Steven Grant's life is anything but extraordinary. He wakes up in his flat, feeds his fish, and then heads to work at a museum gift shop. He leaves his mum voicemails everyday, but doesn't seem to ever hear back, aside from postcards. His sleeping h...
Cleo trudges through the magical doorway, head pounding and eyes shut closed as she's blinded by a shimmering light. Behind her eyelids appears the haunting memories of her past as they flash before her, spanning from her first time to America where she played the piano in an empty house to her adventure in Luxor in which the amulet was first found. It seers her brain, branding the memories into her mind as if she were cattle. The voices of her past swirl and combine together as she makes her way through the path, falling down to the ground with one final whisper of her name.
" Cleopatra."
The air gets knocked out of her lungs as Cleo lands on her chest against the sandy ground. Her palms lie flat against the ground as she pushes herself upwards with a groan, standing up tall on her two feet as she brushes off the sand from her clothes.
As Cleo grabs for her flashlight, she realizes that she doesn't need it, for the room she finds herself to be in is illuminated by torches and covered in mirrors. Dirty mirrors with cracks flowing from one side to the other. At first, she's met with her own reflection, one that shows her in her present state, but as her legs carry her further into the room, her reflection begins to change.
In the next mirror, she's but a child. Innocent and pure, but unfulfilled and alone.
Cleo freezes in place as she gazes down at the poor little child, staring in disbelief but mind quickly producing an answer.
The Hall of Memories.
Thought to have been a myth, a deception used by Ancient Egyptians who were tortured and driven to the brick of insanity, locked away in a hall of mirrors that begin to lie to their face.
Only these mirrors tell the truth.
The next mirror shows Cleo as a young girl, slowly growing into her adult form, but eyes still missing something, missing a soul behind them.
The next shows Cleo in the middle of her studies, obsessing over her degrees whilst her mental health heavily declines. She thought that by making her life all about her work, her mental health would somehow improve, but all those psychology classes showed her otherwise.
Cleo Hassan had her first complete psychotic break on her 21st birthday, as show by the next mirror, in which Cleo is in tears. She was all alone, no one to call, no one to be with, no one to sing her happy birthday, and it sent her tumbling over the edge.
Cleo finds herself biting back tears as she forces herself to keep going, seeing herself in every single low moment in her entire existence.
But then, as the last mirror conjures its image, it shows Cleo something she's only ever seen in a dream.
Cleo's dressed in golden armor, presenting as a grand and powerful warrior, as the one thing she's wanted to be since she was a little girl.
A hero.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
