"Woah, that's overwhelming, I think I need a drink" Jayden exhaled as he started to pour himself a drink. He started to sip the drink as he asked
"So, what about you guys?" Jayden asked as he looked at Mathew and the twins curiously.
"We also possess a divine fragment" Lyra replied.
"But in our case, it's split into two. She has half the power and I have another half" Kael further explained.
"So, why did the divine fragment of this Tezcatlipoca choose me?" Jayden asked curiously.
Before all this, he was just a street magician struggling to make it big.
"Well, the reason for that is not clear. But me and Mr Val think that the divine fragments don't choose someone in the traditional sense.
Maybe your soul resonated with the fragment, or your soul is similar to the god's soul whose fragment you inherited or maybe you're just a distant descendant of the gods. No one knows for sure" Mathew explained their hypothesis
with hesitation. Even the all-knowing Mr Val was unsure about this matter.
"So, it just found me?" Jayden frowned as he flexed his fingers as if trying to find something.
After looking at it for a moment, he sighed
"In the end, I think it ultimately depends on fate and luck. Who knows if inheriting the fragment is a boon or a curse"
"I'm not too sure. If you think it's a boon, it's a boon. If you think it's a curse, it's a curse" Mathew shrugged.
Lyra and Kael looked at their conversation in wonder. They've never thought too deeply about the ramifications of their powers.
Arthur looked at everyone with a weird and helpless expression. He thought he had finally found a place where he felt like he belonged but was hit with a realization that he was an outsider. Everyone around him was different and extraordinary.
'I guess I'm just a normal guy' Arthur thought in helplessness. But a part of him didn't want to give up.
"So, what if I don't want to be an Ascendant? Can I just give up?" Jayden asked. He knew the answer would not be so simple.
"I don't think it works that way" Mathew answered with a sigh.
"I thought so" Jayden sighed when he suddenly looked at Alhera's body outside and asked with interest
"What about them?"
"I'm not sure of the full details. But I think they belong to some organization whose members can also wield Nova" Mathew explained. After a pause he continued again "But I'm not very clear about the source of their powers"
"I see" Jayden nodded. He got answers to many of the questions he had during the period he was stuck here.
"So guys…how are we gonna get out of here?" Arthur asked the most important question with some hesitation.
"I don't know, maybe Jayden could guide us" Mathew guessed. He continued
"After all, the mirror world is related to Jayden right?"
"But he said he doesn't know how to get out. If he did, he wouldn't be stuck here for almost 5 years" Arthur replied with a frown. Seems like they hit another dead end.
"What?? He's stuck?? That too for 5 years?" Mathew nearly slipped from his seat in shock.
They always thought Jayden was in the mirror world for some reason. They would have never guessed that he was stuck here.
"Bro Jay is here for 5 years??" Kael asked in disbelief as if waiting for confirmation.
"Yeah" Jayden shrugged.
"I have tried hundreds of ways to get out of this place but I couldn't just find a way to get out of here. It always feels like…I'm missing something" he said with a frown.
"Wait..if the crack exists in our world then there should be one here too right?" Lyra asked curiously.
"Good thinking, but I searched for that too. But couldn't find one, maybe it's just a one-way" Jayden replied with a sigh. He thought of these things way before.
"Maybe, it's in a mirror? After all the crack in our world was also in a mirror" Kael put forward his guess.
"Actually, the mirror world doesn't have any mirrors" Jayden dropped the bomb again.
Everyone looked at each other with a helpless expression.
Suddenly Arthur's eyes lit up in understanding.
"Guys I think I found the key to outside" Arthur said with a mysterious smile.
"What is it, Arthur?" Mathew asked curiously.
"It's brother Jayden, he's the key to outside" The group looked at him as Arthur explained animatedly
"If this whole world is linked to Jayden and this world doesn't have any mirrors or reflections, then the only one who can create reflections or mirages is none other than Jayden himself" he said as he looked at Jayden in expectation.
"Wow Arthur, you're a genius" Mathew exclaimed loudly as everyone suddenly focused their attention on Jayden.
"Do you think I haven't tried that before?" Jayden looked at them with a frown. After seeing their eager looks, he sighed and continued
"I have already tried it. Nothing works" he said in disappointment as he drowned another glass of liquor.
"No. You said it yourself right, you feel like something's missing" Arthur was still adamant as he looked at Jayden with a straight gaze.
"Maybe some of your power is missing or you still haven't figured it out. But I really believe you're the key brother Jayden" Arthur looked at him seriously.
"That's a lot of pressure and hope you're putting on me guys" Jayden replied with a sigh. "I think we should take care of that thing first" Kael said suddenly as he pointed his fingers outside the door. They left the door open previously. Everyone saw Alhera get up slowly.
"You guys sure talk a lot. I really wished I could have died instead of hearing you blabber"
Alhera sneered, coughing blood.
"I stabbed you right in the heart, so how are you alive?" Jayden's eyes narrowed. Everyone got up and became instantly alert.
"Oh, you think so? When you stabbed me, I used my powers to teleport my vital organs to another place for a split second" she laughed loudly, but she still kept coughing blood as she continued
"Good thing that I was able to react just in time. Anyway, I'm helpless now, so I'm gonna let them take care of things from here on out" Alhera laughed in madness as her body slowly started to disintegrate into yellowish particles from the leg.
"Uh oh, I don't have a good feeling about this" Kael frowned.
"Gate of apocalypse" Alhera muttered as her body completely disintegrated into Nova particles.
"This usually happens when people die here. Their body just turns into those particles and fades away. Maybe, their body is sent to the real world or something" Jayden said as he looked around everywhere in alert. The group came out of the bar in hesitation.
"Guess I panicked for nothing" Before Kael could take the next breath, the Nova particles slowly formed an ellipse in the air. The ellipse started to spin.
The spinning started to become faster and faster as gusts of wind were created all over the place.
"Brother Jayden, does this thing ...also happen usually?" Lyra asked in a joking manner.
"Nope, it's also new to me" Jayden replied with a shrug.
Everyone looked at the Ellipse in tension. Since the winds were too fast and powerful, they were unable to approach it.
"Step back everyone, I'm sensing something" Mathew warned them sharply. Hearing his warning, everyone stepped back even further.
…
In every faction inside The Circle, there is a head who represents the Zodiac itself. Below his direct orders are the 4 commanders, each commander corresponding to the four horsemen of the apocalypse - Conquest, War, Famine, and Death.
Even though they have only 20 percent of the Zodiac's power, due to a pact called "Astral Vow" they take when becoming the commanders, the commanders gain additional powers as a self defence mechanism to protect their faction.
This pact only activates when the head of the faction faces death. Each commander gains 50-70% of the Zodiac's original power. But the newly gained power must be unlocked using all the commander's Nova which Alhera failed to do so.
The remaining commanders, sensing her death, wasted no time and started to gain the power given by the pact.
…
The Nova particles connected and formed a ring of light, forming a dark portal. The other 3 commanders stepped through the portal, entering the mirror verse.
"Her recklessness led to her grave" Castor said gravely.
"Look at them, these guys must be responsible for Sir Orion's death " Propus looked at the group with a hateful expression.
Without any introduction, Mathew sent a Nova blast towards them