Laronius stood in his chambers, staring at the mirror in front of him. He had been looking at it for over an hour. It had been years since he had paid attention to its long silver surface, and the only times he would notice it at all were the rare occasions that he would bring one of his victims out of the dungeons and into his private room to toy with them before feeding. He found a strange excitement in the expressions on their faces when they could see themselves in the mirror being drained of all their blood.

Of course Laronius could always see the mirror where it hung on his wall. It’s shape and texture were unmistakable, and his vampiric vision was very sharp. In fact, his new eyesight had been one of the aspects that Laronius had most enjoyed when he first became a vampire. He could see shapes and textures with incredible clarity, even in total darkness. He could see the heat as waves and ripples though the air, increasing his ability to track anything with a warm body. He could even see the magical energy released by certain kinds of magic. But his eyes no longer saw light or color. At least, they weren’t supposed to.

When the blast of light from Seth’s lantern had hit Laronius in the face, the sensation was so intense that Laronius thought for a moment that he had been mortally wounded. Laronius had experienced pain since he had become a vampire, even intense pain, but there had always been a kind of distant quality to it, as if his pain were something to be observed, rather than felt. But there was nothing distant about what he had felt tonight. It was bright and hot and reminded him of… an earlier time. A time before his transformation. A time when he was still weak. Still mortal.

Laronius continued to stare at his reflection in the mirror with fists clenched and rage fuming. He had known right away that something was wrong with his right eye. As soon as he had flown away from the clearing and uncovered his eye, the world looked wrong and confusing. Objects in his view seemed to shimmer and flicker in a way he couldn’t quite place. The black sky above him had been dotted with strange flickering pinpricks where he had forgotten the stars were. Everything seemed to be only half real, and if he wanted to see something small on the ground far below, he had to cover his right eye in order to focus.

But it was only after he had returned to the stronghold, entered his room, and saw his unfamiliar reflection staring back at him that Laronius began to realize what had happened to his eye. When he covered his right eye, he saw only the shape of the object he knew to be the mirror, just as he should. When he covered his left eye, he saw his reflection in the mirror, standing there in full color. It took him a while to recall just how subtle and nuanced differences in color could be, but after staring at the reflection for several minutes, Laronius had realized that while most of his skin was a grayish ashen white, the flesh directly surrounding his right eye had become pinker, the hairs of his right eyebrow were black instead of white, and in the eye itself were several thin red tendrils marking where his blood vessels had once been. No, marking where his blood vessels were.

Only, he wasn’t supposed to have blood vessels anymore. He didn’t even have blood in his body anymore. Not his own, anyway. That was part of his transformation. And his transformation was permanent. He had been told so by both his masters, and it was one of the reasons why he had embraced the transformation and endured the excruciating ritual necessary to complete it. Laronius had relished the idea that finally there would be something in his miserable existence that no one could take away from him. Vdekshi had warned Laronius the change would be irreversible, and when his other master had privately confirmed what Vdekshi had said, Laronius knew it must be true.

And yet his own harsh reflection stood in the mirror before him directly contradicting what both masters had promised him. Vdekshi had been wrong many times in the past, but his other master had never been. Laronius had called out in desperation for an explanation from his master, but there had been only silence in return. There had not even been the feeling of nausea and dizziness that Laronius usually suffered for his impertinence. For the first time in decades, Laronius felt that his thoughts were completely his own, and it made him feel small and alone and terrified.

In his panic, Laronius almost left his chambers to consult with Vdekshi and ask him how such a thing could happen to him. But he stopped himself as he remembered that Vdekshi would certainly order him to report on his activities of the night, and if he wasn’t carefully prepared he could find himself unwillingly admitting to trying to kill Krall’s former companions, as well as revealing how he had been bested by Seth.

“Seth… the great-grandson of Seth the Traitor… I’ve found him.”

Laronius had whispered the words to himself so quietly the he could hardly hear them himself, but apparently they had finally roused the attention of his master. The nausea and dizziness came on faintly at first, accompanied by a swirl of competing emotions in his chest where his heart used to beat. Thoughts and ambitions began to gather and coalesce in his mind. As unlikely as it would have seemed, if he truly had found a direct descendant of Seth the Traitor, then the implications were thrilling. He and his master may not even need Vdekshi anymore to accomplish their goals.

As important as the revelation was however, Laronius knew it was also extremely dangerous information for him to possess. After all, he still belonged to Vdekshi and could not outright lie to his master, nor disobey him. If Vdekshi asked the right questions, he would have no choice but to reveal the truth, and that could ruin everything. He couldn’t let that happen.

“But what do I do?” Laronius pleaded in a desperate whisper. “Just smile and speak like always?”

Suddenly Laronius was overcome with a feeling of such intense disorientation and queasiness that for a moment he thought the room around him was actually spinning. Laronius covered both of his eyes and fell to the stone floor trying to regain his balance. Instead, from the darkness inside his mind came a cold and terrible voice.

“Smile and speak?” rasped the voice from some unknown direction. “No, there is far too much at stake this time. I shall give you proper instructions. Listen closely, my servant.”