Novel & Cerita Fractured Mirrors

​The Forest of Mirrors was dying. The ink-black fluid spilling from Sarah’s mirror didn’t just coat the obsidian ground; it ate through the reflection of reality itself, turning the majestic, silvered trees into brittle, charcoal husks. The psychic weight of the collapse was suffocating. Every cracked pane of glass shrieked as it disintegrated, releasing the trapped whispers of a thousand stolen moments. ​Sarah stood amidst the ruins, untouched by the decay. She watched Laura and Dave with a gaze that held the clinical detachment of a mapmaker surveying a doomed border.

Dominic's gaze roamed over her, from head to toe, before he shook his head and remained silent, leaving Arabella wondering what he was thinking. She glanced down at herself, confusion etched on her face. "What? Is something on my face?" She asked, stepping closer to a nearby car mirror to inspect her reflection. Finding nothing out of place, she walked back to him. "There's nothing on my face. Why are you looking at me?"

“No more patience. It’s time to end her.” And as I hung up, my reflection stared back from the fractured mirror. A dozen Vanessas, all sharp, all broken, all smiling through the cracks.

Just a thin line at first, spidering outward from the centre. I sucked in a breath, scrambling backward on the tiles. "I didn't—" My voice shook. "I didn't do anything." The hum spiked. The crack spread, glass shuddering violently before the entire mirror shattered—not outward, but inward, collapsing into itself as if pulled by invisible hands. Shards hovered in the air. Suspended. Every piece gleamed, frozen mid-fall, trembling like they were caught in the breath before a scream. My heart slammed against my ribs.

The reflection reached out, long claw like hands. “Don’t move,” I yelled, stepping forward. The reflection’s mouth opened like it wanted to scream, but the sound came out backwards. Then it recoiled like it wanted to escape. It screamed a word that wasn’t a word but sounded like one. “ON!” Then it ran back into the glass like hell itself was chasing it. The mirror cracked down the center and went still. The same weird scream echoed from all the mirrors then they broke too. Bree looked terrified. “What the actual froshk was that?”

Didn't matter. "So no," I said. "I won't hold you. I won't contain you. I won't be your stable center. Because I'm not stable. I'm not a center. I'm the one who walked out. The one who said no. The one who—" The mirrors cracked. Not all. One. Then another. Then three more. Shattering from the center outward. Like ice. Like the system breaking under its own weight. The copies screamed. Synchronized. Seven voices, one sound. Then not synchronized. Seven different sounds. Seven different pains.

Liam said firmly, dialing the number. But before he could press call, the lights flickered again once, twice, then held steady. Lola’s gaze snapped toward the fallen mirror. The shards no longer reflected sunlight. Instead, they shimmered faintly, like water catching light beneath the surface. “Liam…” she whispered. “It’s happening again.” He dropped the phone and rushed to her side, grabbing her hand. “Stay with me. Don’t look.” But she couldn’t help it. Her eyes locked on the largest shard, and in that fractured glass she saw movement.

Their voices were twisted with hatred. "Lies!" I shouted. The room shook as shards flew over the black floor when one of the mirrors broke. The others, meanwhile, increased in number, their murmurs harsher and louder. I regained my balance, fully aware of the trick. The mirrors thrived on uncertainty and shattered realities. I would be lost in the never-ending labyrinth if I listened or hesitated. I stepped forward as the illusions swung out more forcefully with each stride. In a rage, I pictured myself killing them all.

The mirror shimmered violently, the energy surrounding it growing thicker, more chaotic. Then, with a deafening crack, the mirror shattered. The sound was like nothing she had ever heard, loud, piercing, as if the very air itself had been torn apart. Noelle and Bryan clutched their ears, the force of the shattering almost knocking them off their feet. The entire room vibrated with the aftershock, the pieces of glass falling to the floor like shards of ice.

The reflection was getting distorted, the unbroken parts were beginning to look broken too. Mira’s body in the reflection flickered once, a second time… and then, it vanished entirely. The rest followed. “No…” Alexa hissed. “This can't be happening.” But it was definitely happening. That wasn't even all of it. Her legs were trembling slightly so she put one leg forward to steady herself, but the moment she did, the orb cracked with a deafening sound. She halted abruptly. Another crack and the pieces of the object fell apart completely, like the sharpest sword had struck it.