Slowly waking up, August felt his whole body ache. His head felt like it at been split open, and he had a hard time forming a thought.
He felt like he could hear faint voices, whispering around him.
A bright light was shining through his closed eyes, making the headache even worse.
August slowly opened his eyes, revealing a large chandelier. He felt a soft feeling under him, indicating that he was laying on a bed. August immediately felt confused.
"Is this God´s kingdom? Did I actually make it?"
Suddenly August heard a chuckle.
August slowly raised his head from the pillow underneath his head. What met his eyes, was a large room made out of dark wood. The room had large bookshelves filled with books, a large sofa accompanied by a fine-looking table, and a large desk made out of the same dark wood as the room.
August was completely shocked. He had never seen anything as extravagant as this.
"Sorry to break it to you kid, this isn't God´s kingdom." A man said, chuckling. His voice was deep and calming, like honey.
Shit, did I say that out loud? August thought silently.
As he thought that, he looked over to where the voice came from.
To the right of August, there stood a man. He was of medium height, wearing a black uniform with small golden details. On the right arm of the uniform, there was a sigil bearing a golden mask. The man had a high hairline, with his black hair showing small signs of grey, which was the same for his finely trimmed beard. His dark brown eyes were looking warmly at August, while he chuckled.
"Where am I, then?" August asked, still a little disoriented.
The man with a high hairline, calmly took a seat on a nearby chair. He quietly scanned August´s face, before answering.
"You´re in the capital of Mudenze, kid."
"The capital of Mudenze? You mean to tell me that I am still in Esufes?" August said, feeling quite shocked.
"That would be the place, yes. What, something wrong with it? The man said.
August drew a sharp breath, while thinking to himself.
Why the hell am I not dead? Wait, why would this guy even rescue me? Nobody cares about the people in the slums. So why am I even in this, extravagant looking place.
"You're probably thinking why I rescued you, and why you're not dead"
August flinched a little, thinking. Shit, can this guy read my mind or something, what the fuck is going on?
The man broke out in laughter, filling the room with his warm laugh, before saying, still chuckling.
"Don't worry, I can´t read minds. But I have been your situation before, therefore I kind of get what you´re thinking."
August silently looked at the man, still trying to figure out what was going on.
The man took a deep breath, before he leant forward in the chair and said.
"Well, I´ll just explain it to you. Does that sound good?
August pulled himself up, leaning his back against the headboard. Focusing all he could, while his head was still pounding.
"First of all, the names Patrick Harrison. I am the same as you… A Mirrorwalker."
"Mirrorwalker?" August asked, in puzzlement.
What the hell is a mirrorwalker, shit, I don't even know what a mirror is.
"Yes" the man named Patrick answered. "A mirrorwalker is someone that, just like you, have looked at their reflection, and for some reason not been possessed- Although we don't know why."
So, it´s not just me, huh? You think for one second you´re special, then you find out there are others just like you.
August nodded while in thought, indicating he understood, before he asked "So, you have also been to that dark space?"
"Yes, we all have. That space is called the mirror-dimension. We don´t know much about it, but we know that that's where the mirror-creatures live- For example, the one you met a few weeks ago. We as mirrorwalkers, have the powers to jump into this dimension. This also makes us able to jump between reflections. We can jump between everything that gives away a reflection."
August sat on his bed, feeling completely stumped. Are you telling me I have superpowers? Wait, a few weeks ago? Have I been sleeping for a few weeks? He thought, feeling the color drain from his face.
Patrick, sitting in his chair, looked at August with humor. This was what he liked the most. Informing new members of the fact they had powers, and then watch the color in their face drain, when they heard how long they had slept.
He chuckled for a bit, before continuing
"We are not known by very many people. The only ones in the know, are the government, the highest officers in the military, the higher-ups in the police, as well as some of the nobles. As mirrorwalkers, we are looked at as hidden cards in conflicts. This however, is not our main job.
As you have experienced, the mirror-creatures are not very friendly. So for centuries, we mirrorwalkers have protected the people of the world, from these creatures. We don't know their goal, but for as long as the history of mirrorwalkers go, the mirror-creatures have tried to rain chaos over us humans, and our kingdoms."
Leaning back into his chair, Patrick took a deep breath before continuing.
" When a normal person looks at their own reflection, there forms a sort of gateway. We don't know exactly why, but the mirror-creatures seem unable to cross through to our world on their own. When you hear stories about people dying because of their reflection, that is only because of us. In reality, these people become vessels for mirror-creatures. This is also what makes mirror-creatures so dangerous, and hard to discover before something happens. We, mirrorwalkers have named these Travelers."