Mirror looked at the endless sky and said:
"You're right. This view is simply breathtaking. But I have important matters to discuss with you."
"What's the deal, Mirror ?"
"My name isn't... well, that's not important right now. I was searching for you because I think I know how to escape this place."
Alice almost jumped of surprise.
"What ? You're sure about that ?"
"Not really... It's mostly a guess, you know. And it's pretty risky, so I wanted to know if you're okay with it."
"We're going to die of thirst if we do nothing. Whatever you have in mind is probably a better choice. So... could you explain how the hell you want to get out of here ?"
Alice's clone replied without any hesitation.
"The mirror."
"What do you mean, the mirror ?"
"You know, the mirror I passed through, the mirror that self-repaired itself..."
"What about it ?"
"This mirror... the way out is on the other side."
"What make you think that ? There was a door on your side on the mirror ?"
"No... the forest of glass was exactly the same as it is here."
"Then, why do you thinķ there is an exit there ? I don't get you."
"It's just logic. There must be an exit somewhere, and we explored pretty much everywhere wothout finding anything. Therefore, the exit mist be on the other side of the mirror."
"But... you were on the other side, and there was no exit here, right ? Why would there be an exit now ?"
"Alice... just trust me, please. I don't know how to explain it to you, but I feel it. The exit is on the other side of the mirror."
"Okay, I trust you."
This was a lie.
Alice had always been wary of Mirror, ( I mean, who wouldn't be wary of his clone ?), but a few things were very strange concerning Mirror.
First of all, as she saw in the fight against miss white hair, she possessed a strenght that didn't match her body size or weight at all, a strenght a normal 13 years old girl could simply not own.
But other than that, Mirror... knew too much.
She somehow knew that there was a chest with a key inside it below the ground, and she also knew that they had to pass through the strange mirror to escape the forest of glass.
Was she from the future or something ?
It seemed like the appearance of the white-haired Alice wasn't something Mirror had foretold, so that was probably not the case. But then again, it very well could be Mirror's way of decieving Alice.
Mirror was suspiciously knowledgeable, but Alice was stil trying to figure out what her motives were.
It was probably something that required for Alice to be alive, otherwise, Mirror would have never cared for her that much.
"Alice ? Can you come with me ? We are going to finally escape this glass forest."
At this point, Alice tried to say something mindlessly joyous, a positive take on the situation the two girls were in, but at the last moment, her true self took over, and she replied to Mirror in a sarcastic manner:
"And after this forest, where are we going to go ? Will there even be water in that place ? What make you think that it wouldn't be even worse than here ?"
Mirror stayed silent.
All of Alice's concern were true.
"I'm tired of this."
Mirror sighed.
"I'm tired too, Alice, but we need to hope. Hope that tomorrow will be better than today. Hope that behind the golden door, there is nothing but paradise."
Alice smirked.
"You don't know what's going to happen after we escape this damn forest ? That's strange, I thought you knew everything."
"I'm not all-knowing, not at all."
A long silence fell on the two young girl. After what seemed like an eternity, Alice broke that long silence with a disturbingly happy voice:
"You know what ? I have nothing to lose, so I might as well try to cross that thing."
Later, Alice and Mirror were both standing in front of the... thing.
Alice suddenly remembered that, in the short message left behind by the lady that created this place, the mirror was designated as a living creature, and was even capable of things only thinking beings could do, like being kind or mean. Thinking of the mirror as a living being was... kind of terrifying.
It felt as if she was about to jump into the maw of some enormous monster.
Something was even more disturbing tho, it was what Alice's and Mirror's reflections looked like.
For Alice, there was simply... nothing. Not even a shadow appeared on the mirror. It was as thought she didn't exist at all.
For Mirror, there was simply... a corpse. It wasn't standing, neither was it following Mirror's moves, but it simply... was there. Laying on the ground. It was undoubtely dead, because the head was detached from the body.
If Mirror was spooked by the sight, she didn't show it to her comrade.
"You're ready ?"
Alice nodded her head. She was ready.
"One, two, three, go !"
The two girls both rushed inside the mirror at the exact same time.
Passing through this mirror felt even weirder than what Alice had expected. For a moment, a short moment, she felt as if her existence herslef had been erased.
And in the next, she was standing with Mirror in a field full of flowers.
Alice looked around, surprised.
The mirror that allowed them to acces to this place was... gone. There wasn't even the frame of that mirror.
But this... wasn't the biggest change.
All around her, the trees, before made of glass, were now constitued of wood, like normal trees. There was now grass on the floor, as well as some pretty flowers. Not far from Alice, there was a small bush full of delicious-looking berries a giant red mushroom which seemed lonesome in the forest.
There were insects a little bit everywhere: ants on the ground, butterfly in the air, and a lot of other species as well. Animal noises was coming from the left, and Alice even saw a bird flying beetween the trees.
She was speechless.
"This... This is the forest of glass ?"
"Yeah. Rather, it's what the forest of glass used to looks like." answered Mirror. "I still don't fully understand what corrupted this place, but..."
"Mirror ! I found water !"
"What ?"
Alice showed her allie a small puddle of water not far. The water here was probably not good for health, and tasted a lot like dirt, yet both girls drunk a lot of it, satisfied.
"You know, Mirror, I already like this place. Instead of trying to escape, why don't we stay here a little ?"
Mirror opened her mouth to answer, but at that exact time, a shadow slid beetween the trees, and a strange-looking creature looked at them.
The creature was taller than the both of them combined, and looked like a mix of horse, worm and some other things. It... She...was entierly black and white, besides what looked like a hearth.
Instead of being inside the ribcage, sheltered from danger, the "hearth" of the creature was outside the creature's body, linked to it by some bones-like things.
Despite her strangeness, the being was eerily beautiful. A fascinating sort of beauty.
After an akward silence, the creature opened what should be her mouth:
"I am afraid that staying here is not possible, Lightbringer."