The night wind, laden with the scents of iron and dust, howled through the broken windows of the deserted research facility.
As Evelyn stepped into the laboratory, which felt both familiar and alien, the shards of glass beneath her feet refracted the faint light into a sea of broken reflections. It was as if countless eyes were staring up at her from the floor.
This was where the entrance to the 'Mirror Realm' had once been.
It was also where she had destroyed it with her own hands.
Yet now, on that charred ground, glass powder began to coalesce anew.
As if drawn by an invisible magnetic field, it slowly swirled, rose and fused into a thin, transparent mirror.
The surface glowed faintly, reflecting a figure.
It was herself, yet not her.
The Evelyn on the other side was wearing a white lab coat and had an expression of serenity, as if she had long accepted her fate.
'You're back,' she murmured softly.
Evelyn stood frozen, speechless.
She didn't know how to respond, nor could she tell whether she was facing an illusion, a spirit or a reflection of time itself.
"Lucas... Is he over there?'
Her voice caught in her throat.
The Evelyn in the mirror smiled faintly and shook her head.
'He's on the other end of the frequency. He guards that 'signal', waiting for you to complete your journey."
"My path?" Evelyn felt pulled back into a vortex of memories.
The lab echoed with the sound of alarms and shattered glass, and Lucas's final words came through the comm:
'Don't look back.'
Her reflection in the mirror continued:
'You thought the destruction device could sever the world's overlaps, but you forgot—you are part of that device. Your clairvoyance is the lingering signal of the Mirror Realm.'
Evelyn listened in silence.
Suddenly, she realised that her vision was blurring, not because of tears, but because her 'spirit vision' was being reawakened by the Mirror Realm.
The reflection in the mirror began to tremble, flowing and distorting like liquid.
She saw countless versions of herself, some lying dead from the explosion.
The reflection in the mirror began to tremble and distort like liquid.
She saw countless versions of herself: some lying dead at the site of the explosion; some vanishing alongside Lucas; some still investigating that unsolved case; and one more standing deep within the Mirror Realm, smiling at her.
'We're all searching for the same exit,' her mirror self said, reaching out with her palm pressed against the glass.
'But the exit was never outside the mirror.'
Evelyn raised her hand, too, and her fingertips touched the surface.
In that instant, the lights throughout the entire research facility flared on.
Monitor screens activated automatically and played rewinding footage:
In the scene, Evelyn entered the lab and activated the Mirror Realm device.
No one else was present.
Yet, in the infrared imaging, another light overlapped hers — Lucas's frequency.
'He never left,' the voice from the mirror faded, 'only returned to the "source".'
The glass vibrated intensely and the mirror cracked open with a low resonance.
Evelyn tried to step back, but was swallowed by a blinding light.
She could hear her own heartbeat overlapping with countless echoes and coalescing into a single frequency: Lucas's voice.
'Evelyn, don't be afraid. The Mirror Realm isn't the end — it's a passage."
After the light faded, silence descended.
In the centre of the laboratory, a single, shattered mirror fragment lay quietly on the floor.
Within it, an invisible door was reflected.
Beyond the door, there was nothing but endless white.
Evelyn's shadow slowly approached.
She gently reached out and pushed open the door.
— and vanished into the light.
From the other side, a familiar voice whispered,
'Welcome back... Evelyn."