The limousine's interior seemed to exist in a vacuum, utterly removed from the blaring sirens and commotion of the outside world. Ethan sank into the plush leather seat, hyperconscious of every detail around him - the faint scent of beeswax, the muted thrum of the engine, Ava's small hand still clutched in his own.
Across from them, Headmaster Obsidian sat ramrod straight, his obsidian suit jacket unblemished by even a stitch out of place. The man's poise and stillness were more unsettling than comforting as his piercing gaze studied them with undisguised appraisal.
"We have much to discuss, Ethan Specular." Obsidian steepled his fingers beneath his thin slash of a mouth. "Let us begin with the awakening of your Reflector abilities."
Ethan tensed instinctively at the strange term. Reflector...conjuring images of Nahte's haunting reflection.
"If I'm being honest...I'm not even sure what happened back there," he admitted, feeling Ava squeeze his hand. "One minute everything was normal, then the mirror just...exploded. And I could somehow control the shards."
He shook his head, mouth tightening into a frustrated line. "That reflection - Nahte - said I had 'torn the Veil' and 'set forces in motion'. I didn't understand half of what he was talking about."
"Understandable," Obsidian nodded once, expression impassive. "The emergence of one's mirror powers can be quite...disorientating. You, Ethan, are what we call a Reflector - a human conduit capable of traversing the realms."
He waved one hand, and to Ethan's shock, a small shard of mirror materialized in Obsidian's palm, spinning lazily as if trapped in an invisible current.
"There is the realm we inhabit - what the ancients dubbed Lux Terra, the world of light and life. Then there is its mirror image, the ethereal dimension of Speculum Regnum." Obsidian's gaze bored into Ethan's. "The two realms exist in parallel, balanced yet distinct, like reflections facing one another across a pane of glass."
Ava leaned forward, enraptured. "You're saying there's...a whole other world? Inside mirrors?"
"Not inside them, child," Obsidian corrected sharply. "Mirrors act as the fragile barrier between both realms. Thin gateways that Reflectors may open and traverse between realities."
As if to illustrate, the mirror shard drifting over Obsidian's palm began to glow with an inner light, casting warped reflections of their surroundings in twisted fractals. Ethan found himself mesmerized by the hypnotic patterns - until Nahte's face rippled back at him from the shard, lips parted in a rictus grin.
"You allowed this abomination to speak to you..." Obsidian's voice rang with obvious disdain as he waved the shard away in a puff of glittering smoke. "These are shades, young Reflector. Mere echoes of your own self, fragmented and corrupted by the dissolution of Speculum's natural laws. They seduce and manipulate in an effort to unravel order in their mindless pursuit of chaos."
Ethan felt a cold sweat prickling at his nape, unsettled. If Nahte was such an aberration, what did it mean that he had emerged from Ethan's very reflection?
"So...so what does it mean that my powers awakened like that? Is it dangerous?" He couldn't help glancing to Ava protectively as the implications washed over him.
"Not inherently," Obsidian allowed. "But it does suggest an unusual degree of resonance between your soul and the energies of the mirror realm. That, coupled with your abilities manifesting in such a...cataclysmic manner, raise concerns."
His dark eyes glinted meaningfully. "It would be wise to gain mastery over your newfound Reflector abilities before they master you, Ethan Specular. Otherwise, you may well find yourself trapped between realities, your very essence fracturing like the shards of a broken mirror."
Ava made a small sound of distress, and Ethan swallowed hard against a lump in his throat. Could he truly risk losing himself to the power that had awoken with such destructive consequences?
Yet...what other choice did he have? If Obsidian spoke truly, his destiny -- his very existence -- was now irrevocably bound to this Mirror Realm. As terrifying as that reality seemed, embracing it may be his only way to keep what remained of his family safe.
"If I agree to come with you...to this academy," Ethan spoke slowly, "Can you promise that you'll help me control this power? Ensure I don't lose myself, or put Ava in harm's way?"
Obsidian considered them a moment, then gave a minute nod. "You have my word that Vitreous Academy will instruct you in mastering the Mirror Realm -- and by extension, mastering yourself. Under my tutelage, the threat of becoming...unraveled, as you put it, will be eliminated."
There was a weight behind his promise that felt irrefutable. Yet even so, Ethan could not quiet the whispering voice of instinct that murmured of unspoken secrets and hidden agendas in the headmaster's black stare.
"Then...I'll do it," Ethan forced out, pulling Ava close against his side. He caught her worried gaze, eyes so like their mother's, and knew his choice was already made. "Whatever it takes to keep us safe. To keep me whole."
Obsidian allowed the faintest of smiles to play across his lips. "A wise decision, Reflector. One you shall not regret, I can assure you."
The limousine slowed, and Ethan peered out the tinted windows to see they had arrived at their destination: a towering edifice of gleaming obsidian spires that seemed to leech all warmth from the winter dusk. Vitreous Academy stood monolithic and unflinching, daring any to breach its halls unprepared.
As the great doors yawned open to receive them, Ethan felt the first stirrings of disquiet -- as if by crossing this threshold, he had irreversibly committed them to a path shrouded in shadow. He only prayed the light of his soul would burn bright enough to keep both him and his sister from shattering in the days to come.
Because if Obsidian's dire implications rang true, then every fractured shard of his being could become a window...for something infinitely darker to slither through