The Mirror’s Other Side

A World Reversed

Sorei stumbled onto soil black as powdered coal, illuminated by twin moons, one emerald-green and the other blood-red. The air smelled of scorched earth, though no fires burned in sight. She knew this place. The Mirror World. The Oracles had warned of its existence, of its dangers, of its inhabitants who lived like shadows to their counterparts. But this was not a mere reflection of her own world — it was collapsing.

A guttural laugh disturbed the silence, and Sorei spun around, her crimson tunic swirling in motion. A figure, cloaked entirely in black, stepped into the strange bi-colored moonlight. Her face, sharp and angular, matched Sorei’s exactly, as though pulled from her dreams or deepest fears. But her eyes glowed with an eerie green light, devoid of humanity. This was her reflection — no, something darker. Something corrupted.

“Finally,” the shadow figure hissed, her words dripping with venom. “You always were my tether, weren’t you?”

Sorei’s chest tightened. “Who are you?” she demanded, though the answer gnawed at the corners of her mind.

“What you could have been,” the doppelgänger replied, tracing a finger along the obsidian shard at her own neck, identical but inverted. “What you still might be.”

The Deal of Mirrors

The shadow stepped closer, her boots crunching softly on the brittle earth. Sorei tensed, one hand instinctively gripping the obsidian shard against her chest. “This world is dying because your world thrives,” the reflection said, her voice low and hypnotic. “The balance has tipped, and nothing you or your pathetic Oracles can do will fix it.”

“Then why bring me here?” Sorei’s voice wavered, though her stance remained firm. She studied the shadow’s garb: black leather armor etched with swirling glyphs, a cloak that seemed woven from the void itself. The reflection radiated power — and torment.

The Choice

Sorei reached for the obsidian shard at her neck, gripping it tightly. Flashes of her past filled her mind’s eye: visions of the younger girl standing in her mentor’s place, high-fiving her reflection with laughter in the sacred pool. A small, insignificant ritual, yet one that had grounded her when her world felt shattered. That girl, so full of life and wonder, would never forgive Sorei for surrendering now.

“I choose this world,” Sorei whispered, raising the obsidian shard. It split in two as raw energy surged through her body. Her reflection screamed, a guttural sound of anguish and fury, before lurching toward Sorei in desperation.

But the shard’s jagged halves glowed with radiance, and Sorei plunged them into the soil beneath her. The sky cracked open, and light erupted from the fissure, devouring the shadow and restoring the fragile balance between worlds. She collapsed to her knees, gasping for air, her tunic streaked with dirt.

The Return

When Sorei opened her eyes, she was back in the ceremonial chamber. The mirror was whole again, reflecting her image. Her hair was damp with sweat, her tunic torn but glowing faintly. For the first time in what felt like eternity, the air was still. Silent.

She approached the obsidian mirror and hesitated. A small smile crossed her lips. This time, she raised her hand and high-fived her reflection, a single moment of self-acknowledgment amidst the impossible task of holding the cosmos together.

“I am still here,” Sorei whispered to herself, her voice steady. “And that is enough.”

Genre:

Dark Fantasy / Mystical Adventure

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