Volume 1: Path – [Awakening Arc]
Chapter 6: Mirror World
On the way to the Mirror World, Uriel called out with excitement, her voice filled with childlike joy, "Cael, come faster! Let's go into the Mirror World!"
Before he could answer, she had already reached back and grabbed his hand, pulling him along the pathway with eager steps. Caelus didn't resist. In fact, he was smiling softly to himself. He had enjoyed every moment of the day with her, and now, as the evening deepened and the park lights shimmered across their path, being dragged by Uriel felt like a fleeting moment he never wanted to end.
They both arrived at the entrance to the Mirror World—a towering structure that seemed to rise out of nowhere, casting distorted reflections in every direction. The entire front façade was made of polished, seamless mirrors, bending light and reality alike. Reflections bounced between surfaces, causing infinite versions of themselves to appear, shift, and vanish with every angle.
Above the grand archway, glowing letters spelled out the attraction's name in curling, ethereal script: "MIRROR WORLD." The words flickered softly with an unnatural silver glow, almost as if they were alive, pulsing faintly in rhythm with the heartbeat of the park itself.
Caelus stared at the entrance for a moment longer than he meant to. Something about the mirrors made his skin crawl.
Her hand was still wrapped around his. She turned to him with a bright grin, her eyes gleaming. "Come on, slowpoke! Let's go."
Caelus took a breath, then nodded. "Yeah... let's go."
Together, they stepped into the hall of mirrors as they made their way in.
...
As they stepped inside and walked forward a few steps, the entire room ahead of them was pitch dark. Just as Caelus blinked into the void, the door behind them shut abruptly with a sharp bang, causing him to flinch. Suddenly, the lights switched on, flooding the chamber with an intense glare that hit him directly in the eyes. He raised his arm and covered his face instinctively, waiting a few moments until the brightness softened enough to look again.
They had entered the duo section, one of the many setups in Mirror World designed for pairs. Caelus vaguely recalled that this attraction had different configurations depending on how many entered at once. But he couldn't remember much else. Most of his memories about this place were missing, except for the one brutal truth: his parents had died here. And he had been one of the only survivors from the Sad Day.
He turned his head to the right, expecting Uriel to be beside him. But she wasn't. He was alone.
Around him stood countless mirrors, angled and overlapping, forming an endless loop of distorted reflections. All of them showed him—but each one altered in odd ways. In one, his face was wider. In another, his eyes were stretched. Some made him short and stocky, others thin and towering. One mirror reflected him with a balloon-sized head, another with tiny limbs and a wide torso. The room was filled with these carnival-like effects.
It didn't bother him. He had been in similar attractions before distorted mirrors were a common setup in many amusement parks. He knew these mirrors weren't magical or haunted, just built for fun and illusion.
He stood still, eyes scanning the shifting lights bouncing off the mirrored walls.
He remembered the rules of the mirror world maze. To complete it, he needed to make his way to the center—a circular room surrounded by mirrors—and then return by taking the path exactly opposite the one he came from.
Stretching his arms out to both sides, he began moving forward with careful steps. He didn't want to make the mistake of rushing ahead and accidentally walking straight into a mirror. It had happened to others before, and even if these mirrors weren't dangerous, they could still leave you bruised and embarrassed. No need to be reckless.
He wasn't worried about Uriel. She had mentioned earlier that she would make her way to the center, so he trusted that they would reunite there. That gave him a little comfort. With that in mind, he moved quickly but cautiously, staying alert and focused.
He walked carefully, eyes constantly shifting as he observed his surroundings. At one point, he thought he saw movement like a shadow dashing across his left side. It looked smaller than him, and for a moment, he instinctively felt watched. But he quickly shook the thought away. This was a mirror maze, after all. Strange reflections and misleading angles were normal here. It was probably his own silhouette, stretched oddly by the angled glass.
As he turned to look more closely, he bumped into something hard—a dull thunk echoed as his shoulder pressed into a mirror. The sudden impact made him wince, but he immediately realized what had happened. In the momentary distraction, he had forgotten to keep his arms out. Classic mistake.
He brushed off the impact, then raised his hands again, palms extended to feel for obstacles. On his right, he felt the cool, smooth surface of another mirror. On his left, nothing but air. That meant the path forward lay to the left.
He continued moving, slow and cautious, adjusting each step to keep a measured pace. After about a minute of walking straight, still no reflections blocked his way. He guessed he was making progress toward the central circle—the goal point of the maze. Once there, he would simply have to follow the rule: exit in the direction directly opposite to the one he entered from.
He felt a sense of déjà vu rise from within as he walked through the mirrored corridors, a familiar rhythm to his steps and surroundings that he couldn't quite place.
Caelus walked steadily through the mirror maze path, and after what felt like just a few minutes, he arrived at the center. The space opened up into a circular chamber surrounded on all sides by tall mirrors, their surfaces flawless and gleaming. In the center of the room lay a black circular plate embedded in the ground, contrasting sharply with the white flooring he had been walking on until now.
He stepped forward onto the black plate, the shift in texture under his shoes slight but noticeable. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone, half out of habit. The screen lit up, but the signal bar was empty—'No Signal.' That didn't surprise him. He remembered the Mirror World's rule clearly before he and Uriel came in that signal jammers were active inside Mirror World to prevent cheating or outside communication.
But what made him pause was the time. 11:30:03 PM.
He blinked.
That couldn't be right. He and Uriel had entered Mirror World at exactly 6:30 PM, and it had only felt like fifteen or twenty minutes at most. Yet, somehow, five hours had vanished. The realization unsettled him. Not because it felt supernatural—he dismissed that thought quickly—but because he couldn't explain it. Maybe he had underestimated the time spent navigating the maze. Maybe the design of the space and lights disoriented his sense of time.
Still, something about the discrepancy gnawed at the back of his mind.
He stayed standing in the center, phone still in hand, glancing at the mirrors around him. The reflections continued to shift in subtle ways, elongating and distorting depending on the angle. No sign of Uriel yet. But he thought she would arrive soon.
Until then, he had to wait for her. She'd told him earlier she had a surprise planned for him here, and that was the main reason he remained where he was.
As he stood there, he suddenly noticed a shift in the lighting—subtle, like a red hue seeping in from the mirrored walls. At first, he thought it was part of the ambient lighting inside the attraction. He turned his head to the right and caught sight of a teenage boy darting past the mirrors, his reflection flashing rapidly from one surface to another.
The boy was moving from right to left, weaving in and out of mirrored angles. Caelus froze as the figure ran closer and stopped directly across from him, just on the other side of a tall mirror. Their eyes met.
The boy looked familiar too familiar. His face wasn't fully visible, but there was something unmistakable in the eyes. Caelus narrowed his gaze. The boy quickly turned away and continued running, vanishing between the reflections.
"What the..." Caelus muttered, his voice low. He blinked, stepped forward, and looked again. But the mirror showed only his own reflection now.
It had to be a trick of the mirrors. A visual illusion someone else walking the maze whose features happened to resemble his own. Nothing supernatural, he told himself. Just reflections playing with his brain.
But then he remembered—this area was restricted to VIP access only. He and Uriel were the only ones granted entry at this hour. When they had entered, there hadn't been anyone else around. So who was that boy? Maybe someone got in by mistake? Or perhaps it was just a projection—nothing more.
Just then, he heard a joyful shout in a feminine voice, and the moment he heard it, he knew who it was. "Caelus!"
[End of Chapter 6]