A Moment Of Reflection

Numidium was not tired. Tired was so far removed from what was possible for Numidium that it probably would not have understood the concept.

It had however spent much time on this chase. The Mirror Logicians had proven unexpectedly resilient and the pursuit had taken almost a thousand years. Not that time mattered. Not at all. Numidum was not tired.

Numidium shifted itself, transitioning through space in ways difficult to describe. Axes of dimensions more notional than real revolved around it as Numidium moved in a direction it knew only as PREY.

And then there they were. The last two Altmeri Mirror logicians stood facing one another, their frames quiescent, apparently unaware of the newcomer. At last. At last.

Numidium had no breath to draw, but it gathered its energies to pronounce the non-existence of these final two irritants...

... and at that moment, both of the Mirror Logicians raised their arms high, their frames flaring into light. Each of the mages reflected the other in its frame creating a new instance of his counterpart. The newly replicated mirror frame also reflected the scenes before them, replicating again both frames and logicians. Reflections of reflections of reflections creating a tunnel to infinity, stretching endlessly away through uncountable nested enclosures in cryptic mirrorspace.

"NO" said Numidium, but too late! The denial caught only the root mirror frames, leaving the replicated Altmeri untethered and adrift in a myriad of pocket dimensions. Prey vectors swam and multiplied in Numidium's perceptions.

"NO" said Numidium, once again, but this time there was nothing to deny and energy dissipated without effect. "No".

Numidium was not tired. The word had no possible meaning when applied to Numidium. But just for a moment, the Brass God gained a flickering insight into what it might mean to be weary. Moreover, and this most unexpectedly, Numidium found that it wanted something. Something for itself, something beyond the cold imperatives of command and denial.

It wanted to go home.