ASRAN SERIES- ACROSS THE BORDER

Chapter - 16

“What should we do now?” Brenda asked in a trembling voice while looking around her with scared eyes.

She took a cloth and covered herself from head to toe so that those mirrors would not haunt her. Nameless rushed near her and patted her back.

“Mom, it’s ok. Do not worry… Everything will be alright,” He said to her which made Brenda feel so embarrassed.

She immediately hid her frightened expression and pretended that she was not afraid at all. Just when she was about to tell him that she was alright, she saw the person's face who she dreaded to see in the mirror.

The cloth that was on top of her head dropped and fell on the muddy ground. She stared at the person inside the mirror and extended her hands towards the reflection.

“Mom… Mom… wake up! Wake up! What are you doing? It's dangerous... No... Don't go near the mirror,” Nameless shouted and tried to hold her back.

But Brenda was already halfway inside the mirror and Nameless was too weak to pull her outside. David and Sussan, who were trying to find a way out on the other side, heard Nameless’s scream. So they dashed towards them only to see Brenda being sucked inside the mirror.

When Sussan realized that Brenda was mesmerized by the mirror, she hurriedly darted towards her and tried to pull her out. But as the force was too much and she couldn’t get her out of the mirror.

"David, Help us. What are you doing over there? Standing like a statue! Can't you see Brenda is almost being swallowed by the mirror?" Sussan shouted and brought the shocked David back to the world.

"I am sorry... I actually didn't think that it was possible... And that the mirrors here are so powerful than anything that I have seen until now,” David said and held Brenda's shoulders and tried to get her out.

Even after trying for a long time, they could not release her from the mirror. The more they tried to haul her to the other side, they realized that they were also being pulled inside the mirror.

“If this goes on then we will also get pulled in… I think… I am sorry to say this... but I think we might need to let go of her… Or else we will also not be spared by these evil mirrors...” David said in a hurried tone and let go of Brenda's shoulders.

“No!” Sussan screamed and held on to Brenda’s body with all her strength.

"We cannot do that and we should not do that... I won't let her get swallowed by these mirrors... I will never allow it to happen," Sussan declared and used her inner power to hold her best friend.

Nameless too hugged his mother tightly and kept on holding on to her without letting go of his grip even though he clearly understood that he was of not much help. His hands started to ache and turned blue. 

If any happened to his mother then it would all be his fault. He cannot understand why he decided to make a hole right above this horrible place.

“Nameless, listen to me. Until your mother is conscious, we cannot pull her out as the connection is already established with the mirror using her mind. We need to make her unconscious to cancel the bond between the mirror and your mother.” Sussan informed him.

“Ok. So what should I do now?” Nameless asked her and prepared his mind to even sacrifice himself to save his mother.

“Inside my pouch, I have a potion that could make Brenda sleep for a couple of minutes. Try to spray the liquid all over her… especially on the part of her body where it's stuck right next to the mirror.” Sussan instructed him.

Nameless found the liquid in no time inside her pouch and started to spray on top of Brenda. Meanwhile, Sussan spelled out some magic words which got mixed with the liquid. Some sort of smog raised and covered the mirror.

"David, draw an ellipse on the mirror and put the Asran star's symbol in the middle," Sussan ordered while trying not to let go of Brenda.

"What? Me? What if I get swallowed inside the mirror when I touch it?" David was afraid to even go near the mirror.

"Nothing of such sort would happen. Trust me... I have already put a spell and covered this place with smog. So the mirrors are almost blind now. Until the smog clears, we will be safe," Sussan informed him.

David walked very slowly towards the mirror and with his shaky hands drew an ellipse and Asran's star as instructed by Sussan. Brenda had by then turned completely motionless and her body started to get slightly heavier than before.

Sussan almost lost her footing and she started to slide down. Nameless threw the potion on the ground and held Brenda together with Sussan. Right at the exact moment when David finished drawing the symbol on the mirror, Brenda's body once again turned light.

"Nameless, now," Sussan nodded his head and signaled him to pull Brenda's body out of the mirror.

 As the protecting symbol was placed on the mirror, they could now easily pull Brenda out of the mirror. But then the minute she came out, the smog disappeared and the mirrors around them kept on closing in on them.

When David noticed that he uttered in a trembling voice, "Don't you feel like the mirror is getting close to us?"

Before they could even catch their breaths, Sussan shouted, “Let us all make a run from here before we get smashed by these mirrors… We do not have enough time to cast any more spells. I think the mirror is now feeling threatened by us because we interfered with the sacrifice and saved Brenda.”

David and Sussan lifted Brenda and moved along the wall of the mirrors. Nameless followed after them while wondering why the mirror showed his image and behaved as if it's like a normal mirror. But for others, it showed different images. 

He didn’t realize that it was actually Robert he was seeing in the mirror and not himself. After running side by side to the mirrors for some time, they stopped at one point as there was nowhere else to go. 

As their only option was to run along with the caves of mirrors, they dashed at any opening they found with almost half of their eyes closed. When the cave ended with a mirror wall, they gasped and thought they were done.

At that moment, Nameless once again broke the mirror in front of them. When David saw what he did, he shouted, “what the hell is wrong with you? Why are you breaking every mirror you are seeing? Didn’t you also break the mirrors when we entered? Isn’t it all because of you that we are in this situation?”

Nameless shivered and moved behind Sussan to hide from David’s angry stare. Sussan tried to speak but David shook his head and stopped her. He then warned her, 

“Don’t you support him now and say to me that he is only a kid and didn’t know anything. He knows what is down here and that’s why he created that crate for us to fall. He is only stalling us so that we would not try to stop Peter and Robert. Tell me what’s your plan?” 

He poked Nameless’s shoulders and asked him. Even when he tried to move away, David did not allow him and said, 

“Nameless, tell me the reason why you broke the mirrors when we entered the cave? Did you not see that those mirrors could grow into a new one? ” David asked Nameless as if he was accusing him of everything that had gone wrong was all because of him. 

Nameless stayed quiet and did not respond to him. He kept on glancing at the broken mirror and then at Sussan’s face. David's anger was at the peak so he did not notice that Sussan was trying to say something to him.

As he was not ready to listen to her, Sussan said to Nameless, "Let's go and not waste any time over here."

Before Nameless could respond to Sussan, David asked her, "What do you mean by let's go? Where can we even go when we are stuck inside this mirror cave?"

Sussan did not reply to him and kept on moving towards the broken mirror with Nameless and Brenda. David then turned around to follow them and finally saw what they actually were trying to tell him until now.