"To slay a reflection, one must paint a path of blood" - The Time Demon.
...
Beneath my charming façade, it felt like a knife twisted in my stomach with every word I spoke.
My confident, booming voice—amplified by the array of speakers—delivered joint memories and danced fancifully through poignant metaphors of life and the journey ahead.
The graduation speech was packed full of stereotypical nonsense, yet the audience hung on every word like it was scripture. And how could they not? This was the Wielder of Time's final address before the Reflection. They were in the presence of a myth in the making... At least, that's their narrative.
Caught tight in the steel-link bondage of power, I felt no joy as I stared into the sea of students and elite. What slave would find joy in dancing on their master's palm? Class President of the Academy, highest-ranked Marked ever tested, icon of social mobility, the Wielder of Time—I'd climbed the ladder, rung by impossible rung with the golden lottery ticket magically etched into my wrist.
But nothing is free in this damned world... The scripts must be delivered.
As I delivered my final words, a peculiar, dangerous thought popped into my head: an off-script ending. After a brief silence filled the hall, I spoke in a fictitiously assured, near-regal voice.
"I wish all of Class 206 the best of luck in your Reflections. Let today mark the beginning of our conquest of The Beyond. For Zarhustra! Fight On!"
The audience roared in allegiance, ablaze with vigor.
"FOR ZARHUSTRA!"
Awarded with cheers, applause, and a nod from the him, I carefully wore my joyous mask as I walked off the stage. Their burning gaze almost scarred my skin with their presence.
'Damn rat bastards. I hope they all choke on their spit and roll over.'
Fame, freedom, and fortune—I had grasped the sun itself in my naive, outstretched hand. From the grimy alleyways and charred buildings of my childhood, my current stardom had far surpassed even the wildest dreams of the other Rodents.
'Too bad I was stuck in a prison of gold.'
A single mark on my wrist had transformed my life forever; my Marking of the Mirror possessed the fabled hourglass foretold in prophecies made eons ago. In a day my face was plastered on every paper in the world. In a week, I had a mercurial rise from the slums to near unlimited riches. But it didn't matter. None of it mattered. I was chosen by the Mirror to save the world...or more likely chosen by Zarhustra as a pawn in some twisted power game he was playing. My life as a free man was over.
At least, it would if my plan failed.
"Quite an excellent speech, Soil."
A familiar voice jolted me back to reality. To my right, a colossally large student stared at me with proud eyes. Taking up two full seats, his well-defined body looked closer to a statue than a human. His long, tied-back hair gave him an air of sophistication… if you ignored the sheer muscle mass.
"It was only good because you missed it all, you dumb oaf. Rocks can't be that tasty, right?"
With mismatched socks, a wrinkled coat, a missing tie, and wet hair, Reyes somehow stood out even more than usual.
We glared at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. I was the complete opposite of Reyes, yet the two of us needed each other.
While were the two most powerful Marked to have been born, only he too was clamped the chains of power like me. The slim, black-haired Wielder of Time and the gigantic redheaded Blade Titan could see the weight the other carried. He knew the truth, and that made him an ally.
'For a hunk of muscle, he's not all bad... if he could get my name right.'
'I hope he'll do well without me.'
———
Finally, it was time for the Reflection.
Behind me, a frail, wide-eyed boy with messy yellow hair grinned with unsettling ecstasy.
"It's finally time! It's like I'm wired on stims right now. The anticipation is incredible~"
'What a psycho…'
Before I could think more, another, more venomous voice cut in.
"Shut up, you damned ape. You should watch your mouth before it's stuffed with steel."
'Never mind. There's the real psycho.'
A long line of Academy students stretched far beyond me in either direction. After countless checks, inspections, tests, and practicals, today was the day we'd enter the cusp of the Beyond..
Although there were three different sites in Zarhustra, all first-timers naturally picked the Mirror at the Academy for their Reflection. The survival odds were the best.
And so, a queue of 322 students marching toward peril had been formed. Unfortunately for me, I had two lunatics for company.
'I can't wait to never see any of these people again…'
As the hours dragged on, I feverishly rehearsed the battle strategies and survival lessons drilled into my mind. Your reflection was impossible to predict, but I knew I'd at least arrive at Zone A… eventually.
An impossibly reflective crystal the size of a building, the Mirror served as a link between the Real world and the Beyond—a distorted version of our world teeming with horrifying beasts instead of animals and resources we couldn't dream of finding here. While you could predict where you'd end up, you had no clue what time period—or what monstrosities—would greet you.
'A plate of hot, steamy cockroach sounds pretty appetizing right now.'
Every nerve in my body resisted stepping forward, but the path behind me was worse than death.
'My image, my choices, my life—all of it belongs to them now. Damn it all. I have to keep following the plan.'
Step. Step. Step.
The cacophony of conversations around me waned as we got closer. Fear was inevitable. The endless sea of heads in front of me vanished, one by one, into nothingness.
And then it was my turn.
The stone halls ended in a circular room that was both awe-inspiring and unnerving. Stained glass windows and bright white architecture reminded me of a cathedral, but the centerpiece shattered the illusion.
A pitch-black pillar loomed from the floor to the domed ceiling, swallowing all light. Reality itself seemed to disappear into its darkness.
"Next!"
'Shit.'
With no one left to stall the moment, I walked reluctantly toward the towering horror. I hadn't even noticed the pale man in a government uniform standing beside it with a clipboard. Everyone had to be accounted for.
"Name?"
"Solus, sir."
My voice cracked on my own name, but I fought to keep my anxiety hidden.
The meek man looked up from his clipboard, his white eye and a nasty scar standing out starkly. He smiled warmly at me.
"We're all rooting for you, Wielder of Time."
And with a single stroke of his pen, his gaze shifted to the poor soul behind me.
It was time.
Step. Step. Step.
My hand reached out to the darkness faster than my fear could stop me, spotting my dull reflection impossibly looking back.
It was time to leave reality behind.
As the inky void climbed from my fingertips and engulfed me, a chilling numbness set in.
My nerves finally turned silent.
That was.. until I heard the horrible, bone-chilling sound.
Mirrors.
Thousands and thousands of mirrors, shattering.