Prismatic

Mirror

“Welcome, champions!” the voice was coming from behind us, “Congratulations on passing the previous floor.”

I studied the room around us. The room was full of reflections in different angles. The room had patches of different shades of yellow from light to dark and then light again. The announcer cannot be seen when I looked behind us.

“This room is called Fallax”, he explained, “The requirement for passing this room is to find me beyond the reflections. These reflections see through your own self. Be warned not to get lost from your reflections for they might devour your soul.”

“Oh right, a hint”, he paused before continuing. “Your only hint is my voice. Good luck and I hope you survive.”

“Aw… that’s it? But you are silent most of the time”, Tyke complained.

“Then we must rely on memory”, Bry replied.

I tried to cast a spell. Nothing was reacting. I felt like being silenced by this room. “Oh boo. I feel useless not to be able to use my magic”, Aina cried.

“Well, that makes both of us. It seems like any kind of magic is blocked by an unknown force”, Bry added.

“My powers do not work here either”, I sighed. “That makes three of us.”

“I guess we have to walk through it then. We have no other choice”, Tyke suggested.

We all braced ourselves for the unseen danger that lies ahead. We all took deep breaths as we walked through the entrance of the glass maze. All four sets of eyes were looking at us from different angles. I looked around and all I can hear was my own footstep. I was suddenly alone in the middle of the maze. I looked around the area to see if there was any sign of my team. The moment I looked around, I saw that one of the reflections was different. It certainly looked like me but for one minor thing, I was not wearing a ring. The ring that this girl wore was a blackcurrant ring in place of the necklace equivalent. I went to get a closer look until it grabbed me with masculine force inside the mirror. The imposter that took my place went on to find my party. I tapped the glass but there was no answer.

In the mirror, I felt like I was in a distant memory. It was a continuation of the dream that I had before. I saw a man in robes carrying me to a blue and black mix of a portal. I was unconscious at the time. The portal ended up in the forest from where I woke up. I saw a cloaked figure that took Nissa. “Ah, yes. Witch Hazel, we meet again”, the cloaked figure advanced, “Care for another round? Don’t come slacking now.”

Huh? I knew this guy? Who was I exactly and what was I doing there? Who was that guy that carried me here? Something doesn’t add up. I braced myself for battle.

I charged a spell at him, “Tonitrus Hefil.” Bolts of thunder came rushing to him but he wasn’t fazed. He countered by summoning mushrooms shooting spores that neutralized my attack. He missed one that struck his liver. “Nice one”, he coughed while holding the damaged area. “A deadly hit. Flawless as ever, I’ll give you that.”

When he removed his hand from the damage, the hole was sealed. The blood became prominent on his cloak as the color was deeper. He threw shards of charcoal blades as he leapt in the air. I casted, Tellus Fonaso! I used the lightning to launch a wave that swallowed the blades and trapped the figure. A piece of coal hit my wrist and it blackened the whole area. It was a curse. Pulsating wave of pain shot through it. I endured it and proceeded in unmasking the figure. It had a light honeydew hair, cherry eyes and light tanned skin. I only know one person who had the exact features. He then blasted a vortex of black and violet swirls at me. In reflex, I casted powerful light, Lumen Vivo! The vortex got swallowed by the light, eating him along the process. He wailed a shrill cry before vanishing into the light.

After the battle, I just stared in disbelief. “How did it come to this?” I wept, “I thought… I thought…”

A flash of light suddenly burst out of nowhere. The imposter replaced the light that shone blindingly. I was up for another battle. I looked at my damaged wrist. The blackness spread to my arm. I had to do something about this, I thought. Then the imposter started moving. It casted mirror shards that rained from the sky. I casted Murus Rocate and a powerful glow of light blanketed me, shattering the volley of glass. For its next attack, the imposter kissed the ring and it shattered to pieces. My arm, which was coated in charcoal, began to move against my will. It casted, Crepero Vivo! A powerful black light aimed at me. In reaction to the attack, the protection collapsed and wrapped the darkness. The charcoal mixed with the light and it redirected at the imposter. I heard it shatter into pieces. Grains of glass rained from the sky splintering me in different places. I was extracted to reality before the glass world collapsed. The glass broke inwards. The blackness on my arm was gone. I heard myself panting, then two, then three, then four. The others were fighting the same battle. “So, how are things?” breathed Bry.

“I thought I was gonna die!” Aina exclaimed.

“Well, it wasn’t quite bad”, Tyke was smug.

“I thought I’d lost you”, I hugged Bry.

“It was just a reflection, Jo”, Bry was shaking at my grasp, or was it me?

“Shhh… everything’s okay. I’m here, I’m here”, he pulled me away to face him and wiped my tears without steering away his gaze.

I gripped at him tighter. “Promise me you won’t leave me again”, I demanded.

He hugged me tightly. “I promise, Jo. Stop crying now”, he reassured me. He pulled me from my grip, looked me in the eyes and planted his lips on mine.

I stopped crying the instant that he kissed me. Boy, can he kiss! I felt my stomach react to it. I felt my soul slipping away. My eyes rolled back and there was blood from me again. My head flopped back. It was a critical hit. I felt him let go of me and laid me down. He produced a multicolored powder and sprinkled it to my nose. I was instantly revived.

“Dang, so that’s how you kill a girl”, Tyke made a snide comment.

“And that was just strike one and she’s out, nice”, Aina doubled over.

“Ah shut up. Let her regain herself”, Bry hissed.

I felt my body reboot. I was still gathering my mental processes. I was functioning after a few moments. I gasped from my diaphragm then I stabled my breathing. When I was sure enough that I was thinking straight, I stood up to meet their faces.

“Well, that was something. Remind me not to do that again”, I was quite woozy.

“Okay, I won’t do it again”, Bry winked at me.

“What next?” I breathed heavily.

 “I think we should hold hands, just in case”, Bry suggested.

“Agreed”, Tyke seconded.

“Let’s avoid confrontation as much as possible”, Bry squeezed my hand, “These mirror hags might be key in leading us to our goal.”

“How…? If we face them, they might pull us in again”, Aina asked.

“Before they pulled us in, I saw one of them face a different direction”, Bry pondered, “Before they start to pull us, look at one of them then run as fast as you can to that direction.”

“Okay, let’s try your theory”, I approved.

We proceeded forward and we were met by forks. Our choices were the left, right or between them. We waited for the reflections to reach out their hands. One of them was facing left. We went for that direction before any one of them grabbed us in. The directions are left, right and bottom right. The reflection faced to the bottom right this time. In the next fork, there was a straight, upper right and right path. This time it was in the upper right. The path at the end of it diverged into upper left, middle and upper right. It was middle this time. We soon realized that we went back to where we started. The shards of broken glass were still there. But before we made our comments, a lemon light flashed in the middle path. We approached the light. At the end of it, we saw Lutin waiting by the throne. The place was covered with golden glass mirrors. “Congratulations, champions!” he greeted us with jubilee, “You finally made it.” He eyed us with satisfaction.

“Wait. It is over?” Aina was confused.

“Well, nothing is over. Not yet at least”, he smiled a flash of green, “It is only the beginning.”

“Huh? But we beat the first floor”, Tyke was more confused.

He just sighed, not breaking his composure. “I meant that this is just a stepping stone to your main goal”, he explained blithely, “Anyway, you are qualified to proceed to the next floor.”

He was gone in a flash of golden light. The golden throne was empty and our rewards replaced its absence for completing this floor. I got Mirror Salvation, a golden armlet that shone a bright lemon. I placed it on my right arm. I felt a surge of magic current through my veins. Aina had Mirror Refraction which was a golden hairpin that had a pointed light reflecting off it. She placed it close to her right temple. She felt her body become lighter. Mirror Touch was received by Tyke. It was a golden shoulder plate that shone bright against the light. He put it on his right shoulder. He felt a magic shield covering his body. Bry took Mirror Attraction, a golden ring that flashed at certain occasions. He placed it on his right middle finger. He felt his focus improve.

“The port is already open”, a voice said from behind us, “Please stick together. You will be transported to your next destination, shortly.”

We stood there marveling at our rewards. I haven’t seen something too much of a gold. It started to speak to me, “You are close to the truth but the truth is elusive. Find it and you will find yourself.” Huh? What does it mean? What truth? I looked at the small handful of off-white sack attached to it.  We almost failed to notice the currency that came along with them. Bry gave us another set of vial from his right void pocket. It broke us from our trance. I didn’t look at the vial he gave us and just chugged it down my throat. I felt a slight boost in focus, Aina in her critical acuity, Tyke in his mental sharpness and Bry in his stealth. All the vials we emptied were taken back by Bry for recycling. He said that it would be a waste and that it was still suitable for future use.

I felt a slight change in the atmosphere around us. The air got a little lighter and we started floating. The translucent yellow light was throwing triangles at us. We held hands so that we wouldn’t get separated. Every hit of the light was warm. It soothed my nerves. I heard an angelic scream but didn’t bother to look at it. I felt that I was in heaven.

We were almost at the ceiling now. The light doubled in speed. We were spinning slowly. The spinning picked up speed every second. I saw our bodies distort but we didn’t feel anything. I heard two angelic screams before losing sight of the floor. Everything went blank with a flash.