The underground archives were colder than Ash expected. The stale air clung to his skin as he and Alice descended the crumbling stone staircase. The dim lantern light barely cut through the shadows, making the corners seem deeper almost too deep.
Ash held the folded note tightly in his hand. The second mirror lies where light cannot touch. Every step down felt like walking into a place that wanted to be forgotten. Yet he couldn't stop. Not when answers were this close.
"Are you sure about this?" Alice whispered. "If the society's been here, they won't just leave the mirror unguarded."
"They're already ahead of us," Ash said, his voice tight. "If we wait any longer, we'll lose everything."
The stairs gave way to a long corridor lined with locked iron doors. Ash scanned each one, searching for something anything that fit the clue. The walls were etched with worn-out inscriptions in a language he barely recognized.
"These symbols," Alice murmured, brushing her fingers over one, "I've seen them before. The same markings were around the first mirror."
Ash's heart quickened. He turned a corner, and there it was an arched doorway sealed by a rusted metal gate. The inscriptions here were fresher, the script curling like serpents around the frame. At the center, a familiar emblem: a serpent biting its own tail.
"The serpent ring," Ash muttered. "It's their mark."
Alice fumbled through her bag and pulled out a set of old keys. She'd taken them from the head librarian's office weeks ago, just in case. The third key slid smoothly into the lock. With a harsh groan, the gate swung open.
Beyond it lay a chamber unlike anything they'd seen before.
A circular room stretched before them, its walls carved with layers of arcane symbols. At the center, a pedestal stood beneath a broken skylight. But it wasn't the mirror that caught Ash's attention.
It was the empty frame.
"There's no mirror," Alice said, her relief edged with confusion.
Ash approached the pedestal, his pulse hammering in his ears. Something felt wrong unfinished. The stone frame was cold under his fingertips, yet the inscriptions surrounding it hummed faintly with power.
"Maybe the mirror was never here," Alice offered.
"No," Ash said softly. "It was here. But someone took it."
He traced the base of the pedestal and found a shallow indentation a perfect circle. His fingers trembled as he realized what it meant. "They didn't just take the mirror. There's a third artifact."
Alice's breath hitched. "A third?"
"The journals never mentioned it," Ash muttered. "But it makes sense. Two mirrors two gates. What if the third piece controls them both?"
Before Alice could answer, a faint noise echoed from the corridor a distant scrape of footsteps.
"Someone's coming," she warned.
Ash extinguished the lantern's flame, plunging them into darkness. He pulled Alice behind one of the stone columns, heart pounding as the footsteps grew louder.
A figure stepped into the chamber. The faint glow of an electric torch revealed the glint of a serpent-shaped ring.
The man.
Ash held his breath, watching as the man moved toward the pedestal. His movements were calm, deliberate. He knelt and placed something against the empty frame a small black crystal that pulsed faintly.
The inscriptions on the wall flared to life, casting eerie patterns across the chamber.
"What is he doing?" Alice whispered.
"Activating the gate," Ash murmured, barely able to suppress the rising dread. If the society had the second mirror and now this what else were they hiding?
The man tilted his head slightly, as if sensing them, but he didn't turn. Instead, he retrieved the crystal, tucked it inside his coat, and strode back toward the corridor.
Ash waited until the echoes of his steps faded. Then, without a word, he slipped from the shadows and knelt by the pedestal.
"What did he leave behind?" Alice asked softly.
Ash ran his hands over the cold stone and froze when he felt a scrap of parchment. Carefully, he unfolded it and read the elegant, curling script:
Three pieces, one truth. Do you understand yet?
His blood ran cold. This wasn't just a race to stop the society.
It was a test.
"We're missing something bigger," Ash said, his voice barely audible. "The mirrors there's a deeper purpose behind them. And they're using us to find it."
Alice grabbed his arm. "Ash, this is spiraling out of control. If they already have the second mirror, and there's a third"
"Then I need to find it first," he said, his determination cutting through the fear gnawing at his thoughts.
Alice's gaze softened. "But why? What are you really hoping to find?"
For a heartbeat, Ash didn't answer. Power. Control. Freedom. If he could unravel the society's secrets, no one would hold him back again.
"No more questions," he said instead, rising to his feet. "It's time we stop following their trail. We start making our own."
As they turned to leave, Ash felt a sudden chill ripple through the air. He glanced back at the empty frame but it wasn't empty anymore.
His reflection stared out at him, but something was wrong. Its lips moved without sound, forming words Ash couldn't hear. And behind his reflection, a shadowed figure lingered closer than before.
For the first time, Ash wondered if he was still the one in control.
And deep down, the mirror seemed to be waiting for his next move.