PART III: AFTER THE UNSEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 20: Mirror World

• Because of Fang’s warning, Nine entered the temple and discovered his counterpart being held prisoner. After awakening her, the corrupted temple was restored to its former glory, with the priests reawakening as well. Pietta told the twins that they were the children of Goddess Rhinne, and that they were to be her successors as the new Transcendents of Time.

• Though Nine wished to rename himself Zero in order to symbolize him breaking free from the cycle of brainwashing, his sister instead named him Alpha, and herself Beta. In order to regain their powers, Pietta told them that they would need to find the Goddess Teardrops, which had been scattered by Will across Mirror World.

• Before finding the Goddess Teardrops, however, the priests tasked Alpha and Beta with recovering their relic. The twin priests, Benedict and Cassius, used their powers to locate the relic in Mirror World Leafre. There, they discovered that the relic had been swallowed by Horntail. With the help of Freud, who was still alive in the imperfect mirror of Maple World, the twins successfully recovered the relic, which had been split into two weapons, with the spirits Lapis and Lazuli in each one.

• In Mirror World Ariant, the twins worked with the Sand Bandits in order to steal a blue gem, which they believed to be the Goddess Teardrop, from Queen Areda before Phantom could. During the battle, however, the twins realized that the true Goddess Teardrop was Prime Minister Shah Mar, who had taken on a human form and worked diligently as the prime minister in order to make Rhinne’s successors proud of him.

• After Shah Mar returned to his gem form, the twins took him back to the temple. Cassius then located the second Goddess Teardrop in Mirror World Henesys. There, the twins discovered that the Goddess Teardrop had taken on the form of a young boy named Larelle, who had been kidnapped by the Shadow Knights. After defeating the Shadow Knights, the twins claimed the second Goddess Teardrop.

• Cassius then sent them to Mirror World Mu Lung, where they discovered the Goddess Teardrop, a lazy panda named Wu Gong. Alpha and Beta fought off the attacking Shadow Knights and successfully convinced Wu Gong to return with them.

• In Mirror World Edelstein, the twins encountered the next Goddess Teardrop, a man named Arsen. However, Arsen claimed that he wished to sever his ties to the Transcendents and live for himself, for which he was planning to harvest energy from Edelstein. Realizing that the power plant would explode from Arsen’s attempts, Alpha agreed to sever ties with Arsen in order to keep the people of Edelstein safe.

• While shaking hands, Alpha noticed a spider tattoo on Arsen’s wrist. Immediately upon their physical contact, a large explosion took place that left Arsen in a coma. After obtaining a report from the invading Shadow Knights, the twins learned that Arsen was a false Goddess Teardrop created by Will in order to trick them, with the explosion being a result of Arsen’s false time powers coming into contact with the true power of time.

• In Mirror World Magatia, the twins encountered another false Goddess Teardrop named Rachael, who had been sent by Will in order to confuse them. Rachael’s words made the twins believe that there was a traitor amongst the priests. After investigating, they learned that Cassius had the same spider mark on his tools as the tattoos on Arsen and Rachael.

• Though Cassius attempted to flee, the twins pursued him and confronted him. Cassius revealed that he had been afraid that the twins would be defeated by the Black Mage, which was why he had been working with Will in order to keep them trapped and safe in Mirror World. As the priests were bound to the temple, Cassius soon faded away and disappeared.

• With the priests mourning Cassius’ passing, Benedict took on Cassius’ responsibilities and directed the twins to the final two Goddess Teardrops - Hera and Mera - in Mirror World Ludibrium. While helping Hera and Mera stabilize time in Ludibrium, the twins learned that Goddess Rhinne had frozen time in the real Ludibrium at the request of the king, who wished for his subjects to remain young and child-like forever. After meeting a memory of Rhinne within the unstable time cracks, the twins were told that the Transcendent of Time was incapable of changing their own fate.

• Having gathered all the Goddess Teardrops, the twins attempted to break free from Mirror World. Instead, however, they were brought to the Mirror World Control Room, where Will revealed a captured Rhinne, whose powers were being forcibly channeled to maintain Mirror World. He then told the twins that when he had split the twins, he had also corrupted one of them, which meant that they would be unable to awaken as the new Transcendents of Time unless one of them were to die.

• Hoping to get answers, the twins entered Mirror World’s replica of the Temple of Time. After seeing their old memories, Beta believed that she was the corrupted one and began to attack Alpha, hoping that he would be forced to kill her if she were to fight him. However, Alpha refused to fight his sister and convinced her to stop, pointing out that it was possible that Will had lied in order to have them destroy each other.

• The twins confronted Will, believing that defeating him would lift the corruption. Just then, Rhinne began moving against her restraints and poised herself to attack the twins, with Will amusedly noting that it was in her nature as a Transcendent to stop corrupted beings from claiming her powers. To his shock, however, Rhinne instead attacked Will, revealing that it was a mother’s instinct not to harm her child, which was far more powerful than the call of the Transcendents.

• After Will retreated, Rhinne cleansed the twins of their corruption and revealed that they needed to escape and destroy Mirror World in order to awaken as the new Transcendents, as the Transcendent of Time’s power was being used to maintain Mirror World. However, she also revealed that since two Transcendents could not exist, she would cease to exist as soon as they awakened.

• The twins then confronted and defeated Will before breaking free from Mirror World. However, the twins devised a plan to change Rhinne’s destiny by recreating Mirror World as soon as it was destroyed, sacrificing a large chunk of their power in order to maintain Mirror World in Rhinne’s place. As a result of their plan, Rhinne was resurrected in the form of a mortal child.

• After escaping Mirror World, the twins were surprised to find themselves in Grandis instead of Maple World. In Pantheon, a hooded man led them to a space between dimensions, where they encountered the Commanders - Arkarium, Damien, Hilla, and Von Leon - as well as Gelimer and a mind-controlled Lotus.

• The Commanders offered an alliance with the twins, revealing that the Black Mage had been planning to fuse Maple World and Grandis by sealing away himself, Rhinne, and Alicia. With no Transcendents in Maple World, Maple World had automatically sought to fuse with Grandis in order to restore its balance of Transcendents. As a result of centuries passing with the Transcendents sealed away, the pure inertia of the world collision meant that the two worlds would continue to fuse, even after the return of the Transcendents.

• The Commanders revealed that the Black Mage intended to become the Transcendent of Light for both Maple World and Grandis, and that they wished to offer the twins the position of Transcendent of Time for both worlds as well. However, the twins bought time for themselves by claiming that they needed to think on the offer by first exploring Maple World and Grandis, as they had only just become the new Transcendents.

• The hooded man then escorted Alpha and Beta back to Maple World, revealing himself to be Cassius. Cassius explained that he had been revived by the Commanders, and that he had joined them in order to help Alpha and Beta become the Transcendents of two worlds, which would give them the power to defeat the Black Mage. After arriving in Maple World, Alpha and Beta began their explorations of the new world.