Midnight Star

Chapter II

I left the dungeon the moment I saw that-that weird magic mirror react.

Standing outside the room I took a deep breath to relax, it's okay Gren, you can do this! I can't understand it's purpose and in any normal circumstance I wouldn't try to understand it but Opeli gave me an order and until Amaya request for my presence then I'm needed here more than at the border. If Amaya was given this task she would have probably aggressively sign languaged the heck out of the person on the other side of the mirror and demanded answers. I'm not like that though and I need a minute before I can decide on how to approach this situation. On one hand the person that can be seen through the mirror might know about Viren's plan, they might even be helping him. But on the other hand, what if they can't see me or hear me? The hearing part can be solved easily but the seeing part is much harder to solve... I guess I'll just see if they know I'm able to see them first and go from there. I'll never get anything done if all I do is stand here and think it over all day. With luck they aren't on Viren's side.

"You got this, Gren. What's the worse thing they could do anyways? They're trapped in the mirror not me. And I'm starting to think being chained up for weeks has taken a toll on my sanity... Nah I'm fine. Time to get this over with!"

Nodding to myself I open the door again and peak inside towards the mirror. It's still showing what's going on inside the strange room and the mysterious person seems to be looking through some shelves for a book. I enter the room and close the door behind me and creep towards the mirror with caution. The clothes the mystery person was wearing were rather unusual, purples and dark blue that reminds one of the night sky and a long hooded cloak covered most of them making it hard to distinguish any features, let alone a gender. Not that gender matters both men and women can prove to be powerful adversaries, Amaya is a prime example of how powerful women can truly be and I consider myself quite subdued for a Commander since I feel like talking things through is more effective than brute strength. Not that I would ever tell that to Amaya or else I would have to be her training dummy for the next few weeks after I rejoin her.

Not noticing any sort of acknowledgement from the mystery person I raise my hand and gently tap on the mirrors surface. Despite the stupidity of that action I didn't stop myself from doing it and the reaction was instantaneous. The moment my finger tapped on the glass the person's face whipped around to look in my direction. That is terrifying! It's like they're peering right into my very soul! This was a bad idea.

Now terrified I watch with wide eyes as the figure takes long and calculated strides towards me, the eye contact didn't break the whole way towards me either. Now face to face we stand almost at equal height, wow they're tall! I'm 6'1" and this person is almost looking down on me! They tilt their head to the side in curiosity, a smirk playing at their lips as they wait for me to do or say something.

"C-Can you hear me?" Ah geez I hope they didn't catch that stutter at the beginning.

The person smirked a little wider. Their eyes lit up with what seemed like amusement and minuscule twitching could be seen on their shoulders. Are they laughing at me?

"It's awfully rude to laugh at someone for asking a simple question."

The person simply continues to chuckle and reaches up to lower the hood. And oh! Oh no.

Elf!
Enemy!
Danger!
Abort!

As I was internally freaking out as the person, this elf, lowered his(they're clearly male now that he's close enough and I can see his face better) hood and revealed curved horn, a head full of pure white hair and pointy ears. Wait he's doing so something else.
What sort of elf is this guy anyways? He was pointing at his ear, the amusement in his face never left. Oh so he can't hear then or those he mean I can't hear him? Maybe he knows sign language? Hopefully he does, I need answers and if Viren was contacting an elf then that's really cause for alarm right?

'Can you understand signs?' I sign to him slowly in case he doesn't know much. He seems intrigued for a split second before he too raises his hands, hopefully to reply.

'What is it you desire?' The elf signs back perfectly with efficiency and swiftness.
Well perfect! I do a little victorious clap for a split second before stopping myself from making a fool out of myself in front of the intimidating and possibly dangerous elf.

I have established communication with the...enemy? Maybe he's trapped because he wouldn't give Viren what he wanted. That's probably it. Viren does seem like the guy to lock people up that don't do what he wants.

'I want answers regarding the man you probably spoke to before me. He's a mage and I was tasked to figure out his motives. Can you help?'

He seemed to think his answer over before replying.

'Do you wish to destroy him?'

What is this man on about? Destroy? Does that imply he has power even outside the mirror? This really isn't a good idea.

'No! I don't really want to destroy anyone. I'm more of a talker than a fighter. I just want to know what he wanted so I can help defend the people of Katolis from whatever he tried to do.' And I mean ever word, or should I say gesture? The point is that I'm willing to face off against any foe to defend the innocent people of Katolis even if it costs me my life and I need this elf to understand that.

'You clearly don't have any magical prowess. What use do you think I would have for someone such as yourself?' Wow... Rude.

'That's kinda rude, but to answer your question I just want some answers to my own questions. If you don't want to be bothered I'll leave and say I found nothing of importance.'

'You would lie to your superior just for my comfort? You truly are an interesting little human.' This seemed to peek his interest for some reason, has he never seen someone care about how others felt? Before I could respond to him he began signing again, 'Very well... I'll answer these questions you have for me.'

'Neat!' Now what should my first question be? Maybe something about what Viren even wanted from him right or should I start of with something easier? I do also want to know why he's here trapped, was he a victim? An enemy?
'What's your name?' I can't just call him mysterious mirror elf now can I?

With deliberate movement he spelled out his name slowly so I would see it clearly and remember his name.

.

.

.

'Aaravos.'