Everything was on account of the Mirror of Eternal Shadow, she told him. “The thing that the Crown of the Seal holds at bay is the mirror. Only the noble gemstone set upon that crown has the power to resist the mirror’s horrible strength. This gemstone you seek, it is the stone we call the Gem of Darkness.”
The Gem of Darkness. Something inside Mitsuru’s chest stirred.
“This gem was brought from the Dark to Vision. That is why it is able to stop the Mirror of Eternal Shadow.”
Mitsuru couldn’t hold back his curiosity any longer. “What exactly is this Mirror of Eternal Shadow? And this ‘Dark’? Is this another world, like the real world or Vision?”
A shadow came over Zophie’s lively features, and she seemed reluctant to speak. “It seems odd for me to be explaining this to you, Master Mitsuru, you being the Traveler, but please bear with me. The real world and Vision exist as a pair of opposites. But Vision exists only because the real world exists. Without the real world’s energies, Vision would cease to be. Between the two stands the Great Barrier of Light. And around them yawns the Abyss of Chaos.”
Mitsuru nodded and she continued. “To be more precise, we might say that the real world and Vision float in the abyss. We are but an ephemeral bubble drifting on the surface of an endless void. Yet I can think of no bubble more beautiful.
“A moment before, I said that the real world and Vision were a pair. This is true, yet their relationship is not equal. You see, while there is only one real world, there are many Visions. In addition to the Vision in which we live, there are many other Visions marking time beyond our knowledge.”
Wayfinder Lau hadn’t said anything of the sort, but Mitsuru wasn’t particularly surprised by this revelation. It made sense, considering that the imaginations of the real world created this one. There were many people living in the real world. With all that energy—all those thoughts and dreams and emotions—it made sense that there would be multiple Visions floating around.
“Parallel worlds, then?” Mitsuru asked, recalling something he had read in a science fiction novel once.
“Parallel?”
“No. Pay me no mind. Please, go on.”
Zophie looked to the side, as though she had lost her train of thought. This, too, seemed like a new experience for her. “In most cases, these Visions are peaceful worlds,” she continued, thinking while she spoke. “Much like the one that we live in here.”
“It is peaceful, now.”
“Yes,” she continued, choosing to ignore his comment, “but some of these Visions are filled with darkness and fear. They are dark worlds, casting shadows, knowing only animosity and destruction.”
“And these worlds are the Dark you mentioned?”
Zophie nodded. “I learned in my history lessons that the Dark are worlds that were meant to become Vision, yet failed. That is why they resent Vision, and would destroy it if they could. The darkness that swirls in those worlds yearns to infiltrate worlds like ours. It is waiting and watching always for that chance.
“Near the bottom of the Abyss of Chaos lie many seeds, as yet undifferentiated, yet each with the potential to become a new Vision,” she explained. “If they should rise and form a healthy Vision, then all is well, but if something goes wrong, and they become twisted and bent, then they fall into the Dark.”
Zophie trembled with fear as she spoke, yet Mitsuru was utterly calm. To him, it seemed odd that more worlds weren’t part of the Dark, given the people who had imagined them into being. In fact, he began to wonder if Visions like this one were not the irregularities. Mitsuru knew far too much about the evil and greed men were capable of to believe otherwise.
“Yet, if you look at their origins, both Vision and the Dark are born of the same stuff,” Zophie was saying. “That is why all Visions bear some similarities to the Dark. Perhaps you might call them connections to the Dark. It is thus impossible to have a world completely free of animosity, hate, and foolishness.”
“A very accurate observation, I’m sure,” Mitsuru said, taking the reins of the conversation back from Zophie. “So, in the case of this Vision in which we now live, this connection with the Dark is the Mirror of Eternal Shadow?”
“It is so.”
“So, if my understanding is correct, you need this Crown of the Seal to prevent an invasion from the Dark, right? If that were the case, then it would indeed make good sense that the Crown of the Seal not be moved.”
Zophie smiled, looking very much relieved.
“This is merely conjecture on my part, but might it be that the Imperial Family has, from the beginning of time, held the noble role of bearing this Mirror of Eternal Shadow, and preventing attack from the Dark?”
Zophie’s face lit up with joyful surprise. “Indeed, it is! It is exactly as you say. That is why my family wishes above all other things to unite Vision and rule it in peace. No, it is more than a desire, it is our mission. Our clan was, in the beginning of time, given responsibility for the Mirror of Eternal Shadow from the Goddess herself—we were chosen.”
“Quite a weighty responsibility,” Mitsuru said solemnly. “Hearing your story has cleared up another of my questions too.”
“Which question is this?”
“In the south, they say that the religion of the Old God followed in the north is a denial of the Goddess Creator. That is why, when I first met the emperor, I asked him first about your religion. Why, if he believed in the Old God, did he not see me, a Traveler, as a false god, and something to be abhorred?”
“I’m sorry,” Zophie said quietly.
“No, the emperor was very honest with me. He told me that this religion of the Old God is nothing more then a device to encourage opposition with the south, where the Goddess is revered above all others. In truth, you worship not the Goddess but the real world as your creator.”
“Yes, we do!”
“Yet, this does not have to be a denial of the Goddess. The Goddess does exist, and she does live in the Tower of Destiny. But she is the Goddess only of the fates of people from the real world, and she does not preside over those who live in Vision. So the emperor told me. Yet I was somewhat confused until I heard what you told me just now. Now I know that the Imperial Family is, in effect, the caretakers of Vision, ordained by the Goddess. The Goddess does not rule Vision, she has given that charge to the Imperial Family, and retired to her Tower of Destiny, knowing that the fate of her own world is in good hands.”
Zophie crossed her hands over her chest, and her face filled with light. “Master Mitsuru, you understood all this from my simple tale? This is truly magnificent. You are wiser than I dared hope.”
“No, it is all on account of m’lady’s considerate explanations.”
Zophie arched her neck in that way only girls of her age can do, and pouted ever so slightly. “If the Goddess truly governed everyone in Vision as those fools in the south believe, then it would be a simple thing for her to fend off the Dark from the Mirror of Eternal Shadow. Yet this she cannot do. That is why it is difficult for us to think of her as a true god.”
“I understand.”
“But the people of the south know nothing of these truths,” she said with such a look of cold disdain that Mitsuru was caught off-guard.
Didn’t know she had that in her.