Mirror Princess: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 2)

by Eddie R. Hicks

  “There was a human who manipulated my father,” Averyl said as they moved to the exit. “He possessed a level of dark power I had never seen before and seemed to have appeared in our empire out of nowhere. I wonder if these circles you speak of and he are connected.”

  To Averyl’s surprise, there was no final dungeon monster awaiting them at the last chamber. She assumed the jumping trial was the final challenge for the dungeon rather than a hard monster battle. The thought soothed her mind because Averyl’s 271 MP did not leave her prepared for a drawn-out fight while having to heal through the heatwave.

  A web of astral energy prevented Remy from moving forward. A screen flashed as he touched the barrier ahead of the exit. “Oh, this is different.”

  Averyl and Pierre joined him, and the dungeon displayed a similar screen for them.

  Antoinette’s Cauldron Completed!

  In addition to 3000 Experience Points, please accept one of the following Cleric rewards.

  Flame Priestess’s Scepter

  Flame Priestess’s Robe

  Flame Priestess’s Ruby Pendant

  She selected the Flame Priestess’s Scepter without a second thought. Averyl already had the robe, and weapons always provided stronger stats than accessories.

  Obtained: Flame Priestess’s Scepter

  Obtained: 3000 Experience Points

  Averyl has attained level 17!

  Averyl stored the Flame Priestess’s Scepter in her inventory for now because when looking up, she noticed that the two pressed forward without her, likely to leave the hazardous heat environment before their HP fell. Averyl stormed ahead and exited the dungeon.

  Notice: You have left the hazardous area - Heat

  She found the two idling and waiting for Averyl. The trio followed the flickering glow of a campfire at the end of the passage and heard the murmurs of men and women chatting, laughing, and drinking. They slowed their footsteps so as not to alert the people ahead and then went prone when the light’s source came in sight.

  “Looks like light from a campfire,” Averyl whispered.

  “Aye,” Remy whispered back. “Must be close. This is it. I was right. They made their hideout at the end of a dungeon.”

  Her party lurked forward, turned the corner, and snuck into the clearing. The winds from the evening weather outside blew across their hot skin. It felt nice. She resisted the urge to stand and embrace air that was not swelteringly hot.

  The dungeon’s exit placed them at an opened area on the cliffside of the mountains. A camp laid at the edge, inhabited by outlaw elves, the people killers. This was their hideout, sitting in plain sight at the exit of a dungeon nobody knew of.

  Most of the people killers had been laying down, resting as others fiddled with their opened Inventory screens, dividing up what they had looted from the dead.

  There was a fae woman among them, wearing a tunic with a black corset and dark pants. She had an ocarina dangling at the side of her belt. There were ropes around her torso, binding her wings to her back, likely to keep her from flying. Averyl should know. She was in that position weeks ago.

  The fae woman drank a bottle of ale, turned, and eyed the opening Averyl, Remy, and Pierre had crouched in front of. She made eye contact with Averyl, her face bearing an uncanny resemblance to Averyl’s.

  It was like staring into a mirror.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The clear skies had darkened by the time Synaria and the carriage she owned came to a stop. Nijana awoke and yawned, stretching her hands up to its ceiling. She and Synaria had returned to the carriage after meeting with the dark elf, Vix, and sent the horses to the mountain region. Before falling asleep, Nijana had overheard that the Antoinette Mountains was where Synaria’s people made the camp. They wanted Nijana to spend the night with them. Nijana had gotten in with their team.

  Their camp lay at a ledge on the mountainside. There were two ways into it. One was to travel through a newly discovered dungeon, Antoinette’s Cauldron, and clear it to make it to the end. The other was to have one of the outlaw elves throw a rope ladder to anyone below, provided someone was in the camp to start with. Luckily, for Synaria, Nijana, and the other killers in the carriage, a few were up there. Otherwise, they would have to go through the dungeon, and Nijana’s level was much too low for it. Returning from the mists and to the carriage only granted her one additional level, bringing her to level 3.

  The gang climbed up the rope ladder. It swayed to the left and right for a moment, prompting a few of them to make a quick prayer to Asteria, begging the goddess to not let the ladder break on them—except for Nijana. Heights triggered no fear in Nijana. She was a fae, after all. If you fell, you just spread your wings and fly. That and Nijana never believed in Asteria. Hecate on the other hand . . .

  Then she remembered Synaria still insisted on keeping her wings bound. Suddenly, falling off the rope ladder dangling along the mountain’s side seemed like a frightening ordeal.

  She made it to the ledge and stood beside the petite druid Mage. The elven outlaws sat crossed-legged around a crackling campfire, its hickory smell entering everyone’s noses. There were piles of weapons, sacks of coin, and various other loot littering the camp, plunder from their battle. Nijana felt at home already.

  Synaria stepped forward, hands on her hips. She presented Nijana to the group. “Look at what I found!”

  “A level 3 Bard?” one outlaw asked.

  “Not just anyone!” Synaria grabbed Nijana and forced her to spin, putting her back to them. The druid pointed at her tied fairy wings. “A pixie and a Nox Knight soul crystal.”

  Synaria pulled out the dark gray crystal, holding it above her head, and drew the stares of the men and women. Nijana held back her rage. She was not a victory trophy; she was to be part of their team! Nijana spun around, ending the show of her wings.

  “No way!” an outlaw blurted.

  “Yes way,” Synaria said, and lowered the crystal. “Me contact is interested in buying it. Just waiting for him to get the francs needed.”

  “And her?” another outlaw gestured to Nijana.

  Synaria looked up at Nijana, smiling, and gave her a pat. “Well, keeping her around for now as insurance.”

  “A Bard, eh,” said an outlaw to Nijana. “You can fly, right?”

  She beamed at the bearded elf. “Take off these ropes, and I’ll show you—”

  “Not so fast!” Synaria cut in, one finger pointed up at Nijana’s face. “Let us not have our very own pixie fly away, eh?”

  Another elven outlaw laughed, a muscular woman clenching an axe. “Oh, I see what’s going on now. Syn, you just do not want to roll a Bard anymore. You hope this pixie will replace you.”

  “Let me guess, Bard is a rare class?” Nijana asked.

  “Aye, lass,” Synaria replied. “People run from corrupted instruments and charisma weapons as if someone had shite and pissed over them.” Synaria cracked her knuckles, then waddled to the pile of loot. “Now, let us find you some good leveling gear for Bard. Ah, yes, this should do nicely.”

  Synaria collected the items in her hands and dropped them at Nijana’s feet. She plucked up and examined them.

  Marauder’s Chakram [Chakram]

  Rank: B

  Attack: 20 Ranged Attack: 40

  Charisma: +1 Agility: +1 Critical Hit Rate: +1%

  Asteriarite Slot: [EMPTY]

  Asteriarite Slot: [EMPTY]

  Asteriarite Slot: [EMPTY]

  Requires: 66 Charisma 20 Strength

  Marauder’s Frill Dress [Cloth Armor]

  Rank: B

  Defense: 6 Magic Defense: 15

  Charisma: +4 Critical Hit Rate: +2%

  Sigil Space: 8

  Requires: 66 Charisma 20 Strength

  Marauder’s Ocarina [Wind Instrument]

  Rank: B

  Magic Defense: 15

  Charisma: +4 Critical Hit Rate: +2%

  Extends the range of Bard songs.

  Asteriarite
Slot: [EMPTY]

  Asteriarite Slot: [EMPTY]

  Asteriarite Slot: [EMPTY]

  Requires: 66 Charisma

  Synaria smiled up at her. “Marauder equipment is good until level 20 or so.”

  “My charisma’s at 38,” Nijana said. “I can’t use any of this.”

  “You should have enough by level 10,” Synaria said. “I know an excellent spot to level fast; you shall be there in no time.”

  Nijana stashed the equipment in her inventory. Afterward, the outlaws invited Nijana to sit with them, offering her a bowl of fruit to eat. She practically inhaled it. The last meal she had was on the Seraphim.

  Hmm, that star-dweller ship. I wonder what became of Guy and his companions. It’s dark out, so they probably figured out by now that I ran off with Dianna’s Ocarina and the Nox Knight soul crystal. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for them.

  Nijana grabbed a bottle of ale, stood up, and drank from the bottle. Her demeanor caught the glares of several elven men at the camp with shocked eyes. They had no idea of the rowdy pirate that lived inside the imperial princess lookalike. There was a strange and large crystal floating close to the campfire. A glimmer of a rainbow twinkled from its center. Synaria approached the crystal, referred to as an astral cluster by one outlaw, then touched it. A screen appeared and Synaria tapped it a few times, then a twirl of light flashed. Synaria stood in her bra and panties as her spell-casting dress fell off her body and fluttered to the ground. She replaced it with a leather jerkin, skirt, long boots, and a pair of daggers that she spun in her hands, then slipped into a dagger belt around her waist.

  Nijana checked Synaria’s information as the druid changed the sigils on her arms and legs. She was no longer a Mage.

  Synaria (Assassin) | LVL: 15 | Rank: B

  She found a means to change her class.

  Footsteps echoed. It came from the opening to a cave ahead, the backdoor to some dungeon. Nijana eyed the exit, noting three figures had slithered in undetected by the outlaws. One of them was an elven man with two swords at his side. And he unsheathed the twin swords with fury burning in his eyes. Behind the man stood a Cleric fae who looked precisely like Nijana.

  It was like looking into a mirror as their eyes met.

  Averyl (Cleric) | LVL: 17 | Rank: C

  It was Averyl. Fucking Averyl Autumnfall. What was she doing there?

  Nijana grimaced and lowered the ale bottle from her pink lips. “Expecting company?” she said to the outlaws.

  Everyone looked to the dungeon’s exit, eying the Berserker dual-wielding swords, a Gunner with twin flintlocks, and Averyl as their healer.

  Fucking Averyl.

  “Ah, fuck!” Synaria grabbed her twin daggers, two Marauder’s Dirk’s, as her bunny ears stiffened on edge.

  The other outlaws reached for their axes, daggers, and bows, and charged the three hunkered at the dungeon’s exit. A violent brawl ensued. To what degree, Nijana didn’t know. Synaria tugged on her arm and dragged her to the ledge of the mountainside camp.

  The former druid Mage turned Assassin, looked back, then up at Nijana. “Stay with me. Nobody here is on their healer classes.”

  Synaria was right. Nijana saw every class except one that could cast spells. There wasn’t a healer among them.

  “Climb down, quickly!” Synaria offered Nijana the rope ladder.

  Nijana winced at it. “If you just cut my wings free, I could—”

  “Escape? Not a chance, lass!”

  A sigh left her lips. Nijana took the ladder and used it to climb back down to the surface below as the fighting in the camp went on. Nijana looked up and noticed that Synaria joined her in the escape down the ladder. She also saw Synaria’s satin white panties as the winds rustled her leather skirt. Nijana regretted looking up and kept her face peering down as they continued their descent.

  The duo scaled down to the surface, and Nijana sprinted to the carriage.

  “No, not there!” Synaria yelled and waved for her to follow.

  Synaria ran into the woods, blackened by the midnight skies. Nijana shrugged and traveled with her. “Why not?” she asked during the run.

  “Horse-drawn carriage on the move at this time?” Synaria said. “The armies from Lumière are not stupid.”

  The darkened woods were calm for the night, sparsely populated with wild, nonaggressive creatures. A lower-level area, Nijana assumed, a place where newly afflicted elves could gain levels. She’d pull out her Recruit’s Rapier to practice on the beasts if they still weren’t running, constantly looking back to see if anyone had followed.

  Nobody had.

  “Oh fuck . . .”

  After an hour, the two came to a clearing in the woods, unveiling the distant sight of a heavily fortified city’s stone walls. They leaned against a tree, sat down, and rested their sore legs, huffing and puffing. When Synaria caught her breath, she angled her gaze to Nijana.

  “So . . . do you have a twin we should know about?”

  “Heh,” Nijana said, briefly recalling the sudden appearance of Averyl. “You saw her too?”

  “Everyone knows about the pixie Lumière took in . . . but few of us got a good look at her. Until now.”

  “She’s not my sister,” Nijana said. “She’s the princess of the Autumnfall Empire.”

  “Then why do you two look the same?”

  Nijana shrugged and faced the star-filled night sky. “Honestly? I’m not sure why.”

  Synaria joined her in the view of the stars, inching herself to sit beside Nijana. For a moment, Nijana felt as if she were aboard the star-dweller vessel Seraphim, masquerading as a rescued princess, standing in its observation room watching as the stars moved past. Well, when it wasn’t in hyperspace, at least. A shooting star shot across the night sky.

  “Yeah, well, you did pretty well back in the mists,” Synaria said, breaking the silence. “Thought those crocodiles would one-shot you, but you stayed vertical. Wanna join our group of renegades?”

  As if Nijana had a choice. “Teach me how to be a good Bard,” she said to her. “I have a feeling this will be my new life from now on.”

  “Until you hit level 20,” Synaria said. “After that, you can switch classes.”

  Good, because I really didn’t want to be singing and playing instruments forever. That’d make me look like a terrible pirate should I ever return to the Faeheim I knew.

  Synaria forged an Inventory screen to flash ahead of her. Its glow brought soft light to shine upon their faces. Nijana looked over Synaria’s tiny shoulder and at the screen. “What are you up to?”

  “I took some of the loot the others rounded up before your double showed up.” Synaria scrolled through the screen, eying its contents. She snorted. “Useless to us, but we can sell it at the trade broker. The problem is, the broker is pretty far from here.”

  Nijana gestured with her head to the stone walls in the distance, the walls to a massive elven city. “What about in that city? Is there no trade broker there?”

  Synaria eyed what Nijana gestured at. “That’s Lumière City. They probably have lots of patrols on the lookout ‘cause of the ruckus we made earlier today. Even if we slipped past the patrols, which should not be hard, there is no way we could stay in the city for a long time. Our people killing group is quite notorious in this region.”

  Synaria and her people were notorious. But nobody said anything about their new recruit.

  Nijana beamed at her partner in crime. “What if I entered the city and placed the items for sale on the broker?”

  “Just you . . .” Synaria’s bunny ears sagged as her eyes narrowed. “Eh.”

  “Don’t trust me?”

  “It is not that I do not trust you. It is just that, well, I do not trust you.”

  “You’re an Assassin now,” Nijana said. “Can’t you use the Stealth ability Vix did, then sneak in?”

  “Yeah, but what good will that do?”

  “You can watch me as I put the items up for sale. T
his way, you’ll have the insurance that I don’t run off with them.”

  Synaria scratched her chin, narrowing her eyes further. “Hmm.”

  “And the guards, they won’t recognize me as one of your kind, right?”

  “No, they would not. You look like their pet pixie. They will think you are her. Brilliant!”

  Synaria brought her Inventory screen over to Nijana and emptied its contents of the loot she wanted to sell, namely rank D and C chain armor and two sigils, Transmogrification, and Area. Nijana scooped the items into her screen, and the two women stood and made their way to Lumière City’s majestic walls. If the two hurried, they could reach it by sunrise.

  “Hold on,” Synaria said. She approached Nijana and pointed one Marauder’s Dirk high at her chest.

  Sweat drenched her skin. “What? Wait? I thought we—”

  Synaria cut the ropes around Nijana’s body, freeing her sore fairy wings.

  “If you are going to impersonate Averyl, you need to be free to fly whenever you want.”

  An enormous smile graced Nijana’s face. Synaria trusted her.

  Nijana was right. She and Synaria arrived at the gates of Lumière City as the sun rose. She was glad to have taken the quick nap in the carriage after leaving the mist lands beforehand. Otherwise, Nijana would have passed out. How Synaria stayed awake was a mystery, a difference in physiology, she assumed. Synaria was a druid, and Nijana a fae.

  Synaria stopped to poke a few harmless monsters with her daggers. Apparently, the skill Stealth required AP, and Synaria had none of it on hand.

  “Keep moving,” Synaria said, storing her blood-coated Marauder’s Dirks to her waist. “I shall be right behind you.”

  Nijana nodded, took a deep breath, clenched her fists, and strode to the city’s main gate. A pair of elven guards standing idle looked at Nijana as she approached. Their golden armor reflected a glint of the early morning sun. She tried not to think about what their halberds could do to her HP if they learned she was a fake. Nijana was level 3, and the guards were level 25. She just kept her eyes leveled and facing the houses and markets that existed beyond the gate. Nijana walked like she belonged in the city, walked like she was Averyl returning after a day of adventuring—