"But leaving me where you found me? That's poor manners, sire. You could at least take me to an antique shop; let me sit with my fellow mirrors. That's what I am now... a mirror. Why are you standing there like a statue? Take me away from this cursed moonlight. Back in my time, the moon wasn't brighter than the sun. Is this even the mortal realm? Mister... how dare you ignore me. Do you even know who I am?"
David didn't move and didn't even dare to turn and look at the mirror. For all he knew, he didn't want to believe the voice was coming from the mirror.
'Gods... Let an old man pass with a radio... It has to be a radio.'
The voice, meanwhile, was oblivious to David's fear. It just kept ranting on and on about how great it was "back in its day," without mentioning who or what it was.
After a deep thought and a forced confidence, David slowly turned to the mirror. His fear was hidden under his unreadable expression. He had learned how to hide his feelings and any other flaws behind a mask of indifference.
He squatted – his hands involuntarily falling on his laps – in front of the ranting mirror and kept staring at it. No words came out of his mouth for the first few minutes.
"What are you staring at? You haven't seen a talking mirror before?" the voice said dryly.
A deep frown appeared on David's face as he picked up the mirror again and studied it, turning it sideways as if looking for a switch to turn off the annoying voice.
"Will you stop turning? The inside of this mirror isn't that big, you know?"
David then studied the glass of the mirror. He didn't see a reflection; in its place was darkness. No, the darkness was moving.
He strained his eyes, looking deeper into the mirror.
It was swaying... walking? The darkness was mobile, aligning with every lamentation of the voice.
That was when it struck David. The darkness wasn't darkness but was actually a shadow. But a shadow of who? What?
... It was the shadow of the voice.
Or so David thought.
'That is the obvious answer, right?'
The shadow didn't reflect any shape; it was just moving from one place to another in the mirror. Looking at it even made the interior – if the mirror actually had an interior – seem more spacious.
So now, he was sure something – someone? – was stuck in the mirror.
But how? Who did it? Who or what was stuck? Why did it fall from the sky?
Finally, David spoke, a bit of harshness and coldness finding their way into his voice:
"What are you? Where did you come from? And how can you talk?"
The shadow stopped moving and the voice didn't reply at first. Not that it was scared, but it felt as if the shadow was staring at David. Then suddenly, the voice burst into laughter.
A very, very annoying laughter. It was almost an... evil laughter.
"I'll be damned... First of all, I have been talking all this time. I never thought you'd be able to understand my language... Asking too many questions all at once, you're just like that bossy human... And lastly, I won't be answering any of those questions."
David scowled, another question finding its way into his head.
'Bossy human? Who was that?'
"What are you exactly?"
The voice sighed, followed by the slight sound of a chuckle.
"I don't know you, human. I won't be saying anything. I'll be the one asking the questions here. Once I'm done, I might be able to answer yours."
David sighed, his mind drifting to Lily, who he left at home this evening.
'She would have woken up by now.'
He then nodded at the mirror to go on with its questions.
"What era or dimension is this?"
"Contemporary Era."
"Good... So has the 'pandemic' started yet?"
David hesitated for a second. He frowned at the question the talking mirror asked, and one of his questions was answered.
'So it doesn't know about the pandemic? Ooh... that led to another question.'
"Aah... When did it start?"
David's frown deepened.
"...About a year ago."
The voice sighed.
"Better late than never... Onto my last question." The voice paused.
It then asked with a cold, inhumane voice:
"... Are you a Warden?"
David was dumbfounded by the question. The intensity the voice used in asking the question was nothing short of terrifying. Still, David kept his cool and also replied to the mirror fiend in a cold voice.
"No."
The shadow stopped moving, and at that moment, it felt as if two empty eyes were staring at David from the mirror. The shadow was... dumbfounded.
"Really? Then how are you able to understand me? Ooh... she did mention something related to this... Ooh, the irony. You know, anguished human, I used to shine brighter than them a long, long time ago... At least that's what I remember before I sort of ended up in the mirror of darkness... Ooh, I'm the darkness... but I was bright once, I think."
David gave the mirror fiend an irritated look.
'What a talkative thing.'
After minutes of ranting and bragging... also sort of showing signs of amnesia – strange! – the mirror fiend kept quiet.
And for some moments, everything felt... awkward. It was still scary, but even at that, the two beings... David and the mirror fiend, are horrors on their own.
The former has a way of maintaining his composure and barely flinching at abnormal things, which isn't a normal behavior for a normal human being, while the latter is actually a talking mirror....
So it was as if two horror novels were battling for dominance, which is nothing if not awkward.
Finally, David sighed and tilted his neck a little. He gave the mirror one last glance and threw it back on the grass, the grass brushing the frame of the mirror.
He then stood up and turned around, leaving the mirror there.
The mirror fiend kept on ranting, but they all landed on deaf ears. David was not interested in listening or having anything to do with the fiend. If anything, he was satisfied with having just one problem on his neck: his daughter's sickness. He is not ready for a second problem, or multiple. Who knew how many problems a talking mirror would bring?
... Probably thousands, and that for a mundane human? Hell no!
'I have better things to do.'
David could hear as the voice of the mirror fiend grew distant and distant, till it disappeared finally.
Then as he turned into a narrow street, he couldn't help but feel... guilt? Why?
This feeling of guilt was as if he left a loved one behind. It was almost the same as the cold emotions he felt anytime he saw Lily in a bad state and always ended up blaming himself for it.
David gritted his teeth and tried to discard the thoughts but all to no avail. This feeling was persistent. All these feelings leading to more and more questions.
Questions kept piling up... And questions lead to mysteries, then to secrets, then hidden truths and lies, which all come together in one place... countless obstacles and problems.
... Something David avoided after that day...
He clenched his fists and stopped walking, staring at the end of the dark street. After a certain resolve and a battle over emotion – which emotion emerged victorious – he turned back in the direction of where he left the mirror fiend.
For what reason? To be honest, even he didn't know why, but he just had to blame everything on curiosity... desire.
Desire is not mere want. It is a spirit of chains, invisible yet unbreakable. Once it touches you, it binds your mind, your body, your very instincts, and there is no escaping it. It does not ask permission. It does not bargain with logic or morality. No matter how loudly your reason protests, how violently your conscience rages, desire will pull, tug, and drag you toward what it seeks.
It is patient, relentless, and merciless. It will bind you, slowly if it must, inexorably if it can.
Some call it temptation. Others call it ambition, curiosity, or obsession. But all of these are masks. Underneath, desire is a chain forged by the spirit of longing itself... a chain that will not loosen until it has taken you to the place it wants, whether you wish to go or not.
It's just human curiosity, yes, but it was more than that. Desire, David realized, was never so simple. It wasn't lust, nor greed, nor the childish need to own or control. No, this desire was much, much more effective.
It was the desire for answers. The mirror fiend had spoken in riddles and said many things that led to questions. Every question left unasked pulled at him. It was the kind of compulsion that didn't wait for permission, didn't bargain with reason. The rational part of him... the part that kept his daughter alive, that had survived a thousand small disasters... shouted, "Leave it, forget it!"
Those questions weren't just curiosity... they were chains, and David felt them tugging at his soul, binding him to the mirror even as he tried to ignore it.
There was something familiar in the voice, in the shadow, in the way the mirror seemed almost impossible to ignore. He couldn't name it, but it felt like a memory half-remembered. And just as memories refuse to be drowned, so too did his desire refuse to be ignored.
David gritted his teeth and exhaled, the cool night air brushing his face. Desire, he understood now, was a truth he couldn't deny... it was a hunger for understanding, for confronting the impossible, for seeing beyond the veil of his mundane, suffering life. It was dangerous, yes... but the risk was meaningless compared to the ache of leaving questions unanswered.
Step by step, he moved toward the dark street where the mirror lay, his shadow stretching long behind him. The mirror fiend had called him—perhaps deliberately, perhaps accidentally—but David knew that whatever game it played, he was already caught.
And somehow... he didn't care.
Standing in front of the mirror, he threw a composed glance at it and sighed... again.
"Ooh, you're back... If you're here to ask for forgiveness, then I forgive you... I'm not that heartless like you, you know? Sometimes I wonder if we're the evil ones and not humans. Your kind are so weird, vile, and the greatest liars... You always blame everything on er... What was his name again... Yes... Iblis. Why do you do that? I mean, Iblis is long dead... I think... What's wrong with my memories?"
David didn't say a word. He just bent and picked up the mirror. He was too amused or maybe curious to stop staring at the ranting mirror. For all he knew, this mirror was the second abnormality he had seen after that day...
... And the mirror also seems to vividly remind him of that day.
Then he held the mirror tightly and began walking back in the direction of the dark street again.
"So, fiend, what are you exactly?"
The fiend gasped and hissed.
"First of all, don't place me so close to your armpit! And secondly, I'm over a thousand years old, I possess knowledge of all eras, and I can speak in different era languages. It took me centuries to get to the rank of a Hellion... I faced cataclysms, battled transcendents, and died a couple of times... How dare you call me a low-rank name... Mind your language!"
It went on and on... bragging and ranting... Thankfully, they were still in a desolate area.
David faced the mirror and asked a single question.
"So then, tell me the names of those you battled?"
The mirror fiend didn't reply at first. Then it said, its voice now pale and cold.
"... I barely remember."