Defend Akili while he recalibrates mirrors around the Astralarium event appears to be bugged on every single instance rn. It is part of the Brandstone Research Achievement required to complete Vision Legendary Trinket.

Check the video below:

Edit: There are other NPCs in Istan that have the same behavior. They look like they hit some invisible object that pushes them back. Some say that it's some invisible Volatile Magic?