The Crow Behind the Mirror_Book One of the Mirror Wars

by Sean M. Hogan

  “Go!” He slapped the horse’s rump and it took off down the path with Charlotte and Eric. “I have a debt to repay.”

  ***

  Asura turned, meeting the gaze of the Undead Bride.

  She just stood there, eerily still a few yards away, holding Eric’s skull mask over her face.

  He braced himself, flexing his muscles as he stalked toward her.

  “I am just as much to blame for this wicked world as those animals outside these gates. And I will gladly face my punishment. But my sin was mine to bear. My little girl was pure, damn you!”

  Asura’s crystal ignited with blue light. He extended his hands and conjured up fire from the air above. The flames encircled him, collecting speed after each rotation, cloaking him in robes of fire. He sent his hands crashing together.

  The flames hurled themselves at the Undead Bride, setting her ablaze in hellfire. She wailed a horrid sound akin to a live pig’s screech as it roasted over a pit of coals. She flailed around, thrashing and twisting into the air, before withering to the ground. And there she remained still as the flames receded to smoke.

  This did nothing to quell Asura’s anger. He drew his sword in a mad fury and stabbed the Undead Bride again and again. Each thrust and slash more violent and animalistic than the last. “You had no claim. No claim!” Asura’s crystal changed color—burning with the intensity of bright crimson. His eyes and hair followed suit as his emotions took over, pushing him beyond the realm of reason and rationale, transforming him into a being of pure hate. The Emo-sha Rage.

  “Why?” A quiet voice whispered out from the rising clouds of black smoke. Ashley’s voice. “Daddy, why?”

  Rage halted his attack and, slowly, gazed down. “Ashley? Is that you?”

  The Undead Bride shot up screaming. Her veil off and her black skeleton face exposed—mouth gaping—tears flowing down her empty eye sockets in streams of black oil. She grabbed Rage’s arm, blackening the skin.

  Rage didn’t scream, not yet.

  In her other boney hand rested the smoldering, glowing white-hot skull mask. She slammed it onto his face, branding the mask permanently to his flesh. Black frostbite overcame his entire body and the meat on his face seared under the skull mask.

  Now, at last, Rage let out a bone-chilling scream.

  Only then did the Undead Bride break her silence, speaking in a demonic voice. “Why are you all such a worthless, fearful lot?”

  ***

  Rage’s scream echoed in the distance as Eric rode through the gates and past the royal lands and into the woods. He cringed when he heard his father-in-law’s cry. His face and heart became riddled with a painful shame, a heavier burden than ever before.

  I was a fool to think I could kill my sin. A foolish child. No, worse than a child. Children have the excuse of ignorance on their side. I was supposed to be all-knowing, omnipotent, a god. What a joke. Eric had let immortality go to his head and solitude harden his heart. But now I know the truth. There is no such thing as immortality. He was not special. Death was still coming. It was just a matter of time. If only you could see me now, he thought, what a laugh you’d be having at my expense, Able.

  Eric’s hands trembled as he clutched the horse’s reins. How many lives did I send to their graves tonight? How many since that night in the dungeon? Mr. Glasses was right, I am the card of death, the pale rider. He gazed down at Charlotte. She looked so beautiful, so peaceful, and so oblivious of the horrors that awaited her when she awoke. Tonight, he had taken everything from her. And if he kept on riding she would no doubt be taken as well. He could spare her life at least. Better to end it all now, turn around and face his sin one last time. End the trail of corpses that clawed at his heels. But he couldn’t will his hands to pull back on the reins. Tears streamed off his cheeks. What a pitiful coward I am, Eric berated himself, what a worthless, fearful worm. Three hundred years and nothing has changed. I’m still running.

  CHAPTER 27

  The Balancing Point

  LAUGHTER RANG OUT in the lush green meadow. Sharon raised her head from the soft moss to get a better view. The young tree-sprites were playing with a half dozen faeries. They took turns chasing one another around the great trees of the Sacred Forest, playing games resembling hide-and-seek and tag. The faeries laughed in their tiny impish voices as they teased the young spritelings. Sharon laughed too.

  A shadow moved over her.

  Her laughter died. She looked up to find Sofiel standing behind her.

  “Come, I want to show you something,” she told Sharon.

  Sofiel led Sharon to the edge of the Sacred Forest. They hiked up to the top of a hill with a single tree poking out like a sore thumb and peered across the cold winter-laced forest stretched out before them. The ground below them was lush and green. The ground a few feet ahead, divided by a perfect line, was covered in hard sheets of ice.

  “So, what’s wrong with a little snow?” asked Sharon.

  “Aside from the forests in the North and the sea to the South, our world is completely surrounded by desert. Tuat has never seen a winter before. That is, until one decade ago, just before Solomon’s fall and Simon’s rise to power.”

  “That’s strange...” Sharon took a step forward.

  Sofiel watched her with great interest.

  “But it seems to have stopped here.” No, not just stopped but divided by a perfect unnatural line. She placed her hand against the Pyramid of Life, blue ripples pulsed out from her fingers. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Everything is connected, she told herself as she recalled Sofiel’s words. And in a flash of light, like a door opening inside her mind, she could feel the entire force field now, feel the electrical pulses of the soul of the great Tree of Life, Nirva herself, as if they were nerve endings connected to her body. The whole Pyramid of Life is boxed in with ice on all four sides, or more accurately, it’s repelling the ice… holding it at bay.

  “Khaba said no foreign magic can cross through the Pyramid of Life. Which means the ice is magical in origin.” She glanced over to Sofiel. “Rage and Joy must be behind it.”

  “But to what aims?”

  “To kill you and the tree-sprites, obviously.”

  Sofiel didn’t look convinced.

  “You said he attacked the other Mirror Guardians before,” said Sharon. “Maybe he’s back for revenge.”

  “No.” Sofiel folded her arms and lost herself in thought. “It doesn’t make sense. Rage is still a Mirror Guardian, regardless of his fall from grace, possessing the same powers and knowledge of the soul as me. Although Nirva does have the power to sense ill intent and will repel hostile magic. Which is why she exiled Khaba after he threatened to cut her down when Gabriel and the tree-sprites refused to aid in his war against Simon.”

  Sharon fiddled with a lock of her hair. So, Khaba was wrong, his banishment wasn’t Simon’s doing.

  “But against a fully trained Mirror Guardian who can alter the color of his thoughts and disguise them, Nirva would be helpless. No. If he wanted to cross over into the Pyramid of Life he would have already. No one could stop him, including me. And to use ice. Rage is a fire wielder. Elemental affinities are inherited at birth and do not change throughout one’s lifetime. Very few, gods or otherwise, can wield more than one element—let alone to a degree of this magnitude.”

  “That still leaves Joy,” said Sharon. “Maybe he’s the ice wielder?”

  “You mentioned Joy could fly. The only element I know that could give him such power would be wind, not ice. Even among the other gods of Tuat, there is no one who possesses an ice affinity.”

  “Don’t tell me there’s another one—another Emo-sha.”

  “Not likely,” said Sofiel. “There is never more than two. A king and a slave. The dominant master, Rage, and his subservient pawn, Joy. Emo-shas cannot coexist with anyone let alone each other. And their parasitic relationship always ends the same. Either the slave will slay the king and take his crown or the king will murder
the slave when he has found a more suitable replacement.”

  So, which end will it be? Will Joy take Rage’s crown and don his mask of death or would he end up like Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun? Sharon couldn’t help but feel a sinking sensation of dread for Jeff despite all he had done. Jeff… you’re playing with fire and it’s just a matter of time before you get burned.

  A bird’s caw drew Sharon’s attention away from Sofiel. She gazed up at the tree.

  The crow, perched in the branches above, stretched out its dark wings before tucking them back in.

  They locked eyes.

  Sharon smiled. “My one and only personal spirit guide. Come to guide me through another walkabout? I guess I should apologize for slapping you back then...” She extended her hand to the crow, closed her eyes, and focused her mind. “I can feel your soul’s energy now.” Inside her mind—her mind’s eye—she saw a dark flame burning like a phantom’s candle just beyond the void. “And you feel so alone.” A cold sensation trickled down the nerves of her fingertips. She fought back the urge to recoil. “Is that why you brought me here? So you wouldn’t be alone anymore?”

  You tricked and trapped me here only to defy your master at the last moment. You doomed me and saved me at the same time. Rage may have been using you to get to me, but that doesn’t change the fact you were just as much a victim in all this as I was. He was manipulating your original need to seek out a kindred spirit, wasn’t he? Twisting your needs to satisfy his own wicked plans. You were never at fault. You were never the enemy. Rage is.

  “This whole time I’ve been feeling sorry for myself,” said Sharon, fighting back the swelling tears. “But you’re in much more pain than I am, aren’t you? Who did this to you? Who hurt you? Was it Rage? Joy?”

  “No,” said Sofiel, walking up to the tree and glaring at the crow. “You’re wrong.” She extended her hand to the crow. “Whatever this thing is… it’s no soul. I can’t feel a spiritual aura of any kind—living nor dead. I feel only emptiness. The same hollow feeling I get from this ice.” She drew her hand back. “Sharon, I want you to stay away from this thing.”

  “Hey, he’s the one who won’t leave me alone.” She gave the crow a smirk. “Can’t resist my magnetic charm, can you?”

  “I’m serious,” Sofiel shouted.

  Sharon shrunk back. Sofiel’s outburst caught her off guard. She had never seen her angry before. Sofiel was always so calm. “But what if he brought me here to stop whatever is causing the ice?”

  “No good could come from a being like this… no matter the reason it brought you here.”

  “I think she’s right, Sofiel,” said a voice behind.

  Sofiel and Sharon spun to meet Gabriel heading their way.

  He hiked up the hill and greeted them with a bow of his head. “Perhaps, like us, it sensed Sharon’s power and brought her here to save our planet. I believe this is more than chance.” He took Sofiel’s hands into his. “All of this has been orchestrated. There are higher forces at work here, Sofiel.”

  Sofiel sighed. “Gabriel...”

  “Don’t you see?” he asked, passion overtaking him. “She is the answer to our prayers. She is our salvation.”

  “I’m gonna puke if you start calling me the chosen one,” said Sharon dryly.

  Sofiel pulled her hands from Gabriel’s grasp. “She is just a child, Gabriel, albeit one with an unusually high spiritual aura, but a child nonetheless.”

  Sharon frilled her brow, the child comment rubbed her the wrong way.

  “What I felt back there at Baba’s cave shook me down to the bones,” said Gabriel. “And I know you felt her power too.”

  “Power she neither understands nor is able to control in the slightest.”

  “Then teach her.”

  Sofiel massaged the bridge of her nose in frustration. “To become a Mirror Guardian takes a lifetime of discipline and study. What you want is a quick fix to an impossible situation. You’re not thinking rationally, Gabriel. Rage has no doubt felt her power too. What happens if he finds her here? Have you given that any thought whatsoever?”

  Gabriel pointed to the ice. “Look around us, Sofiel. We’re running out of time. What choice do we have?”

  Sofiel glanced across the infinite sheets of ice and snow, her silver hair catching in the cold wind. “‘There is always a choice.’ Your words—not mine, Gabriel. I will not lead Sharon down a path of destruction just to spare my own life.”

  “Hey, don’t I get a say in the matter?” Sharon protested. “I’m starting to think Gabriel might be right. Okay, not so much the savior part but—”

  “Gabriel is not the one who decides,” Sofiel fired back.

  Sharon looked to Gabriel for support but he averted his gaze to the ground. It was obvious he wasn’t used to being at odds with Sofiel. His love for her was holding him back from pressing the matter further. Sharon didn’t share that problem.

  “Just listen for a minute, dammit. Maybe everything that has happened to me has been part of a bigger picture. I know it sounds silly—even to me. Call it destiny or fate or whatever. But whatever it is, this is my reason… my destination.”

  The crow observed her with great interest and a patient, quiet understanding, awaiting her next words.

  The feeling Sharon got when she and the crow were together was undeniable now. They were two halves of the same coin, each the other’s whole. She had to see this through. That was her instinct, her belief. She locked eyes with Sofiel. “Help me gain the power to fight Rage and free the crow. If I can unlock my soul then I’ll have a weapon to—”

  “That is the way of the Emo-sha,” said Sofiel. “To abuse the power of your soul for personal want corrupts the mind and curses the spirit. The soul is not a weapon to be used against another. You must not make the same mistake as Rage. He became too involved in the world he was chosen to shepherd, too tied to its fate. And he paid the price for it.”

  “I’m not Rage,” Sharon yelled in a furious spout, her cheeks filling with a rush of blood. “I’m nothing like him.” I’m not like him, I’m not like Joy, and I’m nothing like my father. Those worthless men in her life that always took so much and gave back only pain.

  Sofiel saw the fire in her eyes. “So that’s Rage’s plan...” she said to herself in a hushed whisper, placing her hand over her mouth and turning from Sharon as the realization hit her. “You’re to be his new slave, his new pawn. No, worse than that, his replacement.”

  Sharon leaned in and tried to listen but it was no use. “What are you mumbling about?”

  She turned her back on Sharon and descended the hill. “You are not ready.”

  “Wait a second,” Sharon yelled. “Rage said I had to finish what my father started. He could be referring to this ice or maybe something else. Either way—he won’t rest until he finds me.”

  “If that’s true then it’s too dangerous for you to stay here any longer,” said Sofiel, glancing back over her shoulder.

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m sorry for all that you’ve been put through, Sharon, but I think it’s time for you to go home.”

  ***

  Sofiel raised her torch, devouring the darkness with a flickering orange glow. She led Sharon by the hand into the depths of the mystical cavern, pulling her along like some naughty child being marched straight to her room.

  The cavern snaked onward nearly a mile down into the moss-covered mountain. The smooth walls curved to the floor like the intestine walls inside the gut of a huge ancient beast turned to stone. Above, a hundred feet or so, giant stalactites lined the ceiling. Below, stalagmites were scattered about on the floor. The constant drip-drip of water drops echoed in the distance.

  “Hold on, damn it!” Sharon yanked her hand free. “You told me it was up to me to find my true path. Well, I found it. I want to help.”

  Sofiel pushed on forward. “This isn’t your world.”

  “I thought everything was connected?�
�� Sharon trailed after Sofiel, keeping up with her hurried pace, not wanting to lose the only light source. The cavern splintered out into a labyrinth of dozens of twisting tunnels, getting lost here was asking for trouble. “Besides, Joy is from my world. This is my fight too now.”

  “There isn’t going to be any fight,” Sofiel said, her gaze focused ahead.

  “What do you mean? What if Rage comes or the ice spreads? You can’t just sit here and wait to die.”

  “If that’s where my path leads, yes. Violence, hatred, pain. These things are not the way to the true path. They are not our ways.”

  “No, not good enough. Your planet—your people are gonna die out there. You don’t see anything wrong with that?”

  “Morality is a human concept, nothing more,” said Sofiel. “The only way to separate one’s self from this world is to abandon all notions of right and wrong.”

  “What?” Sharon could only shake her head at Sofiel’s words.

  “We are animals, not gods. Only the prideful pretend otherwise.”

  “Rage is evil. And what he’s doing is beyond evil. How can any fight be more justified?”

  “Seeing the world as a struggle between good and evil is merely simplistic thinking,” said Sofiel. “Assigning one action as wicked and another as righteous is pure arrogance. Do not presume to speak from a higher authority. You must step back and see the bigger picture. Our individual lives are just insignificant specks in an ever—”

  “People are dying,” Sharon roared at the top of her lungs. Her words echoed endlessly in the darkness of the cavern.

  Sofiel stopped. Her gaze rose to a seven-foot-tall freestanding mirror ahead of her. The silver framed mirror stood perfect and unique, like a freshly formed snowflake.

  Sharon looked into her reflection and her anger lost its steam. The mirror… at last.

  “Wanting, no matter how strong, cannot change reality,” said Sofiel. “The world is what it is. Desiring things to be different will only bring you more suffering and pain. We must accept our place in this life and be content with what little time we have.”