Li An's breath came in shallow gasps, her pulse thrumming in her ears. The shadow in the mirror was no longer just an image—it was a presence, a force that pulled at her, both physically and mentally. The air around her grew colder, the temperature dropping rapidly as the figure reached further into the reflective surface, as though it were stretching out to claim her.
She wanted to run. She needed to run. But her body refused to obey, as if frozen in place by some unseen force. Her feet were glued to the floor, and every instinct she had screamed at her to escape—but how? The door was still gone. The only way out seemed to be through that mirror, the very thing that terrified her.
The shadows were swirling now, swirling in a dance of darkness that seemed to mock her every attempt to understand. The air was thick, oppressive, pressing down on her chest with a weight she could barely bear. She could feel the presence behind her—the figure in the mirror—not just watching, but waiting.
Its hand, pale and unnaturally long, reached closer to the glass. It was too close now. Too close to the real world.
"No... stop."
Her voice was a mere whisper, barely audible over the frantic beating of her heart. She had never felt such raw terror before, not in all her years as a detective, not even in the darkest corners of the mysteries she had unraveled. There was nothing rational about this. Nothing grounded in reality. This was something beyond understanding. Something ancient.
And yet, it was pulling at her, drawing her in with a force she couldn't resist.
She glanced down at the book in her hands, still open to the page with Zhang Xian's name and the cryptic warning. It wasn't just a warning—it was a curse. Every word on that page seemed to throb with power, urging her to heed its message, even as the room around her became a distorted nightmare. Her fingers trembled as they traced the ancient symbols, but nothing in the book gave her the answers she needed. The language was alien, twisting in ways that were almost impossible to follow.
The shadow's hand pressed against the glass now, leaving a smudge, as though it were alive. The mirror rippled, the glass warping like water, and Li An felt a surge of terror—this was not a reflection anymore. It was a gateway. A doorway to another world. A world she could never hope to understand.
She turned away from the mirror, heart hammering in her chest, and rushed toward the walls, desperately searching for a way out. She ran her hands along the wooden panels, but they felt... wrong. Soft, almost as if the wall itself was breathing, responding to her touch. Every surface in the room seemed to shimmer with an eerie glow, as though reality itself were beginning to dissolve, slipping between her fingers like sand.
And then she heard it. The faintest sound, barely audible above the rushing blood in her ears. A soft whisper, a murmur that seemed to come from the walls themselves.
"You can't leave."
Li An froze, her body stiff with dread. The voice wasn't coming from the mirror this time. It was coming from everywhere—inside her head, inside the walls, inside the very space she occupied. She felt it seep into her mind, digging deep, planting seeds of fear, of helplessness.
The room shifted again, twisting in impossible angles. The shadows began to stretch, elongating, distorting the room into shapes that no longer made sense. The corners of the room seemed to fold inward, pulling closer, tightening around her like a vice.
"You shouldn't have come," the voice continued, now louder, clearer. "You've crossed the threshold, Li An. There's no going back. Not now. Not after you've seen..."
She spun around, desperate to find the source of the voice. But there was nothing—only shadows, stretching further and further as if the walls themselves were breathing in sync with the echo of the voice.
She shook her head, trying to clear the confusion clouding her mind. She couldn't let it take hold. She couldn't let it control her. Focus, she thought. Focus.
And then, a thought struck her—Zhang Xian. His research. His obsession. She had seen the journal, the maps, the drawings. He had found something. Something that had drawn him here. But why? Why had he gone to such extremes? Why had he tried to open the door?
The Final Warning
Her heart raced faster now, the pieces of the puzzle beginning to form. She had to find the answer. She had to understand what Zhang Xian had discovered. What had he seen that had led him to this house, to this mirror, to this cursed space?
The mirror.
Her mind returned to it, and with it, the gnawing realization that it was not just a mirror. It wasn't a window into the past or some twisted reflection of herself. It was something far worse. Something that had been waiting for her. Waiting for anyone who dared to uncover its secrets.
She stepped toward it again, hesitating only for a moment before her feet carried her forward, compelled by the need to know, to confront whatever it was. The reflection of the shadow still loomed in the glass, but now... something was different. The figure wasn't just watching her anymore. It was moving, its face beginning to solidify into something recognizably human—something that was beginning to speak.
The voice rose again, clearer now, almost urgent.
"You've seen too much. You've opened the door. There's no going back."
Her hand shot forward, almost of its own accord, toward the surface of the glass. The moment her fingers touched it, a shock ran through her, like an electric current that jolted her entire body. Her vision blurred as the mirror seemed to pulse, and suddenly, she was no longer standing in the room. She was somewhere else.
The Other Side
Her body was no longer her own. She could feel herself being pulled, yanked across a chasm of nothingness, torn between two worlds. The room, the house, had dissolved completely. In its place was an endless abyss—an expanse of blackness that stretched out forever, as if the universe itself were collapsing inward.
And there, in the distance, she saw it—an immense, shadowy figure. The same figure from the mirror. But it was more now. It was a presence, a force, like a storm gathering strength, its form constantly shifting, folding in on itself. Its eyes—if they could be called eyes—were endless black voids, and they were fixed on her.
Li An's chest tightened. She could feel it drawing her in, pulling her deeper into the void. The air around her felt thick, suffocating. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't move.
And then, as suddenly as it had begun, everything stopped.
The blackness faded, and she was standing back in the room—the room she had just left. The mirror was back where it had been. But now... it was different. The surface was clear. The shadow was gone. The reflection was... hers.
For a brief moment, Li An felt a flicker of relief. But then, a voice—no, the voice—whispered one final time.
"You've opened the door, Li An. Now you're one of us."