Of Shadows and Darkness

Chapter 10

We located the stairs and turned them opaque and walked into the cube but the room was different from before. It was only a couple meters tall and wide but this time it was long, so long it seemed to go on forever. The ground and the walls were covered in large red polka dots. The door vanished the moment I looked away from it.

"Do you think this is a different room in the cube or a new room is created each time we enter?" asked Gregor.

I shrugged, "No idea. This feels like a fever dream, nothing makes sense."

"You know, I once heard a theory that nightmare realms are actually living things which feed off the people trapped in them," said Gregor poking a polka dot.

I groaned. I had heard that theory before. As well as how nightmare realms might exist on the head of a pin or in someone's mind or in the stomach of some primordial being which exists outside of time and space. Whether all or none of these are true it doesn't help us right now.

"For now, let's go down this fun house corridor and see what is waiting for us," I said.

Gregor nodded and sighed, we walked down the hallway which was shorter than it looked. It seemed like a dead end but the wall rippled and a mirror emerged from the wall. Yet the reflection wasn't really our reflection. It was us but it was more like we were watching ourselves through a window or on a muted TV screen. They walked and talked completely independent from us.

"What's happening?" muttered Gregor.

"I-I think this maybe us from before. That's the same dusty room with the newspaper," I whispered back. The other me walked closer to the mirror. I followed instinctively or under some sort of compulsion. The other me placed his hand on the mirror and I did as well.

"Tristan don't," said Gregor and crept closer and held my free hand.

The other me mouthed something and turned to other Gregor. He removed his hand and my hand slipped through, I fell forward, grabbed other me's wrist but Gregor's grip kept me anchored so I didn't fall through the mirror.

"Was it- was it me?" I stuttered. Other me slowly turned and looked right at me, he looked terrified and I felt petrified.

"Let go!" shouted Gregor and dropped his axe on the ground.

"What?"

"Let go!" Gregor wrapped his arms around my waist, pulled me back and I pulled the other me. We my hand came out of the mirror other me had vanished. The image on the mirror rippled and the image settled as our proper reflection.

Gregor hugged my back. He placed his forehead on my shoulder and sighed. "I thought you would disappear again."

"I'm sorry."

Gregor chuckled and lifted his head. "So it was us."

"Looks like it," I said.

Gregor chuckled and let go of my waist and picked up his axe from the ground. "Third time lucky?" Gregor aimed at the mirror and drew his axe back.

"Wait! Wait!" I shouted and grabbed his arm.

"What?" growled Gregor.

"We need to try going through the mirror first."

Gregor rolled his eyes but lowered his axe. He grabbed my wrist. "Fine. But I'm not letting you vanish again."

"Okay," I said. I placed my hand on the mirror, then I slowly pressed my face against it. My head slipped through. I saw a room with mirrors of different sizes lining the walls. I was abruptly pulled back.