"It isn't possible," Set said.

"It is," I replied. "I wished for another story. Don't you see? It was never supposed to end like in the legends."

"Wait," Set added, scared. "I know many things you don't know, and I could tell them to you! I know something very important about you, Jeff. Something not even Vitaly Malinov could tell you, because I made him swear an oath of secrecy, and the gods' are binding! You don't know anything!"

"I know enough," Jeff replied, disgusted. "You killed my father. Maybe, my mother as well."

In the meantime, I was taking the Empty Mirror off the wall. "It was never supposed to end like it did in the legend," I said. "Because you, Set, are the one constant that's different in this parallel world. You see, in your legend, Tyr wanted to kill you because you were a threat. So you killed him. But it would never happen to us, because as long as you are around, none of us would be fooled into thinking the biggest threat is another."

I held the Empty Mirror in my hands and tried not to look into it. I wondered what could happen... surely it wasn't going to suck my magic from me just because I looked?

"Wait," Set tried to stop me, again. "I could tell you about the spy."

"You... you met Jake?" Edgar looked strangely bothered. Then, I got it. Not only we didn't expect Jake to betray us --- in a few months' time he seemed to have gained the trust of the Reapers more than we gained Vitaly's. But it was also possible none of them had sworn oaths.

"He is not a very good spy," Set continued. "I imagined you'd find him out sooner. I guess I thought you would use your useless little brains... He's been following you since the start of quest, has been working for us since last year. He wouldn't have been my first choice --- Jeff would have been."

Jeff winced. No doubt he was remembering his great powers, and also how he'd just lost them.

"You're right," I snapped back. "I see why Jake wouldn't have been your first choice. He wouldn't have been our first guess either when we found out someone was spying on us. It made no sense. I had no idea he was this talented."

Set shrugged. "The boy understands ambition. I promised him he could have been our Ductor."

"But you were lying to him!" I exclaimed. "He is not nearly as powerful as Vitaly and he cannot create the Void."

Set smiled a little, in a condescending way.

"Jake knew that. He knows when someone is lying to him --- he's the best at it. He followed you to KI because he thought he could betray everyone and keep the Mirror to himself. Thankfully you sent him back. You did me a favour... Not that I wouldn't have been able to fight him on my own."

"Maybe he's not even working on your side anymore," I said, hopeful. "I think Jake was repenting. When I tracked him down and read his memories, he didn't want to tell Jinn where we were."

Set raised an eyebrow.

"I think he just wanted to buy himself some time. Why wouldn't he tell Jinn where the lot of you were? Especially you. He hates you more than he hates everyone else."

"You're saying all of this just to wind me up," I declared, but my cheeks were burning. "Speaking of buying one's time... for a god you fight like a coward! Or are you like Vitaly... someone who used to be a human being before? Through all the years, have Enchanters replaced all of the old gods? Are we worshipping nothing?"

Set almost snarled. I could have seen it coming, truth be told, but trust me to keep my temper in check. He moved his magic staff, and I was hit by a sandy storm the likes of the one that hit Edgar before... but we'd already used the ampoule. It didn't hurt much. It was just scratches. But my whole face was burning and I could feel the blood trickling.

"First of all," Set said. "No one is worshipping us enough. Second, don't talk of things you only think you understand. You're going to regret it. Who are you calling a coward? Your friend Jeff is powerless, Edgar is still recovering... Even the brave Raegan is paralyzed by fear, and I know your cocky words are just for show. None of you can do anything against me..."

"Wrong," Vitaly growled. "I could."

There was a terrible amount of pain in his voice. I thought I knew why. He'd just sworn he'd never use his godly powers anymore, before he ran the risk of becoming mad, and now he was between the devil and the deep blue sea. He would have to use them if he wanted to save all of us from the other god in the room.

"Is there a chance Brady Doyle... I mean, Silver McQueen, is a god too?" Raegan asked. She didn't look held back by fear like Set had said. I realised she was mulling over all the possibilities in her head, and she knew nothing could help us against someone like Set.

Brady shook his head. "I'm afraid I'm not," he said.

"And can Set use his magic staff like it was the Empty Mirror... to steal the powers from Vitaly?" Raegan wanted to know. She looked so shocked, she barely seemed to have registered the Typhon god was in the room with us.

"This magic staff can only steal Enchanters' powers," Set exclaimed. "Gods are different. Only the Empty Mirror..."

Of course. The Empty Mirror. Everyone told us not to touch it and not to give it neither to Set nor to the Reapers. The Awakened wanted us to give it to them, and my plan was to give it in exchange for help in rescuing Risa. But it was our only chance, and I was still holding it in my hands. For a moment, so much had happened in so little time, I'd almost forgotten the weight of it.

I turned the Empty Mirror towards Set so that he could look inside. I had no idea how it worked... Was taking him by surprise enough? He didn't seem to grow weaker, but there was a terrified expression on his face. I'd certainly bought myself some time... time that I needed for the next step of my plan.

I got ready for the pain that would eventually come, and smashed my fist into the Empty Mirror. Punch by punch, I could see blood flowing from my injured hand. It hurt much more than Set's sand did. I was almost paralysed by the pain, but I knew I had to keep going until the Empty Mirror was simply little shards, big enough to fit in the pocket of my jacket. But, I hoped at the very least, harmless.

When I was done, nobody dared speak. I might have done all of the punching for nothing --- if Set hadn't tried to stop me midway, it was simply because the worst was done. Whether this meant that I'd simply broken the object with the first punch, or also that it had already sucked out Set's powers, I didn't know.

"And this," I declared. "Is to make sure nothing like this quest has ever to happen again."

Set looked at me for a horrible moment. My life flashed before my eyes. I wondered if he was powerless. I wondered if he was simply pissed off at me. And then I wondered if he was going to kill me, as easy as snapping his fingers.

Then, he started to laugh, which was worse. "It takes more than that to overpower me," he said. "But I admire that you used the element of surprise. Part of my powers were sucked away..." he shook his head, partly amused and part in denial. "But it's not hard for a god to get them back again. Until it's you I'm up against, I have all the time in the world."

Jeff gritted his teeth. I realised that if he had had the ability to do something, he would have done it. I didn't want to be a coward.

I moved my hand in a Mudra and a little hurricane started forming. It was less powerful than usual, because I didn't have Jeff's help. Maybe my powers would have grown exponentially by now if I'd solved the Sphinx' riddle. As of now, they were still blocked.

And then, the hurricane slammed Set in the chest. The god didn't seem to be expecting to be hit by a common Enchanter --- he doubled over partly from pain, mostly from the shock.

"So far, we were only fooling around," he smiled. His grin reminded me of somebody... but I couldn't tell who. "I have no qualms about killing any of you. And it's easy work, too... You shouldn't have messed with me."

"We were issued a quest!" Raegan exploded. She was ready to cast a spell.

"A quest! You think I care about that? Then again it was a quest for the Empty Mirror... to find it, and bring it to the Reapers, who then would have brought it to me. Why aren't you completing your quest. Why did he," he pointed a finger at me. "Had to go and break the Empty Mirror?"

"You should consider yourself lucky," I said. His words brought back the pain from my injured hand, which I was previously trying to ignore. I winced. "I just destroyed the only item that could sever you from your powers."

"You don't understand anything!" Set exclaimed. It seemed it was something he truly believed in. I wondered what else we hadn't understood, or learned, yet. "The Empty Mirror is gone... an object that shouldn't have existed in the first place! Many people have gone mad trying to find it, trying to stop me..."

Jeff flinched at those words, a cruel reminder of his father's death. Raegan was almost about to hit Set with the spell she'd been preparing --- I could see drops of water floating above her hand.

"So, I guess I should thank you," Set concluded. "But I won't. The reason is, the Empty Mirror could have been used for many other things. I could have taken away the powers of the other gods, for example. Look at Jophiel. No, really, look at him. They don't want to use the power they have... why shouldn't someone else take it?"

"Power shouldn't be up for grabs," Vitaly commented.

"That's cute! Is that what you told yourself when you grabbed it in the first place?" Set shot him a vicious look.

Raegan used the moment of distraction to hit Set with a series of icey darts from her hands. The spell looked a lot like the one Set had used to turn his sand into thousands of sharp specks, but it just hurt him for a little while, the same way my hurricane had done.

It wasn't that we weren't powerful enough. It was just that I couldn't imagine anyone being as magical as to take down a god.

Except for another god. But we couldn't ask Vitaly that particular favour. He'd come to help, that much was true, but in the end if losing his head was the price to pay, he was the only one who could decide if it was worth it.

Edgar was sizing Set up. He didn't look scared. But then again, I was reminded of how Jurists weren't exactly handy in a fight. Shapeshifting wouldn't have worked at the moment, though it had been a nice touch when Brady had used it to confuse Jinn, Set would have never fallen for it. Locating objects and people wasn't something we could use, and opening portals... There was a magic circle that could bring us back to Brighton somewhere in the building already, and Set would never let us run away.

Besides, I was getting tired of running.

"Edgar," I whispered, just to be sure. "Is there anything you can do?"

"Black magic," he replied. He was right. I'd thought of that before --- but if Jake said those spells were easy on a human, then the opposite must be true as well. The spells might not work at all on a god.

Edgar moved his hands in the hurting spell, and Set yelped. I figured he wasn't in enough pain to start screaming out loud, and then again none of us could kill him. I figured, at the very least. Were gods immortal? Not really, if their bodies turned into an Arcane. But they were probably almost undefeatable.

"You'll never get away with this," Set growled. "I won't let you."

He started swinging his magic staff around. "I could suck out the magic from all of you! If I took it away from Jeff, the most talented, the one who had it flowing freely and abudantly in his veins... Don't think I won't be able to take whatever little you have!"

I was getting pretty angry now, because the words seemed to be directed at me. I did have magic. Too much of it, too uncontrolled. But it was true that until the Sphinx' riddle was locking up about fifty percent of it, it wasn't mine to use.

None of the Enchanters I knew expected to stand in the same room with the Typhon god and fight him, but I was doing a sucky job of surviving, too. I couldn't believe our odds... and how unprepared I was.

That was when I saw a blinding light striking Set in the chest. He let his magic staff go, and it fell to the ground with a thump. He stopped grinning madly, and his face was perhaps more creepy than I'd ever seen it.

We all turned around to see the source of power, though I felt a knot in my throat. I had understood it already.

Vitaly was completely white and glowing, and he was using his godly magic against Set. The only being who could match the Typhon god was the pacifist one. I almost had to hold back tears at the idea that he was saving us, and doing the only thing he'd sworn not to do.

"Go-away," Vitaly got out through gritted teeth. "Save yourself. I'm just buying you some time."

In that moment, I hated my body for putting one foot in front of the other. I hated my legs for making me walk towards the stairs, and it broke my heart to see my friends following me, each of them as unsure about this as I was.

"Don't look at me like that," Vitaly murmured to me. "And don't thank me. When the truth, all of it, comes out... you'll hate me then."

I was heartbroken. He must have been referring to the other oath, the one he'd sworn to Set. But it didn't make any sense. What else could there be we would hate him for? I wanted to tell him that it was impossible for me to hate him, after the way he saved us time after time. He was the only member of my family I had left. 

But Edgar nudged me gently, and we decided to escape before Set could notice that we were getting away that easily. Not that we were a threat, to him. But I imagined the storm god didn't want to leave people alive who could say 'I looked death in the face, and Set let me walk away'.

"This is all wrong," I shook my head. My face was wet --- maybe I'd really cried. I was too tired to care either way. I tried not to tremble as I took my place in the magic circle.

"I know you feel like a coward, but we did everything right," Edgar reminded me soberly. "The quest is over, and we destroyed the Empty Mirror before anyone could use it. We have a chance to go back to school and tell Mister Winter the truth --- let's not waste it. Especially if Jake came back before we did and got his memories back, there's not telling what he'll say."

"Edgar is right," Raegan stepped foot on the circle. "Besides, Jeff lost his powers today. He cannot be in a fight any longer. He will probably won't get to go on a quest anymore."

I wanted to scold Raegan for her words, but that was what Jeff would have usually done, and Jeff was shell-shocked at the moment. It was what made me snap out of my own pain and regrets. It put my feet back on the ground. We needed to go back to the Academy of Space and Time. We had to do it, for Jeff.

"Do you think we'll see Vitaly again?" I asked, because my friends hadn't heard his final words to me, and I wasn't ready to repeat them. If Vitaly died holding Set back, I wanted people to think of him as a hero.

"It's hard to say," Edgar never sugar-coated things. Come to think of it, none of my friends did. "But we can make them proud and do what needs to be done."

Going back to our dimension was easier than leaving it. We weren't foreign, there. I just felt sucked in and then spat out, the way it happened every time someone traveled by portal. I almost hoped I would find myself inside my mind again, in that great library full of knowledge I couldn't access yet. Maybe there there was the truth to Vitaly's words. Maybe there was a way to unlock my full powers.

But before I could think too much about it, I stumbled and fell. I was in the Stars Room at the Academy of Space and Time, in the magic circle Jake and Alice had used. It seemed Vitaly and Brady had connected it to the one in their household.

The person who opened the door was the last that I really wanted to see.

"So," Mister Winter said. "Jake got his memories back, and Bill and Ohda teamed up together to banish him from the school. Forcefully. But I gathered there is much you haven't told me, so, who wants to fill me in?"

We all looked at Jeff. It seemed he couldn't bear the pain of telling his ambitious grandfather about the loss of his powers --- not yet.

"Uh, me!" Raegan offered. "Yes, why not. I'd love to fill you in."

"Great," Mister Winter beamed. "Barnes, Wollstonecraft and my own grandson --- go clean yourselves up and get your strength back. I said Jake was banished, not how he took it. He declared war on the school, and tonight he will back, with allies."