creatures. But if Star could show them that she was fully capable of killing them, then they'd have to—
"MIRROR! ENABLE THE MASKING AGAIN!" Star heard Marco's voice ring out.
She spun around to face him, the spell breaking off. "Marco, what are you—"
The eyes vanished.
The room faded into view.
Now, there were hundreds of students in the room.
"What are you— why are you all—"
She looked around.
Every last person, kid or adult, had a look of absolute terror on their faces. As Star looked beyond the students who were just standing, she saw that many of them were lying on the ground, visibly bruised, a few of them bleeding.
Star shook her head. "You guys shouldn't be here! I've been trying to... I've been... I..."
Star's hands shook.
...THIS DEVICE IS UNABLE TO IDENTIFY...
The book never mentioned these creatures, after all.
… You knocked over a bunch of bookshelves, and nearly crushed one of them under a pile of falling books...
There was no evidence that these things existed, after all. Not outside their own minds.
...They're fine. One of them got a few bruises...
And the mirror couldn't see them.
...In fact, it didn't seem to perceive at all that anything was out there...
Star gasped, and dropped her wand.
Slowly, she turned to look at the creature she had attacked last.
Jackie.
She was lying on the floor, gagging, staring with a locked, horrified expression on her face, at Star.
Star involuntarily screamed.
"Jackie!" Marco called out, a look of horror on his face.
Jackie's chest cavity had been blown out completely. Her blood was spilling onto the floor, and her internal organs were visible, some of them still lurching.
Star looked at herself. Her dress had been splattered with Jackie's blood.
"What have I done...?"
The mirror was masking the world, which meant this wasn't an illusion brought on by the curse. This was real.
She dropped to her knees.
"Oh my god." Her whole body trembled uncontrollably. "What have I done?!"
Her shock was drowning out the rest of the world.
She was vaguely aware of someone forcing their way past the students.
Someone in bright, Mewnie colors.
"What... Have I... Done...?"
Her vision faded, and the last thing she saw was Jackie's mortally wounded body, still twitching.
…
~~~I THINK EARTH IS A PRET—TY GRE—EAT PLACE!~~~
~~~THAT'S SAYING SOMETHING, 'CAUSE I'VE BEEN THROUGH OUTER SPACE!~~~