"So you are telling me that a cursed mirror with a demon sealed inside is currently in our town? And that if it is not located and purified before the seal is broken, the entire town will be infected by the demon and will have to be purged by the inquisition?"
A fat middle-aged man lay back in his chair and asked in disbelief as his face became drenched with sweat, looking at the pendant depicting the insignia of Levioda hanging from Viltz's neck.
"That's right, that's why I want to ask for your cooperation, so we'll avoid trouble and no one will have to suffer in vain."
Viltz's words sounded convincing and the man quickly believed the whole tale he made up.
"I am willing to do whatever it takes! Please tell me what I must do!"
"It's very easy really, just gather all the mirrors that are in the village and place them in the common square.
I myself will check the mirrors one by one until I discover the mirror that has the demon sealed.
To prevent any mishaps, it would be best to cover the mirrors with sheets."
"That's easy! Leave the job to me, in an hour I'll have all the mirrors placed just as you ordered!" The village headman rose from his chair and solemnly promised.
"Shall I make you some tea while you wait for my husband to finish?" the chief's wife asked.
"Sure, make it two please." Viltz smiled at the lady who went off delightedly to make him some tea.
An hour later, the village chief returned and informed Viltz that he had gathered all the mirrors.
"Well done! Now leave the rest to me!"
Viltz got up and left the house, heading for the common square.
Looking at the 50+ mirrors of different sizes in front of him, Viltz scratched his head.
He began going through them one by one until he came in front of a full-sized mirror with a wooden frame.
Looking at the mirror with more scrutiny, Viltz nodded to himself and waved his hand, causing the illusion of a hellhound to appear coming out from inside the mirror.
Viltz adopted an exaggerated tone and shouted aloud: "Aha! I got you, you vile demon! You won't have the chance to harm these poor people anymore! By the grace of the great Levioda, I purify you!"
Viltz summoned a sphere of bright light and threw it at the hellhound, who let out a couple of miserable howls before dissipating into motes of light.
"Thank you my lord! Thank you for preventing this disaster! I promise I will pay tribute to the church every chance I get!"
The village chief knelt down in front of Viltz and began to pray to Levioda.
Viltz smiled at the man and put his hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry, it's my duty, now I must take this mirror with me because it can be dangerous."
Finishing with his words, Viltz grabbed the mirror and threw it into a doorway.
"Alright, Lena! We're leaving!"
Grabbing Lena by the hand, Viltz left the village and started walking in the direction of Vizima.
"Now that I have Naheleni's mirror, it won't be a problem anymore to find the people I'm looking for."
Naheleni's mirror was a prophetic magical artifact that allowed its bearer to predict the future, it had some limitations but for what Viltz wanted to do, the mirror's functions were more than enough.
All that talking and acting he did in town was to speed things up, if he had to go from house to house until he found the right mirror, it would have taken too long and he didn't have that luxury.
Arriving in town, he looked for a restaurant to eat at before setting the coordinates of the portal and sending Lena back to the castle. He then left the city and headed towards the river.
After going down the river for quite a while, Viltz arrived in front of an altar of a naked woman guarded by a strange creature on the shore of the lake.
The creature looked like a fish-man, with even stranger clothing.
"Hello!" Viltz approached the creature, a Vodyan, and greeted it in a friendly manner.
The Vodyan raised its head and greeted Viltz in a distorted voice due to the filter in its mouth.
"Hello! What's a human doing here? Are you interested in praying to our sacred lady of the lake?"
Viltz smiled at the Vodyan priest and explained," More or less... I am here to warn you and your lady that a great danger is approaching your lands, you just need to tell your lady a name and she will understand."
The Vodyan priest became serious and his back straightened while his previous cheerful and carefree attitude disappeared.
"Oh? A great danger to our lands you say? And what is that danger?"
"Dagon! A god of the deep! He sleeps beneath vestra island and according to my prophecy, he is about to awaken and plans to send an incarnation of him to influence both you, the Vodyan tribe and the humans living in the nearby settlements."
The priest listened seriously and said to Viltz after pondering for a while: "You wait for me here, I will go and inform the goddess."
"That won't be necessary, she is already here."
Viltz turned only to see a beautiful, completely naked woman slowly emerge from the water in a manner that reminded Viltz of the typical scenes of women emerging from the water in slow motion that he saw in a lot of movies in his past life.
The priest knelt down and did not dare to raise his head so as not to desecrate the body of his beloved goddess with his eyes.
The woman stepped completely out of the lake and stood in front of Viltz with only her hair covering her private parts.
"You may go." The lady dismissed the priest, who quickly jumped into the lake and plunged into its depths.
"My lady, I am sorcerer Vilgefortz, a pleasure to meet you."
Viltz introduced himself with a polite bow and took the hand of the lady of the lake, giving her a light kiss on the back.
Just at the moment Viltz's lips touched her hand, the lake lady's eyes rolled back and she froze for a second.
Various scenes appeared in her mind like a storm, until only one image remained, a huge eclipse that plunged the whole world into unprecedented darkness. Horrible screams accompanied by screeching cacophonies that wanted to drive her crazy sounded non-stop.
In the center of the eclipse, two pillars of light, a dark red one rising from a crack that seemed to lead to the depths of the abyss and a golden one falling from the sky like a sacred light, intertwined with each other, bathing the body of what appeared to be a creature in the shape of a six-winged dragon.
The dragon opened a vertical eye that glowed a blood red color on its forehead that focused directly on the lady of the lake, causing a shiver that it had never felt before to run through its mind and body.
The lady of the lake shivered for a moment and her eyes returned to normal, the scene she witnessed earlier was completely erased and instead all that remained in her mind was a spiritual suggestion telling her that the man in front of her was trustworthy and would help her in a future crisis.
The lady of the lake looked at Viltz kindly and spoke," Fate has shown me the way, you are someone trustworthy who will help me in the future, tell me your purpose, sorcerer Vilgefortz."
Viltz had not noticed anything that happened to the lady of the lake, instead, he seemed rather unconcerned when he began to speak.
"I'll be honest, as an ancient being, you'll know what we sorcerers are like.
I didn't come here for a sense of heroism or vain glory, my only goal here is to make an equivalent exchange."
"Oh? An equivalent exchange you say? Interesting, go on."
"I will use my own resources to recruit helpers to help me kill the creature and rid these lands of its corruption, and in return, what I want is your knowledge of divinity."
"My knowledge? Do you know what such knowledge is worth? And besides, it's not like I can just give it to you for the sake of it." The lady of the lake flatly refused, although she had a favorable impression about Viltz due to his good looks and especially due to what she interpreted as a message from destiny, that didn't mean she would give her knowledge so easily, especially if it related to divinity.
"I have already seen fragments of the future, though Dagon is destined to awaken, a champion chosen by me will defeat him in combat and free these lands from his vile yoke."
"Haha! You mean the white wolf? Sure, he's someone quite strong and with Aerondight in his hands, it makes him even more powerful but do you really think a mere witcher, no matter how strong his destiny is and no matter how weakened his enemy is, is capable of slaying a living god like Dagon?
Don't make me laugh! I also saw the future! You're not the only seer here you know? And guess what? The witcher gets your blessing, becomes your chosen one and manages to kill Dagon! What a happy ending! What a beautiful and inspiring story to tell my future grandchildren! Or so you think!"
Viltz smiled at the stupefied lady of the lake and approached her step by step while continuously making the denial sign with his finger.
"The truth is that what will kill the white wolf in approximately...about 100 to 120 years will be nothing more than an avatar, a clone, a mere puppet. The real Dagon will simply continue to slumber beneath the lake until the position of the stars is right for it to emerge. That's why I'm here, to face this threat, but as much as I don't want that thing to wake up, I can't just go and sacrifice my life along with that of my companions out of a simple sense of heroism to save the world.
I am someone selfish to the core my dear lady, if you want me to fight alongside you, you must give me something worthwhile. I am giving you a helping hand right now, you can choose to accept my proposal or you can choose to reject me and wait for your champion to arrive to try to solve your problems.
Viltz held out his hand to the lady of the lake and waited for her response.
After a few minutes of reflection, the lady of the lake shook his hand and said with a seductive smile: "It looks like it will be a pleasure to work with you Mr. Vilgefortz".