When the moonlight touched the round doorway, the mirror did what it had done before with the lightning. It gathered the beams together and reflected them over and over again.
Only instead of rejecting it like it had with Roan's bolt, it seemed to drink in the light and bathe in it.
But then…nothing happened.
'It's not strong enough.' Flint frowned.
Noble looked at the other members of her cohort. They were having the same thought.
The moon was full. That was as strong as it would ever get.
Recognition dawned on Noble's face. 'Is this why they broke the moon?'
Before, she had just assumed that it had happened due to the fierce fighting of the Doom War, but what if there was another reason?
If whatever was on the other side of the door could have helped turn the tide of the war, then it would make sense for the enemy to shatter the moon to prevent it.
The pieces could not emit the same light as they could when they were whole, and as a result, the door was unable to budge.
But where did that leave the cohort? None of them exactly had the power to repair a celestial body.
Or did they?
Noble lifted a little higher off the ground.
'Aether!'
'What do you want with Star Boy?' Flint looked at the young man with a dubious expression.
'Give me the Memory. I need him to do something.' Noble reached for the object behind Flint's ear, gathering the interest of the rest of the group.
Handing The Other's Voice to Aether, Noble explained her plan quickly.
'I need you to repair the moon.'
The young Master frowned. 'I don't know what you think I am capable of, ma'am, but…'
'I don't mean actually repair the moon," Child of Promise corrected herself. 'I saw how you made starlight streak across the sky. I need you to do that in a way that fills in the cracks of the moon. If not for the whole land, then just for the area over this hole. Can you do that?'
Noble accentuated her thoughts with broad actions, hoping the others would be able to understand her plan as well. Helie's light Memory had been extinguished with the removal of the rocks, but the moonlight and its reflection were more than enough to outline her features.
While the others tried to make sense of her movements, Aether was deep in thought.
'I've never tried anything like that before. But before this Nightmare, I had never tried to streak light across the sky either. If I direct it more carefully…'
The young man stopped sharing his thoughts for a moment. Unlike Noble, whose thoughts seemed to transmit more freely when she felt strongly, Aether became entirely silent.
'He must not think he is being polite,' Noble reasoned. That would have activated his Flaw and shielded her from his mental processes.
When he came back, his voice was full of determination. 'I think I can do it. That is, I want to try.'
Noble nodded and used a few signals to confirm the plan with the others. Only Helie seemed confused by her motions, but the woman had not seen Aether's light shows on previous nights. That was alright. If everything went right, she would see his greatest one yet in a few moments.
Aether took a deep breath. Suddenly, his eyes seemed to reflect the heavens. Only, they didn't match the stars overhead at all. They were coming from within his soul.
Looking up, Noble studied the cracks of the moon.
There were dozens upon dozens of cracks—a hundred or more. The closer Noble looked, the more cracks she saw. Perhaps what she asked was too much. There were just too many blemishes for Aether to cover them all.
But then, the first stream of starlight travelled in a thin line, stitching the smallest of the lines together. Noble blinked. If it was an illusion, it was a very good one.
More needlelike strings of light appeared around the moon, some working like the first and others spreading out like water to fill in missing pieces.
Aether stared intently at the large celestial body. Normally, any sane Awakened would advise against looking too hard at the moon, but Aether couldn't afford to look away.
Sweat formed on his brow as his mind focused and his essence made his desire come into being.
Little by little, the moon looked like it once had: whole and beautiful.
'Almost there!' Noble held her breath.
The others were staring too, watching Aether and the sky with equal amounts of wonder.
At last, the final crack was repaired with strings of ethereal starlight. The rim of the moon glowed with a mystical shimmer, making the air between it and the mirror seem lit with stardust.
The reflection of the mirror grew brighter, the surface of it looking like the water of a roaring river.
The doorway groaned, as if on the precipice of opening. Yet it did not budge.
It's not enough. Syrce mouthed the words, as she looked around for anything that might increase the moon's power.
She pulled out one of the larger pieces of the glass and held it out over the mirror. The shard concentrated the light, but not enough to make a large enough difference. The door stayed in place.
They needed more, and the glass skylight was not there to enhance the moon's heavenly beams.
Flint grabbed the Memory from Aether and stuck it behind his ear.
'Do something, Blondie!'
'Ice!' Noble answered him. 'Make an ice lens to concentrate the light.'
Flint nodded. Making a lens for Noble to hold in place. There was only one problem.
The light had substance and direction—and unexpected heat. As soon as the ice formed, it melted back into the air.
"I…I am sorry. I cannot hold it any longer," Aether whispered. His face grew pale. His body swayed.
"Just a moment longer, we are so close!" Noble knew her request was too much. She could feel his emotions, and the most prevalent one was utter and complete exhaustion. He didn't have any essence left to give.
There was only one move Noble could think to make.
'Give the ice lens all you have on three. One, two, three!'
As she sent the message through their connection, Noble spoke two very important words.
The True Names of light and getting brighter.
The ice thickened, and the light brightened.
All at once, the beams of the moon and the starlight coalesced in the basin of the door, reflecting and refracting on itself an endless pattern as it intensified.
Then the collected light reflected upward, sending a stream of light back to the sky.
The ice lens vaporized, and the starlight covering the moon disappeared.
The moon shattered a second time as Aether was thrown from his footing.
The round door in the ground boomed, the lock finally releasing from its hinge.
The mirror swung away into some unseen compartment, revealing a circular entry with a set of reflective stairs.
'More mirrors?'
The group marveled at the passageway, staring in disbelief at the mysterious staircase.
Their hesitance was a grave mistake.
Peeking out of his belt, Flint's spoon suddenly glowed.
They had been spotted.