Mirror of the Past: The Villainess' True End

CHAPTER ONE:Is This a Joke?

It was a quick death. I knew it happened because I still remembered how sharp the blade was when it struck me before everything turned dark. I knew for sure I died.

"..."

I rubbed my eyes once, slapped my cheeks twice, and checked myself for wounds multiple times.

"What kind of witchery is this?" For the first time, I found my voice after finding myself in an unknown bed, in this unfamiliar room that is filled with things that I have never encountered in my life before.

Slowly, I got up just to almost fall back when I stumbled on a pile of papers scattered on the floor. I furrowed upon seeing familiar handwriting written on the papers. It's the first time I saw those symbols but magically, I knew how to read them.

"It's my handwriting." I whispered as I checked the contents of the paper, but the more I read, the more I felt like it was harder to breathe.

Everything that happened to me as Lady Karina Azalena was written on those papers with my handwriting. From the moment of my birth up to the moment that my people buried me on the hill where my twin was buried, everything was written on these papers using my handwriting. The story didn't end in my demise, but it brought changes to the empire. A year after my death, Achilles found out the truth about Arabella but it was too late, a coup had already started. And although Achilles still managed to win the war and sat on the throne, he lived a lonely life thinking of Karina Azalena until his deathbed.

The chuckle that escaped my lips that turned into a crazy laugh, tears wetting my cheeks unknowingly as I slowly walked at the dresser to check myself in the mirror. Memories flooded my mind upon making eye contact with my reflection.

"So, it was you, huh." I griped to my reflection in the mirror. "Am I a joke to you? Do I look like I am some pushover to you?!" I threw the first thing that I managed to grab at the mirror, smashing it to pieces after recovering all the memories that this body I possessed had. This body has the same face as mine, and even has the same name. The only thing that differed us was our personalities.

The author of the book I read, the one who made me come into this world, my creator- Karina Azalena, is a timid woman who was madly in love with Achilles Dimitri, enough to create a story about them...and enough to sell her soul to summon me in this world in exchange of hers.

"If you want to change your life, change it yourself! You fuckin lunatic! Don't include me in your craziness just because you couldn't have that son of a bitch who kept using you for his own amusement!" I fumed while I kept smashing the mirror in front of me, ignoring the ringing in my ears as I kept recalling all the things that the Achilles in this world did to the original owner of this body I possessed. The one in that book is way better than the one in this world.

I was almost breathless, turning the whole room upside down when I finished ranting to someone who wasn't even here anymore. Exhausted, I lay in bed feeling not even a little better, and shut my eyes to calm myself.

Maybe it is also my fault which is why 'Karina' chose to pass the torch at me. I saw in her memories those moments where I kept changing my choices that she's writing by myself as if I have a mind of my own when it comes to crucial times. My death was something I decided for myself that she couldn't change no matter how much she tried to change it. She couldn't control her own hands whenever I was making a choice of my own in the story that she's writing. My eyes opened widely upon remembering the pen that she used and immediately got up to look for it. I searched for the summoning circle that she drew using the same pen at the corner of the room but it wasn't there anymore. The only thing that was left was the whitened circle that she used to summon me.

My eyes stayed buried in the circle in the floor for a long time. It is quite a mystery that I never recalled any memories of how she knew about this particular spell. It was written in an ancient language that we used in my world. I once came across the same summoning circle when I went on an expedition with Achilles before. This spell was considered taboo when Achilles asked the archimage of the empire. He said that it will only work when there is a synergy between souls that is involved in the exchange. Meaning, both of them wants the same thing...to disappear from the world they were currently in.

ᚷᚢᚪᚱᛞᛡᚾ ᚩᚠ ᛏᛁᛘᛖ, ᚠᛚᛁᛈ ᚦᛖ ᚻᚩᚢᚱ ᚷᛚᚪᛋᛋ. ᛚᛖᛏ ᚦᛖ ᛘᛁᛋᛏᛖᚱᛁᛖᛋ ᚩᚠ ᛏᚹᚩ ᚹᚩᚱᛚᛞᛋ ᛒᛖ ᚳᛖᚱᛏᚪᛁᚾ. ᛘᚪᛁ ᛋᚩᛚ ᚪᚾᛞ ᛚᚢᚾᚪ ᚾᚩ ᛚᚩᛝᛖᚱ ᛞᛁᚠᛁᛞᛖ. ᛚᛖᛏ ᚩᚾᛖ ᚳᛚᚪᛁᛘ ᚱᛖᚠᚢᚷᛖ ᛁᚾ ᛁᛏᛋ ᚱᛁᚷᚻᛏᚠᚢᛚ ᛈᛚᚪᚳᛖ, ᚪᚾᛞ ᚦᛖ ᚩᚦᛖᚱ ᚩᚾᛖ ᛋᛚᛖᛖᛈ ᛁᚾ ᛁᚩᚢᚱ ᛖᛘᛒᚱᚪᚳᛖ

(Guardian of time, flip the hour glass. Let the mysteries of two worlds be certain. May Sol and Luna no longer divide. Let one claim refuge in its rightful place, and the other one sleep in your embrace.)

The exchange was permanent and there is no way to reverse it. I sprawled on the floor, feeling weary with everything that the original Karina threw at me. I chuckled when I remembered what I told my twin before he died in my arms.

"Maybe I really am the cursed one, Keiran." I whispered to myself, closing my eyes to rest my mind. I don't want to think, but I can't help all the memories of that 'Karina' from flooding. All of her misfortune crashes on me like a tsunami wrecking everything, trying to drown me.

I opened my eyes and breath exasperatedly as I picked up a piece of broken mirror. I stared pitifully at my own reflection. "You wrote me as a strong-willed and discerning noble lady who can protect herself on her own. Was it because you can't do the same?"

Another sigh escaped my lips before I got up from the floor and started cleaning the mess I made. I can't do anything now that I was sent here without my consent. As Sol's follower, I can't even take this new life that was forcefully given to me. If it's my fate to live this life then all I need to do is be the same Karina Azalena who lived and travelled through space and time. If that 'Karina' summoned me here for this purpose, then I should grant her little wish.

After cleaning up the mess I made, I scanned her small room and continued removing her things that won't define me. When I decided to face my death back in my own world, I prayed that if there is a parallel world to us, she won't love that person like I did. But who would have thought that I would be the person who would do that? I took the frame placed carefully at the bedside table and stared blankly at 'their' photo.

"Even in this life, you're being used by this person..." I threw it in the trash together with all of his gifts that that 'Karina' treasured so much. "But not anymore." I uttered to myself while staring blankly at the tool that keeps ringing at the top of her study table. Achilles' name flashes on the screen but I never answered his call once or even replied to his messages. I turned off her phone and threw it away as well. I will be living this life as me and not as someone else.

"In this world, I won't let anyone write my fate." I scanned my new tidied place once more and smiled proudly to myself. "Nor let that cruel god's arrow to dominate my life."