The Citadel

Having left the stairs the duo had now entered a long dark corridor, the walls looked like petrified flesh and sinews with pillars resembling ribs that meet in the ceiling. A small constant breeze came from somewhere down the dark passage making another eerie melody as it passed. Flurry Heart got cold chills and decided to rest one hand on the sword hilt for some comfort as she made her way forward. She really hated this place, the uneven surface of the wall causing her to imagine movements in her peripheral vision as the shadows shifted along it.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" she questioned her partner who floated quietly above her.

"You sound nervous princess, afraid of the dark?" Zyzix chuckled.

"I'm not afraid of the dark, I'm worried about what might be in the dark." she said flatly.

"Well do not worry, this is the right way and if something is hiding in the dark we would know about it." Zyzix answered.

"Great." Flurry sighed.

They continued walking down the twisting corridor with only the wind and Flurry's echoing hoofsteps making any sound. After several minutes she could see a light piercing the darkness signaling a possible end to the tunnel. And not a moment to soon in her opinion, having to wander through this murky passage had kept her on edge. It didn't take them to long to exit the corridor and enter into a grand hall. The room looked like nothing Flurry Heart had seen anywhere else in this world, the walls and floor was not made with black stone for once but a more brounish yellow. The room itself was in fairly good condition and well lit by glowing metal spheres hanging from the ceiling almost making the space feel lived in. At the opposite end of the room Flurry could see several doorways and something that looked like a pool of mercury but it was on the wall which puzzled her some.

"What is that?"

Zyzix looked at where Flurry was pointing "Ah that is an arcane mirror, it is used to enhance summoning rituals."

"A mirror huh." Flurry said as she moved in for a closer look.

"be careful not to touch it, you never know what enchantments one could trigger." Zyzix warned.

Getting close enough she almost got a chock at what was reflected back at her from the mirror. Her hair was a mess her clothes was way dirtier then she first thought and they had plenty of tears and holes in them. She herself didn't fair much better, she had plenty of small scratches and cuts especially on her arms and legs.

"I look like a wreck." she said upset while touching her hair and face.

"Ah come now princess, it's not that bad." Zyzix snickered while watching Flurry's fussing.

"Not that bad!?" she turned around

"I am royalty, I have a standard to uphold." she exclaimed.

Flurry Heart huffed and turned back to make a desperate attempt to tame the beast that now lived on her head. It would be difficult to do without a shower and a brush however. Barely had she begun to fiddle with her hair before she noticed that something was off, the reflection in the mirror wasn't following her movements correctly. Slowly she extended an arm outwards to the side, she watched her mirror image closely. It did the same at first only to then suddenly twitch and snap its head ninety degrees to the side. Flurry jumped back at this and put her hand on her sword ready to draw it as she kept her eyes locked on the thing in the mirror.

"It looks like you might have activated some dormant magic in that mirror." Zyzix stated when she noticed what was going on.

"I can't even fix my hair in peace in this stupid place." Flurry grumbled while drawing her sword as her reflection started to climb out of the mirror.

It was a strange feeling seeing a clone of herself even if it wasn't a perfect clone as it too drew its sword. Its movements where stiff and jerky and its features where just off making it kind of uncanny, like a picture that had been smeared. More angry then scared Flurry went on the attack launching a couple of swift strikes at her opponent which it deflected before making its own attack. She parried them in turn and then made some space by jumping back a little, she adjusted her stance and charged again.

After trading a few blows Flurry noticed that it wasn't just the looks that where a little off. Even if the copy mimicked her fighting style it was sloppy and unbalanced and she could use that to her advantage. She swung her blade low and just as she expected the clone went to parry it, with a smirk Flurry shifted the angle of her attack and struck her adversary in the head. With a loud crash it shattered like glass and her enemy collapsed on the floor and slowly melted down into the same mercury like liquid the mirror was made of. Standing victorious Flurry Heart couldn't help but to feel smug over such a quick and easy victory. All those sparing sessions with commander Bastion and her father had really paid of, they would have been proud.

"Masterfully done princess, not to rain on your parade but you are not done yet." Zyzix said.

"What do you mean?" Flurry questioned before turning her head towards the mirror only to see three more clones had emerged from it.

She hung her head and let out a very undignified sound of frustration and brought up her guard again. Seeing these twisted versions of herself might have been disturbing on a normal day but now they where no more terrifying then a badly made puppet. She didn't know why but she just felt jaded from all the strange and scary sights she had witnessed since arriving here, all this emotional turmoil had taken its toll and it made her feel kind of numb. There was a coldness in her eyes as she engaged her enemies quickly beheading one of them using the same weakness she discovered on the first one. After parrying the attacks from the other two clones she manage to cripple one of them by slashing it in the leg almost cutting it clean off.

"There are more on the way princess, do you think you can handle them?" Zyzix said from above her.

Throwing a quick glance towards the mirror she could see the clones practically marching out of it now, there were at least ten or twelve advancing towards her.

"What do we do?" she asked her companion.

"I can't fight them forever." she finished off the one she was currently fighting and then made some distance between herself and the horde.

"We need to either drain the mirror of magic or dispell the enchantment on it." Zyzix explained.

"Can you do that?" Flurry asked.

"I shall see what I can do, you try to stay alive." Zyzix said and flew over to the mirror.

Scanning over the small army walking towards her, she needed to spread them out so she didn't have to fight them all at once. Thinking of a strategy Flurry Heart took a deep breath to make herself focus, maybe she could blast some of them away with magic to reduce there numbers. Deciding it was worth a try she charged up her horn and released a blast of energy against her foes. But instead of sending them flying her spell bounced right off and flew straight back at her. Having no time to react the bolt of energy struck her right in the chest causing her to drop her sword and sending her tumbling across the floor. Coughing and wheezing she tried to stand up only to fall over again gasping for air, she felt like she had been gut punched by a yak. She could see shapes approaching through her blurred vision and with a bit of effort she manage to throw up a shield spell just in time avoid getting impaled by the clones.

Getting her breathing under control was difficult with several enemies banging on her magic shield with there weapons. However she couldn't stay under her protective barrier forever she needed to try to get out of there. Still a little winded Flurry expanded her shield bubble slightly to get more room to move, seeing her attackers get pushed back as it grew gave her an idea. Getting up on her hoofs again she once again charged her horn up but this time instead of shooting it out as a bolt of energy she instead super charged her shield doubling its size in a blink of an eye. The rapid expansion of the barrier sent plenty of her opponents flying in every direction. Not wanting to waste this opportunity she dropped the spell and took flight to try and locate her sword.

Finding the sword wasn't difficult but retrieving it might be since it was surrounded by the mirror clones making it hard to grab even with magic. She swooped in to try and get it but quickly flew up again when she almost got her hand cut off by one of the clones. She hoovered out of reach from there attacks trying instead to use her magic to get a hold of the blade,
after a few tries she finally manage to fish it up from the crowd. The happiness from having her sword back was short lived as not long after she got it back in her hand she could see some of the clones had figured out that they too had wings and came flying towards her.

Watching there slow clumsy movements was almost insulting to her, she narrowed her eyes thinking it was time she taught them a lesson in aerial combat. With a dash and several swift strikes she shattered the skull of two of them and
cutting the wings of a third sending them crashing back to the ground. She couldn't help but to feel smug as she outclassed her enemies in everything but numbers. With a smirk she once again went on the attack dodging enemy strikes as she delivered her own more precise once vanquishing them one by one. Her overconfidence grew with every minute that passed and she started to do bolder and more risky attacks like engaging multiple foes at once. In the air she was the ruler and she would let none of these fakes dethrone her.

She pierced the chest of one of them with her sword and was about move on to the next target when she was grabbed around her ankle stopping her mid flight. Looking down she could see one of the mirror clones had manage to catch her and was about to swing its weapon, acting fast she tried to block it with her own sword but the awkward angle made it hard. She manage to deflect the blow away from her torso but got hit in her thigh instead leaving a deep gash. Crying out in pain she succeeded in kicking herself free from the grip only to be grappled from behind by another enemy. She struggled to escape but to late did Flurry Heart realize that she had gotten herself surrounded. Her opponents didn't waste any time and began there assault slashing and stabbing at her, even held in place she did avoid most attacks but not all of them as she was cut across the stomach quite badly and her upper arm. Desperate to escape before any of them could land a fatal blow on her. She manage to struggled enough to give her an opening for her to teleport herself a few meters away. Barely had she reappeared before she was violently tackled in the side crashing down to the ground. She manage to cast a shield around herself just before she hit the floor, reducing most of the damage but it still hurt quite a bit.

Despite the pain she was feeling she forced herself up as quickly as she could, for it did not take long before she was swarmed by enemies again. With attacks coming from every direction Flurry had no choice but to block dodge and parry to the limit of her abilities lest she be cut down. She had been fighting this horde of puppets for several minutes now and she wasn't sure how much longer she could last, just one mistake and that would be it. Sweat poured down her face as she felt her muscles ache and her stamina slowly drained. Even when she manage to strike one of her opponents down another one was ready to take its place right away.

Suddenly there was a loud rumbling sound and just a moment later a blast of cold air hit her making her stumble a little. She quickly regained her footing ready to keep defending herself only to realize that all the clones had stopped moving, confused she looked around when Zyzix called out to her.

"Princess I have managed to halt the spell for the time being, we should leave now while we can!"

Not needing to be asked twice Flurry Heart made her way over to Zyzix as quickly as she could and they both left trough one of the doorways behind the mirror.