The road was empty.
The night stretched like tar across the horizon as Alex—still in Sarah's body—drove the borrowed car away from the suburban home, the mirror wrapped tightly in a checkered blanket beside him in the passenger seat. Every bump in the road made it shift, the glass whispering faintly beneath the fabric.
"Closer… we're getting closer…"
"They'll see who you really are…"
Alex tightened his grip on the steering wheel. Street signs flew past, distorted by the headlights. The trees leaned toward the road like watchers without eyes.
Ahead, a crooked sign came into view:
"Belgrave Institute — 5 km"
[Fear System Update: Traveling to Core Site]
Time Remaining: 1 Hour, 51 Minutes
Mirror Integrity: Cracking (48%)
Host Identity Stability: 63%
Risk: Reflection May Manifest Outside Containment
A flash of movement in the side mirror caught his eye.
Sarah's reflection again.
Not his current body—her original reflection, grinning. Bleeding. Eyes wide.
And this time, she spoke aloud, the voice crawling out of the mirror like a wasp:
"Let me take the wheel."
Alex slammed the brakes.
The mirror burst through the blanket, landing facedown on the floor. It pulsed like a living heart.
And in the center of the rearview mirror—
Sarah stared directly at him.
[Alert: Reflection Transgression Detected]
Environmental Manifestation: Phase 1 Initiated
Symptom: Distorted Surroundings – Illusory Control Loss
Warning: Roadway May No Longer Reflect Reality
The trees around the car had disappeared.
Now the road was flanked by mirrors—tall as buildings, hundreds of them, lining the highway like a silent audience.
Alex floored the accelerator.
The car surged forward—but the speedometer stuck at 00.
Outside the windshield, the world warped. Sky turned silver. Pavement rippled like water.
He gritted his teeth and drove on.
The mirrors whispered as he passed.
"Too much makeup, Sarah."
"You'll never be pretty enough."
"They only liked you when you were quiet."
"He only loved you in the dark."
Alex slammed his fist on the steering wheel.
"SHUT UP!"
A CRACK split the windshield.
The reflection behind it smirked.
Blood leaked from its eyes.
The car veered left. Then right. Alex yanked the wheel back—but the road itself began bending, curving like a coiled snake.
And then—
The headlights illuminated a tall iron gate, tangled in vines, crooked as if it had grown out of the very earth.
BELGRAVE INSTITUTE
The gates creaked open on their own.
He rolled through.
[System Notice: Core Location Entered – Belgrave Institute Grounds]
Sub-objective: Locate the Origin Mirror (Vainglass Alpha)
Objective: Destroy Core to End Reflection Loop
Time Remaining: 1 Hour, 30 Minutes
The car sputtered and died halfway up the overgrown drive.
Alex stepped out, clutching the wrapped mirror tightly. Cold air greeted him, wet with fog. The building ahead loomed like a mausoleum—old stone, shattered windows, and mirror fragments embedded in the outer walls.
Not glass.
Polished bone.
Inside, the Belgrave Institute was worse.
Long, abandoned hallways stretched into blackness. Every door had been chained shut. Dust coated the floor in thick layers, disturbed only by bare footprints leading deeper inside.
The mirror began to twitch in his hands.
"This is where I was born," the reflection hissed.
"This is where we first saw the real us."
The prints led him to an examination room—one of the few with a single working overhead light.
At the center: a mirror wall, ten feet tall and wide. Cracks veined the surface like spiderwebs.
And at the base: a plaque.
Vainglass Alpha
"Developed under Dr. Connelly's Mirror Exposure Protocol – Class II Identity Treatment"
"Do not allow host to see the glass during active delusion."
Alex stepped closer.
His reflection didn't match him anymore.
It was Sarah—fully formed.
Flawless. Dressed for attention. Makeup perfect. Skin glowing.
But the eyes were wrong.
Black as ink.
She stepped forward from the reflection.
And so did he.
Their hands met the surface—but the glass rippled.
Like water.
Sarah leaned in and whispered:
"You're just a tourist, Alex. You don't belong here."
"This body wants me back."
He pressed harder.
The mirror trembled.
[Decision Node Reached – Mirror Confrontation]
Option A: Break the Mirror – Immediate Purge, Risk of Host Memory Loss
Option B: Enter the Mirror – Confront the Entity Within Core Space
Option C: Attempt Psychological Severance via Host Memory Anchor
Alex closed his eyes.
He reached inside Sarah's memory—for something real.
And it came.
A moment: Sarah, age 9, dancing to music alone in her bedroom, unafraid, unashamed, before the comments, before the pressure. Pure.
He opened his eyes.
"Sarah," he whispered. "I saw you. The real you."
The reflection flickered.
"I saw how much you loved yourself—before they made you ashamed."
Her smile cracked.
"I'm not here to be prettier," Alex said. "I'm here to remind you… you were enough before they looked at you."
The mirror shattered.
Light burst through the glass.
The walls shook. Cracks raced across the floor.
Sarah's reflection screamed as it splintered into dust.
[Core Destroyed – Vainglass Alpha Terminated]
Mirror Entity Eradicated
Host Memory Stabilized
Arc Collapse Imminent – Countdown: 00:03:00
The hallway behind him began to melt—walls running like wax. The Institute groaned and twisted, as if trying to pull him under.
Alex turned and ran.
The mirrors that once lined the walls were now blank.
No faces. No whispers.
Just glass.
Silent.
Dead.
Outside, dawn was breaking.
He stood at the top of the Institute stairs, watching the sky burn gold.
And from somewhere deep inside the Fear System, Sarah's voice reached him.
"Thank you for showing me who I was. Not just who they saw."
The ground trembled.
And the world began to reset.