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Cyrus was walking behind Azrael through the streets. They knew they had to buy supplies for the quest, but they had no idea where Azrael was leading them to. On top of that he hadn’t said a word to them since they left the Adventurer’s Guild. Since Cyrus had taken the quest flier with them, they decided to fill in on the quest they were going on by reading the flier.

They tried skimming through the text, and the only notable parts said:

Quest location: Asteria - The Land of the Dragons

About: Retrieve the egg from the Dragon Lord and a Sea Lily from the snowy garden of the Dragon Lord. 

The rest had more information like the commissioners name and additional info but Cyrus’ eyes quickly got tired from reading.

The quest seemed kind of ‘dangerous’ in Cyrus’ opinion. But they brush off the negative thoughts by thinking that, ‘Life will always have dangerous stuff in it, so why not?’. Besides, they had already made up their mind to join Azrael, so they couldn’t back out now. 

By the time they had taken their eyes off the paper, it seemed like they lost Azrael in the crowd of people. They started to panic and get overwhelmed again. 

Suddenly they feel the hairs on their back stand up when someone grabs them by the shoulder. 

Cyrus quickly turns around. They were ready to throw hands, but then saw that it was just Azrael.

“Why are you walking that slow, if you know you’re just gonna lose track of me?” He says annoyedly.

“Ah, sorry. I was just reading about the quest.” Cyrus shows the quest flier.

“Who reads when they’re walking…???” He wipes down the non-existent sweat off his face and sighs. “Did you really come along, though you didn’t know what the quest was about?”

Cyrus shrugs their shoulders. “Not knowing much about it is the fun part about it, right? It seemed like you needed the help anyways.”

Azrael rolled his eyes so hard you could feel how annoyed he was. “...Anyways stay beside me, I’ll tell you about it as we go to the boutique.” 

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The quest was not a simple one. Their mission was to get the Dragon Egg from Asteria, the Land of the dragons. It was an island of eternal winter filled with beautiful places and was also known as the land of wealth for the rich resources found there. For mortals, however, it was hell where no mortal ever came back alive after stepping foot there. So till this very day, mortals avoid going near that land, because the ones who ended up going too close died from either frostbite or was burnt to death.

In their list of tasks was also to retrieve a Sea Lily flower from the garden of the Dragon Lord, an old tyrant who destroyed anyone who dared to cross paths with them. That included their fellow dragons as well. 

“The flier didn’t specify why on earth the commissioner wants the egg, I’ll try and ask them when we will meet up.” Azrael says. “But I don’t think the end results of this quest are going to be all that great.” 

“...Then why did you want to take this on from the beginning when we probably won’t be living another day after going there?”

“I… don’t know.” He answers with his face grim. “I think I just want to prove something. Maybe I could do the impossible and get finally recognized for my efforts. Do you get that feeling…?”

Cyrus stays silent.

“Right now, I don’t have much to lose if I die there… but what about you?”

“Me?”

“..Who else?” Azrael rolls his eyes.

“Well… I don’t have much to lose either.” Cyrus plays with their hair. “I don’t remember anything right now, nor do I have anywhere to go. So instead of just standing still and doing nothing, I might as well live my life to the fullest.. even if I might die.” They look at Azrael with a smile.

That smile made Azrael feel melancholic. He didn’t understand how someone could just smile like that after saying something so grim

He clears his throat. “I.. kind of figured you didn’t remember shit. You not knowing the basics of this world made it way too obvious.” Azrael says and Cyrus’ face starts slowly reddening from the embarrassment. “Even though I am very curious about some things about you, I don’t think we’re close enough for me to ask more about this topic. So–”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure we’ll get super close as we’re going to be traveling together.” Cyrus’ face turns smug and they start walking closer to Azrael. “Also I don’t mind if you have more to ask, I’d be happy to answer them.. I have an answer that is.”

“..Right. Still leaving that for the future.” He scoots away. “Anyways, we’re here.”

“Damn..”

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After a while they arrive at their destination. Inside of the boutique was not that big, but it had a purple and gold checkered theme going on, which made it look very... unique. Azrael seemed to be friendly with the owner of the place and was a regular there, so he had everything in control.

The owner gave them a piece of paper where they would draw their desired clothing gears, and it would somehow come to life afterwards. Azrael told Cyrus to design something that would withstand the cold.

“Hey.. I forgot to give you this.” Cyrus hands over a heavy golden sac. 

Azrael takes the sac and opens it. “..What's with the gold?”

“Lord Aria told me to give you that since you left pretty early... They said it was the reward for completing the quest earlier. I also got one!”

“Right..” He inspects Cyrus.

“I was just wondering where you kept both of them since they’re pretty heavy– …But nevermind..” Azael puts his sac full of gold coins in the side bag he was carrying. “Have you finished designing your gear?”

“Yeah… It looks pretty good..!”

“You sure look confident..” Azrael suddenly wasn’t so sure if it had been a good idea to let Cyrus design their own gear, so he took a peek.

“This is.. very nice..” Azrael raised his eyebrows in amazement. “It looks well drawn. Do you think you were an artist or something of that sort?”

“Thanks! Um…It came naturally and I had fun designing it, so maybe…?”

“Oh yeah? That sounds like a hobby that would fit you.” He replied back. Trying to ease the vibe that had become a bit heavy with Cyrus starting to overthink. 

Azrael had legitimately thought the gear looked nice, but he was just worried about the cold tolerance with it. Cyrus should have thought about the cons of it since he already had told them where they were going, so Azrael just let them be with that mistake.  

He gave his scribbled sheet of paper to the owner of the boutique and so did Cyrus. The Owner made a shocked face when Cyrus gave him theirs and asked if they were 100 percent sure about the design. Obviously, Cyrus said yes, however the Owner insisted Cyrus to make changes to a part of the design. After a while of them being stubborn, Cyrus finally made  the change.

The owner took the sheets of paper and crushed them under his palm. He then closed his eyes and chanted the corniest line Cyrus and Azrael had ever heard, which made them scrunch their whole face from the cringe. 

When he opened his palm, the paper had been reduced into a fine white powder that was glistening with magical energy around it. The owner faced Azrael and Cyrus blew the powder on top of them. 

The clothes both of them had been wearing started glowing and changed into the ones they had drawn.

Cyrus’ gear consisted of a purple and pink sleeveless button-up, a light pink colored bow, and long gold and purple arm sleeves. Gray pants and simple black thigh harnesses and lastly long brown boots with small heels. They had also made a fluffy beige jacket with a hood that was lined with white fur. The hood had ear pockets for their ears, and they decided to carry it for now, since they still weren’t in a cold place.

Azrael’s gear on the other hand consisted of a patterned button up with a black chest harness and a black turtleneck, dark high-waisted skinny jeans with cool looking belts overlaying it. He also had black leather boots and a medium sized side bag . In his hand he carried a heavy looking leather coat with a hood also lined with white fur.  

His look was certainly a complete change from the elegant and uniformed attire he wore previously. It was more comfortable looking and personalized. 

With both of their gears acquired, Cyrus and Azrael bid farewell to the enthusiastic boutique owner and left. Outside, they saw the sun was starting to set. They had spent quite a while at the Adventurers Guild Novalius and the Boutique, so they started to rush back to the alleys to buy the food and supplies for their trip. 

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After finishing buying both the food supplies and essential items, both of them looked around. The sky was a beautiful shade of orange and pink mixed together. The sun was barely visible anymore and the crowd of people that were outside started to leave. 

“Let’s head back to the Adventurers Guild now.” Azrael said.

Cyrus nodded and started to follow Azrael back to Novalius.

They had arrived outside of Adventurers Guild Novalius. They entered and the place was as lively as a couple hours ago. It seemed like the amount of people inside didn’t even decrease. Azrael, leading the way, headed to the front counter, where Elliot was serving people. Elliot glanced their way. 

“Well, well, well.” He walks over to Cyrus and Azrael with a bottle of wine in his hand. “Who do we have here?”

Azrael rolls his eyes and sighs. “We’re here to use The Long Distance Mirror.” 

“Wow, you’re asking if you can use my Mirror?”

“Not yours. Your mother’s.”

Elliot scoffs, “Whatever. What belongs to her, belongs to me too!” 

“Um.. Don’t mind him.” Cyrus quickly shoved Azrael aside and came to the front. “Elly, could we please use the mirror..?”

In reality Cyrus didn’t even know what the ‘mirror’ they kept talking about was. Azrael had not mentioned it during their trip back to Novalius. However they were smart, and knew that it was something that would help them with their journey.

Elliot looked into Cyrus’ eyes without breaking eye contact for a few seconds before turning away in defeat. 

“Alright. Since you asked nicely, I’ll let you two use it. For free.”

Azrael looked baffled. “Oh, Why? Last I remember, you were against me going, so I was pretty sure you wouldn’t lend it to me.”

“Because… I-” Elliot stutters, “I’m just being dumb or hopeful, but I somehow feel like you two will make it out there?”

“...” Azrael turned his gaze away, he couldn’t gather courage to look at Elliot anymore.

“I’m kinda busy so my employee will take you to the mirror.” An employee dressed in the same manner as Elliot arrived behind the two. “Take me to a fancy restaurant when you come back for the fee for using my mirror.” 

“But- You just said you’re letting us use it for free??”

“Yeah, free as in free for now. Anyways–” Elliot winked as he waved and went back to serving other adventurers.

Cyrus just stared at Azrael who was trying to stay calm by not letting Elliot’s words get to him. Meanwhile Cyrus was trying to stay calm and keep themselves from laughing out loud.

An employee came to pick both of them up and brought them to a room isolated from everything else in the Adventurers Guild.

Once they took a step into the room, they felt the immense amount of magical energy flowing within the room, all coming from one source – The mirror that was in the end of the room. The Long Distance Mirror stood there with the glass reflecting everything and also nothing. The dark purple walls and the one golden hanging chandelier in the room put all the attention to the enchanting mirror.

“Behold, The Rosewater Mirror.” Said the employee as he bowed down to the mirror, Azrael bowed as well. Cyrus noticed both of them bowing, so they just mimicked them.

“I thought the mirror was called ‘The Long Distance Mirror’?” Cyrus asked Azrael.

“Oh. That’s just what the mirror is called generally, but Rosewater Mirror is what the creator named it personally since apparently the spirit inhabiting the mirror said ‘The Long Distance Mirror’ sounded uncool and basic.”

“Yeah, it does sound pretty lame.”

The employee clears his throat loudly. “Have you decided your destination, sir?”

“Hm..” Azrael ponders for a moment. “Yes. We’re ready.”

Azrael offers his hand to Cyrus. “You should hold my hand or something. Unless you want to fall.”

Cyrus got a sense of dejâ vû and decided to trust Azrael on this, like every other time. They tightly locked their arm with Azrael’s, “O-okay, don’t drop me, alright?”

He prayed to the mirror without paying attention to Cyrus. It was a long prayer but seemed like it came from the heart. After he had finished, Azrael gave Cyrus a smirk, “No backing up now.”

Cyrus gave him a nervous smile. They knew things probably would go wrong, but when did they not? Both of them looked into the mirror that was sparkling and warping their reflections, and finally, they went through the mirror together.