Emberholde Academy

15 - Darkest Reflection

Eden's POV

I wake with a start, drenched in sweat. I sit up and look to my left and see Dante's naked, chiselled body sleeping soundly, his arm over his face and the blankets only partially covering him. I look over at the clock, 4:30am. I've only been asleep for about three hours.

I feel off and look down to my hands and see my fingers glowing. I immediately panic and hurry out of the bed and into the bathroom, closing the door quietly to not disturb Dante.

I sit on the cold tile floor and lean back against the door, trying to calm my breathing and focus all my energy into not setting this hotel room ablaze. I hear Rieka speaking calm mantras to me to assist in calming me down.

After a few minutes, I feel myself calming, but my fingers don't return to normal. I flex and inspect them, feeling a new sensation in my chest. I stand and look at myself in the mirror, gasping when I see what's reflected at me.

Both of my eyes are brighter, almost glowing even in the florescent light of the bathroom. I lean in and look at them more, trying to figure out a possible reason as to why they look the way they do, but I obviously come up with nothing. I move back from the mirror but notice my reflection doesn't move. "What the..." I say quietly as I raise my hand to touch the mirror, and my reflection changes into a completely different person, startling me.

A woman with long black hair and tribal tattoos over her face and arms with eyes black as night.

I feel a sharp pain strike through my head, and I stumble back, smacking my head off the wall.

"You will be my vessel, dearest Eden." The dark voice echoes in my head, almost feeling like it's seeping into my consciousness, and I yell out in terror.

The door busts open, almost hitting me as Dante comes in growling and looking frantically around the bathroom. He comes to my side and pulls me into him, and I sob uncontrollably.

"Baby, what happened?" He asks and I shake my head, not able to produce coherent words over the streams of tears flowing down my face. He holds me for a few moments as I start to settle down and Dante leads me out, my eyes looking at the mirror fearfully as we exit back into the bedroom in the hotel.

We sit on the edge of the bed, him pulling me into his lap holding me tightly.

"There was something, no someone in the mirror."

"It's late, are you sure it wasn't just your mind playing tricks?" He asks and I shake my head vehemently. "My reflection turned into someone else, Dante. I'm not making this up."

"I believe you, baby. Let's try to get more rest and we can talk about it tomorrow." He says lightly while placing kisses on my head. We stay like that for a while, before I'm comfortable climbing back into bed. Dante holds me close still, and eventually I drift off again.

- -

Over breakfast the next day, I speak to Dante about the ordeal from last night. Explaining how my hands weren't returning to normal and the odd change in my eyes. "I'm not familiar with any of this baby, I'm sorry. But we should be talking to Valleth when she gets back about it. She will have more insight in this than I do."

"I just don't get it. It was like I wasn't myself, like I was on the verge of being possessed by something else."

"All the more reason to talk to Valleth. I've heard of some more of magical possession, but mainly with curses and hexed cast spells, but I don't know much more than that." He states plainly as he eats some fruit off his plate.

"I hope she can shed some light on it, I'm still kind of freaked out about it today." I say honestly and he brings my hand up to his mouth and gives me a few hand kisses. "Me too, I thought you got hurt badly with how you screamed. That won't be a sound I forget very easily."

"I'm sorry I scared you."

"It's okay, my love. Let's finish this up and get packed so we're ready to leave tonight and head back home."

I nod and turn my attention back to my breakfast and try to eat something even though my stomach is completely twisted in knots.

What the hell is happening to me?

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 - a bit of a filler, more plot coming soon!

 - See you in the next one!! - vv