"What would Professor Evans say if he knew what you thought of him? Although yes, it is evident that you are not a saint of his devotion..."

   But Tthor did not listen to him.

   "What have you done with Asmodeus?" the young man shouted furiously.

   Equs Lileproof took a few more steps and Tthor saw that he was holding in his left hand a ring, attached to a chain of thick links. The young man followed the chain with his eyes to the end and shouted desperately:

   "Asmodeus!!!"

   The demon lay fainted on the floor, near one of the columns, on one side of the mirror. He looked like he wasn't hurt but Tthor couldn't tell if he was still breathing.

   "What have you done to him...?" Tthor shouted with a trembling voice.

   "Nothing! Compared to what I'll do to you..."

   Tthor felt a fury that seemed to grow in his chest and completely overflow him.

   "I just want a little bit of your blood. I will put it in the pot and give it to my Lord to drink. And finally he will be able to assume the Throne, the place to which he has always belonged."

   "Very brave, that master of yours, who sends his servants to do his dirty work. If he is so brave, why doesn't he show his face?"

   "Everything at his time. You'll hear from him. But first things first. "Mirror!" Equs shouted.

   Tthor and Noel felt a cold wind coming from the mirror behind them. And suddenly, a bright, clear image appeared out of nowhere.

   Noel put his hands over his mouth and stifled a scream of terror. Lee-Won appeared reflected in the mirror, tied with a thick rope from the wrists, holding him in the air with his arms raised. He was swaying gently and his face was drenched in sweat.

   Tthor looked over his shoulder but didn't see him. He realized that it was not a simple reflection but, somehow, he was inside the mirror.

   " Lee-Won! Are you OK?"

   "He can't hear you nor can he see you," Equs said calmly. " Then, Tthor, I'll tell you what we'll do. Your friend, the servant and your other friend, the demon, will be fine and will be free, you just have to prick your finger, smear it with a few drops here," he said, pointing to the paila. "and... that's it!"

   Tthor remained silent. He looked first at Asmodeus, who was still lying motionless, and then turned to the mirror. Lee-Won looked exhausted but in good condition. The boy was aware that the lives of his friends were his priority. But he didn't know what to do to help them. Suddenly, a spot of white light began to enlarge in the lower left corner of the mirror. It was growing in size; first, making a thick vertical line, then a brighter stripe until ending in a fairly clear human figure.

   Tthor looked at Equs out of the corner of his eye.

   "Well?" he urged him, showing him the paila. "Will you save your friends in exchange for a small drop of your blood?"

   Tthor knew then that Equs Lileproof had not noticed the figure formed in the mirror. The young man turned his gaze there and, in time, hid his astonishment at seeing himself reflected.

   But the one in the mirror was a Tthor, almost two meters tall, with lighter eyes, fiery red hair and a small oval mirror in his hand. Tthor recognized the object immediately: it was the mirror of Edessus. The Tthor in the mirror raised his hand, the one he had empty, and lowered it suddenly as if giving an order. The other Tthor instinctively threw himself at Noel and knocked her to the ground.

   A beam of white light shot out of the mirror, right at Equs, violently flinging him several meters back. The man hit his head against the wall and appeared to be unconscious. The beam of light wrapped around itself and returned to the mirror, where he had come from.

   Tthor tried to see his double but he no longer appeared there. He stood up and threatened to enter the mirror but a scream from Noel alerted him and he ducked just in time to avoid a hand that was trying to catch him.

   Equs tried to grab him by the shirt but a new quick movement from Tthor made him lose his balance and he fell to the ground. In the fall he accidentally dropped the pan. It flew upwards. Tthor jumped suddenly. Equs tried to do the same but the young man was faster and managed to grab the pot before him.

   But when he began to feel that the danger had passed, he looked for Noel and felt his heart jump out of his chest.

  " Let's stop playing games, child! Give me the pan or your dear friend will be lost in the mirror world forever. I don't think you want that."

   " Tthor! It is almost impossible to return from the mirror world. Please, Tthor," the girl begged. "give her the paila and also give her the stone that you have in her pocket.

   "Stone? Could it not be the rune stone? The one of your birth? Do you have it here? Show it to me!" Equs ordered, advancing a few steps towards the boy, dragging Noel forcefully.

   Tthor slowly put his hand into his pants pocket and after a moment of indecision, he pulled it out with a clenched fist.

   " Here is the stone. Take it, if you want, but don't hurt Noel," said Tthor, hoping that Lileproof wouldn't notice that his hand was empty.

   Equs smiled, showing all of his yellow teeth. He could feel the taste of victory. He could already imagine himself in front of his master, giving her the paila, activated with the blood of the heir and the rune stone, as powerful as the paila itself. He stretched out his wrinkled hand toward Tthor.

   "Give me the stone and the paila, now!"

   Tthor stretched his arm a little further, his fist clenched. He was shaking a little and his hand felt hot and sweaty.

   Equs took another step forward, eager, and just as he touched the boy's hand, Tthor shouted:

   "Now!!!" And he threw himself to the side.

   Asmodeus, who had reacted, pushed Equs with bestial force towards the mirror frame, slamming his head against it again and falling violently. Noel gave a heartbreaking scream as she was also pushed towards the mirror in the middle of the outburst. When half of her face had already disappeared inside the mirror, one of her hands pulled her back. Tthor released her when he saw that the danger had passed. He sat up with the pot still in his hand and stared at the black fog that was now reflected in the mirror.

   Hissing sounds along with the loud hooves of horses advancing at full speed put him on alert again. He grabbed Noel by the arm, yelled at Asmodeus, and dropped to the ground, just in time to see hundreds of dark shadows emerge from the mirror. Both the horses and their riders seemed to be made up of wisps of dense black smoke but with well-defined contours. They began to ride through the air, in all directions, filling the chamber with dark trails and causing an increasingly stronger swirling current.

   The young people sought to hold on to the columns so that the violence of the hurricane winds would not drag them into the mirror. And suddenly, just as it had all begun, so it all ended. Little by little, both the horses and their riders were reduced to just thin wisps of steam until they disappeared.

   Tthor then turned his gaze from him to the mirror. Little by little, a new image began to become more and more clear, until he saw himself standing in front of him. Without thinking too much, he stretched out his hand with the pan, into the fog that still surrounded his double. He took the pot and winked mischievously, then disappeared in a swirl of dense white smoke.

   Tthor looked for Noel and asked him if he was okay. The girl was standing, leaning on Asmodeus's arm who was looking at him smiling. When Tthor took a step back, remembering that Lee-Won was still inside the mirror, a strong hand touched him on the shoulder, startling him. As he turned around, ready to hit whoever was there, Lee-Won's eyes locked onto his. They both merged into a long, effusive hug.

   "Take your treasure," the young man told him, handing him a small, intact box.

   "How did you know what you had to do?" Noel asked Tthor as the four of them returned to the stone staircase, now ascending, the two young men dragging an unconscious Equs.

   " I didn't know. My other self told me, somehow. I didn't even know there was another one like me..."

   "We all have another self in the mirror world," Noel whispered.

   "Great!" Tthor said, hugging his treasure with his free hand. "… And two sides from the school chasing me…"

  "How do you say?" the girl asked.

   "Forget it!" Tthor answered. "The Tthor in the mirror seemed smarter and more powerful than me..."

   " No!" Noel told him wisely. " It's your reflection. He is just like you. Neither better nor worse."

   Tthor took the oval mirror of Edessus out of his pocket and looked at himself in it. A disheveled, sweaty-faced Tthor winked at him.

   "My best defense is a mirror," he said smiling, remembering Mrs. Nogg's words once again.

   "Are you sure you're okay, Tthor?" said Lee-Won, who hadn't understood a word.

   " Yes, better than ever! And what is this rune stone?"

   "A legend of your birth, I mind the heir's birth...... But don't ask me more because I don't know... - the young girl answered." I said the first thing that came to mind when I saw that Asmodeus regained his senses..."

   " One hundred... one hundred five... one hundred ten...!!!" Asmodeus said with a wide smile.

   " You said it, my friend! You said it!"

   And the laughter of the four filled the landing of the third floor, once Tthor sang Wilgenyna's song, the door enlarged again and then he followed the others up a small spiral staircase, feeling that he was returning from a completely different world that he had known until now.