Chapter Two

The Keeper of the Heart of Infinity and the fallen prince of Meridian were making no progress in figuring out their situation. They had fallen into an empty chamber, lit by one small red flame that floated at the center. Where the door should have been was now nothing but a smooth wall. In fact, all four walls around them were smooth and perfect.

Once sealed inside, the Prince was fast to shove the Keeper off him, scrambling to his feet, unleashing a full blast of magic at her. She tucked her wings and rolled, electricity blinding in the dim, small room, creating a disorienting strobe of lights. It dazed her, making her stumble as she pushed herself off the ground. The room glowed with a new color, yellow, as Phobos tapped into telekinetic powers, since she was proving too resistant to his more powerful lightning based attacks, and released a wall of force at her. He caught her, now trapped between the yellow force wall at her chest and the white stone at her back.

She grunted, placing her palms on the yellow magic walls and pushed, forcing it slowly off her, muscles bulging in her skintight suit. The quintessence made her inhumanly strong, and the wall cracked where her palms pushed. Phobos added more pressure, needing today to end in at least one victory, and her defeat would be a grand one.

And then his magic was gone.

Thinking it was from his sister's interference, he looked back to where the door should be, only to see it still gone. Bracing himself for an attack, he faced the Keeper.

Only her powers were gone as well.

The day was getting out of hand, Will mused, not able to connect to the Heart at her neck. On her feet, she stalked around the prince, who was watching her with a turn of his head. Tracking down the trio was so simple that Will would have never guessed things could turn south so quickly after finding them. She had volunteered to handle Phobos, knowing their powers matched in type base, and she could overpower him. While she was right, and had him pinned faster than she planned for, she was now at the disadvantage.

She knew nothing of his hand-to-hand prowess, so she needed to keep a safe distance until her friends could reach her. Which would fall on Elyon, as the connection to the Heart was severed.

"Are you going to maul me with your bare hands? You are barely more than a glamoured mogriff." Phobos taunted, eyes hard to see in the low light, making them look like two black chasms as they followed her careful movements.

Needing a plan of action, Will calmed herself. Fighting made her blood pump more than needed and now was the time for talk, for finding answers.

"What did you do?" she demanded, voice hard. This was Phobos she was dealing with. He was a master manipulator, even if he seemed to barely emote his own emotions. He knew how to blind people with their own feelings, whether they were rooted in something positive or negative.

He was calm as he answered, "You held us to the forge, you issued the request, you did this."

"Okay," she said, stopping and eyeing him. "What did I do?"

"I doubt you can grasp the power of this place and what you've awoken."

"Humor me, then."

He narrowed his eyes, not liking her tone. "This place is called an Oath Forge. It is made to repair or create bonds in a way that is natural. It presents trials until the two users have come to that mutual understanding."

"So, brainwashing?"

Phobos shook his head in disgust. "Do you think I would come to a place to have my mind altered? Such a simple way to view a grand place such as this. No, it presents truths of the other that foster the connection. With a correctly worded request, that could be as little as having mild respect for the town drunk." Phobos raised a brow. "What does your request mean?"

Will was absorbing the information. It honestly sounded like brainwashing or Stockholm Syndrome. How could this create natural bonds? It was magic, nothing was 'natural'. And what trials? What would they have to do? How many were there?

At his question, Will realized exactly what she had said. It was a joke. A perfectly timed one, in her opinion, one that would make Irma proud. Yet, given her situation, she wished she had kept her mouth shut.

"It can mean a lot of things," she said, ignoring the fact she meant it a certain way.

He groaned. "Vague nonsense? This place will twist it any way it pleases. What is at its core?"

"Core?"

He pressed a hand to his temple. "I am stuck with such a painfully simple creature," he mused to himself. "You said it can have many meanings, surely something connects them all, thus they can all exist under the same blanket statement."

It was becoming hard to ignore his rude comments, but she needed to stay on task. He was talking, and she still needed answers from him. "It means there is an energy between two people. The way I said it would have implied… trust," she said, hoping the low lights hid her red face.

Phobos placed a hand on his chin. "That is not too terrible," he said. "Trust comes in doses. Maybe just a small amount will satisfy the room."

She snorted, unable to hold in a laugh. Vaguely, she was aware the room was getting brighter. "Oh! Yes, so simple!"

He narrowed his eyes, the blue now visible. "I have had enough of your tone, Keeper!" he said, waving a sweeping hand in her direction.

"Oh, trust me, I've had enough of yours!" she snapped, pushing her hair back.

The prince folded his arms. "Do you think this thrills me? Being here with you? Wasting the magic of this place on a bond of trust that will be meaningless? You may come to trust me-"

She advanced on him, poking his chest with her finger.

"Trust you? Did your brain rot in that cell?"

They argued until Will hit a nerve, bringing up Kandrakar, his greatest defeat, causing him to turn and walk away, towards a wall lined with mirrors.

Finally, they both took notice of the room. It was a long hall, with dozens of mirrors lined up, side to side, on each long white wall. One row had mirrors with red frames, the other side had silver. The floor was a gray marble that echoed with each of their steps and the ceiling was high. At one end of the hall was the same weak glowing red flame from before. The other end had a single door, with an inscription on it.

Will approached, pushing the door with no luck. Phobos approached as well and ran a hand over the carved words.

"The mirrors reflects what you see," he read. He turned and walked to the nearest red mirror. "Odd, I have no reflection."

Will slowly followed, as the writing on the door was making her head ache, and looked into a mirror a few spaces down.

"I do… I think," she said, confused at what she saw. It was her. Same face, hair, height, only she was dressed differently. She was wearing Earth clothes identical to her mother's work attire. The image moved with her, but wore an expression of uneasiness.

"Ah, I see," the prince said, looking at her reflection. Turning, he headed to a silver mirror and Will followed.

His image was dressed in armor, the Meridian crest on his chest. His expression was solemn, eyes sunken. Walking to another, he now wore farm clothes, hair short, looking miserable.

"These are our other selves, at least, what was once possible, given different choices."

Will approached another red mirror. The Will there was beaming, a gold medal around her neck, wearing a blue swimsuit. It was silly, but Will smiled, seeing one of her dreams in person. It was nice knowing she could have had that life if she had tried for it.

Phobos walked to the end and examined each possibility. Some wore royal robes and held items of power. Some were beaten down, a shell of himself. It prided him, knowing he never became those husks.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Will asked, staring at a bored-looking doppelganger with a heavy school bag on their back.

"Pick the one we view as our true-self. None of them reflect us as now," Phobos said, walking past the mirrors in another sweep.

Will followed him, curious of his images, and her eyes caught on one he tried to rush by.

"Wait," she called. "What was that one?"

"Nothing," he stated, moving on to an imaged of him as a pissed off jester.

"Oh, not a suspicious answer at all," she said, rolling her eyes. "I can feel the trust building in me."

He sighed, turning around and stopping in front of her and the mirror. "You are insufferable."

Will looked at the image and laughed. "Are you… smiling? Like a happy smile? Your face can do that?"

The image looked calm, a peaceful smile on his face. His hair was long and loose, with a familiar circlet at his temple. Mage robes hung on his tall frame, in the colors teal, aqua, and white; Elyon's colors. There was a magic staff in his hands, and his symbols of power were all blue, none red.

"That is a crown of a royal of lesser status, and robes of a mage. Pitiful," he said with a click of his tongue.

"Are we seeing the same thing? This is literally the only one of you that is… happy? Not pissed off?"

"That is the look of a fool. Which would fit with that choice, as I would have to have greatly impaired judgement to accept that future."

Will shook her head. "Whatever, man. If you say so." She looked down the rows. "So we gotta pick one? You know which one?"

He looked at her, appreciating the moment of calm, as she was excessively noisy, and nodded. He led her to a mirror at the center. Only she laughed again, harder.

"Oh, wow. Of course you picked that one!"

His image wore the most manic, power crazed expression she had ever viewed. His robes were pure black with a sword and staff in hand.

"You look insane."

"Tsk, such a simple perception you truly have, Keeper."

"I rather have 'simple' than 'delusional'," she mumbled, folding her arms and looking away.

"What was that?" he snapped, ire growing again.

Will turned and pointed at the image. "I'm supposed to trust a man who thinks this is their best self? I don't think these trials are going to work very well."

"Then we are doomed to roam these halls for all of time," he stated, matter-of-fact. "And what was your final choice? Since you have such great insight."

"I haven't decided," she said, going back to her mirrors.

Phobos followed, voice mocking, "Shocking. So critical of others yet have failed to complete your own part?"

She walked to the last few, and Phobos pointed to one. "That one seems suitable. Choose it and let us be done."

Very few of hers showed a future with magic. It made sense, and it let her value her current life more. The image was her in her Guardian form, but slightly different, like she unlocked another part of her powers. With the biggest difference the Heart was not at her neck, but a crown on her head. The look on her face was pensive at best, gaze deep and heavy.

"I look like I've literally seen the pits of hell," she argued, moving away from the image.

"You look like you actually have some knowledge in that simple head of yours."

She turned quickly, pointing a finger at him. "You know what? At least my futures were all good! Even my worse one is just me exhausted in college! Don't think I didn't see hobo Phobos back there!" She pointed at one where he was wearing a fancy potato sack. "Now leave me alone so I can pick!"

"Your futures are all the same because you take no risk. Everything is mundane and easy. What a truly boring life you lead, Keeper. Even with magic, you have achieved mediocrity."

Will ran her hands through her hair. "Oh my god, can I do this?" She said out loud to herself. "This is literally the worse. The fucking worse."

"Time with you has confirmed my suspicion that they did not choose the Guardians base on cognitive abilities," the prince stated, walking away to his mirror choice and touching it. The silver frame glowed and the other mirrors vanished, leaving the one.

Will decided on her swim dream, as she was by far the happiest, and that had to be from the lack of ever speaking with the prince of Meridian. She touched it, and the others faded away.

There was a click, and the door opened.

Will rushed to it, head aching at the inscription, and passed through.

"No!" Will yelled, hands thrown in the air.

Phobos followed and folded his arms, eyes hard as he looked over the next room that was identical to the previous. Behind them the door faded, with just the red flame floating there, looking a little dimmer.

They tried the choices again and got the same outcome. Then they selected different ones, but they emerged in the same hall. Again and again, they tried, but nothing changed other than their increasing aggravation and a slowly dimming light.

"It's a looper situation," Irma said, trying not to be amused. Will was trapped, but not in direct danger. So the brunet gave herself some leeway to relax. All her friends gave her a mix of glares and disappointed sighs. "What? It is!" she defended, annoyed. "How else do you explain it?"

The four guardians, the couple, and the queen had watched Will and Phobos come to an uneasy truce, trying to work out their first task.

"They are doing something wrong," Elyon mused, watching the pool with seriousness. Never could she trust Phobos at her friend's back. So seeing Will helpless and trapped with him worried her more than she could voice. She had to be strong, as the only one with access to her full strength. "This is getting them nowhere."

The two in the pool were increasingly snapping at each other, almost incapable of making choices so consumed by their anger at each other.

Miranda sighed. "Must we watch this? Phobos is a pigheaded fool, this will be endless."

At the questioning looks of the other women, she shrugged. "I am no longer his servant. I can speak of him as I like. It is unfortunate she is trapped with him, as he will make it his mission to chip away at her person. The stronger the person, the greater he enjoys breaking them. I should know."

"No one's 'breaking' Will," Taranee defended, eyes flashing with fire. "She'll have him on the ropes at the end of this."

"Look!" Hay-Lin said, pointing at the pool.

Will was at the closed door, staring at the old language as she held her head.

"I… I think you read this wrong," she said, pain in her voice.

Phobos let out a bark of a laugh. "Now that is your best jest yet."

"No," she said, finger tracing a word. "It's not 'you'." She turned, rushing to Phobos' side, pulling him along. "It's 'they'! The mirrors reflects what they see!"

Without hesitation, she touched the only smiling image of Phobos. The only life where he found a balance between humility and pride. It glowed, the other images fading like before.

"You have to pick one for me," Will said, waiting for him.

He was frowning, staring at his image. Will walked with the prince as he walked down her row, viewing her reflections. He stopped before the one of her with the Heart in a crown, eyes far away. He pressed a hand to the image, other mirrors fading.

They waited for the click, only there wasn't one. The hall grew dark, the fire on the far end flickered and grew brighter than at the start.

Then the image from the pool vanished. Back to clear water.

"I think they passed," Cornelia sighed, sitting next to Elyon on the bench. "And that was just the first one. How long is she going to be stuck in there?"

Elyon stood. "Not much longer. I just have to break the seal. I need to go get Galgheita." She moved to leave, but stopped. While she moved faster alone, she couldn't leave Miranda and Cedric with her weakened friends.

"You two, come with me," she ordered.

"Wait!" Taranee yelled, standing up. "We need Cedric here."

Cedric raised a brow. "While this appears dire, the Keeper is in no real danger from Phobos. His self preservation shall win in the end. He shall work towards their freedom only because that grants him his."

"And it's your insight of him why we need you here. If he's actually about to snap, only you can tell."

"What use is that? As you are unable to help her in that event."

"That's the point. We can't do anything but watch. We have to stay calm," Taranee tried to explain without saying who exactly needed to stay calm.

Elyon was becoming increasingly upset, and as they needed her to break the seal, her thinking the worse of what Phobos would do would only distract her. She flinched when he yelled, eyes diverted when he tried to tower over Will, bit her lip at long stretches of silence. There was still a lot of trauma around Phobos' treatment of her as a child. And without someone there able to correctly read his behavior, Elyon could start making rash decisions for the sake of time.

Even though Taranee didn't speak it, Elyon understood from the gentle gaze leveled at her.

"Okay, but Miranda is with me," Elyon said, breaking the scheming pair apart.

"Ah, back to servant girl I go," the spider mused, leaning on Cedric as they both sat poolside on the ground. "Shall I braid your hair, mistress?"

Cedric chided her before Elyon could speak. "This is your plan now. Why are you being difficult?"

Miranda smiled, face twisted with venom at Elyon. "This is all in good fun, she knows that. We had such fun, once upon a time." She stood. "Let us go then. Even I pity the Keeper. Her pointing out his mistranslated word is the truest insult to his ego, more than anything else she has said. He will be insufferable."

"Compared to the sweet baby angel he is now?" Irma asked, disbelieving.

Miranda's smile slipped, glancing at Cedric, before saying, "You have not seen the real him yet. And, unfortunately, she is smarter than he realizes. The more she presents herself as a challenge he can't overcome, the worse he will become."

Miranda stood next to the taller woman, nodding at Cedric, and disappeared with Elyon as they teleported away.

The pool remained still and empty for several minutes, long enough for Elyon to return with a half asleep Galgheita wearing a plush robe, that was clearly Earth made, and bunny eared slippers on her enormous feet. She was in her true form, lizard tail swishing side to side, long ears drooping, red eyes lost under messy red hair. In the ancient chamber, she was quick to fully wake.

Elyon had given her the quick version when she startled the poor older woman in the dead of night. Luckily, Galgheita took things in strides, so she caught on promptly. Now, crouched at the sealed door, the woman was fully alert, buzzing with excitement.

"You see the first line?" she gushed, fingers lovingly tracing the etched words. "The verb isn't 'forge'. It's written as a noun. And this word, 'bond' has a different meaning culturally for this era. Originally, it was 'light' but as magic became more commonplace and force magic was used to detain people, which was made of solid light, it later took on more negative meanings. So, translating it straight across says 'speak the oath to forge the bonds.' But considering the correct order and, accounting for later slang, it reads, 'speak the oath to light the forge'."

"So", Elyon said, trying to read the next line with the aid of her teacher. "Is the next line 'weave the loyalty between'?"

She laughed. "Based on the translations of the late Professor Higgins the Fourth that would be correct. But his son, Professor Higgins the Fifth, has found text that 'weave' has been mistranslated in some cases from 'feed', because of era specific influence of saying 'weave magic' and 'feed magic'. So it says 'feed it the loyalty between'."

"Oh, man, too much school," Irma groaned, clutching her head.

"Ms. Lair, quiet in the back, please."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"The last line translated 'enter and emerge only when the strings of fate bind thee both anew', but, as we know, this is based on outdated text. 'Enter and emerge' era appropriate is 'stay or leave' and is a single statement. The next part is a mess based on several conflicting sources. I have-"

"I don't mean to be rude, ma'am, but can you… just translate the rest?" Hay-Lin meekly asked.

She laughed. "Oh, so sorry, dears. Its not everyday I get to help you all." She smiled and read it in full. "Speak the oath to light the forge. Feed it the loyalty between. Stay or Leave. Choose the strings of old or be fated anew."

"What does that mean?" Hay-Lin asked again, trying to keep her on track.

"Based on my knowledge of the culture, tradition, jargon, sentence structure, paraphrasing, font choices-"

"Ms. Rudolph!" her five ex-students cried out, frustrated.

"Sorry, sorry. Yes, so they have to light the forge by passing trials. If they fail too many test, the light will go out and it will release them. Or they can give up on their own. They have to want to complete the task, want to forge new bonds. Once the forge is lit, they will have the choice to move on past their differences and embrace the new bonds, or keep things as they were."

"I don't understand. Why is Phobos still in there if they can leave?" Elyon asked, looking at the door.

"Because he was tutored decades ago before the new translations were discovered. He most likely read the literal translation."

"Oh," Taranee said, hand hitting her palm. "That's why Will was able to correct him. She's translating it with magic, so she's getting the correct meaning."

"Can we get the door open?" Elyon asked, pressing her hand to the cool surface.

"I imagine so, my queen," Galgheita smiled sweetly. "You are the planet's Heart. Eventually all things must bow to you. Yet, if they are willingly doing the trials, their magic is being used to fuel it. You could harm them by forcing the forge open before they are ready."

"Wait," Cornelia said, looking confused. "So they think they have to do the trials, so they are doing the trials, which means we can't stop the trials, unless they give up on something they don't know they can give up on?"

"Gold star, my dear," Galgheita beamed.

Irma spoke up. "So… Will… and… Phobos… they have to give up or lose? Wow, I think we need sleeping bags, because that ain't happening."

As if to prove her right, the viewing pool glowed, showing the next trial.