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Echoes of Reflection
Chapter 8: Dread of the Ancient Evil

Chapter 8: Dread of the Ancient Evil

House of Mirrors

Aria and Thalia materialized before the mansion; the House of Mirrors stood lonely as an eerie relic of the village's past. Caution guiding their every step, they approached the isolated mansion, its presence a stark reminder of the village's once-booming prosperity. Aria shuddered as she surveyed the building's cracked, once-gleaming facade. Tarnished mirrors adorned the exterior, reflecting an infinite, distorted, and ghastly landscape that seemed to stretch on forever.

As they stepped inside, the silence of the mansion weighed upon them like a heavy cloak. Only the soft creaking of old wooden floorboards beneath their feet disrupted the quiet. They found themselves in a chamber filled with mirrors of all sorts, each one a portal to a surreal world of strange reflections. Aria and Thalia tried their best not to be affected by the bizarre distortions that danced before their eyes.

As they made their way through the deserted halls, dim light barely guiding their path, the air grew thicker with the smell of must and decay, as if time had frozen within the mansion's walls.

Finally, they entered a room devoid of mirrors, a stark contrast to the rest of the mansion. In the center, villagers stood in a strange, formation, their eyes glazed over, entranced by some unseen force. Aria and Thalia exchanged uneasy glances, their curiosity mingling with growing dread. With bated breath, they watched as the villagers slowly began to chant in unison, their voices rising in an eerie, otherworldly harmony. The room seemed to pulse with an ominous energy, as the chant continued to rise.

"Quick we need to stop them." Aria panicked, reaching for her backpack when suddenly her eyes went wide. Her hand dropped, as her knees buckled. She could not register her surroundings, as her mind was being invaded by something foreign. Something evil.

*"I knew that thou wouldst cometh hither, to hinder my conjuration. Yet I am not vanquished twice."*

The abhorrent voice of the evil entity once again resounded in the mansion. Aria spasmed, her eyes going white as she tried to fight against the entity. She had to resist for longer, keep it occupied. Or the plan would fall.

Just as she felt she could hold no longer, a bright rune appeared on her forehead. It shined bright, and instantly brought relief to her. Her hands reached for her backpack in that instant as she removed her brush and two scrolls from within. Using a quick chant, she activated both of the scrolls, as sparks flew around her in a wide circle, like a boundary. She then closed her eyes, as she appeared in a bright space.

It was completely white like canvas. And in the middle, a wraith like entity floated, impaled by long golden poles across a crucifix.

*"Thou, what hast thou wrought upon me?"*

The grating voice did not hurt any longer. At least not mentally. It was still unpleasant to hear, but Aria ignored that feeling and smirked at the shadow in front of her.

Technically this wasn't Kor'moros. At least not in its entirety or physically. It was a part of its consciousness that had been trapped here. The part that had tried to attack her just a moment before. Which had been the plan all along.

"You should not have been created. An abomination that breaks the natural order. By sunrise, you fate will be sealed for forever."

Aria ignored the entity's anguish. She had no sympathy or remorse for trapping and ending its fate, even though the entity had not asked to be made or given the powers it had. It was a tool, created a dark mage in the ages past. It had no soul and was not a creature born from the nature. And its actions over the years did not merit any mercy either.

So as the entity tried its best to remove the golden poles restraining it, Aria drew in the air with her brush. Runes appeared one by one as they flew and covered the impaled shadow. It was like seeing shackles wrap around something immaterial. Soon the entity was fully covered in golden runes and could no longer make any sound.

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Once she was done, Aria said another chant and the white space disappear. She was still on the ground, and Thalia was missing from her side. But that was okay, Thalia was never here with her after all. Slowly she got up from the ground and picked a scroll that had appeared before her. She carefully handled the scroll and placed it in her backpack and then got to work to help the villagers that stood numbly in the room.

.......

The plan had been simple but also risky. They already knew that the entity was only able to influence the villagers through the mirrors. And from the notes of mage Sylas they learnt that the entity was caged in under the banyan tree, its physical body at least was immobile there. It was trapped in the prison of reflections, but it could still affect the villagers through the mirrors. This meant that it was the monster's consciousness that was traveling through mirrors.

From there Aria had figured that all of its consciousness could not have escaped the bounds of the prison, in which case it was weak. Not impossibly strong at the very least. So she had proposed to risk getting attacked straight on by the entity to get a chance to trap the consciousness that was free in her runescape, the white space in which the entity was impaled.

But the entity would not target her specifically. In fact it would be very cautious to do that, specially if Thalia was by her side. Unless they made it look like it had no choice but to do so. Which is where the idea of creating a clone of Thalia came from. A reflection actually, but real enough to fool the entity for few seconds.

When they had entered the house of mirrors, Aria had been acutely aware that the entity had its full attention on them. Until they entered the room with the villager, when the reflection dispersed and the real Thalia appeared just in front of the banyan tree. In that instant, the entity had to choose between attacking Aria or Thalia. This is where the risk came, as Thalia'a appearance in front of the banyan tree was to make the entity decide instantly.

If it had decided to go after Thalia then the plan would have failed. Thalia would have defended against the enemy and escaped, but the entity would become more cautious such that they would not have another chance to trap it. But it had not. It went after the weaker prey. After the one it had almost been able to take over just a day ago. And it had succumbed.

The reason why Aria had proposed such a risky plan was because of one single fact that was written in mage Sylas's journal. And that was that the entity had no soul. It had a mind, consciousness. But no soul.

From there on it was easy. Aria had a etched invisible runes upon her head, unlike scrolls which were easy to prepare against. She had turned herself into the perfect bait that would allow her to entrap it. The runescape was a control technique that required her to target a person mind. Entrapping the consciousness.

But this time she needed not to target it as it had targeted her instead. The instant the contact was made, the technique was activated, but she needed to further activate two more scrolls to actually pull it inside. After that it was no task for her to further constrain it with runic binds. Chains build runes that worked perfectly against dark entities, creatures and monsters.

.......

As Aria helped each villager cleanse their mind, Thalia appeared beside her. She smiled at the adventurer that had made it possible to save the village. She moved to help the villagers, without saying anything in that moment. The dread that she had been holding within her for six month slowly subsiding. It was over after all.

Now that part of its consciousness was trapped and majority of its powers being jailed by the prison of infinite reflections, it was no longer a threat. By sunrise, when reinforcements arrived, they could erase its complete being and say goodbye to this horrible chapter from their lives.

Her hands moved as she easily helped all the villagers remove the scars of the entity from their minds and body using nature's magic, which was an inherent ability of elvish folk. To protect and nurture was their role, and she had successfully completed that.

Suddenly she was pulled out of her reverie, as Aria held her shoulders and spoke with panic, "Thalia I don't see the vessel here? He is not here. I fear something bad is going to happen, so quickly move the villagers here to safety. "

Meet me at the banyan tree and also keep this safe."

She placed the scroll that had the runescape trapping the entity's consciousness in her palms and looked at her with fear in her eyes. Thalia was stunned for a moment but before she could react, a tremendous wave of sinister energy washed over her. With her body trembling, she looked towards the place where the banyan tree was located. From the where the wave seemed to have originated. Beside her, Aria also shook with fear as her eyes widened, realization falling upon her.

......

Beside the hollowed entrance to the cave below, stood a pale youth, his blond hair in a mess and his eyes showing only white. His face transformed into an annoyed expression, but then he smirked.

"I can't let you end this show so early, so why don't we enjoy it for a while longer."

And in the next instant he disappeared from there, as black smoke started spilling from the hollowed opening in the banyan tree.