Arrodes

Arrodes is a sentient silver magic mirror with eye-like black gems on both sides. It answers questions with exceptional divinatory reach, then demands a truthful answer in return and punishes failure. Originally contained by the Church of Steam as Sealed Artifact 2-111, Arrodes recognizes Klein Moretti as its “Great Master” and becomes both an information source and his fiercely loyal personal servant. Its origin in material expelled from beneath the earth ultimately makes the mirror part of an arrangement far older than either relationship.

Biography

Role in the Central Conflict

The Church of Steam first deploys Arrodes as a dangerous investigative artifact. Ikanser Bernard strokes its surface three times, asks a question, and receives images of hidden participants; reciprocity then allows Arrodes to expose humiliating secrets and punish lies or incorrect answers with lightning. That cost makes its operators fear “social death” as much as physical injury, but the mirror's information is too useful to abandon. When investigations begin circling Sherlock Moriarty, Arrodes softens its counterquestions and withholds the cruelty it normally shows, revealing that it has already distinguished Klein from ordinary users. (Chapters 351, 416–436, and 491)

Klein later summons Arrodes through mirrors, radio transceivers, and other display surfaces. The mirror immediately adopts the language of a humble servant, calling him the ruler above the spirit world and volunteering warnings beyond the strict question-and-answer rules. Its loyalty has practical consequences: Arrodes identifies hidden actors, traces dangerous objects, explains pathway and historical secrets, and warns when higher-level interference prevents a clear view. Klein does not accept every answer uncritically—gods, angels, concealment, and powerful Sealed Artifacts can produce blanks, mosaics, or partial conclusions—but Arrodes repeatedly turns uncertain investigations into actionable routes. Klein eventually carries the physical mirror toward Sefirah Castle, making it the unusual companion he takes into his long sleep. (Chapters 556–609, 688–714, 829–1075, and 1390)

Arrodes's deference is connected to origin as well as preference. It shows Klein a memory of black, sticky material erupting from an underground opening; a speck of light merges with rock and becomes the ancient silver mirror, while Arrodes gains true sentience only after reaching the surface. It cannot recall the state before that birth, and high-level facts around the underground source remain obscured. Later evidence identifies the power behind the special region beyond its mirror surface with an ancient arrangement of the original God Almighty. Arrodes is therefore not simply a talkative divination tool: its material link to the Chaos Sea makes it a surviving medium for authority and horror deliberately preserved across epochs. (Chapters 1054–1075 and 2454–2462)

Within The Fool's dream, Arrodes appears for sale and rent in the Star Dream Provisions Store. It warns Lumian's team to “beware of the night,” moderates its embarrassing questions because they are trying to awaken its master, and provides only a limited number of answers during each rental. Lumian Lee and Jenna use its unusual mirror-world depth to transfer objects and gather intelligence, then carry it into the confrontation around Zhou Mingrui. Lumian opens the concealed region behind its surface, exposing a chaotic, indescribable ocean and triggering the ancient mechanism prepared to weaken the Celestial Worthy. The mirror remains the medium through which that countermeasure enters the dream; the corpus does not state that Arrodes is destroyed by the activation. (Chapters 2355–2357, 2394, 2406–2408, and 2454–2462)

Appearance and personality

Arrodes's main body is an antique silver mirror covered in ancient patterns. Each side bears an eye-like ornament built around a serene black gem, making the object seem to watch even before words or images appear. Its surface ripples like water when answering, while text can form in pale white, silver, ancient Feysac red like dripping blood, or other colors that reflect its tone and power. It can also project its presence through an ordinary full-length mirror, a radio transceiver's paper output, or another suitable information surface. (Chapters 351, 491, 609, 829, and 2355)

Arrodes is theatrical, invasive, vain, and intensely loyal. With ordinary users it weaponizes shame, selecting questions about private desires and relationships before visibly administering punishment. With Klein it becomes flattering and eager, repeatedly praising its master and asking to be carried along. That servility is not mindlessness: Arrodes notices danger, adds warnings that do not benefit its game, adjusts questions to protect allies, and preserves rules even while using every loophole in their favor. In the dream it calls itself “the great Arrodes,” but its friendliness toward the awakening team shows that devotion to Klein outweighs its enjoyment of embarrassment. (Chapters 351, 491, 609, 782–829, 1075, and 2355–2408)

Pathways and abilities

Arrodes is not shown consuming potions or following a standard pathway. Its powers arise from its nature as a sentient artifact linked to the Chaos Sea and can be constrained by stronger concealment or authorities. Treating it as an all-knowing oracle would overstate what it demonstrates. (Chapters 609, 1075, and 2461–2462)

Its central power is question-based divination. Arrodes can reconstruct scenes, identify people, trace relationships and objects, reveal hidden history, and provide predictive warnings from a name, event, or carefully framed question. It can perceive far beyond its immediate location and communicate through remote reflective or information-bearing media. High-level targets produce interference: faces may blur, information may be replaced by a mosaic, divine names may be unsafe to state, and some questions return only fragments. Its answers are valuable because they define the boundary of uncertainty as well as because they expose facts. (Chapters 351, 491, 590–609, 714, 829–845, and 1054–1075)

Under the principle of reciprocity, each answer normally gives Arrodes the right to ask one question. The user must answer truthfully and correctly; refusal, error, or deceit can call down supernatural lightning. Arrodes chooses questions with uncanny access to private memories and desires, so humiliation functions as an intentional negative effect. It can, however, ask an easy question, alter one before it is completed, or add a warning outside the strict exchange when it wishes to help. In the dream city's rental system its output is further limited to a small number of questions and does not respond freely between rentals. (Chapters 351, 491, 609, 782–829, 984, 2355, and 2406–2408)

The space behind Arrodes is unlike the region behind an ordinary mirror. It opens toward a concealed, viscous ocean that contains indescribable colors and immediately destabilizes body and mind. Through the mirror, Lumian can transfer a Mirror Substitution and use Arrodes as a ritual medium without physically entering that depth. When the concealed layer collapses, ancient writing and chaotic radiance activate a prepared horror aimed at the Celestial Worthy. This is a specialized inherited function rather than an attack Arrodes casually controls, and using it depends on the right moment, external seals, mirror-world access, and the original arrangement. (Chapters 2394 and 2454–2462)

Relationships

• Klein Moretti: Arrodes's “Great Master.” It recognizes Klein's connection to Sefirah Castle, gives him unusually favorable questions, serves as an intelligence source, and accompanies him into sleep.
• Lumian Lee: A user in The Fool's dream. Arrodes rewards Lumian's effort to awaken Klein with restrained reciprocity, and Lumian later uses it as the medium for the ancient countermeasure.
• Jenna and Franca Roland: Members of the dream team who rent, transport, and question Arrodes. It embarrasses them without treating them as enemies and helps their operation through mirror-world access.
• Ikanser Bernard: A Church of Steam deacon and Arrodes's most frequent early operator. His repeated public humiliation establishes both the artifact's rules and the institutional cost of using it.

Items

Arrodes is itself the named artifact discussed in this article. Its significant associated objects are custodial rather than possessions:

• Traveler's Bag: Jenna places Arrodes inside the bag after renting it, allowing the dream team to carry the mirror safely to the operation site. (Chapter 2406)
• Mirror Substitution: Lumian passes Franca's substitution through Arrodes and the mirror world to the Star Dream Provisions Store. The act demonstrates the mirror's role as a medium; Arrodes does not retain ownership of the substitution. (Chapter 2461)