The Shadow Behind the Mirror

Chapter 4 - Number In The Sight

Morning at Mardiah's grandmother's house was shrouded in a thin fog dancing between the trees behind the house. The sun seems reluctant to rise too high, and dew has not completely dried up from the leaves. But for Aira, this morning could not be allowed to pass just like that like the previous morning.

He stared at the reflection of a small mirror on his room table, where he saw the stone room wrapped last night. The figure of "himself" with silver -eyed has not appeared again, but the pendant in his neck is still warm - in the field of storing the rest of the light that is not extinguished overnight.

Aira opened her notebook. He drew a round room that he had seen in the mirror. In the middle, a large mirror stands like a gate. The floor of the room is not innocent. There is a large circle in the middle, then three branching lines out like a clockwise shaft. He tried to remember the position of the symbols that had been seen at a glance on the floor-rule, numbers, or maybe ... something else.

In the corner of the paper, he rewrits the number: 8 - 1 - 9.

Suddenly, he remembered something. He ran to the attic and looked for an old cabinet where he first found the pendant and message paper. He reopened the drawers that had not been explored before. In one of the lowest drawers, hidden behind a pile of books, he found a small wooden box. The box was locked, but on the front there were three potholes, such as a combination of turning padlocks.

Aira's heart beats fast. He played the number one by one.

8 - 1 - 9

Click.

The box was open with a soft sound, as if it was waiting for the right time to open. Inside, there is an old paper that rolled himself, a black metal key carved symbols of three -line circles, and a shabby photo.

Aira raised the photo. Two girls stand side by side, about eight years old. One of them was Mardiah's grandmother when she was young. The other one ... his face is almost identical.

Behind the written photo with faded ink:

"Me and him, before everything broke."

Aira looked at the photo for a long time. Is this Mardiah's grandmother's twin brother? The girl who disappeared? Is ... he is now behind the mirror?

The paper scroll in the box contains hand notes:

＞ "The shadow that never disappears, just waiting for his call again. Those born with twin blood will open the mirror traffic. If the pendant is on, then the limit has cracked."

Aira read it twice. The words spin in his head. The pendant is on. The mirror shows an unreal space. And now, there is a key - and notes that the "cross mirror" path does exist.

---

The next day, Aira showed the contents of the wooden box to Nina. They sat in the school library, behind the lonely shelves that were rarely touched by other students. A quiet place, right to talk about things that should not be heard.

Nina holds the old photo carefully. "This must be the two of them. Your grandmother and ... the 'shadow'. But why is her face like you?"

Aira bit her lips. "Maybe because of blood. If my grandmother twins is identical to that woman, and I grandchildren ... it could be that I inherited part of her appearance. Or more than that."

"Do you think he really lives in the mirror?" Nina asked quietly.

Aira did not immediately answer. He looked at Nina's little mirror which is now always brought everywhere. The reflection looks calm. But they both know that at any time, the shadow can speak.

"He is not a reflection," Aira murmured finally. "He ... something else. Maybe he was trapped. Maybe he was part of another world. But clearly, he could see me. And he waited for something."

Nina nodded slowly. "You think ... the number 8-1-9 also shows something besides the box key?"

Aira twirled the black metal key they found. "That number can be a lot of things. But I feel ... it might also be a kind of coordinate."

"Coordinate?" Nina asked.

"Yes, for example direction. Or ... something to be aligned. Do you still remember the round stone room that I saw in the mirror?"

Nina nodded.

"I think that number can be a direction. Like in the clocks, one, one, nine - it forms a triangular pattern. And in that room there are three lines like a clockwise from the floor circle."

They re -draw the sketch of the room. Aira placed a symbol like a clock, and pointed towards 8, 1, and 9. When connected, they formed a curved triangle, like an open eye.

"Eyes ..." murmured Nina. "Like the third eye symbol."

Aira gasped. "Or ... silver eyes."

Silent. Both of them looked at each other, understand each other that this puzzle is not just a game. Something outside of reason is waiting for them to take the next step.

---

That day, after school hours were finished, they did not go home immediately. They returned to the old art room at the end of the school, where mysterious paintings still hang on the wall. When they enter, the air in the room feels cooler than usual, and dust like freezing in the air.

Aira issued a metal key and approached the painting. He touched the painting frame on the bottom side, where he saw a small scratch like a hole, almost invisible.

Slowly, he put the key into it.

Click.

The sound sounded sharp and echoed like echoes in an old well. The floor under the painting vibrates. And without warning, the walls where the paintings depend on the sip, form a narrow hallway that decreases downward.

"Secret Hall?" whispered Nina, half amazed, half scared.

Aira nodded, even though her heart was filled with anxiety. But more than fear, he felt ... called. Like the part of him already at the end of the hall, waiting to be put together again.

They slowly dropped, the light of the cellphone became the only light. The walls of this hallway are made of old stones that feel moist. The deeper they stepped, the clearer the echo of his own footsteps.

The hallway finally ended at a circular door of the metal, with the same symbol engraved in the middle. The symbol burning slowly when Aira's pendant approached.

The door opened alone - stinging, heavy, and suffering - as if reluctant to show a long hidden secret.

Behind the door, a round room like in the vision of Aira stretches real.

The room is spacious, shiny black stone walls, and in the middle standing a large mirror, exactly the same as in his shadow. The floor of the room was decorated with old carvings to form a pattern they did not understand. But the most striking are three points of light on the floor - at 8 o'clock, 1, and 9.

"They are waiting for us to finish something," Aira said slowly.

Suddenly, the big mirror glowed, and in its reflection, a silver-eyed Aira figure appeared.

"Only one step away, Aira. Complete the triangle, and the gate will open."

---

Aira looked at the rocky floor under her feet. Three points of light at 8, 1, and 9 are now brighter, forming a perfect triangle. As if this room knew that the visitors had understood the purpose of that number.

Nina approached with caution. "Are you sure you want to continue?"

Aira grabbed the pendant on her neck. "I'm not sure. But I think ... this is indeed for me."

He walked slowly to the point of 8 o'clock. Light from the floor immediately responded to its presence - driving like a magic circle from a story book. Then he moved to point 1, and finally to point 9.

Once he stood at the last point, the floor in the middle of the room rumbled. The lines on the floor turn on, connecting the three points with silver light. And in the middle, right in front of a large mirror, a vortex appears.

The shadow of Aira-eyed Aira stood in a mirror, staring at him straight.

"This step cannot be canceled," he said.

"What do you mean?" Aira asked, her voice was shaken.

"You have woke up the path. You have broken the seal. Now just choose: stay here ... or enter and find the truth that your grandmother even hides."

Nina gripped Aira's arm. "Don't enter alone. We don't know what's there."

But Aira's pendant suddenly glowed very brightly, making Nina take a few steps back and covered her eyes. The light wrapped Aira's body, lifting it a little from the floor.

In an instant, Aira felt her body absorbed into the vortex in front of the mirror - during the pain, only the cold pressure that frozen breathing. The world around him spinning ... and dark.

---

When Aira opened her eyes, she stood in a place that resembled a mirror room before, but all were black and white. The color seems to be pulled out of this world. He walked along the corridor that appeared from behind the round room. Along the walls, depending on old paintings-all describe the same figure: two twin girls with different eyes. One black, one silver.

At the end of the hall, there is a large hall. In the middle standing the figure of an old woman ... her face is very similar to Mardiah's grandmother, only her eyes - shiny silver.

"Welcome, Aira," he said in a deep but soft voice. "You finally came."

Aira swallowed. "Who ... who are you?"

The woman smiled, sad.

"I am a shadow of your blood. I am the truth that is hidden by your family. I am a part of you who are thrown into this side in order to keep the world balanced.

Aira stepped back. "What do you mean 'discarded'?"

"In the past, twin sister born from this line would determine the balance between the real world and the shadow world. But when our strength began to enlarge, your world was afraid. They seal us - erase our names from history, imprisoning us behind the mirror."

He approached, and the mirror behind him showed the real reflection of the Aira world-Nina called out his name from the other side.

"You can come back, if you want," the woman said. "But remember, after knowing all this, you will never be the same."

Aira stood between two worlds. On the one hand, normal life, school, friends. On the other hand, family history, inheritance of strength, and a hidden world of most humans.

Silver -eyed shadow approached. He touched the pendant on Aira's neck. "Or you can stay here. Learn. Revealing everything. Finding who you really are."

Silent enveloped the room. The mirror glowed gently, and Aira looked into it - the direction of Nina who kept calling her name. But he also looked at the woman's face - a face that looked like him, his eyes silver, kept the truth that had been hidden.

Aira knows, this decision will change everything.

---