A morning breeze swept across the ruins.
The wreckage of the research facility still smouldered, releasing wisps of white smoke. The air hung heavy with the acrid scent of burnt metal.
Evelyn was gone. She had vanished into the morning mist, the half-destroyed terminal strapped to her back.
Lucas remained alone at the top of the communications tower.
Wires were tangled around his body and in front of him was a makeshift receiver, cobbled together by hand from an old spectrum analyser that flickered with green light.
He had barely slept for days. Since Evelyn 'returned', he had not seen her again.
All that remained were scattered tapes and fragmented signals.
...Vision-S... Terminated...
...Primary consciousness drifting...
He repeatedly tuned the signal, grasping at it like a drowning man clutching a rope.
At 5:32 am, a low-frequency wave unexpectedly appeared on the spectrum.
It wasn't system noise.
It was a voice.
A voice familiar to his very bones.
'Lucas?'
He froze, his breath nearly halting.
'Evelyn... is that you?'
The screen flickered several times before the signal refocused.
The voice carried a strange echo, as if it were coming from a world behind glass.
"It's me... but also 'her'."
"Her?"
'The Mirror Realm didn't collapse completely. That part of me stayed behind.'
Lucas gripped the microphone tightly, his knuckles turning white.
'Why didn't you come back? I could reopen the passage."
"No." Evelyn's voice was gentle yet resolute. 'If the passage reopens, the Mirror Realm will reform.
I cannot allow any more souls to be trapped here.'
Static crackled intermittently through her words.
She continued, 'I see them — the consciousnesses of the dead: Mothers, colleagues, countless familiar faces.
They no longer need to leave this place. They need to be remembered.'
Lucas slowly closed his eyes.
"So you chose to stay?"
"Yes."
'What about me?' he asked hoarsely.
"You live for me."
She paused briefly, then smiled softly. That smile travelled through the static, causing the air in the entire laboratory to tremble slightly.
'I'll guard the memories of the dead for you.
You guard the living world for me..."
The signal began to fade.
Lucas frantically increased the power, but could only hear a series of cracking echoes.
Evelyn... Eve... lyn...
'Don't go!' he nearly shouted.
But the only response was a fading resonance wave.
The monitor screen shut off automatically.
The spectrum lines froze at zero.
Lucas remained motionless until sunlight streamed through the shattered skylight.
He looked down at the mirror shard Evelyn had left on the table, his reflection distorted in the light on the glass.
Slowly, he raised his hand to touch the surface.
His reflection raised its hand too, but the movement lagged a beat.
That split-second delay nearly stopped his breath.
He knew it wasn't an illusion.
It was her.
The shadow left behind.
He whispered, 'You're still here, right?'
The reflection in the mirror smiled faintly, as if in response.
The wind rustled papers, scattering files across the floor.
Lucas retrieved a voice recorder and pressed the start button.
'File Record · E.S. Case Report:
Vision-S system completely shut down.
The mirror realm is sealed, but residual frequency reactions persist.
I confirm that the consciousness of another Evelyn remains active within the mirror layer.
Perhaps this is the true source of the 'Visionary'."
He paused briefly, his voice trembling slightly.
'End of file. She left behind a shadow, and I... left her behind.'
Recording ended.
He placed the recorder on the table where sunlight streamed directly onto the mirrored surface.
The mirror reflected the cracks in the ceiling and the glint of a single tear in his eye.
Night fell.
Lucas climbed the communications tower once more.
He switched on the transceiver and tuned to a specific frequency.
Only static filled his headphones.
Yet, in a single moment, he caught the faintest sound.
It sounded like glass shattering or someone sighing softly.
'Goodnight, Evelyn,' he murmured.
The wind carried the sound into the sky.
Deep within the distant Mirror Realm, another Evelyn slowly raised her head.
She stood in an endless corridor of memories, the lights flickering on one by one.
Countless images surfaced: the smiles of the departed; past conversations; long-vanished street scenes.
She smiled and whispered in response:
'I heard you.'
Then she turned and walked towards the dim door at the end of the corridor.
Engraved upon it were the words:
[ARCHIVE OF THE FORGOTTEN] — The Forgotten's Archives.
The door closed slowly, light slipping through the crack and becoming the final reflection.
From that moment, the Mirror Realm fell utterly silent.
Her reflection would never again move in sync with reality.