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Or, wait a minute. Had it actually been Rathmore’s doing? Hector recalled that these monuments were modified by Rathmore, not created by him. So there was no telling if he was solely responsible for all these different functions.

Well, whatever. He supposed it didn’t make much difference at this point. There probably wasn’t harm in--

Something stole his attention.

A slight wavering in his vision. Like a heat haze, perhaps, even though it wasn’t nearly hot enough out here for that type of thing.

It was coming from above, he realized, looking up.

Then he saw it. The mirror. The one that had gotten fused into the Gate.

He and Garovel had found it there in one of their previous visits to this place, and despite trying their best to either remove or activate it, they’d ultimately had to just leave it here, fused into the Gate indefinitely.

The mirror had been found in Himmekel during that weird little tournament, just like the Scarf of Amordiin, so Hector and Garovel had been quite disappointed to lose it like this. They never even discovered if it had any power in it like the Scarf did, though they’d theorized a bit.

Here and now, though? With the Living Core in hand? And perhaps the Gate’s assistance, too?

Maybe there was something yet to be learned about that mirror, still.

Hector raised a platform for himself and Garovel in order to get a closer look.

Yeah. The waviness in his vision was definitely coming from this thing. Hmm. He consulted the Core again.

Was this the kind of ‘spatial distortion’ that it had been referring to?

Yes, the Core told him. This one was already neutralized, however. There were lingering distortions, but they were small and now harmless to the Gate’s power.

That actually made a large degree of sense to Hector. He and Garovel had hypothesized that the power in the mirror might’ve gotten sucked out by the Gate.

Why was the mirror only partially fused with the Gate, though? Why hadn’t it been fully absorbed and disappeared completely?

Because the Gate only acted out of self-defense, the Core said. It absorbed enough to remove the threat to its functionality, but nothing more.

Interesting, Hector thought. Then was there a way to free the mirror and repair it?

Yes and no. The Gate could release it physically, but it could not return its lost power.

Dang.