Through The Looking Glass

[Juno. 1280]

Spoiler

Please do not metagame any of the following information. Thank you @Bonito for proofreading!

 

Flipping through time-worn pages, blowing dust off words in order to read them, the woman finally came across a loose page much more yellowed and ancient than the rest. It appeared to have been shoved in the center of the tome’s bound contents - perhaps for safe keeping. Eyes of jade greedily poured over the page, her dark brows furrowing more and more with each sentence. The tome was placed down in a huff, a gloved hand rising to pinch the bridge of her nose as she felt a headache forming. Resolved to close the book and come back to it another time, the woman took a deep inhale before opening her eyes - only to find she was no longer within the brick walls she called home.

 

⟻⧫⟼

⟻⧫⟼

 

Surrounding me is a twisting labyrinth of glass, crystal and quartz - mirrors from which I cannot escape my own wide-eyed reflection. It seems a reflection is all I am here, for when I attempt to look down at my physical body, it is nowhere to be seen. Is this the knowledge men would kill to have?

 

I stumble through the maze as if I were blind, often bumping into reflective material as I struggle to find my way. I try to keep my breathing controlled, even as a ringing settles within my mind to replace the deafening silence. Stay calm, I just need to find the exit.

 

With nothing else to look at but my own image, I find myself scrutinizing it - every wrinkle, every pore. I can see myself from so many different angles, some of which I have never seen before. I hate this. 

 

I continue on, a frown on my face that grows with every passing minute - has it been minutes? I can’t say. Perhaps a concussion is beginning to form with all the times I’ve bumped my head. I begin to notice a double in the reflections - a figure that was not there before. My perfect image, a doppelganger, not far behind me, whatever that means in a place such as this.  This must be a dream. I must have fallen asleep while reading - Yes, that is the only logical explanation. This is all just a creation of my torturous mind.

 

A sense of calm washes over me with my decision of fact, and I run into the mirrors less as I grow used to the labyrinth. It is short lived, as I see the double again - only it is closer now, and has changed in appearance. I pause as I observe her dark skin and veiled hair, her face red with sunburn and sand still clinging to her raw knees. Her expression is twisted in grief and hopelessness, mirroring my own as I remember the five years spent in that wasteland - The ringing in my ears turns into the bleating of a starved lamb. I rub my face with my hands, continuing. That is behind me now - I am over it, and yet, why can’t escape it? Why does the past continue to haunt me?

 

I pick up the pace as I dodge towering spires of crystal and glass alike. The next I glimpse the doppelganger behind me, it is closer still, and different again: A perfect image of high elven beauty, pale skin unblemished with flowing waves of champagne blonde. She bears a pristine smile that does not quite reach her soft gaze, one I catch myself mirroring in my own reflection. I feel cold. I start to jog now, forcing the reflections to fade in my peripheral vision. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. 

 

Panic is steadily overtaking the calm state I push to maintain, stark terror seeping into my frazzled mind. When I see the doppelganger again, it is a mere few feet behind my reflection and carries my appearance once more - but something is severely wrong. Glowing runes of origins unknown burned into her olive skin; tenebrous claws have grown from her bleeding nail beds. She coughs up ash, which clings to her maw and leaks from her eyes - those eyes, no longer my own but the yellowed slits of a serpent. She smiles at me, revealing sharpened and blood-stained teeth. Oh God.

I am running now, tears I cannot force down staining my cheeks - I close them, hoping that may be the key to evading the creature, and begin to feel my way around. Please God, please save me. Save me from this nightmare.

 

“-----!”

 

I hear a voice echo in my ears - stern but full of warmth and concern, calling my name. Father. He has come to save me.

A huge smile spreads on my features as I cease my running, opening my eyes and expecting to see the forever aged man waiting for me. What I find instead is that creature - standing right behind me now with a heinous grin and glittering gaze. I am unable to move, a doe caught in the light as its hand reaches from behind to cup my cheek. I can feel the warmth of its molten flesh, the scrape of its claws against my skin. It opens its mouth, and a hissing tone that is not my own utters words I cannot comprehend.

 

“Ei beth.. Eresar bithe Atar-Gho.”

 

I spin in the creature’s hold, causing its talons to rip open my cheek. I don’t even feel the pain as I gaze at it in physical form. Its real.. 

 

Its jaw opens wide, that mouth of ash and gore inching closer to swallow me whole. I close my eyes to the slaughter, anticipating the feel of those fangs slicing into my body - but it never comes. When I finally open them once more, I find myself right where I was before, kneeling on a wooden floor before that accursed page.

 

⟻⧫⟼

 

The woman immediately shuts the ancient tome as she attempts to regulate her breathing, choked sobs coupled with streaming tears of relief. “Just a dream.. Just a dream..” She repeats to herself over and over, followed by fervent prayers in a harsh whisper. Right as she is beginning to collect herself, the woman notices droplets of red partnered with the translucent stains of her tears on the ground. A sting she had previously not felt throbbing on her cheek, her shaking hand reaching up to touch the surface of the skin. When she pulls it away, her palm is stained red. 

 

Jumping to her feet, the woman rushes to a nearby chest, ruffling through its contents until her bloodied fingers curl around a handheld mirror. She finds deep claw marks marring her face in the reflection, blood oozing down her jawline from the open wounds.

 

CRASH!

 

Shards of broken glass surround the woman as she falls to her knees, holding her head in her hands.