Zara stepped into the mirror.
It was like falling through a surface of cold mercury. Her skin tingled, her breath caught, and for a moment, it felt like her body didn't belong to her. Then—she landed.
She opened her eyes to find herself standing in Dorm 304.
But it was wrong.
The lights flickered dimly, casting strange shadows across the room. The walls were cracked, peeling, and covered in messages—hundreds of them, scratched into the paint with fingernails, keys, or maybe even broken glass.
They all said the same thing:
"The Watcher waits."
Zara turned. The mirror behind her had solidified. She could no longer see Cain.
Her breath fogged in the air.
This world was colder. Heavier.
Her heart pounded as she crept toward the desk. On it sat a single object: a photograph. She picked it up carefully.
It was a picture of Maddie.
Taken inside the mirror.
Zara gasped.
Then—behind her—footsteps.
She spun around.
Nothing.
She turned back.
The photo was gone.
Back in the real world, Cain stared into the mirror.
Zara had vanished.
"Come on," he whispered, placing his hand on the surface. It was solid again.
Suddenly, a dark shape formed on the other side. Cain leaned in—
It was him.
A mirrored version. Cold. Expressionless. But his eyes burned with something ancient.
"Let me through," Cain demanded.
The mirrored Cain only tilted his head… and smiled.
Inside the mirror realm, Zara heard the walls breathe.
She followed the hallway. It was an exact replica of the dorm building but decayed and lifeless. Room numbers were reversed. Time seemed fractured—hallway clocks ticking backward.
She passed Room 304 again. Inside, someone was crying.
She pushed the door open.
And froze.
Maddie.
Sitting on the bed. Pale. Her eyes vacant.
"Maddie!" Zara cried, rushing over. "You're alive! We thought—"
Maddie looked up slowly.
"Who are you?"
Zara froze. "It's me… Zara. Your roommate."
Maddie blinked. "I don't have a roommate. I've always been here. Alone."
Zara's heart dropped. "They erased you…"
Maddie stood, her expression dreamy. "The Watcher whispers when the lights go out. It promised me peace. And now I remember everything. I remember Elara. I remember the fire."
Zara backed away. "What fire?"
But Maddie only smiled. "You'll see."
The room ignited.
Cain ran to Professor Veldon's office.
"She went in," he panted. "She's trapped."
Veldon's eyes widened. "You didn't perform the binding?"
"There was no time!"
Veldon stood and grabbed a small obsidian shard from his shelf. "Then the mirror will feed on her memories until she forgets who she is."
Cain clenched his fists. "I'm going in."
Veldon stopped him. "If you enter without the tether, you'll become a reflection. Not yourself. You'll lose her and you."
Cain took the shard and walked toward the mirror anyway. "Then I'll become whatever I need to be to bring her back."
Zara awoke in a white room.
Her limbs were heavy. The world was hazy. And standing in front of her—
Was Cain.
But something was wrong.
He was younger. His hair shorter. His face untouched by the shadows of everything they'd endured.
"Cain?" she whispered.
He smiled. "Zara. You finally made it back."
"Back?"
"To the beginning."
She tried to stand, but her body didn't respond. "Where are we?"
"In the echo," Cain said. "Where the first memory loops."
Zara looked around. The room began shifting—images flashing across the walls. Scenes from her life. Her childhood. Her first day at college. Her meeting with Cain. The first night she heard the whispers.
"You're not real," she whispered. "You're the mirror's version of Cain."
He tilted his head. "I'm the version that remembers everything. I remember loving you before you even knew my name."
Zara's eyes filled with tears. "What do you want from me?"
"To stay. Forever."
She screamed.
Cain (the real one) shattered the mirror with the obsidian shard.
The glass exploded into a whirlwind of light and dark, revealing a rift. He dove through.
The mirror world greeted him with ice and silence.
He ran.
And found Zara in the white room, screaming.
"Zara!" he called.
She turned—tears streaming down her face.
He grabbed her hand.
The false Cain hissed. "She's mine."
Cain pulled Zara close. "She was never yours."
The white room cracked.
Reality began collapsing.
Together, Cain and Zara sprinted back through the shifting hallways. Rooms changed around them. Elara's name echoed off the walls. Maddie's laughter faded into static.
They reached the mirror.
But it was closing.
Cain pushed her through first.
Then—
He turned.
The false Cain stood behind him.
"Only one of us leaves," it said.
Cain stared him down. "Then it'll be her."
He dove through the mirror just as the false Cain lunged.
Back in the real world, Zara gasped as she landed on the dorm floor.
The mirror shattered behind her.
Cain fell beside her—bleeding, unconscious.
"Cain!" she screamed.
His eyes fluttered open.
"Hey," he whispered. "Did we win?"
She laughed through tears. "Not yet."
Because on the wall behind them, new words had appeared in blood:
"THE WATCHER STILL WAITS."
To be continued...