——— Mira ———
I knew I should have expected this, but only after taking a few steps closer to the fox, Minho stopped on the spot as if he was frozen. It's not like he was scared and sobbing like the Silverback Wolfman or Konya did - not yet - but it was more like he became petrified, as he would have during the Petrocanavar battle if things didn't work out.
Around the same time, the sky started to darken and I was surrounded by darkness.
Here it comes.
The darkness then fully engulfed me, but to my surprise, it didn't trap me there. I was suddenly standing on the circus stage, a circular platform surrounded by hundreds of spectators. I looked around and saw my Mom and Dad looking at me. Dad was playing his Six-Strings and Mom was doing a little drum roll, which was the sign for me to perform my trick.
Eh?
I thought he was going to show me something scary?
But then my Mom and Dad kept on blinking their eyes, expecting me to perform the trick.
Wait, what do they want?
Oh.
The way they blinked their eyes three times in quick succession, was our sign that I was supposed to make the illusion of a giant dancing flame fairy.
Easy.
I knew this must be just Ellis playing some mind games, but it was also a good test for me to see if my Illusion worked.
So I recited the spell I was so familiar with that I had zero fear of failing, but…
I… I can't make the flame fairy?!
No way.
This is just some funny world that the Blind Fox was making me see, but I'm the greatest Illusionist from the Kakwaszavoot clan. I SHOULD be able to make my illusion be it in a physical world or in an illusionary environment. I was counting myself on the fact that I could. I assumed that the Mind Attack works similar to Illusions, but just cast inside the mind of the recipient. It would have been an easy game to play for me as I was confident that I can reshape and alter the illusions in MY head.
"Pssst! What's wrong, Minakong?"
My Dad whisper-shouted to me while he was still playing on his instrument, and my Mom was starting to look anxious as she was continuing her drum-roll a little TOO long for her liking.
"Da-, Dad… I can't-"
"Booh~, Come on! Show us something!"
Then one of the audience shouted.
"Yeah! Don't keep us waiting!" Another one shouted.
Dang it! I can do this. It doesn't matter where I am! I, Mira, can ALWAYS make the flame fairy.
I recited the spell again and pointed at the spot where the giant flame fairy should appear, but again-
Nothing happened.
The crowd started booing.
"What is this? I didn't pay to see some lame child choke on stage!"
"Yeah! What a stupid show!"
"I want my money back!"
Then people started to chant.
"We want our money back!"
"We want our money back!"
My Dad stopped playing, and so did my Mom.
Dad walked over and stood in front of me.
I let him down. I never let him down on stage before, but this time I did - and in MY own mind as well. This was the ultimate defeat as an Illusionist.
"Useless."
"What?" I was shocked as my Dad spat out.
"You can't even do a simple trick you used to do since you were a child?" My Mom joined in.
"Wait-, listen-"
"How shameful."
Suddenly the Elders of the clan were surrounding me on the stage amidst all the booing from the audience, and they started to speak to me in a synchronized voice.
"And we were counting on you. We placed all our faith in you. And you LET US DOWN."
"No! I can turn this around! This is just a simple - a cheap trick!"
"That's what you are, Mira."
I heard a familiar man's voice coming from behind and turned around to find Minho.
No.
Don't do this.
"You are nothing but a cheap trick."
Don't make him say this.
"I knew it from the start. You can't do any REAL magic, can you?"
"I-, I-"
"You are a FAKE. A CHEAP FAKE."
"S…STOP!!!" I yelled out.
"And you are a FAILURE." Everyone surrounding me said at the same time.
I, Minakong, collapsed to my knees.
Humiliation.
I have failed.
I have truly failed everyone - and myself.
I tried my best my whole life. I put up with all the stupid things that those cocky bastards at school said about me, both in front and behind my back. I thought my heart was made of steel by now, but I was wrong. I was not as strong as I thought I was, and as I told Minho that I was.
Tears started to flow down my cheeks and dropped to the ground as the mixture of laughter and insults boomed around me.
But then-
Just as a single drop of tear landed on the ring I was wearing, the ring that I used to summon Minho, I saw a brief glimpse of him as a reflection on the wet ring. He was curled up on the ground crying like a baby, totally dejected. Broken.
Is this…?
I focused on the image. It flickered, but the more I focused on it, the clearer and more stable it got. I could still hear everyone surrounding me calling me a failure, but I knew, I knew that this Minho believed in me. He was hopeless and useless as usual, but I knew at this very moment he was counting on me and I was the only one who could reach out to him.
"Minho, I'm coming in."
Then rather than trying to project an illusion outside, I projected an illusion of myself into the reflection on the ring.
Then it happened.
Everything went quiet for a second and I was completely surrounded by darkness again, and I was standing in front of the broken Minho on the ground.
I was in.
"Minho!"
I shouted but he did not respond. I knelt next to him and shook him violently to bring him back to his senses, but he was so withdrawn and in panic that nothing seemed to get through to him.
Then I looked up and saw a man beating on a helpless girl.
Is this… what Minho feared?
I looked down at Minho again and he was crying uncontrollably, keep murmuring and begging for the man to stop.
Unforgivable.
Something was starting to burn inside my heart. Not an illusion of fire, but a real fire.
Are you watching this, Ellis?
Are you WATCHING this?
I recited the Mirror of Despair in my heart, and I could feel each word of the spell pulsate together with my heartbeat. Slowly, the Mirror emerged from the ground between the man and the girl. The man stopped beating her, and now the mirror stood tall in front of him and he was unable to look away from it.
Gotcha.
Then the man fell to his knees with his head in his head, trying to look away, but he couldn't. He started to shout and scream, but his voice was cracking and it started to split as if he was screaming in two different voices at the same time.
Minho finally seemed to come around.
He stopped crying, sat up, and looked at the man who was now in utter shock and fear, screaming in two voices.
"GRAB HIM NOW!!!"
I commanded and Minho, as if snapped out of a trance, violently jerked his body and dashed toward the man, and grabbed the broken man's neck.
"PULL!!!"
Minho pulled on the neck he was holding onto and the man instantly vaporized into a dark mist, and now in place of the man, Minho was holding-
Ellis.