Stella hadn't slept a wink since the cultivators of the Ashfallen Sect entered the Eternal Realm two weeks ago.
"It's so dark in here," Diana said, condensing out of a haze of mist in the corner of the cave. She snaked through the maze of long tables decorated with half-done experiments, keeping her wings tucked against her back to avoid knocking anything over. "Any reason?"
Stella didn't spare her a glance. "I can't stand my reflection anymore."
"Because of the Mirrored One?"
"Yeah," Stella muttered as she hovered her hand over a vast hole at her feet. "Guppy, it's feeding time," she called down into the hole, and a vast darkness shifted.
A serpentine horror slowly rose, and three independent heads breached the darkness one after another, each carapace gleaming with an oily black sheen. As more of Guppy's body emerged from the hole, it became clear that the three heads sprouted from a trunk of fused, segmented muscle thick enough to swallow a carriage whole. Each head clicked in its own rhythm, the three sounds overlapping into a discordant chorus, and from every row of jagged fangs hung ropes of corrosive saliva that hissed and smoked as they dripped onto the stone, eating little craters into the rock, The bone spikes lining Guppy's back had multiplied and grown, each curved like scythes and pale as old ivory, twitching with a will of their own. They reminded Stella of deformed spider legs.
Diana craned her neck as Guppy loomed over them.
"Since when did he get so big?" she muttered.
"I've been feeding him my share of the war profits."
Diana choked. "You fed the war profits to your pet? How much of it?"
"Mhm." Stella tilted her head. "All of it? I'm relying on my Ashfallen Trading Company dividends now."
"Stella, that was millions of high-grade spirit stones."
"I have no other use for them." Stella shrugged as Guppy's three heads swayed toward her in unison, six glassy eyes locking on her hand with an eagerness that, on anything less hideous, might have been called adoring. Abyssal tide Qi rolled off him in a cold tide, carrying the unmistakable pressure of a Nascent Soul Realm monster. "I might as well let my pet have them."
"Pet have them..." Diana echoed in disbelief as the serpentine horror stared down at them with hunger.
"Don't drool on me," Stella warned. All three heads let out a soft, pitiful cry, and the central one lowered itself to her height with barely restrained patience. "Good boy." She patted his snout.
His mouth opened wide, and she stuck her hand inside. Her spatial ring glowed, and thousands of high-grade spirit stones cascaded into the abyss of his throat.
"The wealth of a noble family," Diana murmured, "fed to a monster for breakfast."
"I never really understood why people value spirit stones so highly," Stella admitted as her spatial ring emptied and the next one glowed, continuing the surge of spirit stones. "They can be used to make formations and as currency to buy things, but if I want something, I usually just take it."
"Spoken like a true tyrant."
"I'm serious, though," Stella glanced at Diana. "Why do you value these so much?"
Diana contemplated how to answer for a moment, and Stella swapped to her third spatial ring.
Diana watched the flood of stones a moment longer before answering. "I suppose it makes sense you don't care. Spirit stones can substitute for a cultivator's affinity if there's none available to cultivate—imagine an ice cultivator stuck in a desert—but they're terribly inefficient for that. Their real use is as currency to exchange for pills, treasures, weapons, artifacts. Especially pills."
Stella shrugged. "I don't care for any of those things."
"Because you have Ashlock," Diana pointed out. "The fruits and truffles he grows would be the main attraction at any auction. They are so potent that they have to be diluted into pills for most people, but you pluck them as you please and eat them as a snack."
Stella frowned. "What about the other things? I've never needed to buy any of them."
Diana gave her a deadpan stare. "That's because you kill and loot literal Monarchs, Stella. You have the wealth of an entire sect tucked away in those spatial rings of yours."
"Duh. Why trade for something when you can take it off a corpse?" Stella snorted and swapped to her fourth ring. Guppy was hungrier than usual. Maybe he's close to the Monarch Realm after being fed millions of spirit stones?
Diana just stared at her.
Guppy finally pulled his head back halfway through the fifth spatial ring and let out a cry. It sounded like a heart demon being tortured, but Stella knew it meant he was happy. His body stiffened as Qi crackled violently across his carapace, and he started to visibly grow larger. Letting out another cry, Guppy retreated into the hole.
"Is there something you came to talk to me about?" Stella asked Diana.
"Nothing in particular," Diana mused, her attention lingering on the hole before meeting Stella's gaze. "I'm just at a loss. It's been a two weeks since we overtook the Celestial Empire, yet there hasn't been any movement from the other egos, including the Mirrored One. It's as if he disappeared."
"Has Mistress Veilshade or Tiberius really found nothing? Not even regarding the Monarchs the Mirrored One is leading against Ash?" Stella asked with a hint of annoyance in her tone. She was keeping herself safe in a heavily fortified location while the egos still lurked, and whenever she caught her reflection in some glass, she didn't see herself.
She saw the Mirrored One staring back.
Because of this, she wanted the Mirrored One dead as soon as possible. The others could be worried about another time, but so long as there was a bastard out there wearing her face, she couldn't sleep well at night.
"Hard to say if they have or haven't." Diana sighed. "With Ashlock asleep, the Ashfallen Sect's reach and surveillance have collapsed to that of a normal sect. We've seized control of the Eternal Pursuit Pavilion and the Silent Thorns, but they aren't loyal to us. They fear us, which isn't enough to make them disclose information about a rebellion." She picked up a random flask and idly swirled its contents. "The rebel Monarchs still hold influence in those organizations, and they have private forces and ways to mask their presence. We are basically blind."
Stella gently pried the flask from her fingers. "You'll go blind too if you keep messing with my experiments," she warned with a smile. "Immortality has made you careless."
Diana chuckled. "I suppose so."
Stella pulled out a stool and sat opposite her. "So what should we do?"
"There's little we can do. I have a Monarch stationed in each of our territories, with a few concentrated around the Celestial Empire to keep the World Tree from being enslaved again."
"Can my mother not help us track down the Mirrored One and the rebel Monarchs?" Stella asked.
Diana shook her head. "I asked. Unlike Ashlock, the World Tree is far less aware of her surroundings. She said it was like trying to track ants in a garden. She and the rebel Monarchs share a cultivation realm, but the gap in Qi reserves is astronomical. If she's a blinding star, they're shiny specks of dust."
Stella thought back to meeting her mother inside her Inner World and had to agree. Diana's comparison was perhaps a little dramatic, but it got the point across. The World Tree was simply too vast to care about the tiny Monarchs buzzing around her.
Diana leaned against the table, resting her chin in her palm. "I'm at a loss to be honest," she muttered.
"You should get some rest," Stella assured her.
"But what about the—"
"Shhhh." Stella pressed a finger to her lips. "You're doing all of this for me. I really do appreciate it, but you're spreading yourself too thin to hunt the Mirrored One. How many clones do you have running around now? Meanwhile, I'm in a dark cave, feeling sorry for myself and feeding my pet."
Diana reached up and wrapped her fingers around Stella's wrist. A playful smile appeared on her face. "I can think of something that would relax me."
"Oh?" Stella asked. "What would that be?"
"Well," Diana smirked. "I think you and I should—" she paused and scowled.
"What happened?" Stella asked, dropping her hand.
"I got an urgent message," Diana grumbled, and an Eternal Pursuit Pavilion jade appeared in her palm. She filled it with power, and her scowl turned to shock.
"What?" Stella asked, leaning over and trying to see what was written on the jade.
Diana met her gaze, they were so close. "Our base of operations in the ruins of Empyrea just got bombarded by two Monarchs. Two more were sighted near Argentum and the Frozen Star Sect. Tiberius says he knows where they'll strike next and wants to meet with me to coordinate a joint defense."
"I'll help."
"No," Diana said firmly, standing up. "I can handle everything. You should remain here and stay safe."
"Let me go speak to Tiberius at least," Stella reasoned. "I can pass on what he found to you."
Diana's gaze turned distant for a moment before refocusing. "My clone in Desolark City was recently destroyed and I didn't even notice. My nearest replacement is over in Argentum."
"You worry about Argentum and leave Desolark to me," Stella said. "Besides, isn't Geb stationed over Desolark City?"
Diana slowly nodded but clearly didn't like her inistance, but the situation didn't leave room for argument. "Fine. I'll send a clone to Desolark as soon as I'm able. Talk to Tiberius until then." Her hand clamped onto Stella's shoulder. "Something killed my clone over there, Stella. While my clone isn't as strong as you, that is still deeply concerning. You prioritize your safety. Understood?"
Stella nodded dutifully. "Don't worry about me. I'll bring Guppy along just in case."
"Where's Maple?"
"Um, I'm not sure, to be honest," Stella admitted. "That squirrel comes and goes as he pleases."
"I'll send Nyxalia your way too then," Diana grumbled. Her body was already hazing at the edges, dissolving back into mist. "With Ashlock asleep, logistics are an utter nightma—"
Diana didn't get to finish. The mist scattered, and Stella was left alone.
"Come on, you glutton," Stella called into the hole. "We got a meeting to attend."
She opened a fracture into the aether, and the well-fed horror lurched through. With that settled, she left her alchemy cave for the first time in days and headed for Desolark City.
***
Ash's ethereal root network shortened distances, but it was most practical for moving between Red Vine Peak and the neighboring cities. The root linking Red Vine Peak to Desolark City surfaced inside the massive citadel they had built at the city's heart.
Despite Desolark housing millions, including cultivators, noble families, and refugees saved from the beast tide, the Desolark Citadel itself remained mostly empty, occupied only by the thousands of servants who kept it clean and a few cultivator guards. All of them panicked at her abrupt arrival and bowed deeply.
She ignored them, her attention was focused on the aether plane.
Something killed Diana's clone. I think she was stationed here, meaning the killer may still be lurking.
Her perception struggled against the defensive formations threaded throughout the building's structure, making reconnaissance difficult.
I might learn more from outside.
The fractured lines along her skin bled with otherworldly light, and she vanished into the aether, reappearing high above the Desolark Citadel a breath later in the middle of a chaotic storm.
Thunder rumbled, and rain fell in sheets all around her. The storm, while violent, seemed naturally occurring. She looked down as a heavy ceiling of cloud blanketed the entire city in shadow. The Citadel lorded over the center, the seat of power of the Ashfallen Empire in this city, so outrageously large that it made the surrounding buildings beyond the chasm it rose out of look like gravel.
I can't feel any Monarchs. Her spiritual pressure spread out across the city below, finding nothing. Her head tilted to the horizon and the partially blown-out mountain range beyond, where stone for the Citadel's construction had been quarried. The Eternal Pursuit Pavilion sat tucked among those peaks.
Another step through the aether, and she arrived before the door to Tiberius's office.
A guard posted outside raised his sword, only to relax at the sight of her.
"Princess, you're back so soon," he said, lowering his sword. "Tiberius is still inside. Feel free to let yourself in."
Stella found the guard's wording odd. He made it sound like she had been here moments ago, but she hadn't been here in a while. That's rather interesting, she thought, pushing the door open and stepping inside. While she appeared calm on the surface, she was on high alert with her spiritual senses at their maximum.
Tiberius sat in the large chair behind the desk.
He didn't rise to greet her.
"Stella. What are you doing here?" he said, his tone caught somewhere between surprise and irritation. "I was expecting Diana."
"Well, you got me instead," she said curtly, collapsing into the chair opposite him and slamming the door behind her with telekinesis. "Diana told me you have some information to give? I can pass it on to her."
"I do. But I'd prefer to deliver it to her directly." He leaned back, eyes lingering on her a little too long. "You know how it is. With everything going on, I have to be careful who I talk to."
"Are you talking about the Mirrored One?" Stella chuckled and waved her hand dismissively. "I wouldn't worry about him. We already killed the Crowned One, so he will just be fodder in comparison."
"Fine," Tiberius said irritably. "Come around here. I'll show you what I have on the jade console."
Stella stood and rounded the desk. She leaned in beside him as if to read the projection—
—and drove the dagger at his throat.
Tiberius reacted instantly, snapping his hand up to catch her wrist. The tip of the blade hung a hair's breadth from his neck.
"How did you know?" he asked, glaring up at her.
"The guard." Stella pressed the dagger closer. "He said he'd seen me here recently. I haven't left my cave in over a week. That alone wasn't enough, but you don't act like Tiberius either. He flinches when I look at him. He doesn't talk back and would offer me his seat. You didn't even bother to rise to greet the Princess of the Ashfallen Sect."
She narrowed her eyes.
"Yet, despite your ignorance, you leveraged his fear of me. It's how you walked in here wearing my face, and the poor man never thought twice to resist you." Her voice dropped. "So tell me, Mirrored One. Where is Tiberius, and why did you want to meet with Diana so badly?"
The blade broke skin, drawing blood.
Tiberius held her gaze, and he sneered. "You ask too many questions." His skin began to tear open and change, and within moments, Stella found herself once again looking in the mirror.
Except her 'reflection' was grinning back at her.