Mirror Trap

 

Ayleah walked down a corridor lit with the barest light; a cold dim glow from somewhere near the ceiling. It was difficult to see the nature of the space exactly, since it seemed filled with a scentless fog. She could see just well enough to safely walk forward, though she didn't know why she had chosen this direction. Something felt...warmer ahead of her. And so she continued on, footsteps soft on the even floor.

The fog was utterly present, and seemed to grow in visibility. It provided no resistance, yet seemed to fill her insides as well, clouding mind as well as vision. Eventually she stumbled, as her attention wandered enough for a moment of dissociation to occur. Ayleah stopped, and turned around, thinking to look back down the dim corridor from where she came.

He was standing with his back to her; a tall person in a rich black cloak. The hood was lowered, so she could see his carefully trimmed hair and a bit of his proud nose. His attention was fixed on a large mirror of exquisite quality before him. It sat in a frame of dark wood, smooth until it reached the outermost edges, where intricate tracings scribbled along like a forgotten language. Its surface seemed too smooth to be solid. It was as if the man stared into a suspended pool of silver liquid, hanging there on the wall. Between the mirror and him was a lit candle, flickering its solitary light around the small room. It illuminated the mirror, but did not reflect from it at this angle. His eye did though, and before Ayleah could duck back through the doorway it gave a startled look.

“Wha!? -No, is it you? The energy must have drawn you in.” A shadow, like the fog itself had come to life, pressed Ayleah forward. The man in black whipped around and placed her between himself and the mirror. Whether by his hands, or the shadowy force, she couldn't tell, she was held steady. The candle flickered a warm and sinister light around what had become a claustrophobic space.

“And what do you see in a mirror?” The man in black said, his words dripping with curiosity. “Can you see the answer I seek?”

Ayleah looked at the mirror, but all that it showed was a chaos of brown and white. Blurry shapes and flecks swirled together to form a haze. Before, she had thought it was showing a scene, or a place. Over his shoulder she had seen hints of rocks and trees, but now anything recognizable had faded. The pressure on her back was enormous, though she had a strange absence of his presence there. It was as if the world was simply cut off behind her; a solid blackness that permitted no entry. As crazy as the thought was, her only way out seemed through the mirror. Ayleah focused on the incoherent brown and white, willing it to form a scene, or anything useful to her. Slowly, a pathway appeared. A world seemed to take shape in the clear glass.

The sun was that of outside, and the way looked pleasant enough. The darkness behind her pressed more insistently. Ayleah took a deep breath and stepped towards the mirror portal, willing to accept what would happening as it came. However, her foot had barely lifted from the floor when there was a harsh cry and the mirror shattered in a burst of bright sparks. Both the darkness and the fog vanished, speared through by explosions of orange light.

Ayleah lost her footing and stumbled off the dais. She looked up, prepared to defend herself and found herself looking at a friend's face. Niisi helped Ayleah get her footing but did not ask what had happened right away. Instead she said urgently that they should leave and indicated that she had snuffed the incense in the corner. As they swept back through the intricately-patterned tapestry and outside Niisi gave the building a dark look.

The group from the household had finished with their market errands, and met up with the two young women in the main meadow. Niisi did not share their experience with the household crew, but spoke to Ayleah about her suspicions on the ride back to the falls. Some of the designs on the tapestry, though faded and hidden, had reminded her of cultish symbolism from her own home lands. There were those who could actually commune with natural elemental energies, but they twisted them to their own nefarious ends. Niisi had even heard of dark rituals where priests would manufacture and consume elemental beings in order to increase their own life force. Given what Ayleah had shared about her experience in the mirror traps, Niisi guessed that this man in black was one of those priest-types. If Ayleah had stepped into that mirror, it was likely she would not have been able to get out again. Who knows what evil intentions that man had had.

The whole experience made Ayleah wonder if she was still in danger, since the man had seemed to not only want her for some purpose, but also to know of her by sight. Niisi said she should not worry overmuch, since those cult types usually kept to themselves. She did say though, that Ayleah should be more careful in the future and that she would prepare some protection charms for the mountain trip. For now they had safety in company, and the falls property was secure. There had also been the fact of the mysterious orange lights seemingly coming to her rescue. Niisi said she had nothing to do with that, and wondered as much as Ayleah at their source. As they talked Niisi kept an eye on the road behind them. They were definitely being followed.