"He doesn't want to."
The words burrowed into my brain like termites, eating through every thought that tried to form. I stared at the mirror,not through it, into it. Into him.
Sallos Enmirak.
His presence swallowed the room. Not with volume or movement, but with density. Like gravity had shifted. The air turned syrup-thick again, and breathing felt like drinking from a lake of oil.
He raised one of his four glowing eyes, and for the briefest second, I saw it.
Regret.
Not mine. His.
My throat burned. "Why are you doing this?" I rasped at her.
Miss Kaur didn't look at me. Her gaze remained locked on the mirror like it held salvation,or power.
"Because pain is memory," she said, as if quoting scripture. "And you've forgotten everything."
Her hand slipped into her coat pocket. She pulled out something small,round, metallic, etched with runes that squirmed under the light. A locket? No. It was a seal. A fragment of something ancient, humming with something wrong.
"You were never supposed to have a normal life, Ojas," she said, walking behind me. I heard the click of metal, the soft rustle of fabric, the sudden heat against the back of my neck.
"I don't want this," I whispered.
"I know," she said simply. "Neither did he."
The mirror darkened.
And then it spoke.
Not with sound. With thought.
The words weren't heard,they were injected into my head. My vision pulsed with the syllables, my heart skipping like a scratched record.
Miss Kaur tilted her head.
"He's resisting," she murmured. "I expected that."
She turned, facing me again. "You're lucky, in a way. The last vessel screamed until their throat collapsed. You're stronger than they were. Emotionally chaotic, but spiritually? You're compatible."
I stared at her, shaking now, every limb trembling under the pressure.
"Compatible with what?" I asked.
"The curse," she said. "It was never about torment. It was about transfer."
She stepped closer and placed the seal on my chest. I gasped. It burned like dry ice, sinking straight through my skin. I could feel it pressing against my heart,not physically, but spiritually. Like it was crawling across my soul, looking for a door to force open.
She whispered something in a language that made my ears ring. The mirror shook. The walls seemed to breathe.
Sallos's thoughts were desperate now. His four eyes glowed brighter, then dimmed like a failing heartbeat.
I understood now,he wasn't a monster.
He was trapped, just like me.
"Why… won't you listen to him?" I managed to say.
She turned slowly, her expression unreadable. "Because I can't afford to feel sorry. My family created this demon. My blood owes its power to binding him to yours. If I don't complete this rite, the curse doesn't end,it spreads. Do you want more people to suffer because you wanted mercy?"
"I didn't ask for any of this!"
"But you were born for it," she hissed. "Do you think your dreams were random? Your obsessions, your loneliness, your fear? Everything you are was shaped to carry this weight."
Her voice trembled now,not with sadness, but control. Like she was barely holding something inside her chest. And then I saw it. The thing she was trying to bury.
Guilt.
She didn't want to do this. But she had to.Or she believed she did.
She raised her hand again and pressed her palm over the seal. "It's time."
The world flipped.
.
.
.
It didn't feel like passing out.
It felt like my soul was ripped from my spine.
Darkness took over,but it wasn't empty. It was mirrored. My body floated in a void where a thousand reflections of me stared back. All younger. All twisted. Some were crying. Some with mouths sewn shut. Some... laughing.
Then he appeared.
Sallos Enmirak. Not behind glass now. He towered over me, his form constantly shifting between shadow and memory. I saw pieces of myself in him. My tears. My rage. My screams from past nights. He had collected them.
Not to use.
To protect.
"Y-you don't want this either," I whispered.
His four eyes blinked once. Slowly.
I didn't hear words this time. I felt them.
I AM A MIRROR.
I SHOW WHAT YOU FEAR.
I BECAME THE CURSE
TO PROTECT YOU FROM IT.
I staggered. "She's trying to force you into me."
SHE THINKS I AM THE WOUND.
BUT I AM THE WALL.
IF I BIND TO YOU…
YOU LOSE YOURSELF.
IF I RESIST…
SHE DESTROYS US BOTH.
My knees buckled. "What do I do?"
For the first time, he moved closer.
And he knelt.
A demon knelt in front of me.
TRUST THE PAIN.
IT WILL SHOW YOU WHAT SHE CANNOT HIDE.
REMEMBER WHO YOU WERE
BEFORE THE FIRST DREAM.
BEFORE THE FIRST SCAR.
YOU ALREADY KNOW THE WAY OUT.
Then he touched my chest and everything shattered.
I woke up screaming.
Miss Kaur was on the ground, holding her head. The mirror had cracked. Thin lines like veins ran across its surface, but it didn't shatter. It pulsed.
I didn't know.
But I felt it.
Something inside me had changed. The seal was no longer burning. It was dead.
I looked at the mirror. Sallos was still inside,but fainter, like he was vanishing. He had given something to me. Or maybe taken something that didn't belong.