The silence between them was suffocating. Sebastian's words hung in the air like an unspoken threat, the weight of them pressing down on her chest. Vivian stared at him, trying to make sense of what he had said, but the more she thought about it, the less she understood.
Once the mirror has seen you, it doesn't let go.
Vivian opened her mouth to protest, but no words came. The very idea felt impossible. She had worked with cursed artifacts before—pieces of ancient history drenched in myth and superstition. She had restored paintings once thought lost forever, unearthed manuscripts hidden in dusty tombs. But this… this felt different.
"You're saying that once I touch it, I'm bound to it?" she asked, her voice trembling despite her best efforts to remain steady.
Sebastian's jaw tightened, his expression grim. "Not just once. The mirror chooses who it will bind to. You're not the first."
Vivian blinked, the truth of his words sinking in slowly, like ice water running through her veins. "Who else?"
His gaze flickered, but he didn't meet her eyes. "Others have come before you. They've tried to restore it, fix the cracks, clean the frame. But no one has ever succeeded."
"Why?" Vivian asked, her mind racing. "Why did you hire me? If you knew this thing was so dangerous, why bring me here?"
He turned, walking to the far end of the hallway, his hands clasped behind his back. "I needed someone who could see it—who could get close enough to repair it, to unlock the truth."
"The truth of what?" she demanded, following him.
Sebastian stopped, his back to her, and sighed. "The mirror was created centuries ago, long before this manor was built. It's not just a mirror—it's an artifact of immense power. It holds within it the ability to distort time, to unravel reality itself."
Vivian's breath caught in her throat. "What do you mean, distort time?"
He turned to face her then, his eyes dark and intense. "The mirror doesn't reflect the world as it is. It reflects what could be. Every choice, every possibility. But it does more than show it. It traps the soul within it, allowing those trapped inside to relive their own choices, again and again."
"Relive their choices?" she echoed, feeling a chill creep down her spine. "You're telling me this thing makes people live out their regrets? Their mistakes?"
"Not just regrets." Sebastian's voice was low, almost too quiet. "The mirror doesn't just show what you wish you could change. It shows you everything—your deepest fears, your darkest desires. And once it has you, it won't let go until it's fed on those fears long enough to claim your soul."
Vivian staggered backward, her mind reeling. "And you think I'm going to… to fix it?"
Sebastian's expression softened for the first time since they'd begun talking. "I didn't hire you to fix the mirror. I hired you because you're the only one who hasn't fallen to it yet."
The room seemed to close in around her, the weight of his words crashing over her. Vivian swallowed hard, trying to steady herself. "What do you mean, I'm the only one?"
Sebastian's gaze shifted to the floor, his voice tight. "Everyone who has ever tried to repair the mirror has fallen into it. Some, like my father, never came back. Others were driven mad, consumed by their own reflections. But you…" He paused, a hint of something she couldn't quite place crossing his face. "You've resisted it. You're the first to come close to it and still have the strength to walk away."
Vivian shook her head, her mind a whirlwind of confusion. "Why me? Why did it choose me?"
"Because of your past," he said quietly.
Her heart skipped a beat. "My past?"
Sebastian nodded, his expression unreadable. "You've been running from it for years. The trauma. The loss. The things you buried, thinking they were gone. The mirror sees those things, Vivian. It feeds on them. And you…" He stepped closer, his voice soft, almost regretful. "You've always had a connection to it, even before you touched it."
Vivian's breath caught in her throat. She backed away, the cold walls pressing against her as if the manor itself was closing in on her. "What are you saying? You think the mirror… knows me?"
Sebastian's silence was answer enough.
The room felt suffocating, and her mind raced, trying to make sense of it all. She had always known that something in her past had been left unfinished, a chapter that had never closed. She had left her old life behind—left the haunting memories of her childhood, her family's tragic death, the mysterious disappearance of her brother. But she had never been able to escape the feeling that something was following her, something she couldn't outrun.
Now, as she stood in front of this cursed mirror, the weight of everything she had tried to bury came crashing back. It wasn't just memories that the mirror wanted—it wanted the truth. It wanted the secrets she had kept locked away for so long.
"Tell me everything," Vivian whispered, her voice barely audible.
Sebastian met her gaze, and for the first time, she saw something in his eyes that wasn't just cold detachment. There was fear. And something else—something darker.
"The truth is," he said, his voice low, "the mirror is more than just an artifact. It was made to find people like you. People who have lost something important, something that ties them to the past. And it has a price. You'll pay it whether you repair it or not. The only question is how much of yourself you're willing to sacrifice."
Vivian stared at him, her heart racing in her chest. "How do you know all this?"
Sebastian's eyes darkened. "Because I've seen it before. I've seen the mirror take people. And I've seen what happens when it doesn't get what it wants."
Vivian's breath hitched. "What happens?"
His eyes flickered to the door behind her, the one leading back into the room where the mirror waited, its glass shimmering with an unnatural gleam. "It becomes hungry. And when it gets hungry enough, it'll take everything."
Vivian felt a cold shiver run through her as she turned toward the door. The whispering voice in her mind returned, louder this time, urgent and insistent.
"You cannot escape."
And this time, she believed it.
To be continued...