Eos wasn't entirely sure how Kaine had convinced him to go to the semi-crowded library, but he knew he had no idea what the hell he was looking for and Kaine looked pretty adamant in her search.

On a whim, he pulled a very old looking, but somehow still together, manuscript. The book wasn't in English or any language he recognized. It looked pretty reminiscent of Tolkien's elfish. As he flipped through it, the pictures were pretty clear however. He took it over to Kaine, after he was sufficiently creeped out by the illustrations.

"This may be pretty useless… but, I think this is what you're looking for." He held it out to her, open to a picture of a Mirror being marked. Kaine looked sick as she took the book.

"What do you mean useless?" She was staring at the page, pain starting to take over the nausea.

"It's in some weird language…"

"No, it's not…" Kaine glared up at him. "I can read it per-… fuck." She closed it a little more harshly than necessary. "Let's get out of here."

Eos followed, attempting to ask questions, but gave up when he noticed she was ignoring him. She stopped just outside the girls' dorm. He pulled her around to face him, cupping her cheek.

"What's up with you? I'm worried about you." He smiled down at her sadly.

Sighing, she attempted to pull away, but he gently kept her looking at him. "Look at me Eos, I'm different… and now this dumb book…"

"Kaine, did that… in that book, did that happened to you?" She paled and tried pulling away from him. He was having none of that and pressed his lips to hers. Dropping the book from shock, Kaine leaned into the kiss with a slightly desperate groan. When he pulled back he was rubbing her cheek. "I don't care if you're different… I still want you. I'll protect you."

Nodding dumbfounded, she picked up the book and pointed at the door. "I need to go do a thing… talk to Tilla."

He chuckled and gave her a quick peck before walking away. Kaine wasn't sure why it was Tilla she had to talk to, but she knew that kiss was unexpected and perfect.

Eden and Tilla were sitting on the floor in front of their mini-flat screen, gaming. Kaine rolled her eyes as they both acknowledged her without looking at her. They both turned to her as a cutscene started. Tilla looked devasted and Kaine assumed her character died and Eden's beat the boss. Eden's eyes went to the book, seemingly examining it.

Rolling her eyes, Kaine handed it over and sat on her bed, rubbing her face. Tilla moved next to her. "What's up, weirdo?"

"Eos found that book, looking at it… I needed to talk to you."

"Me? Why me?"

Eden handed the book back. "Why'd you bring this fucking thing? It's not English."

Opening it up, Tilla skimmed it over. "Well I think you're stupid. I can read it."

"No, Eos couldn't read it either." Kaine sighed, rubbing her neck. "I can, and you can... I don't know Tilla…"

"That's weird. You two just up and know a freaky language when neither of you speak English all that well?" Both girls glared at Eden, who rolled her eyes as she took her cat and went downstairs.

"She has a point though Kaine…" Tilla flipped through the book. "I mean, you I get, but me? Sure I've got Air and a weird familiar… but I'm a pretty normal fledgling, right?"

"Familiar? Wh-…"

Tilla whistled and a small fox crawled out from under Eden's bed and barked happily while she ran to Tilla. "Kaine, met Dagda, Dagda Kaine." The fledgling put the animal on her friend's lap.

Kaine petted it, looking rather nervous. "Tilla, I don't know if you know this, but this is a canine…"

Chuckling, Tilla hugged the fox to her chest. "That's why she's a little weirdo! Anmarie asked me if I wasn't sure it was yours."

Kaine stood up suddenly. "Fuck… I was supposed to go see her…"

"What else is new? Want the book?"

"Nah, you read over it for a while…" Then Kaine was heading out. Eden noticed her leave and went back up to her room, feeling like she had been avoiding the Mirror.

Tilla still had the book open in her lap. She was looking in horror at a page. Eden sat next to her, understanding her horror. "What does the text say?"

Shaking her head with tears in her eyes. "You don't want to know, Eden." Rubbing her back, Eden encouraged her to read it. " 'The transformation into a Mirror is very painful, especially to those previously Marked as children of Nyx. It is done directly by the Goddess Xia; she cut the forehead, making the shape of the crescent, and covers any previous Marks thoroughly. She then takes the fledgling's blood as her own and puts the child into a slumber. During the sleep, the painful process of a partial Change occurs, causing the Mirror to have fitful dreams. The dreams are usually prophecies that will not be able to later be recalled, along with knowledge of pain within the soul due to various things, such as physic torture. Upon waking, the new Mirror will be at unease due to lingering dreams, in pain due to the physical changes, and very hungry for blood. Many die shortly after, due to neglecting their needs as a Mirror Fledgling'…"

"Kaine is fucking fucked." Eden said simply, taking the book away from Tilla.

"She's going to be fine! She's super tough!" Tilla didn't believe it herself. "You're right; she's just a tough outer shell… all gooey inside."

"Of course, I'm always right." Eden grimaced, looking away. She knew something wasn't right, and might've known what if she hadn't been ignoring her Goddess-given gifts. "Let's see if we can get to the final boss today, huh? Then we can give Kaine a big ol' hug when she gets back, eh?" Of course Tilla couldn't pass up a chance to level-grind.

When Kaine entered the temple, she saw the two priestesses and sighed, walking over to them. Cleo was curled up in a ball, sitting between a lit blue and red candle; Circe was calmly rubbing her back, not saying anything. The Mirror grabbed a match and a green candle before sitting down with them. Circe smiled at her and Cleo arbitrarily acknowledged her.

"Earth, come and comfort my friend alongside your sisters Fire and Water, please. Give her strength to carry on after the loss of a loved one, but also solidify his memory in her heart. Take him back into you gently. Please, help Cleo." The scent of freshly dug earth and newly mowed grass settled in with the scents of the ocean and a well-tended fire.

Both smiled at her. Circe rubbed her arm. "That was beautiful Kaine." Cleo then frowned slightly. "You didn't even like him."

Shrugging, Kaine stood up. "True, but he was a good warrior, and he cared for you deeply."

"Thank you, Kaine."

"Yep, this weekend, I was thinking of sneaking out and getting some retail therapy?"

Circe groaned. "We're grounded."

The warrior smirked and went upstairs, hearing both girls think that she was probably in more trouble. She agreed with their assumptions and barged into Anmarie's office.

Her stomach dropped when she saw Nyx and Xia sitting on opposite sides of the room and a very frazzled High Priestess. Kaine was in big trouble, extremely big trouble.