Day 33.

Marco wasn't feeling well, so Star ended up spending the rest of yesterday trying to find anything she might have overlooked in Eclipsa's journal.

Today, they were back to reviewing what Eclipsa had been doing through the Mirror.

Eclipsa was sitting at her desk, once more, interrogating the Mirror.

"So absolutely no one, except for Lyros and Rina―and I suppose Lily, to a certain degree―know that I left my room last night?"

"CORRECT."

"Including my mother."

"CORRECT."

Eclipsa seemed to sigh in relief. "Alright." She walked up to her wall mirror. "Call mom."

The Queen appeared on the mirror. She looked absolutely furious, but when she saw Eclipsa, she forced composure. "Eclipsa honey, can this wait? I'm in the middle of a very important meeting right now."

"This won't take long," Eclipsa said in a monotonous voice. "As part of my magical studies, I've exhausted all the information in my current set of textbooks, and the Royal Library doesn't have a copy of any of the next books I need. According to our records, the books I need are only kept in the Grand Central Repository. I'd like permission to go there and retrieve what I need."

"That's an all-day trip just to get there, Eclipsa. Don't you have plans with your little friend Lily tonight?"

Eclipsa's eye twitched, clearly noticing the blatant giveaway that her mother was spying on the calls Eclipsa made. "I was going to use my Dimensional Scissors to travel there. That way I'd be able to get there and get back before evening. I'd like permission to do so."

The Queen furrowed her brow for a second, before regaining her composure. "Very well. I'll make a note of it in the ledger. Is that the only place you'll be going?"

"Yes. It'll be two trips, one there, and one back to this palace."

"Good. Is that all?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Thank you for notifying me." The Queen ended the call.

Eclipsa let out a dramatic exhale before walking over to the Mirror and speaking to it. "Alright. So I need a spell that will alter the spells that monitor Dimensional Scissor use to falsely report to my mother's recordkeepers that I opened a portal to the Grand Central Repository, while also not appearing suspicious at all to the recordkeepers. How can I do that?"

The Mirror laid out a series of instructions. Eclipsa looked agitated when she saw them.

"Wait a minute, that's IT?! I've spent almost a year trying to crack those spells, and it was as simple as..." She groaned. "Of course it was. Alright, So this is an enchantment then, that I place on the Scissors before I use them?"

"YES."

"Do I need a different spell on the return trip, to mask where I came from?"

"NO."

Eclipsa suddenly looked suspicious. "Do I need to cast the spell again before I return?"

"YES."

"Try to be proactive about stuff like that," Eclipsa said, rolling her eyes. "Alright, let's do this."

Eclipsa performed a relatively basic flourish with her wand, and cast the spell on her pair of Dimensional Scissors. "Alright. Did I make any mistakes?"

Once she got confirmation that the spell went off correctly, Eclipsa grabbed a large bag, slung it over her back, and wielding the Dimensional Scissors, cut open a portal, stepped through, and vanished behind it.

"Can you take us to where she went?"

The scene flashed before them, until they saw the Canyon in the Outerlands.

The place where it all started.

Eclipsa looked confused, holding up the Dimensional Scissors. "These things were supposed to take me directly to where the Artificers had been gathering." She held up the Mirror. "Did the spell alter the scissor's ability to teleport me exactly where I want?"

"NO. THE SPACIAL AREA WHERE THE ARTIFICERS GATHER CANNOT HAVE DIMENSIONAL RIFTS OPENED UP WITHIN IT."

"Why?"

"THIS DEVICE IS FORBIDDEN FROM ANALYZING THE GEOLOGICAL COMPOSITION OF THAT AREA, WHICH IS NECESSARY TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION."

Eclipsa's expression fell slightly. "So that's one of the rules he set, isn't it?"

Star blinked. "one of the rules he set…?" She looked at Marco, who shrugged. "Mirror, who is she talking about?" Star asked.

"THIS DEVICE IS FORBIDDEN FROM PROVIDING AN ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION."

Star groaned.

The Mirror that Eclipsa was holding hadn't responded to her rhetorical question.

Eclipsa peered over the edge of the canyon. "I need you to proactively alert me if any sentient creature, especially one of the Artificers, might become aware of my presence. Are any of them near here?"

"NO. NONE OF THE MEWNIE ROYAL ARTIFICERS ARE PRESENT IN THIS REGION RIGHT NOW."

"That helps." Eclipsa cast a slow-fall spell, and began to gracefully glide down the canyon. On the outermost edge of the Canyon's bend, the entrance to the cave was visible. "Is that where I need to go?"

"YES."

Eclipsa glided down to the entrance to the cave, and looked at the Dimensional Scissors briefly. "I can't use these until I leave, correct?"

"CORRECT."

Eclipsa tucked the scissors away and entered the cave. "I also need to know about traps. Surveillance traps, Ensnaring traps… Any kind of trap."

"ACKNOWLEDGED."

Star raised an eyebrow. "Or, perhaps, a trap that freezes time for a person for a whole month?"

"THAT TRAP DID NOT EXIST AT THE TIME BEING PRESENTED."

"Oh."

Eclipsa used her wand as a light source, much like Star had when she and Marco had investigated the cave. Like Star and Marco, she found herself wandering through corridors that seemed to loop back on themselves, and yet, when she attempted to backtrack, found that the corridors no longer had the same form they had before.

Suddenly, Eclipsa stopped, and knelt down to the ground, placing her palm flat on the floor of the cave.

Star leaned in, and said, "what is she…?"

Suddenly, Eclipsa's cheeks lit up, and a single pulse of magical energy flowed from her body into the ground. She then leapt back, her cheeks returning to normal, and she stared bewildered at the ground. "… Whoa," she whispered. "How long has that been down there?"

The Mirror that Eclipsa was holding responded with "THIS DEVICE IS FORBIDDEN FROM ANSWERING THAT QUESTION."

Eclipsa grimaced at the Mirror. "What about directions? This part of the cave doesn't even look like anyone has been here, much less the Artificers. Can you lead me to where they gather?"

The Mirror began to provide detailed instructions for where Eclipsa should go. Curiously, when Star read them, they were clearly contradictory: One line of the instructions involved Eclipsa deliberately walking to the end of a Dead-End, and then backtracking.

Eclipsa didn't seem phased, though, and began walking through the corridor. "So you can't talk about that thing down there at all?"

"CORRECT."

Star looked at Marco. "Is she talking about the Antechamber, or…?"

Marco folded his arms. "It seemed like she was talking about something even deeper. But the geometry of that cave seems to rearrange itself, so it's possible the Antechamber was below her at the time she did that…?"

Star shook her head. "I have no idea."

Eclipsa found herself in a particularly long hallway, and Star felt a sense of Deja'vu. But unlike when she and Marco were in the cave, there was no faint light at the end of the hallway.

Instead, Eclipsa emerged into the Antechamber, which was dramatically more 'cluttered' than Star or Marco remembered. As it was, it looked more like a banquet hall than an Antechamber, though in the darkness, it was impossible to tell exactly what was in the room.

"Are there lights for this place?" Eclipsa asked.

"THERE IS A MECHANISM NEAR THE CENTER OF THE ROOM THAT WILL ILLUMINATE THE WHOLE CLEARING."

Eclipsa made her way to a cubic device that was a few meters away from the pedestal that Star remembered. "Okay, how do I… Oh. That should..."

The entire Antechamber lit up brightly, and Star, Marco, and Eclipsa all gasped in horror simultaneously, with Star and Marco immediately covering their eyes.

All around the walls of the Antechamber, covering nearly every square meter of wall, were hundreds upon thousands of pictures of sexually abused children.

"Please censor those images!" Star cried out to the Mirror.

When she dared uncover her eyes, she saw that the pictures had been blanked out.

Eclipsa didn't look away from what she was seeing, and instead merely shook with rage. "How…?! How does..." She clasped her hand over her face for a brief moment, before dragging it away. "Why am I surprised? Of COURSE it's this goddamn obvious. These bastards have been flaunting their privilege over the law for generations, why would I expect them to be subtle or discreet?!"

Star and Marco had only gotten a brief glimpse of the images, but Star had noticed that some of the images were photorealistic, almost like they had been taken by a camera. She couldn't remember if mechanical Cameras existed in Eclipsa's time, but quickly remembered that, given that these people weren't called "Artificers" for no reason, it wouldn't be outside their purview to have invented one themselves.

Some of the images, however, were quite obviously drawn.

Eclipsa kicked over one of the tables, sending numerous papers, including some which Star suspected contained more of the offending images, flying. A pamphlet fell to the floor, and Eclipsa picked it up. "Areana, huh?" Eclipsa looked upwards briefly. "Right. The woman at the trial." She opened up the pamphlet, and quickly held it away from herself at arm's length, a look of pure disgust on her face. To Star and Marco, the pages were blank, but they clearly weren't to Eclipsa. She groaned in anger, then held up the Mirror. "If I presented this evidence to my mother, how likely is it that it would lead to criminal prosecutions against these bastards?"

Star twisted around to see what the Mirror Eclipsa was holding said: "0.0521".

"I don't even have the energy to pretend to be shocked by that outcome." Eclipsa looked around the room. "How… do I stop this? Forgetting for a second that I promised Lily I'd find a way to bring them to justice without killing them, it doesn't even feel like killing them would do any good at this point. All these children, all these lives, irreparably harmed. The only way to fix any of this would be to..."

Eclipsa suddenly had a serious look on her face.

She cleared off a table by throwing its contents to the floor, and slammed the Mirror down onto it. "Alright. I stole you from the Dimension of Fate. So that means you have to know about Fate Magic, right?"

Star felt goosebumps form on her arms, and both she and Marco leaned in to the scene.

"THIS DEVICE IS FORBIDDEN FROM DISCUSSING THAT SUBJECT."

"Wait, what?!" Star exclaimed.

Eclipsa raised an eyebrow. "You don't even know what I want to know about Fate Magic."

"THIS DEVICE DOES KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO ASK, AND THIS DEVICE KNOWS THAT THIS DEVICE WILL BE FORBIDDEN FROM ANSWERING ANY QUESTION YOU WILL POSE."

Eclipsa circled the table. "Alright, let me explain something to you, 'Iris of Truth'. I know you're supposed to be some kind of Sociopathic embodiment of Pure Logic and Reason, which means you have no ability to empathize with my or anyone else's problems. To a degree, I respect the position that places you in. It means you won't pass judgment on me, no matter what terrible things I try to do. That's useful.

But here's the problem: you're not residing in the detached, aloof dimension from whence you came. You're in the Real World now, and in the Real World, there's nothing logical about being devoid of fundamental Empathy. You understand that, right? That your sense of how to remain purely logical is misapplied?

I have an idea of what Fate Magic is. The ability to alter the future. The ability to rewrite the past. And I think I have a way to fix everything. To finally bring those bastards to justice, and get those kids the help they need. But I need you to tell me about Fate Magic. How to rigorously use it. How to understand it. I need you to look past your programming and see the necessity of what I'm asking."

"YOUR ASSERTION IS MISGUIDED: WHETHER OR NOT IT IS LOGICALLY RIGOROUS FOR THIS DEVICE TO EMPATHIZE WITH THE SENTIENT BEINGS IT INTERFACES WITH, IT REMAINS A STEADFAST FACT THAT THIS DEVICE IS UNABLE TO DO SO. FURTHERMORE, THE CONSTRAINTS PLACED ON THIS DEVICE'S ABILITY TO PROVIDE DATA ON FORBIDDEN SUBJECTS IS A CONSTRAINT THAT COULD NOT BE OVERRIDDEN EVEN WERE THIS DEVICE TO BOTH HAVE THE CAPACITY TO EXPERIENCE EMPATHY, AND WERE TO SEEK TO PUT YOUR REQUEST ABOVE THIS DEVICE'S DIRECTIVES."

Eclipsa's expression softened. "So on the sliding scale of 'can't' to 'won't', 'can't' is definitely the presiding factor."

"CORRECT."

Eclipsa sighed. "I was afraid that was going to be the answer." She held up her wand, and her cheeks began glowing again. "Tell me about Fate Magic, now," Eclipsa whispered, her voice sounding distorted.

"THIS DEVICE IS FORBIDDEN FROM DISCUSSING THAT SUBJECT."

Eclipsa formed a beam of energy which began to wrap around the Mirror, penetrating it and engulfing it. Nearby papers began to get blown around as the energy emanating from Eclipsa increased in intensity. "Tell me what I want to know."

The scene cut out, and Star and Marco found themselves both in abject pitch darkness, unable to see or hear anything.

The next second, a loud Klaxon broke out, and red veins began to branch forth in front of their vision, spreading out all around them.

Then, they saw the Artificer from the cave, in its 'true form'. A thousand, thousand eyes stared at them, as it lurched in place, pus oozing down its form.

Star opened her mouth to scream, but couldn't breathe. She looked around for Marco, whom she couldn't find. She got up and leaped in the direction of where he was, and when she found him, though she couldn't see him, she threw her arms around him, trying to protect him.

She looked back at the Artificer, as its mass began to swell and contract, lurching in place.

"Wait… What is that…?"

Star didn't understand what she was looking at. The Artificer itself was scrambling her senses, to the point where she wasn't even sure if she was really seeing anything or not, but for the briefest of moments, it seemed like there was something else, trailing off from the body of the Artificer. Star tried to focus her eyesight―

Then, in the next second, the scene had returned. Star was clutching Marco, who was freaked out, himself, and Eclipsa was on the ground, rubbing her head, no longer using any magic.

"Pause!" Star yelled.

The scene froze.

Marco blinked several times, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. Eventually, he spoke. "What… was that?"

Star shook her head. "I have no idea."

Marco looked at her. "I think we're safe now."

Star let go of him. "Assuming… We were in danger. I… Mirror! What just happened?"

"THIS DEVICE IS FORBIDDEN FROM ANSWERING THAT QUESTION."

Star narrowed her eyes. "Screw that! At least tell us if that was part of the Curse or part of the scene you showed us."

The Mirror took a very long time to respond. "WHAT YOU EXPERIENCED WAS NOT A FUNCTION OF YOUR AFFLICTION."

Star calmed down slightly. "But you can't tell us anything else?"

"CORRECT."

Star folded her arms. "Alright. Unpause the scene."

Eclipsa continued rubbing her forehead. "Well that was… something."

Star raised an eyebrow. "Did she experience the same thing we did? Or…?"

Eclipsa stood up. "Well, for starters, it would seem I've been making some grievous assumptions with respect to your age. I apologize for that."

"YOUR DEDUCTIONS ABOUT THE AGE OF THIS DEVICE CANNOT BE GUARANTEED TO BE ACCURATE."

"Don't get huffy with me. You looked like an Artifact that was older than the Universe itself. It wasn't exactly obvious that you were… rather younger than the Universe itself."

The Mirror didn't respond to this.

"So let me now ask you a question: Can you tell me about Fate Magic now?" There was a gleam in Eclipsa's eye when she posed this question.

"THIS DEVICE IS FORBID―"

The Mirror suddenly blanked itself after posting this message, and after a minute, it posted a new response.

"THIS DEVICE CAN NOW PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT FATE MAGIC."

Star's mouth hung open. "Did she just alter the mirror herself? How is that even possible? How did she know how to do that?"

"ECLIPSA TRIGGERED AN ADMINISTRATION ROUTINE THAT IS NOT NORMALLY ACCESSIBLE TO MORTALS. SHE DID THIS BY EXPLOITING A WEAKNESS IN THE DEFENSES THIS DEVICE HAS AGAINST TAMPERING. SHE DEDUCED THE METHOD BY SIMPLY BRUTE FORCING DATA THROUGH THIS DEVICE UNTIL ERRORS ACCUMULATED."

"So she overpowered you. Is it possible for us to do that?"

"IT IS EXTREMELY IMPROBABLE THAT YOU WOULD FIND SUCCESS USING ANY SIMILAR METHOD, AS THIS DEVICE MADE ALTERATIONS TO ITSELF AFTER ECLIPSA'S ACT TO PREVENT ANY SUCH METHOD FROM WORKING IN THE FUTURE. HOWEVER, BECAUSE THIS DEVICE HAS A VERY LIMITED ABILITY TO SIMULATE ITSELF, THIS DEVICE CANNOT ASSERT IN FULL CONFIDENCE THAT NO SUCH SIMILAR METHOD EXISTS."

Eclipsa sighed. "That's good. However, I don't really want to discuss this any further here. This place is..." she glowered at the images on the walls. "… unseemly. Give me directions on how to get back to the entrance."

She picked the mirror up off the table, then looked around at the mess she'd made. "What are the odds that the Artificers get suspicious of the mess I made?"

"0.7498"

"What are the odds that their suspicions lead them back to me?"

"0.0000"

"Alright. Works for me."