The abyss beneath his feet stirred, enveloping everything in his sight. Is this my true inner reflection?
The abyss consumed even the dim light of the moon, consuming everything in eternal darkness, slowly creeping up towards Ciel threatening to consume him whole.
Should I leave before anything could happen to me? He was forced to make a choice, his intuition screaming at him to flee while telling him to stay at the same time. If it's a reflection of me, it shouldn't be possible for it to kill me.
The sight of the abyss terrified him, paralyzing him with fear.
Slapping himself awake, Ciel turned to his wheelchair amidst the abyss, jumping towards it with his maximum speed.
What—
To his terror, the wheelchair was taken by the abyss sinking into nothing, he could no longer see it, but that didn't slow down the advance of the abyss.
But just before the abyss could take him, something deep within the waters began to take form, and a massive ivory tower emerged. A blinding light radiated from its peak, piercing through the abyss and driving it back into the dark waters below.
A lighthouse? The towering ivory structure stood before him, its presence sending ripples across the endless sea.
As he gazed up, a grand staircase slowly unfolded, leading him toward the lighthouse's gate.
It's not like I have anything better to do here. He chuckled to himself, taking one last glance around—only to be met with the same mind-numbingly mundane sea. The previous abyss was nowhere to be seen. Whatever that was… it's deep underwater now.
If I can leave these mines, I need to gather information about these inner reflections, could it kill me? Does it pose a danger to me? He wanted to believe that to be false, but the abyss trying to claim him was too terrifying for him to continue believing that.
Left with no choice, Ciel made his way towards the gate of the lighthouse as he climbed the ancient ivory stone stairs.
Looking at the gate of the lighthouse, he saw four circular dents on the side of the gate embedded into the structure of the lighthouse.
Ciel's first theory was that the indents are some sort of a key mechanism for the gate but that was proven wrong the moment the stone gate opened on its own.
Strange but it's convenient so I don't care all that much. He mused to himself again, walking into the lighthouse.
He wasn't on guard here. If anything kills me in my inner reflection—which, by the sound of it, is the reflection of my very being—then that's probably an issue on my part… and I'd deserve it.
The moment he entered, he was shocked to find how cozy the lighthouse looked. A receding armchair in a corner filled with books on his left, a pair spiraling stairs leading higher into the lighthouse in the center, and a cracked full-body mirror on his right… in front of an all-so-familiar wheelchair.
Didn't the abyss take this thing? Well, it was, so does that mean that this lighthouse is a part of the abyss that originally took the chair and threatened me? I wished for something to defend me from the abyss and this lighthouse appeared. That would make sense, I should have some control over my Inner Reflection.
As he thought more about it, the more plausible his theory seemed, but he still didn't know anything about his inner reflection or about the power he was supposed to wield and matter of fact, not even the world that he was pulled into.
Deciding to take a look around, he walked up to the bookshelf. If he wanted information, this was the best place to look.
The bookshelf itself was huge with more than ten rows, filled with books to the brim. Each row of the shelf had books coded by color, but strangely there were no words on any of their covers.
Opening the one closest to him, he furrowed his brows in his puzzlement—it was blank.
Putting it back, he picked up another book from the same row. Just like the one before, it was blank as well.
I should have known that this wasn't going to be that easy… Cursing to himself, he opened book after another, the corner of his lips shaking at the same time. Each of these are blank… classic.
He wanted to laugh, but he had no time to waste, who knew when Toren and Quin wants to talk to him. Quin did warn me against pulling out a weapon from here, does that mean that I'm not unarmed?
His eyes scouted the whole room in a hurry. Still unarmed.
The only remaining objects on the first level of the lighthouse were the chair beside the bookshelf, his wheelchair, and the cracked full-body mirror.
If it still works the same way, my wheelchair should be the bridge between this place and the 'real' world, so if I touch it, I should be leaving this place.
In that case let's leave that for the end. With that tough process, he walked up the the full-body mirror.
It appeared completely normal on the outside, but the moment he stepped closer, he was shocked to see that his reflection was absent from the mirror. Instead, a small spherical object floated in the spot where he stood.
What is this exactly? He stepped closer to the mirror, the object floating closer together with him. He studied the location of the object—the left side of his chest, the same spot where his heart was beating.
Is this inside my heart? Damn it, the longer I stay here, the more questions I have and I still don't know anything. Cursing his circumstances, he decided to walk up to his wheelchair and put this problem at a later time when his situation wasn't so grave.
Yeah, let's escape this damn mine first. With that, he touched his wheelchair, his vision drastically changing again, in a split second, he was back in the burial site.
Damian still suffering from his grave injury, Toren still watching out for the calamity, and Old Quin… he was no longer sitting, he was in front of one of the murals.
***
I don't know anything about my inner reflection or my ability, I need to maintain my bluff. With that sentiment, he walked up to Old Quin who studied the murals on the wall, he had an unreadable expression on his face.
As he stood by the side of the old man, the latter completely ignored him so Ciel didn't mind it and began to study the moral on his own.
It depicted a large mountain path with countless people climbing it to reach the top where a priest clad in white waited for them, flying right above the priest was an angel with sickly green rotting wings, holding a scale in one hand and a spear in another.
The mural also depicted countless disasters at the bottom of the mountain. Floods, forest fires, famine. Countless catastrophes struck those who lived in the village at the bottom of the mountain.
Does this mean that this place isn't a mine but the inside of a mountain? That makes more sense, why would anyone set up a mausoleum inside a mine? This realization should have filled him with joy, but his heart was devoid of it.
Looking at the rest of the murals, catastrophes continued to strike the people, and the priest no longer stood at the top of the mountain but at the bottom, fighting a beast that sent a shiver down his spine.
Depicted with countless arms and a body covered in black feathers, its head could only be compared to a bird. Like a mutated crow or raven.
Lesser calamity my ass. He cursed his luck again as he clearly saw a monster depicted by ancient murals.
Walking by the side of the walls and looking at the murals, Ciel almost clicked his tongue as he saw the rest of the murals that would have depicted the outcome of the was fight destroyed.
Well, I don't need the murals to know that the Calamity has been somehow sealed to the mountain and the priest lost, so does that mean…? He turned towards the middle of the room at the brightly illuminated stone coffin.
The tomb of the priest… he died in his fight against the calamity.
Old Quin stared numbly at the murals for a short while before turning to Toren who remained vigilant by the side of the obliterated wall.
"We should hurry up and catch up with the team of Cole. If we can bring them back here, we can buy some time and attack the calamity at the same time if it tries to take us." Reasoned Old Quin with his map in hand.
Yeah, good luck with that old timer. I rather breathe in this fresh air after I had to almost suffocate myself again. The last thing on the mind of the youth was rushing back into the mines without breathable air, he had enough suffocating experiences for one day.
Toren nodded at the words of old Quin while walking deeper into the burial site, "The boy will lead me, you stay and protect Damian."
"I gladly help get the others here." Expressed Ciel who briefly showed a smile. Bullshit!
"You need to lead us in the dark, we can't ignite that lantern." Told him Toren matter-of-factly, only increasing the frustration that Ciel did not show.
"I understand." Toren was still pale from the over usage of his ability and Ciel felt a similar strain.
Old Quin stood behind by the side of the wounded Damian before handing his makeshift map to Toren.
The two of them took one last deep breath before stepping back through the shattered wall, returning to the tunnels—straight into the domain of an ancient Calamity sealed within the mountain.