"He sensed you were in trouble. He came to help." Loic commented with a firm hand bracing my shoulder.
"But if he dies because of me, I couldn't go on." I crossed my arms in front of my chest.
"Rayne, we will protect you even at the cost of our lives. You must stay safe."
Why was I so special: because of this stone or the princess? I couldn’t be worth all of this.
Loic walked ahead of me a foot or so and looked back at me and sighed. I pulled away from the wall and semi followed him as he started walking away from the canals edge. I was sure he saw what I was thinking. “Rayne. I know you probably think you’re not worth all this trouble. Trust me you are.”
"But Loic, I don't want you to die."
"And you think I want to die? Rayne, I don't want to leave this world but if it’s either me or you." He played with my hair, and I held his shirt tight. "I'd rather it be me."
"No. Loic promise me you won't die for me! Please."
I looked into his eyes, and he looked away.
"Rayne, I can't. That is..." He stopped. "I was taught to not make promises I couldn't keep."
Tears filled my eyes as my heart sank, shattering upon impact.
Loic came back to my side as I stood. He offered his hand to me and I silently took it. We continued the rest of the way back to my apartment. The streets were quiet. Only a few people were still out, a few musicians filled the air with their music. Getting out of earshot of the music that silence only grew more intense.
I looked to see the black stains on my jeans and the few scratches that lined loic’s hand. The atmosphere was thick. Things seemed calm and normal but after that, how could this ever be considered normal again. I had seen the one Chase and Loic had been telling me about, and I was horrified by him. His blank red eyes kept flashing through my memory. I’d never forget them, and I certainly never wanted to see them that close ever again.
I looked back to Loic’s face, who was scanning the area we walked through. Protecting me as always.
I thought back to what I said that I didn’t want Loic to die for me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop him from doing that, not by doing nothing. I had to become stronger somehow. But how? Tears built up each time I tried to think of something. I wasn’t strong enough; I couldn’t even muster up the strength to break this silence. How did I even expect to be strong enough to convince him to not die being my shield? I stayed silent, trapped in my own head. Spiraling with what I wanted to do, only to go back to the loop being reminded of what I wasn’t strong enough to do.
Finally, we reached my door. Loic still there, ever vigilant. Ready to die for me.
I wiped my tears and stormed the rest of the way into my apartment, slamming the door behind me. I glanced sideways seeing Loic through the small window in the door. Loic stood outside with his back turned to me. I fell to my pillow and cried.
Why couldn't he promise me that? Why? In some way, I did understand. I was special to him. My soul and this stone inside of it, was what stood between our two worlds being taken over or destroyed by a monstrous tyrant.
Even after realizing that, I still didn’t see it. How was my life worth his, how was it worth Chases, Loic’s, or Luna's life? The Mirror Stone was the key, not me. What would have actually happened if I died? Isha was able to touch the stone. Couldn’t Isha keep it safe somehow? But then, on the other hand, I didn’t want to die either. Was I the only one who could have it? This power? A power someone would die for or kill for. This power did nothing to change me. Even it couldn't make me feel special. Nothing could.
It was foolish to keep thinking this. After so many attempts on my life and surviving them somehow, I had to admit it. I was special, and I was involved. I had to accept it and do what I could to help.
And I had to admit through all of this, there was one thing that did make me feel special, even before the self-reflection on my doubt.
Loic. He was the only one that made me feel worth anything. Even my self-doubt couldn’t quench that confidence.
So, was it selfish to think that I couldn’t live without him? That I would be nothing if he died for me? It couldn’t be love yet, could it?
TEN
♦
Curse
I WASN’T SURE HOW long I had been asleep before I noticed that the in-between’s pressure seemed different today. There wasn’t any sign of Rakesh’s shadow, nor anything else. There was only dark water and my own thoughts. Everything that occurred before I fell asleep ran through my mind. Learning I had the Mirror Stone inside of me, then Loic confessing to me, then me fighting with him. I wondered what he did after I shut the door on him. Did he stay outside, or had he come in? I did feel bad about how I stormed off. At the same time, I did mean what I said.
I didn’t want him to die. I didn’t want anyone to die. Was that something I could make happen with my own power? Was there any way I could get strong enough to protect them from what we were facing? Magic potential or not, I’d still have to learn everything I would need.
I closed my eyes and the feeling around me changed. The water started to warm up and I felt a hand on my cheek. It was warm, almost like sitting close to a fireplace. The hand brushed through my hair but when I opened my eyes, the feeling vanished. There was no one there.
Turning around in every way, swimming the best I could while completely submerged, but I saw that I was indeed alone. Whose hand was that? Was it someone even here?
I focused and began to swim to where the feeling around me changed. Heading to where the pressure felt lighter, in an attempt to wake up somewhere.
At least I was getting used to doing this on my own. Maybe I was getting stronger.
~
I woke up in Mirror Image with Isha and Chase at my side. The worry was still present on their faces. Chase’s eyes shifted up and down both my form, checking me for injuries as usual. We were in the front room of Isha’s house. It was small with a few new plants added on the side tables that lined the entrance hall. on the tables I saw a few crystals joining the plants, each pot having two or three prism shaped stones embedded in the soil. Each of the crystals had a faint glow to them making the room a bit brighter.
Chase looked exhausted. I couldn’t really blame him, considering what had just happened.
He from my bedside, more appropriately the side of a cot near the living room and went over to Isha. I couldn’t quite hear what they were saying but it all ended with Isha hugging him tightly.
I came to fully and sat up.
"Chase?"
He turned to face me, and his face lightened.
“Ah, you’re awake. I’m glad. It seems you’ve had quite an interesting few days.”
Interesting didn’t really cover it entirely. He almost brushed off what had happened. Was that for my sake?
That man, Rakesh Krad. The man that attacked Luna, who displaced everyone here, the one that had been targeting me all this time. I had finally seen him. His image was burned into my mind. Even closing my eyes now, I saw the silhouette of his build, dripping with tar. That’s when the similarities hit me.
He was the man in my nightmare. The shadow was the same, the same shape and height. Was my nightmare really a memory of some kind? Every time I saw this nightmare, was I seeing what he had done to Luna and what had happened to me in the same moment? I felt more at a loss then I was before.
Why? That was the only thing that seemed right to ask.
Why did he attack Luna? Why does he want this Mirror Stone? Why was all of this happening? Just to destroy or master the world? It seemed so awful.
I sighed, louder than I had intended. Chase looked my way and smiled a bit.
“so, where do we go from here?” Isha conveniently asked and looked over to me, almost acknowledging my thoughts.
Chase nodded and leaned against a wall between both Isha and me.
“Let’s take it from the top, shall we? Sorry Rayne, we are so u
sed to this story it’s hardly worth mentioning most of the time.”
Isha turned and left the room for a moment returning with a white book, adorned with silver lettering on the binding. It wasn’t a long book, maybe the length of a starter chapter book. She opened the book and sat beside me.
“This is how we teach the story of Mirror Image’s creation.” Isha commented.
Chase’s eyes looked sad, but I couldn’t read why. Isha began to read from the small book:
“The world once had Originals and Reflections side by side, showing them the wonders of magic and the world around them. The people were happy, and the magic kept the shadows at bay, so they couldn’t tempt the heart with sin. However, there was one woman who didn’t have her Reflection at her side. Her shadow, unburdened by the light of magic, whispered to her.
‘They laugh at you, you know, poor old woman all alone. That’s what they say, over and over all day every day. But you don’t need them. No, you can make them all go away.’ The shadow would tell her.
For years the shadow would say this. Then there was a point where she turned to the strongest Reflection in her village, a woman who hid her face, for reasons the old woman couldn’t pinpoint.
‘They need to go away. I wish the Reflections were gone’ The woman demanded. The hooded woman obliged, seeing that the shadow had taken this woman far beyond then what could be helped.
‘Very well. Go home rest they will be gone before you wake.’ The hooded woman promised.
The old woman and shadow were pleased, so they went on their way. The night fell, and the hooded woman gathered her people warning them of the danger. It was then she channeled all of the power she had and created Mirror Image. She invited the Reflections to live there. This took so much of her power that it drained her leaving the Mirror Stone in her place. The remaining source of her magic.
At the moment she vanished a door behind them closed. The Night Mirror vanished as well. And thus, we were bound to Mirror Image. However back on Earth, the shadows attached to the Originals grew stronger and humans fell into the temptation of sin again. In order to protect the Reflections from the now-stronger evil, they were cut off from them, risking paradoxes if they came in contact with their former wards again.”
Isha finished reading, her expression as sorrowful as her tone. I felt the pulse in my chest again. If this stone was the creation witch’s remaining power, did it react to hearing this story? I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was still missing something. The legend this time was in a little more detail than when Loic had told it to me before. What else did I need?
Granted, with legends details would be missing. Maybe the same happened here. How long had it been since this was first told? The book seemed fairly modern. But that didn’t prove anything other than it being reprinted recently.
I held my chest as the pulse calmed down. Chase moved away from the wall he was leaning on and checked on me again, and Isha hovered close by. Both of them looking to my face to see my reactions. Isha especially, seemed more scared then worried. Almost following Chase’s movements, she looked around her nervously.
I glanced down at Chase’s hand. It had a grey scar that went from between his thumb and pointer finger, on the top of his hand. The scar looked like it led further up his arm, but it was covered up with a long sleeve, so I couldn’t tell for sure. He shifted his hands behind his back, locking onto my gaze.
“Are you okay? I saw...your skin was…”
“Oh that?” He shrugged. “Nothing new. I’ll live.”
I did see that scar though, did he have more of those? He moved back and headed back to the wall he was leaning on. I also noticed he was actually putting weight on his cane now.
Did that all happen because he came to help us? Guilt filled me. Was his current state my fault?
“So, if that happens when you leave the museum...how can you come here?”
"This is the museum’s parallel. We discovered this once Isha left the castle and holed up here. This was King Thgilniar’s first home before he became king.”
“Wait, so he wasn’t born royal?”
“No, Isha was. Her father was the last king so as the crown princess she is the one of royal blood. Anyway, this place was left relatively untouched after he left, and we discovered the space ‘in-between’ is thin here. I can be in this building cause it's still technically the museum, just in Mirror Image."
I bit my lip. “The in-between is thin here?”
He sighed. “How can I explain this? Let’s try this. Look at my hands.” He closed his palms until they were almost touching. The shape of his hands showed the bases of his fingers, the raised part of his palms was close together without touching. “See, there are points where the two surfaces are close together. The in-between has sort have done this. We haven’t mapped it perfectly, but there have been some experiments. I figured out that my ailments don’t occur here so I’m bending a rule in this place. One step outside the shield on your side, however, and the effect occurs as normal. The dome is stretched out to the size of the museum itself. So, this house and Isha’s garden here and inside the museums’ walls are as far as I can go without consequences.”
I started to understand. He tested his barriers, and I made him leave those barriers.
My throat tightened. “I’m sorry, Chase.”
“For what?”
“You came after us—you came after me—and that hurt you.”
“Rayne, I’m an old man, no matter what...” His voice was gruff. “I’ll value a younger life over my own anyway. Connection with the princess or not, if I see someone in trouble, I do what I can. That’s what we old knights do.” He squinted at me with his mismatched eyes, as if reading me. Then, with a knowing look, he added,” that’s what we teach our squires.”
That put me in mind of Loic. I winced. I had gotten mad at him for acting the way he was taught to. Chase must have seen some form of our last encounter.
Looking away from Chase and Isha, I sat on the bed. Isha looked at me then to Chase. My mind wandered back to what had happened with Loic.
The odds where he was still standing outside my door. I wanted to understand his mindset. at the same time our conversation still bothered me. I didn’t want anyone else to die because of me. I didn’t want him to die.
How could I keep going if I actually saw it happen? I didn’t even want to imagine that.
‘My life or his?’ I repeated this back and forth in my head, not coming to any sort of answer or closure.
I felt Isha’s eyes on me. She sighed, seeming to see my spiraling.
"Chase, could you give us a moment alone?"
"Of course, my queen." He said, puzzled." Is anything the matter?"
"No just something that I feel needs to be spoken.” She shoved at him. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind."
"All right, all right." He said, a twinkle in his eye.
The door closed and Isha sat beside me.
"Rayne, tell me what happened."
I averted my eyes from her searching gaze. "What do you mean?"
"Come on, I know that face. What happened with you and Loic?"
I groaned. There was no point on keeping it to myself at this point. "He insists that my life is more important than his. That he will give his life to protect me."
"And you don't think it's worth it?"
"Not really."
She put her hand under my chin and gently turned me to look at her.
"Dear, that's what love does,” She said. “If someone is that important to you, you'll risk and be willing to lose your life so that person can go on." She smiled and brushed a few strands away from my face.
"But." I knew what she meant. I just didn’t want it to come to that.
"No buts. His protectiveness just means he loves you."
Loves me. It felt nice that someone else noticed. But I could hardly believe it.
“He’s known me less than
a month.”
“Doesn’t matter. Loic has always been the type to get protective quickly.”
"He would have done the same for Luna?"
“There is a difference between having to be one’s shield and wanting to protect someone with all their being. I’ve been around a lot of knights, and I am aware of the difference. Loic is a good knight. His sense of duty is second to none, but he’s not one to put everything on the line if he doesn’t have to.” She chuckled. “His strong magical ability alone has allowed him to skate by on his work until recently. When I’ve seen him put his all into something, it’s out of desire, not duty. Yes, he protected Luna and they were close. They grew up together and they were almost like family back then. The big brother protecting the little sister. That is what she was to him. The princess to be protected, and the little sister to shield.”
I frowned. “So, he wouldn’t have given his life for her?”
“I wouldn’t believe so. He was also a child back then. He would have done what he was asked. He would have been scared to have to give his life. I wouldn’t have asked him too. But now, he’s grown up and what he wants is to give his life to you.”
A scary, breathless thought. "So, if he thinks it’s worth it then?"
"A better question would be, would you give your life for his?” She scrutinized me.
“Would you rather it be you instead of him?"
I didn't think of it that way. Of course, Loic was worth dying for. I couldn’t explain it. I wouldn’t want to die, but I would for him. After everything he did for me, I'd do my best to protect him as well. I smiled, understanding what Isha meant. But I wasn’t strong enough to protect him. The thought rankled me.
"Thank you Isha. I understand now."
Her face sobered. “Just keep in mind. even if Loic is in danger, you can’t just waste your life. Ether of you. If there’s a situation where you’re not strong enough to fight, run. That’s all I’d ask of you two.”
I wouldn’t leave Loic. “All right.”
Glass Souls (Reflection Book 1) Page 30