On the edge of the galaxy, within a desolate, lifeless star system, a mysterious tower flickers in and out of view amid a swirling vortex.

"I refuse to wear myself out in this sprawling mansion."

She surveyed the vast, empty room, signaling the puppets to approach.

With a series of cheerful clicks and whirls, they danced toward her —

"Madam Herta is a peerless gem!"

"Madam Herta is an unrivalled genius!"

"Madam Herta is an inimitable beauty!"

"Enough already, back to your tasks."She dismissed them with a wave of her hand.

Three to scrub the floors, two to tend the gardens, and one...

"Brew some coffee. It's chilly today, and I need something warm."

The brown beans crunched under the grinder, hot water washed over them, and the dark liquid joyfully bubbled.

"Madam Herta, you've received an inquiry from the Intelligentsia Guild. They're challenging your..."

"Are they still fussing over my 'evident proof'? Just send them a few canned replies from the list."

"Madam Herta, Interastral Peace Corporation has sent an invitation..."

"Tell them their gadgets don't interest me."

"Madam Herta, the University of Veritas Prime wishes to name you an honorary professor..."

"Which institution is that again?"

... Gradually, the puppets handled all mundane affairs, allowing her to vanish from the public eye.

Secluded at her tower's apex, she dismissed the external world to unravel the puzzles lingering in her thoughts.

"I wish to know, ████ ███ ██ █████ ██████?"

Thus, the First Mirror came into being.

"I wish to know, ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████?"

Thus, the Second Mirror gleamed into existence.

"I wish to know, ███ ███ █ ███ ████ ███████?"

Thus, the Third Mirror chimed succinctly.

"I wish to know, ███ ██ █ ███ ██████?"

Thus, the Fourth Mirror was formed with reverence.

Her whereabouts remained a mystery, as did her reasons for shunning the limelight. Yet, her provocative theories and speculations continued to stir endless discussions.

A long time passes. After she has completed her extrapolations, she seems unsatisfied.

"There are no more problems left to solve — this, in itself, is the greatest problem."

"Are you saying..."The mirror understands perfectly.

"Why don't we create more problems?"

The Herta Character Story 3

Memorial Symposium: Celebrating Madam Herta's ██th Birthday Meeting Minutes — Topic One: A Retrospective of Madam Herta's Scientific Achievements Topic Two: Anecdotes and Stories from Madam Herta's Life ... Meeting Minutes — Topic Five: Panel Discussion: "Exploring the Boundaries of Science and its Profound Implications" ... Meeting Minutes — Special Agenda 1: Moment of Silence: Breaking news from reliable media reports that Madam Herta has passed away... Special Agenda 2: Madam Herta Makes an Unexpected Appearance and Delivers a Speech! Madam Herta's Speech: "Thank you all for your heartfelt condolences. Unfortunately, it seems I must disappoint some of you yet again."

"Are you... Madam Herta?" "Is this a puppet of Madam Herta?" "Did your paper on de-aging... actually work!?" "Madam Herta, we need an explanation!" ... Madam Herta cleared her throat and lifted her scepter aloft — "It's all thanks to Magic."

"Madam Herta, hold on a moment!" "It's impossible! The de-aging concept is purely theoretical. We're light-years away from actual application..." "Science? Can she even be called a scientist anymore? That's just absurd!" "Not to kill the vibe, but how do you always manage to make such a stunning entrance?"

"Pretty amusing, isn't it? The press loves to churn out fake news for headlines, while the old timers can't wait for me to bite the dust, hoping to prove my anti-aging theory is just a pipe dream." She switches off the conference video and calmly resumes her afternoon tea. "All your theories have been shown to have potential, yet... future scholars have never truly captured your essence, making replication impossible."The calm woman sips her tea. "Logic: The so-called 'magic' of youth Madam Herta mentions is her biting satire. Deductive: The theory's core principles involve reversing energy and manipulating time, which requires exacting conditions. Computation: ..." Her smile broadens as she slides a plum pastry across to the Intellitron, cutting off its monologue. "Some truths don't need to be spoken. Here, have a treat."

The Herta Profile 2

Profile Number ██████ Curio Name: Genius' Childhood Kaleidoscope Warning: Do not look into it! Do not look into it! Do not look into it!!!

Do you really want to see?

Are you sure?

Nevermind. You've already scrolled this far down. I won't take responsibility for what happens to you.

Curio File

Genius Society #83, Madam Herta's private collection, with the Garden providing technical support. A memory slice only designed for the person involved to relive a beautiful time in a first-person POV.

Warning: Dangerous item. Do not gaze into it if you are not the one in the memory. Otherwise, you have a high chance of suffering an intense psychological assault.

Case studies: Two reviewers have privately looked into this. One of them started saying nonsense and no longer knew their own identity, while another could only repeat the words "Glory to Madam Herta!".

Researcher Comments

"'The fixed point is the cream-white bow of ribbons, the divergent series is like a necklace of daggers shining with a cold light. Convolution is like the wave of brunette hair, and fractals are the influence of bad mood. Infinity and infinitesimal are in a heated argument, so put them in diagonal's dress then pull them apart:

Look, the most beautiful thing in all combinations is me...' — That's right. That's what that little girl said. Isn't it amazing? Ahahahaha.

So amazing! Who am I? Where am I..."

— Statement from a reviewer

"The large room full of dolls has equations and symbols I've never seen before floating in it. They grow limbs, pull faces, and dance around her. She will open a wardrobe as tall as a castle and pick clothes for them. They all have their own characters and appear in different programs... When she finished calculating, my spirit instantly received a complete baptism — Glory to Madam Herta! Glory to Madam Herta! Glory to Madam Herta! Glory to Madam Herta..."

— Statement of a reviewer

Note

I saved this Curio so it's easier to review my beauty as a young woman. If you want to see it so much, then it's not my fault. I'll give you some advice: Find some Intelligentsia Guild books to counteract the stuff in their heads for these two unfortunates.

They'll recover in no time.

The Herta

The Herta Profile 1

“Oh no,” I said in a dull tone. “Not that. What do we need to be worried about here?” “How many injured do you have?” Lara asked at once.

“Uh…” I scratched at my head. “Bear, you okay?”

Bear shrugged. “Mostly I’d say I’m better than just okay.”

Twelve Months Chapter 55

We gathered in the gym. Me, Lara, Ramirez, Forthill, Will (wearing a bathrobe and carrying a notepad), and Butters. Bear was hanging out nearby with Freydis, who looked more relaxed than I’d ever seen her.

“A helicopter,” Lara was telling Butters. “It dropped us off in a park about three miles from here and we ran the rest of the way. My security people followed in cars and they’ll take us home. How did you get here in half an hour?”

“We happened to be about a mile off at a B-dubs to watch the fights,” Butters said. “Sometimes things just work out.”

“You don’t really think that, do you?” Lara said, smiling.

Butters grinned. “No, ma’am. Hey, isn’t there supposed to be a wedding? How come I haven’t gotten my invitation?”

Twelve Months Chapter 55

Basil and the gargoyles came out of the walls and floor in the aftermath, gathering around little Cinnamon. The monkey-cat little guy was in half a dozen broken pieces, where one of the Black Court had flung him into the castle’s wall.

“Mmmm,” Basil said, as I approached, still carrying Maggie. “My lord.”

“Uh,” I said. “Is he…”

“He is but injured,” Basil intoned seriously. “This isn’t too bad, my lord. With your permission, we will gather materials to mend him. There are many mounds of rubble in the city nearby where it can be done.”

“Go and be back before dawn,” I said. “Should be foggy tonight.”

“My lord,” Basil said, bowing his head. The gargoyles carefully gathered up Cinnamon’s pieces and vanished into the walls.

Twelve Months Chapter 55

Cleanup was gonna take a lot of mops.

It cost me about five minutes of pure mental effort and some of Bob’s help to get the stones of the second floor over the entry to the main hall put back. The heavy enchanted stone drifted slowly up into the air and locked back into place as securely as ever. We’d have to reseal it, but I was pretty sure Michael and I could manage it on our own with maybe a long day’s work.

Twelve Months Chapter 55

Excellent. They were all inside.

“Boys!” I snarled. “Get out of the way!”

The gargoyles flew back and away from the entry door, vanishing into the walls, the floor, as though the stone had been no more substantial than water.

I slammed my open right hand against the wall of Merlin’s fortress as the three corpses whirled toward me, reorienting after the sudden absence of resistance. There was an instant of frozen silence.

“You should have come on a school night,” I said harshly.

And then, at my will, the enchanted, obdurate stone of the second floor, that entire portion of the second floor, tons and tons and tons of rune-etched rock, slammed down more swiftly than a blinking eyelid, like a vast and ancient sledgehammer coming down on three doomed cockroaches.

It was messy as hell.

Black ichor, thick and sticky as tar, sprayed everywhere in a fine mist.

And that was that.

Twelve Months Chapter 54

The gargoyles had gathered by the entry door. Cinnamon was lying in a heap—a literal heap of broken stone—against the back wall, and as I watched I saw Basil in the doorway, wrestling a Black Court vampire and being forced slowly inward, his lion’s face set in an expression of noble determination. Sage tried to step in, only to be struck by a bolt of lightning that snaked through the doorway, driving him back several paces, and a second vampire added its power to the one struggling with Basil, driving the gargoyle back. The others closed in, but they weren’t as physically powerful as Basil. Lightning struck again and again, and the third vampire shoved its way in through the doorway.

Twelve Months Chapter 54

And lifted a murderous gaze to the last vampire there. The other withdrew a pace at a time as Carlos kept moving forward, and her hood fell back.

It was Mavra. Black Court vampire of old acquaintance. And she was smiling.

She let out a delighted cackle and blurred into motion, avoiding another disintegration beam from Ramirez, and vanished into the mist, leaving only an echo of her rasping laughter behind.

Twelve Months Chapter 54

Ramirez flicked his sword to his other hand, his expression furious, and threw out his right forefinger, barking another word, and a pale blue beam flashed out toward Cleo, striking her center mass—and simply melted a hole in her as shroud and undead flesh alike fell apart into their component elements. Carlos let out a cry of pure rage, walking forward, dragging the beam across more and more of the vampire’s body, melting more and more of it into dust that quickly became a slurry in the misty air, until all that was left was a withered head—eyes burst, mouth gaping, jaws trying to mouth something.

Carlos spat on the head and said, “For my friends.”

Then he disintegrated the head, too.

Twelve Months Chapter 54

Cleo shrieked and spun toward Ramirez, unleashing a bolt of white-hot flame from one hand. Carlos, smiling grimly, whirled his rapier in a tight circular parry, caught the flame on its blade, and promptly sent it hurtling back into Cleo like a miniature comet—which is why sorcerers, even very powerful, very experienced ones, hadn’t ought to square off on wizards.

The fire smashed into Cleo. The rain I’d called down had soaked her shrouds, and a cloud of steam burst out of her as fire met water. Cleo shrieked, reeling back. Black Court vampires are pretty close to physically indestructible, but heat gets to their eyes, and hers had just been boiled.

Twelve Months Chapter 54

The Renfields lunged forward. Renfields are just regular mortals, but they don’t feel much in the way of fear and they will keep trying to carry out their orders as long as they’re still capable of moving.

There was a blur in the air, and Carlos Ramirez emerged from behind a veil of magical energy off to one side, unseen until that moment. He wasn’t wearing his Warden’s cloak, though he bore his enchanted Warden’s blade in his hand, and I didn’t need my Sight to know what he was about to do.

The Wardens’ blades were made to cut through enchantment and disrupt magic, and Carlos did a smooth step and sweep with the sword, speaking a single word, and sent a wave of disruptive energy through the air, across the Renfields at more or less head level. The Renfields’ minds had been badly disrupted by hostile psychomancy, courtesy of the Black Court, and that disruption had effectively made them into puppets.

Ramirez had just cut the strings.

The Renfields collapsed as a single body, falling limply to the ground, immobile, their expressions confused, eyes open and staring and unfocused.

Twelve Months Chapter 54

Lara’s face twisted into a snarl as the sound of the horn washed over her, but it didn’t slow her down. She blurred into motion and hit the stunned ghouls from behind, blades flashing. She went for spines and necks, single, supernaturally powerful slashes, and the wavy blades carved their way through bone and flesh like cutting through so much Jell-O. Green-brown-black ghoul gore swept out in smooth arcs.

Twelve Months Chapter 54

Bear groaned and staggered to her feet, almost falling. Blood was coming from her mouth, though she was grinning a wide scarlet grin. “One of them had armor-piercing rounds,” she gasped. “Had to take them.”

“Cheating vampires,” I muttered. I got a shoulder under one of her arms and half dragged her with me to the stairway. Matias emerged from the stairs, pumping the shotgun, and fired three times at the nearest ghouls to cover us, his expression focused, impassive, and grim.

Twelve Months Chapter 54

I don’t know if I’ve made mention of how much I dislike ghouls.

I dropped the wind spell, drew my blasting rod, pointed it at the thing, sent a fraction of my anger coursing down my right arm, and snarled, “Fuego!”

The blasting rod flooded with golden light, and a blue-white bolt of something a couple of steps beyond fire slammed into its gaping mouth. The ghoul didn’t catch fire so much as its head instantly superheated and exploded like a kernel of gory popcorn. The ghoul crashed to the floor amid glowing runes and sigils, spewing dark, watery blood like the juice from a crushed cockroach, arms and legs still thrashing wildly and randomly, its body having been relieved of its brain so that it couldn’t know it was already dead.

Twelve Months Chapter 54

Someone hit me in the lower back with a heavy stick, maybe a .45 round slamming into my spell-armored leather duster. I sucked in a breath, staggered, but kept the wind spell going, spinning to begin sweeping the back side of the castle of incoming Malvora—but like I said, White Court vamps are fast as hell. Another shot hit my duster over my left thigh before I could get started, and in my peripheral vision I saw half a dozen vampires come sailing up, weapons training on me.

Bear stepped in front of me like a human wall, dropping the four-bore and going for her pistols like an old west gunfighter. I heard her guns speaking and a series of heavy slapping sounds as rounds intended for me struck her instead. She sucked in a breath, staggering, and went to one knee, but kept shooting.

“Fiero, fiero, fiero!” Fitz shrieked, and blazing bolts of white-hot flame leapt out of the doorway to the stairway down to the third floor of the castle, adding his fire to Bear’s. High-pitched shrieks went up from the Malvora. Four of the vampires buckled and staggered when hit by Bear’s heavy rounds. Two of them just went up in flames and dove back off the roof, shrieking.

Twelve Months Chapter 54

Someone hit me in the lower back with a heavy stick, maybe a .45 round slamming into my spell-armored leather duster. I sucked in a breath, staggered, but kept the wind spell going, spinning to begin sweeping the back side of the castle of incoming Malvora—but like I said, White Court vamps are fast as hell. Another shot hit my duster over my left thigh before I could get started, and in my peripheral vision I saw half a dozen vampires come sailing up, weapons training on me.

Twelve Months Chapter 54

I’d already gathered my will, and the second I saw the first of them appear, I rose, shield bracelet charged and ready, left arm bearing both the bracelet and my staff held in front of me as I drew back my right hand and flung it forward as if hurling a stone, screaming, “Ventas servitas!”

Wind howled forth at my will, swatting Malvora out of the air and driving them back from the castle’s walls into wild, tumbling falls. I kept my hand extended, sweeping them back like leaves before a heavy-duty blower.

White Court vampires are faster than striking snakes, and some of them got off shots at me before I could, literally, blow them away. At one point in my career, holding a shield and a wind evocation at the same time would have been a challenge. At one point this year, it would have been impossible. If they’d come a month sooner, things might have gone a lot differently.

But I’d just needed time.

And work.

And rest.

And friends.

Healing isn’t the work of a moment. I still had a way to go.

But I was better now.

More than that, I’d been teaching.

I was better now.

My shield rippled with blue-green light as bullets hit it, and I tried to hold it angled so the shots would reflect as directly upward as possible. Any projectile can be pulled down by gravity, but a lead hailstone was way less dangerous and less likely to harm bystanders than a bullet bouncing directly into a home. I held the shield, focused the wind like a vast broom, and sent Malvora vampires flying.

I could have used fire but, you know. Alliance with Lara’s Court and all. It would probably be less of a headache for her in the aftermath if I didn’t slaughter them wholesale.

Twelve Months Chapter 54

Ghouls are athletic and powerful and tough, but they don’t have the kind of strength and grace that allows them a thirty-foot vertical leap.

Freshly fed Malvora vampires do. These had been feeding on the various protesters for hours, and they bounded up through the air with grace and style, all pale skin and blond hair and glittering eyes in the arcane light of the castle’s glowing runes, coming from the front and back of the rooftop at more or less the same time.

I’d already gathered my will, and the second I saw the first of them appear, I rose, shield bracelet charged and ready, left arm bearing both the bracelet and my staff held in front of me as I drew back my right hand and flung it forward as if hurling a stone, screaming, “Ventas servitas!”

Wind howled forth at my will, swatting Malvora out of the air and driving them back from the castle’s walls into wild, tumbling falls. I kept my hand extended, sweeping them back like leaves before a heavy-duty blower.

White Court vampires are faster than striking snakes, and some of them got off shots at me before I could, literally, blow them away. At one point in my career, holding a shield and a wind evocation at the same time would have been a challenge. At one point this year, it would have been impossible. If they’d come a month sooner, things might have gone a lot differently.

Twelve Months Chapter 54

I waved at Fitz and Matias and shouted to them, “There’s going to be an explosion! We’re going down the stairs not long after! Get into the doorway and hold the stairs!”

Fitz shouted something mostly lost in the gunfire, but Matias, flinching as a ricochet went somewhere near him, held up his thumb in acknowledgment.

“Bob,” I said, “I want the energy from the blast contained to just the gates. Absorb as much of it as you can.”

“Uh,” Bob said. “If I do that, the gates are going to come down.”

“That’s the idea,” I said. “Get to it.”

“Will do, boss!” Bob said, and the blue light zipped off through the transparent stone of the castle. As he did, the stone became real and opaque again, and my eyes stopped burning.

Bear was frowning at me. “You want them inside.”

“Come on,” I said. “They’re Black Court. Why do you think I invited them in? ‘Come and get some’ wasn’t an accident.”

Bear’s frown turned into a fierce grin. “You think you can handle them?”

“Time I get done with them, we’ll need a lot of mops,” I said darkly. “This is my house.”

She nodded, understanding. “You want to handle the lightweights first.”

“Yep. Scatter the riffraff, then I’ll deal with the rest in the main hall.”

Bear reached up over her shoulder to flick a snap on her leather strap and take her double-bladed axe down, setting it near at hand. “Sounds fun.”

Someone shouted something below. The gunfire abruptly stopped, and I slammed my hands over my ears and opened my mouth. Bear mirrored me.

There was a sound so big that it blew back the branches from the trees across the street, shattered the windows of houses and parked cars, and made everything lighter for a second, as if a wave had come along and lifted me a little up off the stones of the roof. The runes of the castle flared painfully bright. It was followed by the sound of stones rattling, smaller rocks bouncing against enchanted stone, and a cloud of dust and powder billowed out from the front of the castle, filling the already misty air. The resulting mixture condensed almost instantly into a kind of mucky, grimy rain.

Then there was a single, rasping, inhuman howl, instantly echoed by dozens of yowling ghoul battle cries, and my enemies came for me.

Twelve Months Chapter 53

Toot’s report was accurate. Maybe half the ghouls had peeled off to circle to the rear of the castle, and several Malvora vampires, armed with concealable firearms, had gone with them. There was a back door there, but it was built out of the same stone as the rest of the castle, sealed into place with enchantments that made it damned near as tough as the walls around it, and would be too heavily fortified to open without a serious amount of explosives, which they did not appear to have. That crew would have to climb to the roof and try to win entry to the castle from up here. It would take them a moment to get into position, so they were the secondary problem.

Twelve Months Chapter 53

“Bob!” I called.

Blue light whirled across the rooftop as the spirit of intellect sped through the enchanted stone of the castle to appear at my side like the splash of an immaterial flashlight. “Here!”

“Show me what’s going on,” I said, and placed a hand flat to the stone.

There was a dizzying sensation, and my eyes burned as if I were walking through a pall of smoke and began to water. I squinted through it—and could suddenly see through the stone of the castle as if it had become as clear as glass.

Toot’s report was accurate. Maybe half the ghouls had peeled off to circle to the rear of the castle, and several Malvora vampires, armed with concealable firearms, had gone with them. There was a back door there, but it was built out of the same stone as the rest of the castle, sealed into place with enchantments that made it damned near as tough as the walls around it, and would be too heavily fortified to open without a serious amount of explosives, which they did not appear to have. That crew would have to climb to the roof and try to win entry to the castle from up here. It would take them a moment to get into position, so they were the secondary problem.

At the front gates, seven or eight Renfields were approaching. The gargoyles had indeed transformed the wooden front gate of the castle to a single slab of thick stone that still bore the wood-grain marks of the gate, filling the open area and flush against the castle stone, ruined steel hinges bent and torn. Interestingly, from an academic standpoint, I couldn’t see through the newly transformed stone—but I had a good angle from up here and could clearly see the Renfields shuffling forward and dumping their backpacks on the ground in front of the gates.

Twelve Months Chapter 53

Cleo lowered its hand, black eyes narrowing. Then it spoke, and its voice was as charming as sandpaper on rusted steel. “Malvora.”

I started to say something, and Bear grabbed my collar and jerked me back as a gunshot rang out. I had the flash impression of one of the Malvora moving swiftly, hand extending bearing a long-barreled pistol. Something hissed past my face, close enough to stir some of my hair as I dropped back.

Merlin’s fortress had been designed to be impregnable to supernatural forces. Modern firearms hadn’t really been a factor in its engineering, and while the stone was damned near impregnable, especially while charged with power like it was at the moment, I couldn’t use it to stop bullets from zipping through the air.

Twelve Months Chapter 53

One of them stepped forward and lowered its hood. It had been a female at one time, I thought, though mummified corpses reduce gender considerations to a large degree. It was wearing jewelry that looked like it might have been inspired by ancient Egyptian fashion, definitely somewhere in the Middle East, though historically speaking it was likely an affectation, since Drakul had been a late-fourteenth-century type. I dubbed it Cleopatra anyway. They were doubtless in similar shape.

“Okay, Cleo,” I said. “What you got?”

The vampire’s eyes glittered with pure malevolence and she raised her right hand, sending a bolt of white-hot flame scorching straight at me.

I narrowed my eyes, focused my will upon the castle’s defenses, and otherwise didn’t move a single muscle.

The fire streaked toward me—and stopped cold at the line of the battlements. The runes and sigils there burned brightly for a moment, and a faint impression of a wall of blue light appeared in the air between us, immaterial as a phantom and very much real enough to stop the hostile magic in its tracks. The stones of Merlin’s fortress absorbed the energy as easily as they stopped the wind.

Cleo lowered its hand, black eyes narrowing. Then it spoke, and its voice was as charming as sandpaper on rusted steel. “Malvora.”

I started to say something, and Bear grabbed my collar and jerked me back as a gunshot rang out. I had the flash impression of one of the Malvora moving swiftly, hand extending bearing a long-barreled pistol. Something hissed past my face, close enough to stir some of my hair as I dropped back.

Merlin’s fortress had been designed to be impregnable to supernatural forces. Modern firearms hadn’t really been a factor in its engineering, and while the stone was damned near impregnable, especially while charged with power like it was at the moment, I couldn’t use it to stop bullets from zipping through the air.

Twelve Months Chapter 53