Chapter 12 Inside the mirror
Inside The Mirror
My body slammed onto something hard.
I gasped, clutching my chest. The air around me was thick, shimmering like golden dust floating in slow motion. I blinked rapidly, trying to regain focus.
What… where…
I spun around.
The room was gone. No wooden floors, no dusty furniture. Instead, I stood in a strange vast hall made entirely of reflective surfaces, mirrors in every direction. The ceiling stretched into nothingness, glowing dim gold like frozen sunlight.
“What is this place…” I whispered, hugging myself.
Each mirror reflected… me.
But not exactly.
Some versions of me were smiling.
Some were crying. Some were bleeding.
Some were screaming with flames crawling up their arms.
I stumbled back, fear rising in my throat.
“Hello?” My voice echoed infinitely. “Is anyone here?!”
Only the distorted, haunting versions of my voice answered.
I turned around, searching desperately for a door, a crack, anything but the mirrors kept shifting, moving like living beings, forming corridors that weren’t there seconds ago.
Panic crawled up my spine.
I stepped backwards, then a hand shot out from a mirror behind me.
I screamed.
But the hand didn’t grab me.
It slid slowly along the glass… leaving a streak of pale frost.
A whisper followed.
“Rain…”
My blood froze.
That voice, no.
It couldn’t be.
What is he doing here?
The whisper came again, deeper, more distorted.
“Find me…”
My knees went weak and my heart pounded painfully.
“Vinc?! is that you?! Where are you?!”
Mirrors flashed, one after another revealing a silhouette of a teenage boy, head down, hands chained, back trembling.
Then darkness.
“No!” I ran to the mirror and slammed my fists on it. “Come back! Vinc! I’m here! Mommy’s here!”
But the mirror only showed my reflection wide eyes, messy hair, trembling hands.
“What is this place…” I whispered, voice cracking.
My legs nearly gave out.
ROSEE POV
I paced the room like a caged beast. My patience was gone. My composure, slipping.
I never should’ve brought her.
But the information she gave me… she couldn’t have known it without being connected. And if she was connected, she was useful.
But this? Getting swallowed by a mysterious mirror?
I ran my hand through my hair, letting out a rough exhale.
“Think, Rosee. Think.”
I crouched again, touching the glass.
A faint warmth lingered. That meant it was active.
And if the mirror took her it could give her back.
Hopefully alive.
I clenched my fists.
“Rain, if you die on my watch… you’re going to piss me off,” I muttered.
Something flickered inside the mirror.
My head snapped up.
For the first time something moved behind the glass. A reflection of a person.
Not Rain, someone taller.
The figure walked toward the other side of the mirror as if approaching me.
My breath is still.
This presence… felt wrong. It felt Ancient, powerful, and hungry for blood.
The closer he came, I saw that it's a male figure.
Then a voice smooth, deep, and echoing straight into my skull whispered:
“She is mine now.”
The entire room trembled as he spoke through the mirror.
I jumped back, fangs instinctively descending.
“The hell she is,” I growled.
But the silhouette only laughed, soft, mocking, echoing through the walls like a thousand overlapping voices.
“Come for her, if you dare.”
A crack split across the mirror.
My heart dropped.
Because a crack means there is no getting out of the mirror.
RAIN
The hall darkened suddenly mirrors blurring into shadows. The golden light flickered, dimmed, then vanished entirely.
The air turned icy and my breath became visible.
“Vinc, please come to me.” My voice trembled.
No answer.
The mirrors around me began to melt—like silver dripping down invisible walls, revealing nothing but a vast darkness swallowing everything.
I stepped back, heart racing.
A pair of glowing red eyes opened in the dark.
Then another.
And another.
And another.
Dozens.
No hundreds.
All turning toward me.
I choked on a scream.
A deep, disembodied voice whispered near my ear, too close:
“Welcome home, cursed child.”
The eyes surged forward.
I wanted to run but my legs were stuck.
"W-who are you people? Where is Vinc?" I said with tears.
"You belong to us Rain, and we lured you here using your brother." An older voice said.
"Now, let's start the ritual." He turned to his colleagues.