"Morgana, that newly awakened Guardian has made contact with them. They've already noticed what you've been doing."
Herpo's hoarse voice came from nearby as he slowly walked toward the center of the room.
A huge hexagram magic array was drawn across the floor at its center, with a mirror standing at each point. The six mirrors were astonishingly large, reaching all the way to the ceiling.
A candle stood before each mirror. All six had been lit, their orange flames swaying gently in the air.
Morgana le Fay stood in the center of the hexagram magic array, holding an oddly shaped wand.
The wand resembled a miniature, twisted Rowan tree. Its branches tangled together at the crown, like several withered fingers reaching out from the wand's tip.
With the aid of the candlelight, faint images appeared in all six mirrors.
Yet these images were strange. They did not reflect her appearance, instead displaying various eerie forms.
One mirror showed a female figure draped in a burned nun's habit. Her face beneath the hood was indistinct, as though her features had been scorched away by fire, leaving only embers that flickered like breathing.
Another showed a ghostlike figure in vivid formal attire, its entire body entwined in withered vines. It looked profoundly unnatural.
Another contained a blurry humanoid mass that seemed to have been kneaded from blood and gemstones, with mismatched features pieced together from gems, creating a twisted and grotesque impression.
Morgana le Fay seemed not to have noticed Herpo's arrival. As though teasing a pet, she casually waved her arms at the mirrors, and the figures within moved along with her.
Only after Herpo stopped before her did she lazily say, "Is that so? Has the place I told you to guard been breached as well?"
"It hasn't been