Mirror Mirror

The glass thickens

Chapter 11

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Gauche flies on his make-shift glass broom, taking down creatures with precise shots. There are cuts and calluses laced on the skin of his fingers, stinging with every grip. The mage ignores the flinching sensations from his previous crafting; Gauche had to make do with the abundant glass, luckily objects still followed the laws of magic in this strange realm.

Moments later, Gauche surveys the scene below, witnessing the suffering of the injured and helpless. There are other people in this realm. Creatures pounce and hunt them ruthlessly, truly a painful scene to witness. 

Gauche, watching the chaos below, is reminded of his sister's words and Asta's selfless actions.

Gauche: (thinking to himself) Helping others... It's what a true Magic Knight should do...

*Gauche descends to the battlefield, destroying the creatures with precise shots and flare. Once the creatures numbers begin to dwindle, the remaining monsters retreat to the horizons leaving their victims weary and exhausted. 

Gauche hears the coughing of a wounded man, who laughs heartily despite his injuries. Gauche sternly tells him to stop, propping him up and attending to his wounds.*

Gauche: Quit your laughing! I'm here to help. Hold still, or your wounds will worsen.

*As Gauche tends to the man's injuries and offers him water, the man smiles pitifully at him.*

Wounded Man (Hector): You're wasting your time, lad. We're trapped here, and the mirrors' influence only grows stronger. Those monsters will keep multiplying, and we'll never escape.

*Gauche tightens the bandage, causing the man to yelp. Gauche scolds him, determination in his voice.*

Gauche: Don't you dare give up! I'll find a way out of here, mark my words. You can't do anything about it.

*Gauche tends to the other wounded individuals and finds a small hiding place. There the people tell him about their experiences and their lives before they were trapped in this place. He learned that the people here called this realm the "mirror world".

He listened to their stories and learned the people were sacrificed to the dark magic that some mages were experimenting with. They suddenly woke up in the mirror world but realized they were still stuck with the dark magic except now it has a form and it has full control over this realm. They used to have a mage here who protected them from the beasts but recently the protector disappeared and left them with tools that became ineffective over time.

The tension spiked with worried and pained faces loomed over the people, Gauche decided to lift the atmosphere by telling them stories about his sister, his adventures with black bull, and his ideas on how to escape the mirror world.*

Gauche: You see, I've got people I care about, and I won't let anything stop me from protecting them. We'll find a way out of this damn mess.

*The people become more at ease, gradually getting used to Gauche's rough way of speaking. They begin to see his deep love and devotion for those he cares about as he talks about them in his stories.*

*Before Gauche leaves, the wounded man who Gauche now knows as Hector, tells Gauche about his experience while stuck in the mirror world.

While Hector was trying to survive this mirror world, the dark entity suddenly appeared to him at one point and swallowed him whole but he woke up in the real world in somebody else's body. He tried to escape but the dark entity had a hold on his soul and filled his thoughts with instructions interlaced with screams and threats.

Hector did what he was told for the first few instructions which calmed the screaming but when he realized that the mirror was planning he screamed at his reflection that he would never release it. The dark entity pulled him into the mirror world and once again he was in his normal body (or reflection). There he saw the real owner of the body he possessed being mauled and killed by the creatures.

No matter where he went to hide, the creatures found him and beat him. The entity has found a way to track him in the mirror world. Now understanding the nature of what's going on, Gauche gives them a smaller version of his magic eye tool. Gauche instructs them to face it in any form of light and use it against the creatures that come.*

Gauche: Here, take this smaller version of my magic eye tool. Face it towards any form of light and use it against those creatures that come after you.

Hector: Did you make this? You must be a GENIUS!!!

Gauche: *Winces at the sudden volume* Shut up, I'm just a desperate survivor, like you. But if this tool can give you a fighting chance, then it's worth it.

Hector: There was another mage here who created tools from the mirror world. You're the second person I've seen able to do that.

Gauche: Tell me more about this mage. When did he leave? And what tools did he give you?

Hector: He left not long ago, around the time you arrived. He gave us tools to conceal ourselves from the creatures, but they ran out of mana... and we were left defenseless.

*Gauche's determination intensifies as he absorbs this information, his eyes shining with resolve.*

With that Gauche thanks Hector and leaves.

*Gauche flies off and after some time passes he encounters a flying glass creature heading towards him.*

Gauche: "Another creature? I don't have time for this."

(Gauche shoots a laser at the creature, which falls down. He sees that there is a person inside and quickly dives down with his broom to catch them.)

Gauche: In thought: "What a pain"

(Gauche uses his modified eye to place mirrors around the falling creature and angles his hand to shoot a laser that bounces off each mirror, piercing the creature but leaving the person unscathed.)

[Gauche flies down on his broom and safely catches the person. He inspects them quite a bit and feels the wrinkles on their skin. Their body was entirely covered in a brownish red, it looked as if their skin was inside out. They wore a loose robe and had a head of no hair.

Gauche: [in thought] "how did they end up inside that thing."

(The person suddenly wakes up and jumps from Gauche's arms into a nearby canyon with a mirror-like shine.)

Gauche: "Hey, wait! What are you doing?"

(A glass creature with giant wings rises from the canyon with the person standing on its head.)

Gauche: "tch, what the hell?"

(The creature swings its tail adorned with sharp spikes and shards in Gauche's vicinity.)

Gauche: "!"

(Gauche dodges using his magnifying laser and shoots off one of the arms of the creature.)

???: "Mirror Magic: Real Illusion!"

(The person uses their grimoire to summon a mirror that reflects the remaining arm of the creature, magically restoring it.)

Gauche: [in thought and in shock] what!? They have mirror magic too!

[The creature flies at Gauche with malicious intent, but Gauche quickly evades it with his mirrors, using the mirrors to teleport away]

Gauche: "What a pain this is. I was just trying to save you, and now you're attacking me."

[The person responds with a wave of their hand and the creature raises their claws to attack]

Gauche dodges and tries to make space, while doing this he notices that the person is surrounded by dark magic. But it felt different from Yami's dark magic. It felt... dead but... alive?