Alex awoke on a glass floor.
But this time, it wasn't cold or cracked. It pulsed beneath him—warm, rhythmic, like a heartbeat beneath his palms.
Above, the ceiling shimmered with hundreds of suspended mirrors, each spinning slowly on invisible axes. They reflected not just his current form, but fragments of those he'd once been. Maya. Timmy. Sarah. Even flickers of people he couldn't yet name.
And standing in the center of it all was a child.
She couldn't have been older than ten. Barefoot. Wearing a tattered nightgown. Her eyes glowed silver.
When she spoke, her voice echoed like it was bouncing off every mirror in existence.
"Wanna play?"
[Fear System Update: Host Entered Subspace – Mirror Trial Layer]
Role: Challenger
Entity Manifestation: Child of Glass (Class II Cognition Trap)
Objective: Survive the Games. Outwit the Reflection.
Warning: Losing Will Shatter Host's Cognitive Stability
Alex stood slowly.
"Who are you?"
The girl tilted her head, as if genuinely surprised by the question.
"I'm who you were when you first looked in a mirror."
Then she blinked—and the room changed.
The glass floor turned into a checkerboard.
The mirrors overhead aligned into perfect symmetry, like floating chess pieces.
A wall of frost etched glowing rules across the surface of the nearest mirror:
Mirror Game #1: Reflection Chase
Rule: Spot the Fake in Under 60 Seconds
Fail: A Piece of You Is Taken
The air pulsed once.
And then five versions of Alex appeared around him.
Each identical. Same clothes. Same wounds. Same expression.
But one—just one—moved wrong.
Too slow to blink. Too fast to breathe.
The girl hummed, swinging side to side. "Better choose fast. Or you'll forget something real."
The countdown flashed:
60… 59… 58…
Alex studied them.
One scratched its chin before the others. Another blinked three times. One smiled faintly.
But the fourth…
The fourth's reflection didn't show in the mirrored floor.
He lunged.
His hand passed through it—and the illusion screeched, shattering into shards of black glass.
The other reflections disappeared.
The girl clapped.
"Good first try."
Round Passed. No Identity Loss.
System Note: Host Insight Improved.
Next Game Loading…
The floor dissolved again.
This time, they stood in a long hallway made entirely of mirrors. Thousands of them. Each one held an image of a door, but none were real.
Mirror Game #2: Door to Truth
Rule: Only One Mirror Is a Door.
Clue: Choose the Door That Shows You Scared.
Fail: Lose Emotional Anchoring (Host may become numb or passive).
Alex stared down the corridor.
Some mirrors showed him smiling. Some angry. Some screaming.
But only one showed fear—real, paralyzing, trembling fear.
The version of him shown in that mirror stood frozen, eyes wide, staring into something offscreen.
Alex stepped in front of that glass.
The girl giggled again. "Are you sure you want to feel that again?"
He nodded.
And walked through the mirror.
Pain lanced through his chest—an echo of something buried deep.
The day he first learned what it meant to be helpless.
The mirror trembled.
And let him pass.
Round Passed. Emotional Core Retained.
Passive Resistance +1: Memory Tether Strengthened.
System Warning: Entity Escalation Detected.
The world fractured again.
This time, Alex landed in a childhood bedroom.
He knew it wasn't his.
Stuffed animals lined the shelves. A cracked nightlight buzzed in the corner. Drawings taped to the walls—all of the same face. Over and over. The same girl.
Her.
The child of glass.
She sat cross-legged on the bed, watching him with unblinking eyes.
"Last game."
She raised one finger.
A mirror floated forward, framed in thorns.
"Truth or Stay?"
Mirror Game #3: Truth or Stay
Rule: Speak a True Fear—Out Loud.
Fail: Stay Here Forever.
The mirror hovered in front of him.
It didn't show his face.
It showed his future.
One he hadn't dared imagine.
Alex, alone. Trapped. Jumping world to world. Losing more of himself each time. Faces blurring. Names forgotten. Purpose fading. Eventually—just another ghost in the system.
He swallowed.
"I'm afraid…" he whispered. "I'm afraid I won't come back. That I'll forget who I really am."
Silence.
The mirror glowed.
And shattered.
The child stood up.
Her glow dimmed.
"That was the right answer."
The mirrors vanished.
Only darkness remained.
Then—warmth.
A voice—Sarah's—echoed faintly:
"Don't forget. You're more than what you reflect."
[Fear System Notice: Mirror Trial Concluded]
All Games Cleared
Entity: Child of Glass – Dissolved
Memory Anchor Stabilized
Next Sequence Initializing: Subsumption Phase Ends
Arc Completion Threshold: 80%
Alex blinked, standing now on a solid wooden floor.
Sunlight poured through a bedroom window.
The original mirror—Vainglass Alpha—lay shattered at his feet.
The house around him was peaceful.
But only for a moment.
From downstairs:
Footsteps.
And then a voice:
"You broke my favorite toy."