Ash's thoughts churned as they left the observatory, the echo of the mirror's whisper still gnawing at the edges of his mind. The cold night pressed against his skin, but something else weighed heavier the feeling that the mirror hadn't let go. Not entirely.
Alice walked beside him, her expression tight with worry. "That reflection was that really Oliver Kane?"
Ash's fingers tightened around the black journal tucked under his arm. "If it wasn't, then something wants us to believe it is," he said, his voice quieter than he meant.
But a darker thought lurked beneath the surface. What if Oliver's reflection wasn't a warning what if it was an invitation?
They returned to Ash's dorm, locking the door behind them. He tossed the journal onto his desk and sank into his chair. The words 'The first reflection is never lost' rang in his ears.
Alice folded her arms. "You're not seriously thinking about going back there."
"I have to." Ash leaned back, dragging a hand through his hair. "If Oliver's reflection is incomplete, then maybe there's still a way to pull him back or stop whatever's happening before it gets worse."
Alice shook her head. "You're treating this like a puzzle. But what if it's not? What if these forces don't follow logic?"
Ash smirked bitterly. "Everything follows logic. Even if it's a logic we don't understand yet."
But his certainty wavered. Beneath his rational façade, he felt the stirrings of something else a hunger. Not just to solve the mystery, but to master it. To control it. He told himself it was about answers, but deep down, a part of him knew the truth he wanted the power these mirrors promised.
Alice sighed and opened the brittle tome again. "There was one other thing… This 'Mirror Rite' it wasn't the only ritual tied to the observatory." She turned to a faded page. "There's something else called the 'Refractions.'"
Ash leaned forward. "What is it?"
"It's supposed to allow a person to see beyond the surface of reality through reflections." Her voice dropped. "But there's a price. It weakens the boundary between you and your reflection. The more you use it, the more you risk… not coming back."
A sharp knock interrupted them.
Ash froze. It was nearly midnight. No one should be outside his room.
Alice stood, exchanging a glance with him before opening the door.
A tall figure stood in the hallway. Pale, gaunt, with angular features that seemed too sharp in the dim light. His dark coat fell past his knees, and a silver signet glinted on his finger a serpent coiled around a mirror.
"I'm here for the journal," the man said, his voice smooth but cold.
Ash rose slowly, masking his unease. "Who are you?"
The man tilted his head. "Someone who knows you're meddling where you shouldn't. That journal isn't yours to keep."
Ash laughed softly, but there was no humor in it. "If it's so dangerous, why let it sit in the archives?"
"Because some doors," the man said quietly, "are better left unopened."
Alice stepped closer. "What do you want with the journal?"
The man's gaze shifted to her, unreadable. "It's not what I want. It's what it protects."
A tension hung heavy in the air. Ash felt the mirror's cold presence tugging at his mind again something about this man felt too precise, too calculated. As if he was only half-present.
Ash met the man's gaze. "If you want the journal, you'll have to take it."
A flicker of something amusement? crossed the man's face. "You have no idea what you're inviting."
He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small, polished shard of glass. "The Veil of Refractions isn't just a ritual," he said softly, holding the shard up to the light. "It's a key. But a key opens both ways."
Without another word, he turned and walked away, his footsteps eerily silent against the floor.
Alice exhaled, shutting the door. "Who the hell was that?"
Ash sat back down, heart pounding. "Someone who knows more than they're telling."
His rational mind urged caution but beneath it, something darker stirred. If there was a secret society watching the mirrors, guarding their power… didn't that mean there was something worth guarding?
Alice's voice softened. "Ash… how far are you willing to go?"
His lips curled into a faint smile sharp and cold. "As far as it takes."
In the silence that followed, the mirror on the wall flickered faintly just for a moment but enough to suggest something was still watching. And waiting.
Far beyond Ash's dorm room, the man with the serpent ring stood beneath the university's oldest building a forgotten clock tower. He turned the glass shard over in his palm, its surface shifting with eerie reflections. "He's closer than the others," he murmured to himself. "But is he the one we've been waiting for?"
From the shadows behind him, another voice low and cold answered. "He'll learn. Or he'll break."
And in the mirror's reflection, something stirred.