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The large dragon stared at the enormous mirror in front of her, her black form almost indiscernible from the dimly lit stone behind her.

"So, once I infuse this mirroring surface with this liquid, it would become able to show me alternate or wholly different realities?" She asked, looking down at a elderly human standing beside her.

"That, indeed, is the intended function." He said as he stroked a long white beard. "However, it will not merely show alternate realities, but it is meant to expose you to the essence of one's own self from those realities."

"Explain?" She sighed.

"To openly show alternate or different realities is something that threatens the basic integrity of one's own universe." He began, laying a hand over the dragon's scaly leg. "Instead, to access one's own being, the risks are much lower and far easier to control. This infusion will form a psychic anchor for your mind, while opening a tiny crack in the integrity of other realities. With enough concentration, you will be able to connect with your own self from other realities, even if mostly on a surface-thought level."

"I sense a but." She sighed.

"Do not let yourself be drawn in by the mirror." He growled, looking up sternly at her. "Many echoes of one's being may not be as beneficial. Some will most certainly be drawn to awareness of your presence, and if powerful or determined enough they might try to take over your mind in this reality. Do not lower your guard. Do not trust all they say."

Darzarath turned back to the mirror, holding a small glass bottle of golden liquid.

"I understand the risks." She said.

She uncorked the bottle, and raised the bottle to pour the liquid over the mirror from the very top.

As it slowly descended, it spread uniformly across the mirror's width, leaving behind a golden sheen. The golden tint, as the liquid further descended the mirror's length, seemed to get absorbed by the mirror, turning the reflection a slight hue of yellow.

"So..." She said, looking down to the human.

"Just look into the mirror." He replied "But beware when the mirror darkly stares back."

Puzzled, Darzarath stared into the mirror, focusing on the soft red-orange glow of her eyes.

Minutes passed, with her blinking a few times to clear her drying eyes.

A fiasco, she thought, until the picture in the mirror blurred. She was about to turn away from it, but she could only stare as her reflection was altered, changed.

Her scales remained largely the same, her muscular build was also unchanged. But not her eyes, which seemed to turn into a cold blue. Through the scales of her reflection, she could see a dim glow, the same color of her reflection's eyes.

Darzarath craned her neck forward, to look closer at her reflection, but immediately straightened back when the reflection craned its neck back to get away from her.

"Wow." She said.

"What is this?" The reflection asked, its voice, seemingly identical to Darzarath's, coming out ofthe mirror's surface with a padded and muted effect to it.

"This is a Mirror of Realities, my lady." The human next to Darzarath said, approaching the mirror. "Your mind is being linked to our reality through an alchemically altered mirror."

"Fascinating." The reflection said, looking down at the human for a moment before looking up to look at Darzarath. "And you are..."

"If it worked properly, I am you." Darzarath said, pointing a claw at the mirror and to herself.

"I can see the resemblance." The reflection mused as she seemingly scanned Darzarath's appearance. "I suppose there is a reason for such.... alchemical feats."

"Yes, there is." Darzarath said.

Darzarath explained the situation to the reflection. The Dragon Council's anti-mortal plans, the Dragon Slayers, the gods' intervention and exile. Suddenly, the reflection held up a claw.

"I think I heard enough." The reflected Darzarath said. "I understand your concerns and I believe I have hints to a solution."

"Do tell" Darzarath said.

"In my reality, almost none of this happened." The reflection began. "In fact, your reality is almost a favorable outcome. Here, we dragons chose to not let mortals and gods be the sole actors of the world. We acted, we fought, we healed, we built, we destroyed. We made our roles and presence clear from the very start. But it did not last. Eventually, our power was too spread thin, and our numbers soon dwindled. Not enough clutches were born, despite our more active lives among mortals that allowed to keep better track of the seasons and the climate. As we became few, we were able to formulate a plan to restore our kind once the time would come. A sacrifice of our purity of blood and kind would be made, and a new race born of mortals and dragon would be free upon the world's stage. It was thus, that those few of us that still held their great power decided to step away from our life among mortals, to let the events of the world unfold without our wisdom and foresight. The plan, as well calculated as it could be, almost failed. As I stand to speak with my mind's eye to you, I have only recently awakened from the slumber that was supposed to preserve our power. I was drained, almost depleted of my power, and had it not been for fate allowing mortals to interfere and awaken me well before the due time, my body would have withered away into a lifeless husk within my sealed lair."

Darzarath looked straight into the reflection's eyes.

Their wary look was a match to the reflection's story, but as she looked more at them, she felt something else. Something pushed back, something that tried to slip beneath her scales.

Darzarath snapped her eyes shut and roared, shaking her head vigorously.

"Out of my head!" She roared.

The reflection smirked, her scaly lips curled in apparent satisfaction.

"I see you are no pushover." The reflection remarked. "Then I can tell you of my plans to save my kind that might help decide your next moves."

Darzarath opened her eyes again and glared at the reflection, who seemingly ignored her glare as she continued talking.

"My plans are simple. Return to the old way of partaking into the lives of the mortals." The reflection explained. "I need allies, I need resources. I can only have them if I can either forge the mortals under my absolute rule or weave friendships and favors from them. Their world is ripe with means for me to act with, while not requiring me to install my presence at every corner of their society. I am learning of their world after so many millennia of slumber, but you have the advantage that you saw them grow, watched them learn and learned from them. The mortals here aim for the stars, seeking a new home where there is none. That, shall be key to ensuring the preservation of dragonkind in my reality. For you, a home among the stars might be the greatest hope for peace and mutual understanding that your reality has."

Darzarath looked down to the elder human, who simply shrugged as he kept taking notes on a large book.

"Explain. What do you mean by 'looking at the stars'?" Darzarath asked to the reflection.

"I mean what I said." The reflection sighed. "At night, look up. Behold the stars that make the sky. Among them, there are other worlds. Worlds of fire, world of air, worlds of ice. I was never too bothered with the concept, until I saw the mortals of this reality's fascination with the stars and what lies beyond the highest clouds. One lesser learned on the subject might find these to be frivolous plays of imagination, but these mortals have provided proof that it is not."

Darzarath stared in silence. The words graved on her with a weight that felt unbearable even to her more than ample strength. She was getting a lot more than she had hoped from this bargain.

"What can I do then?" Darzarath asked.

"Guide them." The reflection said. "Mortals are smart, but extremely few and far between have the foresight to think in great pictures. Steer them towards peace. Tether them to hope and understanding. Enlighten them with wisdom hardly before heard. You mentioned that you keep a low profile due to the Dragon Slayers. Raise up. Stand proud, and let their ignorance be their undoing. Fight those that seek to undo your good with evil. I need not stress this enough, I hope."

"No, you don't." Darzarath sighed. "But I also need to take the Council into account."

"Let them rot." The reflection sneered. "As their seats clearly rot their brains, they certainly are not worthy your worry or respect. They envy your power over mortals and your knowledge of mortals. They crave it, they seek it. They will never let you hold it alone as long as they will be in the condition to consider themselves powerful. If peace is to be earned, blood may have to be drawn. Show the Council that no matter how many mortals their claws will shred, many more dragons will die in futility. Call it evil, malignant, devious, but it is all necessary if dragons in your reality are to understand."

"I see." Darzarath muttered.

The reflection tilted her head.

"This is not something that can be done in a mortal's lifetime." The reflection said. "It will take much time and many sacrifices. Choices and opportunities. Had there been a way for me to do more, I

would counsel you along the way, but alas limitations of flesh, space, time and reality stand between us. Hold strong, for me."

Darzarath stared into the reflection's eyes again, but the previous wariness from before was replaced by something she had seen herself before. Sorrow, sadness, a silent plea.

"I will." Darzarath said, bowing to the mirror.

The reflection bowed her head, and just as it came, her form blurred and changed, returning to be Darzarath's own.

"Fascinating, and terrifying." The human muttered as he closed the book he was writing in. "I am not one to mind a dragon's business too much, but what do you intend to do now?"

"For now, things shall continue as they are." Darzarath said as she reached to pull a cloth over the mirror. "A few generations from now, I believe that situation will be ripe for my first interventions."

"Is there anything I should do?" He asked.

"Yes, actually." She said, stepping away from the covered mirror. "Even though the Council hates mortals, I am aware that some of their members move their mortal pawns in the shadows of secret orders and conspiratorial circles. I need counter-agents."

"Doable, albeit risky." The human muttered. "I'll set things in motion. There are many that owe many a favor to my Academy."

"Perfect then, go." She said.

The human gave a bow, and turned around to leave with fast pace.