When Alice woke up from her strange vision, she saw someone she expected to never see again.
Mirror hugged her immediatly, in tears.
"Alice ! Are you fine ? What happened to your eye ? I was so afraid that you were dead..."
Alice tried to get out of the hug, but Mirror was stubborn enough to not let her go.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Glad to see you. As for my eye... that's not a big deal, really. There are monsters named Two Mouths, they appear at night... But maybe you knew that already."
"Not a big deal ! Alice, you lost an eye !"
"At least now, people will be able to tell us apart." joked Alice. "I should look super ugly right now, with that big scar."
"Don't worry about that. You're cuter than ever, Alice."
"Liar."
"..."
"It's just an eye and a big ugly scar. I'm not going to die because of that."
Mirror hesitated.
"The Sky is a place full of things that are simply above our human understanding of how things work... I think... No, I'm sure of it. There must be a way to heal even something that serious...If there is such a method... I swear I will find it somehow !"
Alice laughed.
"The Sky is a place full of cruel twists. What kind of cost will I have to pay to get my eye back ? Human sacrifice ? Worse ?"
"I'm sorry."
"When I lost my eye... I cursed you, because I thought you knew this would happen. But seeing how you are right now... Mirror, there is no need for you to be sorry."
"If you really want to... there is a lot of sharp objects here...Since this is all kind of my fault... I can also take of my left eye... An eye for an eye, as they say..."
Alice and Killer both replied instantly:
"Don't be ridiculous. This won't change anything, it will just make you suffer for no reason."
"Yeah, you're right." Mirror laughed nervously. " I'm a little bit silly, sometimes."
Alice was about to say something about Mirror's ability to see the future, but at the last moment, Killer took control of her lips:
"I missed you."
"Same."
"Can you... explain to me what happened ? Why were we not together, in the City ?"
"Because we didn't appear in this place at the same time."
"What do you mean ?"
"I'm so sorry... I didn't knew that the Golden Door also distorted time, and not only space. I haven't thought that I would end up being transported here almost a day after you... I'm so sorry. I wasn't able to protect you."
"I'm fine, Mirror."
"Liar"
"..."
Finally, Mirror let go of Alice.
"You know... When I first understood that I was just an imperfect copy of you thanks to Nikoletta's ability to see souls, I was devasted. After all, that means that all of my memories are fake, that my whole life until the point I crossed the mirror.... was just a well-crafted lie."
Alice tried to imagine how Mirror might have been feeling, but it was simply to hard for her. Learning that every decisions made in your life wasn't actually yours but someone else's ? Knowing that you were just a pale copy of that person ? Alice couldn't really understand how Mirror might have been feeling.
"..."
"But you know Alice... I copied more than just your memories. Nikoletta said there was no Blessing in my soul, and she's right. However, I'm pretty sure there is something similar here, an imperfect copy, if you want."
"..."
"Do you remember what Nikoletta said about Blessing ? Do you remember what she said about Names ?"
"I don't."
"Lightbringer's Names are not just for show. Thanks to the Blessing of the Godess of Light, they hold significant power."
"Where are you going with this ?"
"Alice, I know your Name. It's Seer. A name that permit its bearer to uncover mysteries of the past and more importantly, of the future. That's how I know so many things about the Sky... Perhaps, one day, you will be able to use that Name."
Alice was pretty sure she used it unintentionally moments ago, but she didn't tell that to Mirror. There was no point in doing so, and she felt as if talking about Isa was a really bad idea.
Just a gut feeling.
"Have you seen what happened to the four Golden Doors leading outside the City ?" Mirror shook her head. "Someone locked them, with a bunch of weird chains."
By the way, who was the person who locked the Doors ? Was it Isa, or someone else ? And what was the intent behind this action ? Was it to keep the Two Mouths from getting outside the City ?
So many questions, and no way to get answers.
"Really ? How do we get out of here, then ?"
"There is a fifth Door, on top of the red tower. I didn't check if this one was locked or not. It's our only way forward. Problem is, I got a really bad feeling with this tower. I think you should do like me, and pick up a weapon."
Alice showed her dagger to Mirror, as an example.
Alice's living reflection looked at the various weapons laying around, and didn't get sent to any dream whatsoever when she touched the giant sword.
Alice thought that this was somewhat weird, but Mirror was very different from her in many aspects, so she didn't thought much of that.
Mirror took her time to chose, looking at each of the option with a curious gaze.
In the end, Mirror chose a rusty short sword. Well, it was a short sword for an adult. For Mirror, there was nothing short about this sword.
"Are you sure you want to pick that ? This is going to be hard to carry."
"I'm sure of it. I like this sword."
"Why ?"
"There is no reasons. I just like it, that's all."
Mirror took the sword with both of her hand, and swung it around. She looked very satisfied with her new weapon.
"There is a last thing I want to do." said Mirror.
"What is that ?"
"Do you remember the first thing we did when we met ?"
"...Not really."
"A game of rock-paper-scissors. And you won."
"Mirror...the situation is serious and..."
The clone shook her head.
"Alice, maybe we're both going to die in a few hours. So, let's enjoy our time left, okay ?"
Alice hesiated, but she felt that Killer would accept anyway if she didn't.
"Okay."
In the end, Alice and Mirror played a bunch of games of rock-paper-scissors.
There was nothing to gain from winning theses games: it was all just for fun. Two friends playing games.
This time, Mirror won the large majority of the matchs, yet Alice really enjoyed all of them.
However, there was an end to good things.
It was time for Alice and Mirror to go to the red tower.
It was time for them to leave that cursed town behind.