At the Crossroads. Book 1

Intro

There's nothing special about you.

You thought about it before but never realised with such clarity. The hundreds of you-s stare back. Same as you, a little different. Wrong hair, a darker eye colour, skinnier arms, or it can be that their favourite colour is green...

You blink. They all look away, and you bite into your lip. You've been clenching your fists so tight, you no longer feel your bruised fingers.

They hurry on. Did they see you? The thousands of mirrors thump and rattle. Some slip and shatter into the blazing greyish fog. The ground shakes, and it thunders again.

You cough on the burnt air. Ashes, dust and everything material bursts into particles and hurts your eyes. Your whole world crashes behind your back. Breathe. You throw yourself at the nearest mirror. Your fists hit the cold glass again and again. You've got so far. The last one of your world, you didn't care where – ran as fast as you could to the split.

Other you-s don't care. They don't even hear you as you scream and beat against the unmoving glass.

"That won't do it, kid."

You jerk your head up and see a crooked man step out. He takes his wide-brimmed hat off and tosses it into the rubble. Then loosens his patched scarf so that it wouldn't cover half of his face.

"Why so quiet suddenly?" croaks the man and throws away his tinted round glasses as well. His darker skin is wrinkled and scorched with scars. "They won't let you through." He nods at the mirrors. Some more shatter. The further ones disappear into the disintegrating particles of your world. "Not unless you are a card. Others must die when their world dies."

You clench your teeth and stand up. "How do I get one?"

Thunder blurs the stranger's voice as your eyes find his. Glowing blues with yellow slits for pupils. The rattle dies out, it's still there – the ground shakes right under your feet – but for some reason, the stranger's voice is all you can hear.

"You're a sharp one, I see." He huffs a laugh. "A survivor." He leaps over as earth cracks in between you. Two arm's length away. "You're in luck, kid." He smiles crookedly and reveals perfect sets of shark-like teeth. "I've wanted to give up mine. But it comes with a price."

You look back at what's left of your world. At your bleeding hands and at the darkness rolling closer. Greyish burning air. Particles. More mirrors shatter. About twenty left. Nothingness but for the spot you are standing on.

And then, there is this card. Whatever that is.

"I'm taking it."

The stranger slides his gloved hand under his coat. You clench your teeth tighter and won't stumble back. Wanted to, every feeling screaming to get away and run. Only you know too well there's nowhere left to run. Nothingness licks at the heels of your sneakers.

The stranger's arm disappears up to the elbow underneath his coat and into his chest. A rip, a clap, a faint glower, and he breaks into his sinister laughter once more.

"When you take a card, you lose your soul." The stranger's eyes glow brighter.

You feel the remains of your world creeping from under your feet. The last few mirrors slip. "But I'll live... right?" Your eyes are on the only mirror left. Right behind the stranger. He can still back out of the deal and make it out alive, for what you know about loyalties.

"Yeah. You get to live." Slowly, he pulls out his hand, and something smoulders through his clenched fingers.

"Then I'm taking it!" you snap and pounce. The rough fabric cuts into your skin. You clench his arm and wrench the thing out from his fingers, almost pull it from him, clasped in between your palms. The stranger grasps your hands just in time.

But he doesn't struggle to get it back. He sneers and hovers over you, his sharp teeth now so close to your face that you smell something rotten.

"Remember," he whispers, "you lose your card, you don't die. You crumble into dust, and poof goes the memory you've ever existed." His eyes blaze a darker shade of blue. "You also get to remember the look in the eyes of the previous owner. Before evaporating." He winks at you and closes your fingers around the card. "Chao." He lets go. "Won't see you around."

And with that, he... disappears. Thunder roars in your ears, the last of the ground cracks– Ashes slip through your fingers, hurt your scratched hands and stick to your stained clothes. A-a-ah! Dead man's ashes – but you hear the rattle, and the last mirror starts slipping. You glance at the thing, a paper card, clenched in your fingers.

And jump. The last pieces of your world soar into nothingness behind your back.

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