Descending from Ordinary

Prologue

For all the teens with adventurous souls, thirsty hearts

and messy hair.

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He was dead. He had to be.

The first thought that came to his mind after recalling the traumatic events that had just occurred before him. He awoke to his usual unnecessarily early alarm, fully expecting it to be another one of his boring, uneventful and painfully average autumn days.

Not even ten minutes after, he was aimlessly walking in the small patch of woods behind his university dorm building to get some fresh air. It was a common routine he found himself repeating. Not only would it take his mind off the stressful exams and assessments piling up, but the scent of crisp air and the feeling of the silky wind rubbing against his cheeks managed to calm him. In cities as big as Sydney, it seemed harder and harder to come across such empty and peaceful places- so he savoured moments like these. As he walked between the dull tress on the dampened ground, he counted his steps mindlessly.

His name was Jacob. A high school student who didn't even know what he was going to school for. He didn't really know what he wanted to do with his life... Finishing high school...? It was kind of mandatory for him. Chasing girls? Not really his thing. Part-time job, maybe? It was a nice way to make some extra money, but he didn't think it sounded interesting. Aside from that, he didn't really have that many friends. He was more on the independent side and when he got the opportunity to make a friend or two, he'd always find himself awkwardly failing to drag on a conversation. It wasn't long before he decided, maybe, it was time to accept that he was better off sticking with himself.

Jacob ran a swift hand through his dirty-blonde hair, letting out a breath that became a visible white cloud in front of him. It was definitely too cold for a September morning, and this sort of cold sucks. A shiver ran down his spine signalling him that it was time to turn back and warm himself up in his dorm. He'd left his phone behind, so he couldn't check the time, but he could be sure he'd been walking for hours. Not that he minded, though. As Jacob turned to make his way back, a distant glint suddenly caught his eye. He stopped in his tracks, searching for the source of the blinding piece of light. His eyes landed on a shard of glass. As he stepped closer, he found in fact, that it was a shard of mirror.

Raising an eyebrow, Jacob walked over to the small piece, curiously. The shard looked oddly familiar shaped, when it hit him- the private glasshouse conservatory, just outside of the campus. He bolted to complete the antique mirror. Though as he began running, he found himself to become more and more lost. Then daylight shone through the trees. Jacob knew instantly that he had been lost for hours, and what was worse, economics was first. His professor would surely never forgive him, then Jacob stopped in his tracks as yet another blinding contraption stood proudly before him but this time, a more brilliant light beamed from it- the mirror.

It was decorated with golden vine-like rimming, extending out to the sides and travelling around the entire rectangle of glass that cleanly reflected everything around him. What would something that spectacular be doing in the middle of the woods? Instinctively, he spun around, his eyes exploring the rows of trees around him, half expecting to find some freshman kids laughing their asses off because they'd think he was about to fall for some stupid prank. But instead, no one.

Turning back to the mirror, he took a second to check himself. His face had become pale during the walk from the cold, but his lips stayed the pink they always were. Now that he thought about it, he regretted his decision to not dress more practically. The tips of his ears and nose matched the colour of his lips and he was still shivering. Before he could tell himself it was time to go back, for the third time, he noticed a bit of the top right corner of the mirror sticking out of the rim, and a missing piece resembling the shape of the glass in his hand. Usually, he'd just ignore it and continue on, but his OCD got the best of him and he couldn't help himself.

"Why not," Jacob sighed quietly. He was lost, and chances were that he'd probably miss the first period anyway, so he didn't really didn't have anything better to do.

Dropping to his knees, he grabbed the bottom of the mirror and carefully dragged it flat to the ground so he could push the shard of mirror into the gap easily. The mirror was reasonably lightweight, to his surprise. Looking at the grey-blue, cloud deprived sky through the mirror, he let out a small huff before placing the shard into the gap, a perfect fit. Then he put both hands onto the displaced area on the mirror. Going to push down as hard as he could, Jacob expected to simply push the mirror back in place, set the mirror back against the tree, get up and go back to his dorm.

But instead?