It was very dark.
Rather, the very concept of light didn't exist in this space. The nameless young man drifted in the void with the vague remnants of his dying thoughts—his anger, sorrow, despair, everything coalesced in a mind-numbing sound that stifled his wits, cradling his unconsciousness.
This seemed to go on endlessly as he floated without any idea where he was going, only aware of his existence... of the fact that he was somehow still alive despite having met his demise in that smuggling sailboat.
After what felt like an eternity, an invisible force started pressing on his body. Slowly but surely, his limbs converged towards the same point as they twisted beyond human capability, birthing a new feeling in this quiet world; pain.
His knees went through his mouth and shattered his skull, forcing their way deeper and deeper while his elbows pierced his torso, its broken pieces climbing up his throat.
Is this it? Is this my punishment?
During his torment, he couldn't even cry, let alone scream. The bliss of unconsciousness appeared far away as agony tore through his sanity, instilling the inherent fear that he was about to suffer this torture forever.
Is it because of my crimes? I only did it because I needed to feed my family. I never killed and never attempted to do so! So why...?
His thoughts reverberated without any answer, and his crushed body continued to collapse on itself, shrunk, and compressed beyond comprehension.
Why...? Why? WHY? WHY?!
His plea echoed pitifully across that dark space until he was squeezed into a single point, reaching the very peak of his suffering.
Just then, flickering lights swirled before his eyes, taking the shape of strange, triangular symbols he was familiar with—those carved on his silver bracelet.
Incomprehension and a terrifying sense of madness swept over him, nearly wiping out his awareness.
At that moment, he woke up.
_
Thud!
The young man's head bounced on something hard as he fell, quickly meeting the ground.
"Damn it! What happene-...?" Amidst his complaint, he realized that he could speak again.
His eyes slowly opened, and light poured in with enough vigor to blind him. He saw a sumptuous chamber, big enough to hold his entire house, with silver and bronze ornaments glittering everywhere he looked.
A hanging chandelier sparkled with a pearly, ethereal radiance reflected by the surrounding tapestry, mimicking the magnificent ebbing of celestial bodies at night.
Outside the floor-to-ceiling window to his right, a magnificent city of silver and white sprawled endlessly, resembling something straight out of ancient myths.
Structures built of pure marble pierced the heavens, connected to each other through spiraling stairs and curved spires. They were flawless and breathtaking, enough to plunge the young man, who had never stepped out of the poor part of his country, into a daze.
A massive, pitch-black moon nestled between gray clouds, bathing the entire world in its solemn light. It looked like a continuous solar eclipse, with pale strands glistening from its curve.
Next to it, a seven-pointed silvery star shone just as brightly, unlike anything the young man had ever seen.
"Where... Where am I? Is this heaven... or hell?"
When he said that, his head began throbbing anew, and countless memories—ones that didn't belong to him—flooded his mind one after the other.
"No. This is... another world?"
Unable to decide whether he was dreaming or not, the young man rose to his feet, only to realize that he was much shorter than usual. Actually, his entire body seemed different, though he couldn't pinpoint why.
Following a vague feeling of familiarity, he wobbled back to the corner where his head had bounced, finding a cracked table mirror streaked with blood.
On the surface of the marble table, he briefly saw a vanishing symbol, looking like a bleeding silver eye. Beside its previous location sat a tray of blueberry-like fruits, though much smaller. They didn't look that appetizing and even made him aware of a bitter taste lingering in his mouth.
He stepped forward, trying to inspect the cracked and bloodied table mirror, when a sting of pain made him wince. Raising his hand, he discovered that his knuckles were bleeding, oozing liquid warmth from tiny cuts.
"Did I punch it?"
Frowning, the young man grabbed part of the white tunic he wore, using it to wipe the blood from his fingers and the mirror's surface. The cracks had spread like a spider's web, though he could see his reflection somewhat clearly. At that moment, he froze.
The reflection shown didn't match his vision of himself in the slightest. The young man, nearing his twenties, remembered having typical oriental features; short curly black hair, dark brown eyes, copper skin, and a prominent nose. However, this time, the image in the mirror was the furthest thing from that.
It displayed a delicate, beautiful face with nearly inhuman features—dark gray skin, semi-long silvery hair and eyes, and purple triangular stigmata sliding down his neck and across the length of his limbs.
At most, he looked around eleven years old.
"That's not m-..." The memories previously received flashed in his mind as if interrupting his train of thought. "The owner of this body is named... No, I am called Laemno. Yes, this feels right."
He nodded to himself, finally sensing some harmony amidst his chaotic wits. The nameless young man from Earth had fused with the memories of the boy called Laemno, therefore forming a single being. For an odd reason, he could entertain the notion with rare clarity and accepted it just as readily.
"Yes, I am Laemno." Laemno reaffirmed himself once again and felt the fog in his mind gradually disappear, finally allowing him to think rationally.
He wasn't unfamiliar with stories of finding himself stuck in another world and, in fact, used to daydream about such events happening to him. However, mere fantasies and reality often felt different.
He recalled his last moments on Earth—his mother dying, his little sister getting kidnapped by the human traffickers... and him succumbing to his wounds.
Strangely enough, it didn't stir as much anger and sadness as he thought it would. The feeling of despair seemed distant, akin to remembering another person's memories. It was terribly weak even, but there was a superficial tug in his chest whenever he imagined what would subsequently happen to his sister.
"There's nothing I can do about it now..." Although it sounded abnormally cruel, it was what Laemno felt deep in his heart. "More importantly, I need to figure out where I am and what happened here."
He swept the silvery marble table with his gaze, finding a piece of glass next to the cracked table mirror.
At first, he thought it belonged to the damaged mirror but quickly discovered that the sizes didn't match. The piece was perfectly triangular and unharmed, as if it was purposefully crafted that way.
Laemno delicately picked it up, feeling that the smooth surface was cold and uncomfortable to the touch.
Under the serene starlight of the glimmering chandelier, he gazed into the triangular mirror, finding his new reflection looking back at him.
After a few seconds of careful inspection, Laemno was about to put the shard down when he noticed something.
His image started to flicker uncontrollably on the glass surface, and the reflection stayed still even with him moving his head away!
A dense feeling of dread filled the chamber as the glittering lights were snuffed out, plunging the entire room into darkness.
Laemno's flickering reflection went out at the same time, leaving a black spot covering most of the mirror except its edges. He kept looking at it, searching for the origin of this phenomenon despite every one of his instincts telling him to turn his gaze away.
Thud!
A black, shadowy hand suddenly appeared on the surface of the cracked table mirror, slamming and punching its way out. Laemno jumped, nearly dropping the triangular mirror as he froze in terror, wide-eyed and heart throbbing madly.
"What is this...?"
The marble table trembled under the cracked mirror, each thud resonating powerfully in the room. Laemno didn't know what to do and instinctively lowered his head, glancing at the triangular mirror in his hand.
At that moment, his blood curdled.
A monstrous eye was staring at him from the triangular mirror's surface!
Its gray blood vessels squirmed like worms amidst its black sclera, brimming with madness and anger. Its gaze intensified alongside the speed of the shadowy hand's hits, wanting to get out. Laemno hurriedly retreated in fright, hitting the edge of his bed and tumbling backward.
The stained tunic around his knuckles unfurled, smearing a splatter of coagulated blood on the glass shard.
The darkness instantly receded when the droplets touched the smooth and cold surface. The maddened thuds disappeared with the shadowy hand, and the chandelier's sparkles returned to life, bathing the entire chamber in celestial radiance.
Sprawled on the smooth covers of his bed, Laemno was still paralyzed and confused by the development. "What the hell happened? Why do I have a mirror like that?"
One question after another popped into his mind, and he hesitantly raised the triangular mirror, fearing to see that terrifying eye again. Thankfully, it had vanished alongside the blood droplets, leaving a strange series of moving black lines that weaved into unfamiliar shapes. Before long, Laemno realized he could read them.
The payment has been made. Three questions for three answers. I have already answered one, and two remain. I await your queries, Honored One.