Chase entered the conversation. "And I'll help you as well. Maybe a little history on the kingdom will help. You can learn more about that stone of yours."
I agreed, Loic and Chase headed to the back of the room.
“Rayne it seems Loic locked your body in my office so when you wake up, we can start right away. Head over when you are ready.” Chase instructed as they approached the turned around mirror in the back of the living room.
They left with a flash of light from the mirrors frame and Isha placed her hand on my shoulder.
“If you’d like to clean up before you sleep, I’ll draw a bath for you.”
“Thank you Isha.” We smiled at each other and she left.
She helped set everything up and I washed up, feeling tired soon after.
It didn’t take long for sleep to find me as I settled into the now clean cot.
I woke up on a loveseat in chases office. I heard Chase ordering Loic to grab stuff. Chase started grabbing books by the armload from his shelf. Loic set his stack down on Chases desk and gestured to me.
“Here Rayne, why don’t I help you cheat a bit?” Loic flopped onto an armchair against the wall. “I’ve gone through Chases lesson before. Why don’t I share some info with you?” He smirked at me, then that smirk vanished as he took a hardbound book to the chest. Loic gasped and growled as he looked at Chase, resetting his throwing arm back against his side.
“Loic-rae Vallen. If I am not mistaken you failed all of my lessons. Do you deny this?”
“Yes, I deny it! I knew all of the important stuff!”
“Well, what you deem as important doesn’t help Rayne. You know as much as a school child about the history of Rorrim Egami, only caring about what happens in your own lifetime. While mistakes of your generation are important, learning about further back is helpful as well. The purpose of Rayne’s lessons would be to dig up more info about the Mirror Stone, and what do you know about the First Age boy?”
“Squat.” He groaned, rubbing his chest. “I get it, old man.”
“You’re welcome to sit in and get a refresher course if you would like.”
“I’ll pass. Call me when I can be useful.”
Loic settled into the chair and stared at the ceiling, frustrated with me most likely. I stayed quiet and sat down, silencing the part of me that wanted to check on him. Had I made the right choice? Could I really fight? One attack nearly killed me and yet... It was because of that I wanted to fight. This was partly revenge and protective instinct. Loic may be willing to die for me, but I wasn't going to let that happen. I wasn’t going to go down without a fight. I laughed internally. Tough talk coming from someone who was still afraid of a mirror. I guess for me, courage came in baby steps. I moved and sat in a small wooden chair beside Chases big office chair.
Chase opened the first book he had in his pile, and I saw the creation story written in it again. A caption on the top read: ‘the woman who sent us away.’
“We can start right after this,” he said. “The first thing recorded in Rorrim Egami after the creation myth. The witch vanished and a family of royal blood from Spain appointed themselves as the first monarch. This first king was Jossas Noitcelfer. This first reign established many of the laws still in place today. This king also began building the capitol, although the king wouldn’t see the end of the castle’s construction. His reign only lasted his lifetime of 84 years. He had three children. The oldest daughter, you’ve technically met, for she became the first Light Weaver.”
I jumped and glanced over to the page Chase was reading. “The first Light Weaver!”
“Yes. It was discovered that the magic realm was visible to certain individuals. She was the first to voice this ability and she founded the Light Weavers, searching for others who were like her to protect the people.”
I read through, and I saw her name was recorded.: Kavrala Noitcelfer.
I began to think about the weavers, I never knew just how old they were. The date listed in this section was 1804-1884. Sounded right, he said the reign lasted 80 or so years.
“There were also two sons of the Noitcelfer family but for some reason very little is recorded about them. It seems it was something they wanted to forget, or at the time they made it back to the other world and vanished.”
“Could people really make it back to the world of the Originals then?”
“There were a few rumors.” Chase leaned back opening a different book. “One here lists that the brothers fell through a mirror. There was another that stated they asked the Mirror Stone to send them back.”
They asked it? Maybe prayed to it? knowledge of old civilizations from my history classes, people asking a giant gem for things didn’t seem farfetched. Considering the fact, the stone also had magical properties. I could probably ask it for help to if I really needed it.
I looked up silencing my thoughts as Isha came in with a few books in her arms.
“Chase, I dug through my own books and thought these might be helpful.”
“Oh, thank you my queen, I could have sent Loic for them though.”
“You don’t have to coddle me. he’s had enough excitement today.”
Chase slid a sideways glance at her. “I could say the same for you my queen.”
“It’s okay Chase. Nothing we haven’t seen before.”
Chase sighed and gave Isha a full look this time with a small smile on his face.
“Since you are here milady why don’t I prepare you some tea.”
“That sounds lovely, thank you Chase.” She smiled back at him. Chase left me to read a bit. I didn’t get very far before he came back. That was either the world’s fastest tea kettle or I was more confused by all of this then I thought.
~
Chase returned and flipped through a few other books, studying a few pages before closing them. “This lack of information leads into the second family of the First Age. This is the timeline we start seeing info on the Mirror Stone and the magic of the land.”
He pointed me to some illustrations of people using magic in various ways. One person caught my eye. It looked a bit like the white shape I saw before. The woman I saw when that first Formless attacked us. Who was she? There was no caption or description of any kind that I could read. The woman was shown as a white-skinned figure in a gray robe and hood. A woman in a hood? The witch maybe?
Chase saw where I was looking. He pulled out another book and opened it to a larger version of the image.
“It’s a picture of a tapestry that’s in the castle. It’s the visual representation of the creation myth. The woman in the center splitting off the two worlds.”
I looked at the second book. it was full of paintings and images all from Mirror Image. Ah, art! My heart swelled. Something I could gravitate to.
“That’s right, you’re an art major. You might enjoy this book. This is the art of our land over the ages. You can hold onto that if you want.” He smiled at me. I gladly took the book, carefully marking the page with the sketchbook from my back pocket.
That little sketch book was the most reliable thing I owned; it had survived everything we’ve been through so far.
“Anyway, this family, the Enihseurts, ruled from 1884 to around 1934. The two youngest daughters becoming the other two weavers, Imryll and Seirye Enihseurt. The eldest son would start the Hiero family line. King Parth Enihseurt would be Isha’s grandfather.”
“So Isha’s the royal?”
“Yes. Similar to the British monarchy, but it was deemed that in Mirror Image that the one of royal blood can give power to their spouse willingly taking a back seat in politics. Isha did that so she could focus on family since Luna was born after only two years of marriage.”
He continued on stories of the royal families for a bit, explain the building of the capital and the layout of the land. The hassles of the Light Weaver’s forest on farmland and so on. We poured over a few books. I took as many notes
as possible using my voice recorder from class during his lessons. This way I could refer to them later if I needed to.
Some time had passed. At the end, Chase sat by me offering a cup of tea.
“We should take a small break. You can’t learn anything buy constantly stressing yourself.”
He smiled and looked around. The office was just a bit smaller than the living room at Isha’s place. There was a large bookshelf behind his desk, where most of our material came from. I could only imagine he had so much more to choose from, having an entire museum at his disposal. He stood and went over to the other side of the desk, glancing over at Isha, who sat sipping tea by the door, his face pinching and looking regretful. Chase rubbed his face and sighed, thinking about something in silence. I joined him, standing still near the desk behind him looking to the second armchair that lined the wall. Loic had fallen asleep on the chair and that Isha had gone to sleep as well.
“So, how is Isha? Is she really okay? She seemed to brush it off earlier.”
“She’ll be fine. She just got a few bruises,” he said quietly. But his face still looked punched
“I was shocked to see her standing up to Rakesh like that.”
Chase chuckled. “She always was a feisty one. You should have seen her put the king in his place back in the day. Loic’s earlier lecture was barely anything to be shocked at back then.” He half smiled and looked down at his cup.
“King Elijah kept the knights in line. Isha, in turn, kept him inline. Our kingdom had our conflicts, but we always seemed to turn out well.” Chase’s eyes softened with fond memories.
“Back then... seemed so peaceful,” I commented. Wondering how I would have known that. Maybe Luna had left an impression on me somehow. Being in her body made things there seem familiar.
Chase looked over at me and sighed. “It may have seemed that way, but our troubles only began back then. Despite the king’s temper, he kept things in line. There was only one major conflict before Rakesh turned. But what we did then led to where we are now.”
“Chase.” What did he mean about what ‘we’ did then? I could only imagine him mulling through decisions of the past and regretting them. The downturned look on his face hurt a little bit. He seemed lost in those thoughts, in silence looking at the floor. Was there anything I could say to help? Should I say anything?
“Rayne, I just want to add this on. Just know that when this shit finally hits the fan, you can’t save everyone.”
I studied him in shock. What brought this on? Did he see something in my head?
“Rayne. Listen to me.” His face turned intent. “This war cannot be won without sacrifice. This sacrifice is one I’m not sure any of us are ready for. Please keep that in mind.”
“I don’t want to lose any of you, I don’t want to die either.” I held my head in my palms and looked at the floor. “Chase, I don’t want to see anyone else die.”
“I understand that. I’m just warning you that we only have so much control of our paths. You have to make the right choices while on that path. I can’t see the future but there are many outcomes I could predict.” Chase’s expression was rueful and yet vague. It seemed like he knew a specific detail that he wasn’t telling me. Something I really wasn’t ready to know.
Chase stood. “You should probably get some rest. I'll wake up Loic, so he will be ready to guard you.”
Something else stuck in my mind. Rakesh’s appearance didn't sit right with anyone for sure, but it wasn't necessarily him that bugged me fully.
"Chase..."
"What is it, Rayne?"
"There's something else bothering you is there? I mean it's bugging me too. I heard before that Rakesh was a lieutenant. All I keep hearing is how bad he turned, Loic even mentioned that Rakesh saved him once. How did things go so bad?"
Chase sighed and turned to me. putting his hands in his pockets.
"It’s not really something we talk about much these days. Rakesh was indeed once a hero to Mirror Image. My father, Sir Roland fought alongside him. Another person who took control of Formless attacked our kingdom. We went into battle fresh from training. The Formless nearly wiped half of us out. Rakesh was on my father's team. He came back a hero only because he came back alone."
Alone, the way he said that made it sound like he didn’t believe Rakesh deserved the praise. Maybe losing a father would do that to someone, but he could also read minds. Maybe it had to do with something he saw.
“Seeing him again now. I saw the same eyes; Rakesh’s eyes haven’t changed... It's just a bit unnerving considering everything that has happened. Although he has changed."
“Changed?”
“Rakesh is a man who gave himself to the Formless. At first, I thought he just made a pact with them. Formless pacts can give one the shared power of a Formless in exchange to leading them to victims. I fear he has done much worse.”
The bottom dropped out of my stomach. “How much worse?”
“I would have to research more, but it looked like he was a perfect blend of Reflection and Formless. Its only happened one time in lore, where a Reflection sold his soul to a Formless and became their king.”
He scratched his head thinking in silence after that.
He only muttered in mirror English a bit. ‘Hguohtla I tnac emalb mih rof gnillaf os raf. I ylraen did ralimis.’ He rubbed his eyes and turned away from me as he continued his earlier silence.
I studied him. I couldn't imagine his view of things. The oldest of all of us, he saw more then we could ever imagine. Chase could look into minds, an understanding none of us could ever hope to achieve. That's when it dawned on me. He saw the same eyes. He was able to read Rakesh’s mind then. I hesitated to ask anymore. He looked at me and sighed, seeing exactly what I was holding back.
"Rayne, you're not quite strong enough to hear about what I saw."
"Not strong enough?"
"There are things that happen in war that break even the sanest minds. I'd hate to be the one to break yours."
I jumped back. His eyes flashed with something that sent chills up my spine. At his age and being a knight, it wouldn't surprise me if he had seen or even done things that would break me. Even just picturing it made me want to seek out my counselor.
"I understand." I mumbled. "You don't have to tell me."
"To be honest, I should."
He turned away from me and began to leave. Something in me urged to speak up.
"Chase."
He stopped and looked at me.
"I wouldn't think any less of you, you know."
Chase’s face didn't change as he looked at me. He didn't say anything, just gave me a slight smile.
"Good night, Rayne. Get some rest."
"Yeah. Night Chase."
And with that, he left and headed to his room.
I nodded and finished up my tea before heading to the other room and attempting to sleep. I couldn’t help but think of these outcomes that Chase was talking about. Unfortunately, I wasn’t much of an optimist.
THIRTEEN
♦
Will
MANAGING TO FALL ASLEEP, I was again surrounded by water. Back in the in-between, the tension of nearly dying, had faded and things were quiet. I looked to see the shadow. This time the shape looked more like Rakesh. The form was still solid black, but it was his height and build. So, all this time I was talking with Rakesh. Had he known it was me? I already established that he couldn’t see me, only hear me and sense that I was there. The lack of visual would normally make me feel better. But would he know my voice?
I was about to find out. The shadow turned to face me again.
“Back again, lost soul?” He asked.
Should I speak? Should I hide my voice somehow? He turned away and chuckled.
“My form has changed. I’m sure that is shocking to you.”
“How?” I squeaked. Covering my mouth and waiting for his response.
> “Something happened recently, and I had to rebuild my power. This resulted in being stronger in this realm as well. Now I can find it. I’ll find the Night Mirror.”
What incident was he talking about? Had Isha’s light really hurt him? That would be good news for sure. But on the other hand, if Rakesh was now stronger, than we would have to double our efforts.
He didn’t mention knowing my voice. Maybe I was safe to pry a bit more.
“What does the Night Mirror do?”
“Curious little spirit, aren’t you?”
“I died only hearing stories.” I lied. “I’ve always wondered if it was real.” I played up the vague tone in my voice.
He was silent for a moment, then I heard a chuckle. “Well it is indeed, and it gives me the chance to reset the worlds it’s attached to.”
“Reset?”
“The worlds were once one. A strong powerful world. One that not only had technology but magic as well. Then they were split apart and became two weak worlds. I’m going to rejoin them and remold them into one powerful realm, all under my thumb.”
So, he wanted to take over the worlds, by rejoining them? But rejoining would make them paradox, wouldn’t it? How could he think he could rule a world that would be in pieces?
“But wouldn’t it…p..para”
“Paradox? Oh please, the lies in those stories!”
“But…I’ve seen a paradox.”
“Then you’ve only seen the surface.”
What did any of that mean? What was he actually planning? I wanted to ask more, but I felt the pressure building around me. I had to leave. I stayed silent and tried to swim upward to the light-colored water above. I then managed to wake myself up. I opened my eyes in the museums’ spare room and saw my purse at my side. My first instinct was to write down what Rakesh had said.
I did just that, laying the first pieces in front of me:
Rakesh stronger in between. I wrote as the first note.
Glass Souls (Reflection Book 1) Page 33