"This is…" Alex trailed off. He couldn't quite find the right words for the abomination of a wall that now ringed his town. It was almost beautiful. Unfortunately, the key word in that thought was almost.
The wall was plated in glistening black scale from the Gorgonaga. The interweaving obsidian lattice covered all the monster bones and other assorted parts that filled the wall's insides. It was sleek and intimidating — and completely covered with swaying eyeballs embedded within it that took away considerably from any feeling other than intense unease.
"It's… something." Claire stared at the wall for a moment. The wall stared back. She coughed into her fist. "Why did you decide to fill the wall with eyeballs?"
"The risk of a monster manifesting itself is no longer present," Rhyss provided. He seemed to be the only one that didn't care about the fact that their protection was trying to undress him with its many, many eyes. "I will now resume my normal duties. State my name if you need to contact me."
With that, he vanished.
Perhaps he was jealous of all the wall's eyes.
"What? Do you not like them?" Mite gazed over at the wall. Several of the eyes turned to meet his gaze. He cleared his throat and looked back to them. "I think they look nice."
"They certainly look," Alex agreed. "I'm not sure about anything else. And you better not be flirting with a wall. Especially not one you built."
"It's not flirting," Mite said defensively. "It's appreciating art."
Alex let out a long sigh that was equal parts relief, exasperation, and just a dash of amusement. That amusement died as he glanced back at the crackling portal behind them. "What the hell was that, Mite? You nearly summoned a Mirrorlands monster inside the town."
"Okay. In my defense, I didn't think that would happen." Mite raised his hands. "But any good project comes with a few risks. And it worked out! That means the risk was zero!"
Alex was shaking his head before Mite had finished speaking. "That's not how it works. Not at all."
"No, Mite." Alex held up a hand. "I'm speaking right now. And I understand you, Mite. We're similar. Even if I don't know shit about making buildings, I know the rush you're seeking. I'd be one hell of a hypocrite if I got mad at you for that. That rush is what the System wants us to seek."
"So what's wrong?" Mite asked, throwing his hands up. "Everything was fine! The wall is great! It'll do everything it needs to and far more!"
"Look!" Alex snapped, thrusting a finger past the buildings. Mite turned in its direction, to where May stood near the remains of one of the cabins. She, along with many of Mirrorwane's other townspeople, had emerged from whatever duties they'd been doing to stare in awe at their new wall.
"Look at them," Alex said, his jaw clenched. "Those are people, Mite. My people. I can honestly say I have no goddamn desire to run a town beyond the fact that it gets me some cool challenge opportunities and a place to stay. But I made this town. And that means the people I told to stay inside it are my responsibility. We can gamble with our lives. But not theirs. Those lives aren't ours to spend. Or are you going to tell Aaron that everything is fine when his sister is dead because of a monster that you summoned on her head?"
The bioengineer hesitated, any words he might have spoken dying well before they could make it past his lips.
"Don't get me wrong," Alex continued when it was clear that he wasn't going to get a response. "I respect and appreciate what you can do, Mite. We brought you here for a reason. You know what you're doing. That doesn't mean you can't fuck up. I don't care if you fuck up. Nobody gets anywhere by being cautious. But when you do inevitably send shit to hell — you better make goddamn sure that the only thing you've bet is yourself and anyone who has agreed to be in the line of fire. And for the record, I'll be at the front of that volunteer list. Volunteer list, Mite. Are we clear?"
Mite swallowed. His gaze lingered on May for a moment longer before returning to Alex. "I — yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry man. I didn't—"
"Don't need anything more than that," Alex said, raising his hands. "I'm not your dad, Mite. You're not an idiot. Just do better."
Mite gave him a sharp nod. "I will."
"Good," Alex said. He clapped Mite on the shoulder. "Then tell me about this new wall you made. It definitely looks a hell of a lot stronger than what I was expecting, and I really do want to know why the hell there are eyes in it."
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
A grin split Mite's lips. "Well, you should be able to see it in your town information thing. Can you pull that up? I'm pretty sure I know what I built, but it doesn't hurt to make sure. There can occasionally be slight deviations from the plan when things come to fruition."
"I think I need to be at the Town Core to see that," Alex said.
Mite gestured expectantly. So, after an exchanged glance with Claire, the three of them set a brisk pace for the town hall. They headed inside and over to the Town Core. Alex set his hands upon it, and the System responded instantly.
Warped Embassy [Dual Reality Obelisk, Shroudmaker]
Teleporter Fi^n%d! the tr#an%sl%a$t$ion! on MV+&LEMP!YR.
Veil of Stolen Confessions
[Labyrinth]: A twisting maze grows beneath the grounds covered by your town. It will continue to grow so long as the town remains. Magical energy wells within its depths, empowering the monsters that are born within the Labyrinth's halls. The Labyrinth will adapt to attempt to ensure suitable challenge to any who enter its depths.
At will, the town leader can expunge all the monsters from within the Labyrinth and release them to the area surrounding the town.
"Well?" Mite asked as Alex read over the glowing window before him. "We can't see anything, you know. Did it work?"
"It's there all right," Alex said. He tapped the Veil of Stolen Confessions. Gold shimmered in the air as letters re-arranged themselves into new sentences.
Veil of Stolen Confessions
The gaze of countless entities entombed within this wall scours the land it surrounds, devouring any magical energy that attempts to peer into its domain. The Veil of Stolen Confessions consumes the magical energy of any scrying magic used upon it, using the power to warp the light passing through it and render itself invisible. This wall is also powered by a direct connection to the Mirrorlands. Its presence destabilizes all spatial magic around Mirrorwane's surroundings.
Alex read the description out loud, then waved it away to look back at Mite. "Does this mean the Teleporter won't work now?"
"No," Mite said. "That's part of the Astral Map. It's more than just spatial magic. It's more like a connection to a magical pathway. Not too dissimilar from the Mirrorlands, I think. The Astral Map is just a marginally different plane of existence and the Teleporter is an access point to it. But this does mean we aren't going to have some asshole popping into existence in the middle of our town with some portal."
"That's fantastic," Claire said, her eyes lighting up. "I think Absolution showed us just how big of a threat that could be. I didn't even realize something like that was possible."
"I figured we wanted to cover all our bases," Mite said, a note of pride entering his voice. "Nothing is getting past the Veil. Not unless it runs out of energy. And, thanks to the battery and the portal we're draining power from, that isn't happening anytime soon. It also consumes magic directly from any scrying. It doesn't stop it entirely, which means—"
"Instead of just revealing that something is here by way of killing magic that comes our direction, it turns invisible and slips beneath detection," Alex finished.
"Exactly," Mite said. He grinned. "So?"
"It's good," Alex said. "Really good. But what does it have to do with stolen confessions? I don't see any information about that in the description."
Mite cleared his throat. "Well, there are a lot of eyes. I don't think the System would put information that isn't objective in a description. But, when I was making the building, my class did imply that there was a chance the wall would be a bit… inquisitive."
"You're going to have to say more than that," Claire said.
"Just make sure the curtains are drawn shut when you're changing your clothes," Mite said.
"The wall is a voyeur?" Alex asked in disbelief.
"I didn't say that!" Mite exclaimed. "It's… just curious. Very curious. It might also have a particular interest in secrets. I'm not exactly sure what that will mean."
Alex stared at him. "Does it have ears?"
"No. But I think it can read lips."
"Of course it can. And what does it want with the secrets?"
Mite shook his head. "I don't have the faintest idea. Probably just to hear them. It's a worthy tradeoff for all the benefits it causes. I don't want to be too arrogant… but I'm going to be anyway. The Outworlders aren't going to see through this. The invisibility extends to the naked eye for anyone that isn't considered part of Mirrorwane."
Alex studied the description floating in the air before him for a moment longer. Then a smile pulled across his own lips. He waved the description away and gave Mite a nod.
"I'll take it. The destabilized tag disappeared from the Dual Reality Obelisk. That means you did it. The town isn't going to collapse out of nowhere anymore. We're cloaked from the Outworlders. Good job, Mite. This is exactly what we needed."
Mite's grin grew wider. "Damn right. And it looks cool too. Next—"
"Actually, I already have the next thing I want you to work on," Alex said.
"You do? Sweet. What is it? I got a title for making this thing and I've got a whole bunch of magical energy to spend when I meditate, but I can get started right after that."
"You might want to do this one quickly," Alex said, clearing his throat. "We were a bit rushed at the time, but we have to do something about that Mirrorlands portal I opened."
Mite's eyes narrowed. "…why?"
"Because a terrifyingly powerful monster has been tracking me and Claire inside the Mirrorlands," Alex replied. "And if we just leave a portal open and waiting for it to come through, we're all going to have a really bad time."