"So all we have to do is look in this mirror, and we'll be able to navigate our way through Korok Forest?" Edelgard asked.
"Righty!" Hestu said. "If you survive, you'll be able to see the way through Korok Forest."
"Wait, what do you mean, 'if we survive'?" Claude demanded.
"Well...sometimes people die when they look in the Mirror of Truth," Hestu admitted.
"How can looking in a mirror kill someone?" Link asked.
"I don't know, honest!" Hestu said.
"It's probably part of the test," Edelgard said.
"Right, Hyrule's magic is bullshit. How did I forget?" Claude deadpanned.
"I have to take the chance," Link said. "If you two want to go back..."
"No," Edelgard said instantly. "I'm going to do this. I have to know what I'll see."
Claude was more hesitant, but he steeled himself. "If I don't do it now, I never will. Let's see this mirror."
Hestu led them into a clearing where the Mirror of Truth was. There, the three of them looked in it. It was a mesmerizing sight, as if their minds got sucked inside it...
Link looked around himself. He wasn't in Korok Forest anymore. No, this was Castle Town.
Looking around, he saw dozens of bodies. Soldiers, civilians, Hylian, Sheikah, Zora, Goron, Rito, and Gerudo.
He spotted King Rhoam's body, and those of the four Champions. There was a body belonging to someone he didn't remember seeing before, but he instinctively knew it was his father.
"Did you really think you could have saved them?" Link's eyes widened. That was his voice.
He turned to see what looked like another him, but this Link had no color on his entire body, being dark gray in a way that reminded Link of ashes, save for the burning red embers that were this other Link's eyes.
Link's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"
Edelgard was surprised when she saw herself standing before her. It was an older her, but it was her. But the other her didn't seem to acknowledge her. There was Hubert, behind her, and a forest of heads on pikes. And Ferdinand was walking up to the two of them.
Some of which she recognized. Some were her friends.
"You wanted to speak to me?" Not-Edelgard asked Not-Ferdinand .
"This war has been going on for well over a decade," Not-Ferdinand said wearily.
"It doesn't matter. We still have yet to conquer the Kingdom. And there are rebellions in Leicester that must be put down," Not-Edelgard dismissed him.
"Hundreds of thousands have died," Not-Hubert pleaded. "And that's just in battle. Taking into account starvation, opportunistic bandits, and other factors, the number reaches the millions. We've already destroyed the Agarthans. How many more do we have to kill to see the better future you promise?"
"As many as we have to!" Not-Edelgard shouted. "The Agarthans are dead, but the Central Church still hasn't been destroyed. The Kingdom hasn't been conquered. The people of Leicester still balk at the idea of my rule."
"Can we not let them be?" Not-Ferdinand asked. "They have little enough influence in Adrestia."
"And leave them to their ideation of the past?" Not-Edelgard asked. "To deny them the future?"
"Killing them is denying them the future," Not-Ferdinand pled. "I cannot support this war any longer. I will have no more part in it, and neither will my men."
"It's treason, then," Not-Edelgard said, taking her axe in hand.
Not-Hubert cut in. "The Edelgard I swore loyalty to was someone who genuinely wanted to make the world a better place." A spell matrix appeared around his hand. "All I see now is a tyrant who only wishes to force the world to change to suit her. I'm sorry, but you aren't the Edelgard I swore loyalty to anymore."
"You as well, Hubert?" Not-Edelgard asked. Before either man could move, she quickly decapitated them both. "The world must change. Those who refuse to accept it must be made to accept it." She turned to Edelgard, who had been staring in wide-eyed horror the whole time. As Edelgard watched, the color drained from Not-Edelgard, leaving only grey everywhere on her but her eyes, which glowed red. "Isn't that right, me?"
Edelgard recoiled. "Who are you?"
Claude was running for his life.
He wasn't expecting to have to run from demons today. They were attacking the others in the Golden Deer, but Claude knew they weren't the real Deer, so he had no problem running.
He saw a church ahead of him, so he ran for it and hoped the demons couldn't enter. He ran inside, closed the door, and started to catch his breath.
But then a demon burst through the doors. "This place won't save you. The Goddess did not give the Eastern Church her blessing. And she does not wish to protect you. Not after you killed her daughter in Zanado."
"What are you talking about?" Claude asked.
"You placed your own political agenda over the lives of her followers, and the souls of your own people," the demon said. Claude realized what the demon must have meant: his plans to kick the Central Church out of Leicester. He must have ended up killing Rhea. "Did you think she would still love you after that? No. Thrice she and her line showed mercy to this accursed land. Thrice she was repaid with treachery, with her children murdered. Now there will be no more mercy. She has given us permission to raze this land to the bedrock. And so we will."
Claude knew this wasn't real, but he also knew it was real enough that he could die. He unslung his bow and fired an arrow at the demon. The demon simply swatted it aside. "All of this is your fault."
"None of this is real," Claude countered.
"It could have been," the demon said. "And all because of your actions. Because you chose to act on assumptions. Because you couldn't stand to accept that there was no convenient, easy enemy keeping your dreams from being realized. You couldn't accept that seeing your dreams become reality meant slowly changing a culture established over centuries. Fighting an enemy was easier."
The demon then began changing form, becoming a mirror image of Claude himself, but with no color in his body but ashen grey and glowing red eyes. "And we would rather choose the easy path over the right one, wouldn't we, me?"
"Who are you?" Claude demanded.
The other Claude smirked. "I'm you."
Not-Edelgard smiled wickedly. "I'm you."
The gray Link spoke in a mocking tone when he addressed Link. "I'm you."